The Apple Watch keeps surprising us — Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac"
Posted on 04/30/2015 10:45:28 PM PDT by Swordmaker
The Apple Watch keeps surprising us — Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac"
Far from being a superfluous device strictly for hard-core Apple fans, the Apple Watch is a surprisingly delightful and useful device.
Now that we’ve spent enough time with the latest gadget from the mothership, we’re noticing quite a few sweet little positives (and a couple negatives) about Apple Watch.
Bottom line: The more you use this thing, the better it is.
Many of us were planning on carrying around an extra charger with us to keep Apple Watch’s gorgeous display working well into the afternoon. Luckily, the battery life is pretty darn fantastic — “all day” actually means all day, from when I wake up till when I go to sleep at night. Most of my friends can’t believe I don’t need to charge it more often.
The less you use your iPhone, the longer the battery lasts. Now my iPhone 6 Plus lasts all day without extra charges (in the car, with an external battery pack, etc.). That’s mainly because I leave the phone alone, routing many activities through the Apple Watch. Playing tunes, answering texts and checking the time are all things that I used to do on my iPhone, but now I initiate them on the Watch.
Launch your favorite streaming music app, like Rdio, Spotify or 8Tracks, and you can control it with your Apple Watch via the Music Glance. Simply start the playlist or album on your iPhone, set it down, then swipe up on your Watch face to pause, resume, forward or rewind tracks to your heart’s content. The music will play through your iPhone to whatever Bluetooth speaker it’s attached to — I’m loving this hidden feature in the car.
You’d think a $400 aluminum watch would come with a matching metal charger. Instead, the round white plastic charger that comes with Sport models feels like yet another disposable bit of Apple ephemera that will get lost (and filthy) after a while.
We’ve gotten next to no comments on our fancy new Apple Watches; more people commented on our massive iPhone 6 and 6 Pluses than on our smartwatches. That’s a good thing, though, since it doesn’t feel like you have a gaudy tech device on your wrist. Rather, if you’re wearing a Sport like us, you’ve got a fairly normal-looking watch on display that could just as easily be a Swatch.
Don't fear the depths of Apple Watch. — Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac"
I just took a shower with this Apple Watch on and, while it was a bit terrifying at first, my new favorite gadget came out unscathed. You can wash your hands without fear, shower with the Watch on at the gym to make sure it doesn’t get stolen, and even clean up your muddy backyard full of duck crap — just rinse clean and move on.
The design of Apple Watch is far more compelling than the ads, photos, videos or reviews would have you believe. It’s much more attractive in the flesh. If you haven’t already, you really owe it to yourself to head to an Apple Store and try one on to really “get” how gorgeously designed this thing is. The design, the high quality and the tiny details really add up — it’s an instant must-have experience.
The Apple Watch establishes a whole new way of interacting with a gadget. Just knowing about Force Touch doesn’t prepare you to use it when you want to change the watch face. The Apple Watch online manual — also available as an iBook — should definitely be your first stop when you get your own Sport or Watch. (If you got the Edition, you probably have someone who will read the manual for you, so feel free to disregard.)
Siri's humor circuits are as lively as ever. — Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac"
I needed to mail a package but had to run some other errands first. I simply held down the Digital Crown and said, “Remind me to mail my package when I get here.” Siri created a Reminder, linked it to Location Services on my iPhone, and I got a notification when I drove right by the post office on the way home. It saved me an extra trip. Setting timers or reminders, and calling or texting people, is a snap when Siri hangs out on your wrist, always available.
iFixit notes that Apple Watch’s heart rate monitor sensor looks and acts like a pulse oximeter, even though Apple won’t claim it can measure your blood oxygen level. The Digital Crown works via a rotary encoder like the Nest Thermostat does, measuring the “angular position of a shaft” when you spin that thing. The ambient light sensor in Apple Watch is tucked neatly behind the display panel, not mounted on the surface like the iPhone’s. There’s a ton of groundbreaking tech in this thing.
The packaging for the Apple Watch Sport looks like a futuristic glasses case, a tiny white submarine or something out of George Lucas’ seminal dystopian THX 1138. It also recalls the rounded curves of the old plastic MacBooks. The larger container box feels like something you’d find a fancy jeweled necklace in. Every step of the unboxing, from sliding off the luxurious box cover to peeling off the protective plastic around the submarine to finding the power cord and cable underneath it all, makes this a worthy event. Pairing the Apple Watch with your iPhone is a marvel of technology and perceptive theater — you simply aim your smartphone at the smartwatch and take a photo of the fancy, fractal-like design to connect the two devices. Simple, clean and utterly Apple.
If you’re using a selfie stick without a shutter-release button or want to place your iPhone on a tripod for a full-on group shot, the Apple Watch is your secret weapon. It works as a shutter-release remote but also shows you the actual image from the iPhone camera right on your wrist. You can tell your buddy to move in or make sure your head is in the shot without having to traipse back to the iPhone and reposition it. You also don’t need to set the timer and run back to the group as often, since you’re able to see exactly what the photo will be before tapping the shutter. Heck, you could even monitor a room from your Apple Watch if your iPhone was in there.
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I am thinking he got an “A” run edition of this watch with 100% good electronics inside that do not leak electricity. So he got excellent battery life out of this clunker.
Will the average Joe get an A, B or C quality Apple watch? This remains to be seen. Under Kook Tim we already know that one taptic supplier was bogus and sending Apple assembly slave laborers in China a faulty product. There are more land mines to come. But Hillary loves this watch and has one each in all five colors that it comes in. Huma too! Is an Apple watch addict. It was love and lust at first sight same as Hillary had for her
I would let all the status seeking gays, trannys and Asians buy up these watches for the next year. They will be Apples beta-testers helping Kook Kook and Ives iron out the kinks. Then maybe buy one 18 months from now.
been recent press about apple halting rollout due to malfunction of the tapper. you get into that at all?
how did the tapper work for you?
...so an EMP attack will turn these things into $500 paperweights? ROTFLMAO!
Yep!!!! You get it! And you can get one with a Micky Mouse face like you had in grade school. And people are unloading them on Craig’s list and Ebay if you want one cheap.
I don’t own any watch or a cell phone, so I’ll pass on that Craig’s and eBay offer... :-)
Siri = 666? :-)
Remember how cool email used to be? Youtube? Then it dawned on us that everything we did online was recorded, bought, sold, and somehow employed to influence us.
What will dawn on us after we've been having our collective "iWatch experiences" for a few years. We have seen our personal information harnessed by others who purchase it in order to persuade us to take a certain action. We've seen it used to coerce others into taking certain action. What happens when it starts being used to force people to do things? The possibilities for good are amazing. The possibilities for abuse should put the fear of God in you.
I'm not allowed to have nice things. A $20 Casio or Timex can usually take the punishment, and if not then I'm only out $20.
The biggest surprise though was how many sodomites hit on them while wearing it, because the watch has become a sign that you are mentally ill and attracted to others of the same sex.
Biggest surprise so far, no major recalls or software updates yet, and no new 2.0 model released yet.
The sodomites are not buying or buying into this crappy watch. Asian buyers are keeping this turd afloat. IOW You wear one and walk through an upscale shopping mall in Taipei or Manila or Shanghai and you get instant enhanced status with the babes. And with the ladyboys if you are gay like Kook Tim Kook
The fabulous new gay Apple watch....they sent me the wrong color!! Should I complain to Kook Tim Kook? And send it back to him?
I’ve read all the posts so far from the anti-Apple folks. What nasty, bigoted, ignorant people.
So do you think that they are they like this in real life? Around actual people? Like at work or church? Or are they hiding behind the anonymity of the internet because at heart bigots are cowards.
I Agree!!!! I hate the haters!!! The haters of all things Apple. Bunch of g’d fags, toyboys, trannys and all purpose degenerates! Like what destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Wow - dennisw the troll in in nearly record time to spew his unhelpful, no-costructive vitriol for no good purpose than he gets his rocks off bashing others... what class..
“...I would let all the status seeking gays, trannys and Asians buy up these watches for the next year. They will be Apples beta-testers helping Kook Kook and Ives iron out the kinks. Then maybe buy one 18 months from now.”
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Reallly? Maybe buy one 18 months from now?
Jeez, you’ve previously said you bought an Apple Watch and were selling it on Craig’s List and you’ve also said you bought one and were smashing it to pieces. I guess when you tell so many lies and/or have so many delusions it becomes hard to keep the lies/delusions straight. Or perhaps you’re having trouble determining what is real and what is imaginary in your mind? Mental illness must be a terrible disease to suffer through.
LIAR. You never bought one. You have never told the truth in any Apple thread on Freerepublic since you've been posting.
I think they are cowards, hiding behind the anonymity of their Freepnames. . . and some like DennisW are serial liars on Apple Threads, who doesn't give a damn about his credibility on FR and will say anything to smear Apple and Apple products.
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