This is a brief, information gathering, request post. I think someone in my family might be getting me an Apple Watch 6 for my birthday next week. I'm wondering what I can expect from the product...
I'd love to hear from people who've researched the Apple Watches and from people who have owned (or still own and use) any generation of Apple Watches.
What features do you use most?
Are they complicated to set up the first time?
Are there certain apps you think are "must haves"?
Is there something about "smart watches" in general that disappoints you?
Have you played with any of the biometric measuring tools?
Do the batteries last long enough to make the watches fun?
How do you normally use your watch to get the most value from it?
Please, if you are an Apple hater, smart watch cynic, etc. I'll just remind you that it's a gift and not a political statement or an announcement of social status. It's just a watch that does other stuff than just telling time.
I'm guessing that some of you find them great while others consider them useless. C'est la vie.
If you can make me smarter about the Apple Watch 6 I'll appreciate it. I hope it will take some of the
sting out of turning 65....
19 comments:
Hi Kirk,
I have had an Apple Watch for a good number of years. I have the v5. I always buy the cheapest model for my wrist size - 44mm.
I use it all day for, duh, reading the time, but also getting information without pulling out my phone. I have the notifications tuned so I get th information I need and I don’t get interrupted for things I don’t need.
The watch unlocks my Mac when I wake it which is nice. I don’t have to enter my Mac password all the time either.
Having to charge ir every day is not something I like, but I have a rhythm putting it on in the morning and taking it off at night.
Definitely recommended.
BTW - I always enjoy reading your posts. I very much appr3ciate your effort.
Thanks,
John
Interesting topic. I was never interested in iWatches though I have an iPhone. I generally don't wear watches. I received one as a gift back in June. I'm not even sure which model it is. Here are my thoughts so far:
1. Dead simple to set up and pair with your iPhone. I don't remember the specifics of the process but it was very easy
2. I like the heart rate monitor. The newer ones have other monitoring features that mine don't have. No biggie for me. The heart rate monitor is enough. There is also a fitness app that will track your steps, chart your heart rate throughout the day, prompt you to do breathing exercises throughout the day. I actually do them and it's helpful.
3. You can voice to text message and take phone calls on it. I don't use this feature much because I generally don't want other people to hear my calls and texts. Useful if you are alone but useless if you are anywhere with company...unless you are an exhibitionist of sorts I suppose.
4. Mine lasts all day, more than all day really. No isues with it dying on me in the evening.
5. There is a walkie talkie mode that lets you talk to other iWatch folks. I haven't tried this yet but I'm curious. Not sure how it's any different than a phone call but I need to try it out.
6. It will act as a remote trigger for your iPhone camera. Pretty cool. I don't use it often but it's nice to know I can set up the phone on a tripod and take a group photo and use the watch to take the pic
7. Google maps is cool on the iWatch
8. Audible works well too though I tend to only listen to audio books in the car and nowhere else so I don't need the watch for that application.
Honestly Kirk I'm still learning what mine can do. I use it for a few simple functions and I feel like I'm missing something, like I'm not using it to its full potential. I mostly use it as a regular watch with changeable faces and a heart rate monitor. I wouldn't have purchased one on my own. It's a cool device I'm just not sure how useful it is but that might be my own lack of sophistication. I thought I was pretty good with techy stuff but the iWatch has me feeling a tad old. I wear it most days though and it's an attractive watch. Change the band, the stock band isn't the greatest. Lots of great ones on Amazon.
I love my iPhone. The iWatch I'm not completely sold on.
I concur with everything that crsantin said.
Mine is an original model (version 0) and is still capable which bodes well for the future if you are getting a version 6.
My use is mostly as a step counter and heart monitor. I also find it helpful to use for previwing texts.
Most of the time my phone is on silent because I have my watch set to vibe for incoming calls. I can accept or reject from my wrist.
I have read that the free version of Nike Training Club ios app is just as capable as the new Apple fitness offerings that require a subscription.
All of that aside, trust the instincts of the person proposing to give you this as a gift. I think they're wise.
1. You can swim with it.
2. It’s “Apple Watch,” not “iWatch.” Yeah, I know. They shifted things around on us....
3. The phone capability is extra cost. Some do, and some don’t.
4. The newest one will also do a reading for your blood oxygen levels.
I don’t have one - yet - I keep waiting for one that can read blood sugar levels!
I agree with the previous commenters. The current temperature on the face is one of my favorite features, and I can answer the phone with it when I'm busy. And you can use voice commands to "write" and send texts, as well as read incoming texts. And I'll add that it's more than useful for workouts to measure calories, time, distance, etc. And for me it prods me to do more. For example, if I've walked/run/biked 4.8 miles, I feel obligated to push a little more and finish with at least 5 miles. I do that every time I exercise and no doubt it's good for me. And it tracks your route via GPS and posts all the data in the Phone app. Set your workout and activity goals and it tracks your daily progress. I rarely wore a watch until my wife gave me my first iWatch in 2016. A couple of months ago it died and I replaced it with a version 4. Hurricane Harvey severely tested my first one's waterproofness, and they are quite rugged. You will enjoy yours.
I like mine Kirk, wear it everyday, great for keeping track of exercise and all the other smart stuff just works well. Even my totally non techy wife love hers.
Love mine! Apple watch 3.
My doctor friend and his wife started it all. My godfather wanted to upgrade...
The doctor had a Series 2. Went for a swim and lost it...He's technically challenged. Yet he sent his wife to drive about 120 miles round trip the next day to get him a replacement. They were beta testers for a Stanford U. biometric program.
My godfather at age 60 still runs marathons. I won't/don't. He had another brand that tracked his heart rate that had a chest strap. Normally, his home is in eastern Europe. When he was over on a long-term job a couple of years ago, I went to visit him. He wanted something to track his running, biking, heart rate. I asked my doctor and his wife and they simply told me "buy it!" He did.
My godfather and I are the same age and there's health issues with my relatives. I bought one, too.
It set's up easily with an app on your iPhone and communicates with it regularly and is needed to control and set it.
What I did with mine is to use it to get me up and away from my computer and to get me to move regularly. As a bonus at night, it's got a nifty flashlight so I won't trip at night. Living mostly solo, I wanted something that I could trip in case I crashed and couldn't reach the phone and to warn me if my heart went wacko. Also, when I can't find my iPhone, I push a button and the phone beeps...
I was doing great until looking through the viewfinder for a better POV one afternoon, I fell off the curve and tore my knee. Within a day or two, I used my Apple Watch to start to track my rehab by walking, first with an immobilizer with crutches, then a brace and cane, then back to normal over several months.
This year, during the lock-down in California, my doc recommended to get up and get moving after finishing the rebuild of my family home that burned the year before. Nearly every day, it keeps me moving an hour or more, gets me standing up each hour, 12-20 times a day and away from all the tech, tracks my calories (I never get that closed too much :-). I use it to check the weather, when driving, to answer and talk on the phone, check messages, etc.
I wish the battery would last for more than a day, but it's manageable, even when traveling in the US and abroad. I like that each time I check the time, I've got a favorite image as a background, usually something different at each glance. When I go to church or a meeting, I can simply hit the Do Not Disturb until I leave setting to keep the phone from going off at the wrong time. I can easily control my tunes, do fast and simple responses to email and Messenger, and glance at the headlines, stocks, weather.
As I tell people, I've now got the Dick Tracy wrist-radio, but much, much smaller and much higher tech.
Now for the biggy, I stopped wearing a watch in the late 1990s since my then car had a good clock, my hand-held wireless phones had clocks and my Macs, also. Didn't want any more clocks around me. Now I seldom leave my house without waring mine.
Eventually I'll upgrade to a newer model that does my heart rate, EKG, oximeter, etc., but the one I have is doing great after two years, a Series 3 on sale after the 4 came out.
For your swimming, just keep track of the strap and even if it falls off and sinks, it will be just fine. You'll soon wonder why you just didn't get one years ago!
Happy Birthday and enjoy!
I have an Apple Watch 6 with the cellular service. It's my 3rd Apple Watch. I use it to track my daily runs, and also listen to music on it using my AirPod Pros when running. My watch face has time, temp, stocks (a list of the stocks I own) the activity monitor, battery level, exercise, music, date and phone. That sounds like a lot (and I guess it is) but the way all is laid out is very efficient and easy to access any one of those functions. You should be able to choose which face you want and easily configure it to show what you want. Since it has cell service I sometimes get a phone call on it when running. It's been great in helping me stay on track with my running and exercise (I'm 68 and retired) and I've lost almost 30 pounds and all my important health numbers are where they should be now (they weren't all there 2 years ago). The exercise tracking on the watch and my iPhone have been a big help in that area. My doctor (and especially my wife) is very happy about the changes. Come to think of it, so am I.
SteveB
I love my Apple Watch. I used to wear a mechanical watch every day, but since I got the original one, my nice watches have gathered dust.
What features do you use most?
- In no particular order, exercise tracking, heart rate when doing intense exercise, time (including sunset/sunrise), weather, taking calls and responding to texts when my phone isn’t close at hand, stopwatch/alarm/timer, muaic/podcast listening, calendar/appointment reminders, walkie talkie with my wife, walking directions without having to have my phone out.
Are they complicated to set up the first time?
- Nope.
Are there certain apps you think are "must haves"?
- Not really.
Is there something about "smart watches" in general that disappoints you?
- Not really.
Have you played with any of the biometric measuring tools?
- Just heart rate.
Do the batteries last long enough to make the watches fun?
- I’ve had my current one for 2 years. At the end of the day, it still has 40% charge consistently. I don’t worry about it,
How do you normally use your watch to get the most value from it?
- It’s not any one thing that makes it great - it just does a dozen little things that improve quality of life and make me reach for my phone less. It’s really freeing to be able to go for a walk or even just go around the house and not need to worry about missing a call or text and still be able to access the most common info i need.
Hi Kirk,
the Apple Watch has an additional and very useful function: it can sense the owner falling down (tested).
In case you have an accident somewhere while walking or exercising it starts beeping, and if you do not stop it, starts calling a predefined set of phone numbers. A well appreciated feature by hikers.
Enjoy your gift and happy birthday (by the way ... I think the best present for you and many of us is coming out November 3. Crossing fingers)
I've had an Apple Watch for a few years, and I love it. I always wore a watch before, so I didn't have to get used to wearing one.
Many (not all) of the functions are an extension of your iPhone, so if you use your iPhone a lot you will probably get a lot of use from the Apple Watch. And it will only pair with an iPhone.
Set up is simple. Configuration, however, can take some time. There are a lot of options for configuring watch faces so it will take some time and experimenting, but you will figure out in time what is most useful.
Siri on the watch is very useful. Notes, reminders, voice memos, appointments, etc… Very nice when you don’t have to pull out the phone. Also, you can set do-not-disturb, or silence on the watch and it will set the same on the phone.
Battery life is great, but it does have to go on the charger ever day (I can go 2 days between charges). If you want to use the sleep monitor, just put the watch on the charger when you wake up or go to the office. It will fully charge in 90 minutes. I bought a spare charger for my desk at work.
When the Apple Watch was introduced, I didn’t want one. My wife talked me into it. I’m an IT guy and my wife told me that everyone needs to see that I am on top of the latest technology. She was right. I find it to be very convenient especially since I have one of the larger iPhones. I don’t have to have the phone in my pocket all the time or pull it out to check a message. I think of it like push button start on the car. It may seem useless, but once you get used to it, you must have it.
I could go on forever about why I love my iwatch but I'll try to just hit a few points.
Setup is very easy. For anyone who can figure out all that complicated video stuff it will be a piece of cake.
Battery - if you charge overnight, it should last the entire day. Charging is very quick.
When home you can leave your phone on the charger and answer calls and get texts on the watch. Very convenient and works well. Voice to text replies work great for texting. You can transfer a call to your phone if it is going to be a long one.
Great for monitoring activity. Has different 'workouts' you can monitor and swimming is one of them.
Heart rate monitoring is very useful as you can easily see trends over long periods of time. This could have saved me a trip to the ER once.
It's actually very comfortable to wear. I have the band with the velcro closure and of course it fits perfect. I actually have always hated wearing watches and haven't owned one in decades, but I forget I have this one on.
The 6 has the oxygen monitor and can assess if you have sleep apanea. I have the 5 and plan to upgrade and I'm one who typically replaces something once it is worn out or broken.
I was the last person I knew to get a smartphone so I don't have to have every new tech gadget, but I actually find the watch more useful than the iphone.
In my opinion this is the most useful technology product I have ever owned and also why I'm not selling my Apple stock anytime soon. This is early days in the iwatch adoption. Eventually everyone who has an iphone will own one of these.
Very useful to keep you active and monitor your exercise routines (which you like). Very useful for tea steeping and, of course if it's a cellular version-- which I would recommend-- it allows you to forget your phone when you want to go light or as you are in your house, which is liberating.
Thanks very much for all the great feedback. I can't wait to try mine out (if I actually receive one...). With a new iPhone 12 Pro coming, a new watch on its way, and my purchase yesterday of a iPhone SE for my son's birthday present (he chose the model; obviously no interest in photography= sad) I feel like I'm buoying up Apple's stock all by myself... It's okay, I'm not too conflicted.
Count me in as a fan.
They are terrific devices and the life and activity monitoring they do is a marvel.
I was gifted a ceramic series 2 limited edition. It was not cheap. Ceramic is an incredible material for a watch - after 4 years of daily wearing it is completely scratch free and looks as good as new. However, the battery is not so long lived and I get the impression the permanent, forever nature of the ceramic casing is not going to be echoed in the watches internal workings. I fear that one day it will become nothing more than a pretty piece of jewellery.
Great devices, but I dont see the point in paying for the fancy versions.
I bought one for my daughter's birthday on the 14th of October and she loves it.
Battery life good, features - she's reading the manual!
She chose the 40mm face, for me th 44mm would be better.
I won't repeat too much of what others have said - I've had an Apple Watch (first a Series 3, now a Series 4) for about three years, and I love it. I have complications (little mini-apps that occupy parts of the watch face) that show me the current temperature, my physical activity for the day, give me quick timers for when I'm cooking, and that allow me to turn on/off the pair of smart plugs that control a couple lights in the house.
I use mine for sleep tracking, so I put it on the charger right after I wake up and also when I shower in the evening, and never have any battery issues.
One other thing to keep in mind: the band. Apple released a couple new "solo loops" this year with the Series 6, and while reviews have been generally positive, they are tricky to size properly without trying them on (which is tricky these days) and, since they are basically stretchy bracelets, they're odd to put on/take off. I've primarily used the older Sport Band (a two-piece fluoroelastomer band with a nice "pin-and-tuck" closure) and, more recently, the Sport Loop (a very comfortable fabric loop with velcro closure), and have found both very comfortable for everyday use. Apple does charge ridiculous prices for their bands, but my wife tried a knock-off sport loop recently and found it wanting compared to the Apple version, so I gave her an Apple Sport Loop that I'm no longer using.
You should be able to order your Watch via the Apple website with just about any combination of Watch color and band material/color - this can save some money vs. buying with one of the "stock" bands and then replacing it with something you like better for an additional $50+.
Apple Watch Series 2 for several years. I use it for old fashion telling time, and tracking exercise (walking, running, bicycle, stationary bike). I also find it useful when using my iPhone map to direct me -- directions (turn right on State Route 3 100 yards ahead) appear on my watch and are easier to see while driving than looking down at the phone.
Also great for alarms and reminders. Easier and quicker to kill an alarm on your wrist than digging a phone out of your pocket or purse.
I have the 5, and like it a lot. Don't use a ton of different features, but use the timer the most (like right now, it's timing a pot of beans). So I keep the timer feature on the watchface. Also use the exercise feature to record walks, though it's annoying if you forget to end it, it can keep recording the "walk" on the drive home. Also easy to hit by mistake and start a workout if it's on your watchface. I also use the iMessage feature and phone calling if I left my phone upstairs, for instance. That's about it. The close integration with Apple Maps is pretty nice too, for driving, though I usually use Google.
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