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Apple Watch owner’s opinions

I’ve also held off on the watch even though I ipad/iPhone all the time; I’ve been using a very simple smartwatch from Withings which does the ECG etc as well as step count, notifications etc - but the key thing is the battery lasts about 21 days and takes only 30 mins to charge when you do it. Plus it looks great (like a normal watch!) I really, really don’t want another device where I have to think about charging constantly!
 
To those who’ve bought an AW: do you feel compelled to wear it all the time so your stats are always up to date?
 
To those who’ve bought an AW: do you feel compelled to wear it all the time so your stats are always up to date?
Nope, but I do anyway. Usually don’t have a clue where my phone is - I mostly take the few calls that I get on my watch, and make them with it too, and keep my eye on WhatsApp’s and messages, so the watch keeps me as connected as I want to be, hence I put it on first thing.
 
If you already have Atrial Fibrillation and are not interested in the health or step counter what else can a smart watch give?
 
If you already have Atrial Fibrillation and are not interested in the health or step counter what else can a smart watch give?
Where I work, the loosely applied rules say ‘No phones on the shop floor’. However, as things stand, we’ve no landlines or radios, even when out on the flightline. So we use WhatsApp and Messenger. But one day, the rule will be applied, and so an AW will allow me to keep in contact with friends and family without breaking the out of date rules.
 
If you already have Atrial Fibrillation and are not interested in the health or step counter what else can a smart watch give?
My Apple Watch is used as a phone, for weather forecasts, to look at my reminders, to keep aware of messages and respond to them, to pay for stuff in shops and sometimes online, as a timer, as an alarm clock, as a remote control for Roon and thus my hifi, to follow a route when I am walking somewhere, and then some. Saves me taking my phone with me most of the time. Much more useful than I envisaged. The afib and step counter stuff was only of passing interest, though it’s quite nice to pace a walk occasionally.
 
I forget to mention that wearing an Apple Watch also makes me feel effortlessly superior and smug in a self-deprecating kind of way. That alone is worth the money.
I like paying for a pint at my local, makes me feel up with the kids.
 
I bought the basic Apple Watch 6 at the start of lockdown to help my indoor fitness regime. I was a bit sceptical but I found it worked well as a non specialist fitness watch.

What has genuinely amazed me though is that I have worn it every day since I bought it. All day on most days.

I've got a Rolex Explorer and a GMT that have not been worn at all and a little Nomos hand winder that I've worn to got out maybe 30 evenings.

It's strange, i don't like it particularly like the Apple watch. I think the aesthetics are fine for a fitness watch but quite poor poor for most other things.

However some of the things it does I really do appreciate.

  • the handwashing nag thing
  • taking calls on the watch rather than my phone, when i cant find my phone
  • the bell thing that locates my phone, when i cant find my phone
  • the workout app
  • the Viewranger app for walking

As for the battery; so long as it lasts all day, and it does, its enough. I'm a reluctant, surprised, disappointed but ultimately content, convert
 
I bought an version 6 of the iWatch specifically for the blood oxygen percentage feature to check if I need to get the oxygen cylinder out and get plugged into it. I had hoped that I would then not have to use the finger mounted Oxymeter. The Apple watch works only about 1 occasion in 6. It requires special positioning of the watch on the arm and takes 15 seconds to give a reading- which is often an error reading. Compared to the finger based oxymeter the iWatch often gives a higher value (when it works) - So a definite fail on this front.
Remote starting the two Macs I have is neat (but not survival) vibrating the wrist when a Whatsapp message comes in is useful. Using it as a phone receiver when the iPhone is not available is useful.
 
I’m all Apple except the watch. It looks odd/cheap compared with my Fenix S.

I'd tried; Garmin, Fitbit and Polar fitness watches before Apple. I liked them all well enough aesthetically but never felt motivated to attempt the learning curve needed to get the best out of them.

The Apple watch was configured to give me everything I wanted out of the box with no effort. With the sports band it is more comfy to wear than its predecessors and after a year of constant wear it still looks like new.

I like Apple kit because the design is invariably spot on and it has great soft and hardware engineering resources to back it up.

Unusually in the Apple watch it is the software engineering that impresses me most.
 


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