Mastodon

10 More Impressions from Day Two with the Apple Watch

Posted by Matt Birchler
— 3 min read

You guys seemed to enjoy yesterday's day one impressions of the Apple Watch, so I'm coming back with 10 more takeaways from day two. I am still in love with this little guy. It's a very interesting device and if I'm being honest, I'm struggling to package my thoughts into one cohesive piece. Until I can do that, I hope you enjoy this second batch of tidbits!

1. Everyone thinks I got the 38mm model

Without fail, every single person who has guessed whether I got the smaller or larger model have guessed the smaller. Everyone is surprised by how much smaller it is compared to other smart watches.

I have to agree. I'm very comfortable with the size, and think I made the right choice for me.

2. Fitness data does not sync constantly to your phone

Near the end of my first full day, my Watch gave me a notification that I had reached all my fitness goals for the day (yea me!), but when I pulled up the Activity app on my iPhone, it still thought I had a lot of work to do. It had also apparently last synced with the Watch at noon, 8 hours ago. No amount of restarting the app could get it to sync again, which i found terribly frustrating.

Eventually, it did sync again and all was well, but it was an odd glitch.

3. I DO NOT feel like I have notification overload

I have not changed any of my notification settings that I had on my phone, and I feel like I get just enough information on my wrist. I saw multiple reviewers criticize the Watch for giving them email notifications, which are just overkill. My question to those reviewers is “do you really get a notification on your phone every time a new email comes in?!?!?!” That's no way to live, and if that's your problem, I don't think you can blame the Watch for that.

I know that there are some concerns with group messages, and it would be nice to snooze notifications for a particular conversation, but that's not there yet.

4. Battery drain has been rough on my iPhone

My iPhone 6's battery is getting wrecked over the past couple days. While I used to have about 60% battery left after a full day of work, I have been dropping down to 20-40%, which is a pretty drastic change. It's especially discouraging because I have been using my phone much less than before! I haven't typed out a text message since getting the Watch, and I have been controling my podcasts and music from the Watch as well.

Almost makes a guy want to get a 6 plus…

5. Force touch is the tool I always forget is even there

You can force touch most screens on the Apple Watch and get some extra options, but I find I always forget it's there. That said, I do find that force touching something tends to reveal exactly the feature you thought was missing.

6. The screen looks gorgeous

Whether under the shining sun or in the darkest room, the screen on the Apple Watch shines. OLED was definitely the right choice for this screen. I love the deep blacks and rich colors.

7. It makes for a great timer

We all know that Siri is great for setting a quick timer, and using it on the Watch is even easier and faster. Lift wrist, say “Hey Siri, set a 10 minute timer” and you're done. This is one of those things that was easy on the iPhone, and even easier on the Watch.

8. Glances feel like they were made for sports scores

I followed along with my Chicago Bulls as they tragically lost to the Bucks last night. A quick glance at my wrist was all I needed to catch up on the score. Yet another little thing that's easier and faster.

9. Running with it is a joy

Much more on this soon, but my first couple workouts with this thing have been absolutely perfect.

10. Being able to make your phone “ding” from the Watch is amazing

From the Settings glance, you can mute, enable Do Not Disturb, and turn on airplane mode. Those are nice, but you can also locate your phone from here. Lose your phone in the house? Hit this button and your phone will make a very loud, high pitched tone. I haven't had to use this as intended yet, but it's going to be a life saver when I need it.