Tag Archives: Wearables

Six weeks with the Apple Watch and we’re getting on just great!

As a technology geek and a science-fiction author, it was a pretty good bet that I would succumb to Apple’s latest market innovation. The real intrigue started a few weeks after a colleague had made the purchase. You can be sucked in by Apple’s carefully crafted video marketing or watch the many fan-boy YouTube videos to get an initial impression, but you can’t beat the face value feedback from someone you know and trust.

The first thing my friend said to me was this, “If I were to lose it today, I think I would definitely replace it.” Now that sounds like an impressive endorsement. I proceeded to ask him to show me what he liked about it. He ran through the usual tricks and gadgetry and although I had seen many of them in the videos, to witness first hand was pretty awe-inspiring. I know smart watches have been around for a little while now, but Apple just seem to implement things at a higher level of quality.

I knew that the majority of the things I was being shown were simply gimmicks to me. Yes, feeling your heartbeat or being directed to your location by a range of different vibrations is very cool, but I knew I would use these types of things once or twice and then forget about them. I wanted to know how it would enhance my day-to-day life.

“Ah,” the friend said. “It stops you having to do this.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, looked at it, shook his head and put it back away.

I was a little confused and asked him to explain further. He asked me to look at my phone and review the amount of notifications I receive. The shear amount of times a day my phone subtly vibrates in my pocket to inform me of anything from an email arrival to my lives being replaced in the most recent game I’ve been playing.

“How many times a day does your phone vibrate, you take it out to see why, realise it’s of no immediate importance and then you put it away again?”

He then asked me to text him so he could show how quickly he glances at his Apple Watch and reads the message without having to touch anything. Now this may sound trivial, but I think it’s one of those moments where our behaviours and emotions change without us appreciating them. When I am in a meeting, on a packed train, doing sport, or any other number of scenarios, to pick out my phone for essentially a disappointing reason only to have to put it away again is annoying.

Add on top the fact that the four different vibration types are used to help you understand what type of notification has just occurred and you actually have a device that is streamlining your day-to-day life.

That was enough to convince me of my purchase and it is also where I set my expectations for how I would measure its worth. I am happy to say that after six weeks I am delighted with the watch and that there are a number of additional things that I love about it.

I love the Leather Loop’s magnetic strap. It’s so easy and comfortable to use.

I love the football alerts that I can set up. I am a fantasy football nut and love to be up to date with any goal scores as they happen. The watch makes this even easier to do while I am busy doing other things or at a match myself.