Apple Watch Yay or Nay?

[Deactivated] on 06/06/2016 - 10:54

Hi Ozbargainers - just wanted to get your thoughts

Does anybody have an apple watch? What are your thoughts? Do you think it was worth it, or was it a regretful purchase?
Or, do you have a smart watch/fitness tracker (that plays nice with iPhone) that you can recommend, and why?

I am primarily interested in:

  • heart rate monitoring and basic exercise stats (for gymming and light runs - nothing competitiive or hardcore)
  • possibly using for glances at my wrist for navigation whilst driving (mostly for lane selection for upcoming turns etc). I usually use google maps on my phone. I dont look at the maps per se, but listen to the turn prompts in X amount of metres.
  • anything else you can think of?

Notifications/email/twitter/calling through my wrist etc aren't really a drawcard for me

As a footnote:
I also have several other watches (including reasonably priced automatics)
I know WWDC is coming up so perhaps there might be a version 2.0 coming soon
All constructive feedback welcomed. But please no flame wars - ain't nobody got time for that

Poll Options

  • 50
    Yes it's great
  • 22
    No I have it and it sucks
  • 10
    Try Android Wear (does this work with apple?)
  • 22
    Fitbit/Garmin/Other
  • 87
    Bikies
Electrical & Electronics Apple Smartwatch

Comments

      • [Deactivated] on 09/06/2016 - 07:15

        Not you dummy, frostman!

    • llllllllllllll on 07/06/2016 - 16:26

      I'm with you here… I might be interested in seeing my health information but definitely not obsessed with it.

      But maybe others have reasons to, just like I'm obsessed with checking my bank account every few hours :P

  • [Deactivated] on 07/06/2016 - 12:18
    +2

    Get a Casio F91-W

  • parcus on 07/06/2016 - 16:04

    Have had mine since launch. It's a nifty device, the fitness stuff is quite handy and not your usual glorified pedometer. HR sensor is surprisingly accurate (vs my chest strap) and setting goals on active kj lost is far better than an arbitrary step count. Good level of customisation, a lot more than you'd expect for an Apple device. My main gripe is apps, they're just too damn slow to be useful. Watch OS 2 was supposed to fix that but it barely changed anything speed-wise. They need to look at creating a more self-sustaining watch instead of having to relay everything back and forth between the iPhone and watch. Overall, a solid buy even if a little expensive at $499 for the 42mm sport, that nice $80 price drop a couple of months back certainly helps.

  • lonix on 07/06/2016 - 17:34

    Apple iwatch is like the modern day Newton.

  • baalaagaa on 07/06/2016 - 19:35
    -2

    Complete waste of money. Apps are terrible & the screen is to small to do anything worthwhile. Sales have been that poor I doubt there will be an Apple Watch 2.

    • [Deactivated] on 07/06/2016 - 22:23

      I think the screen is a decent compromise. Not sure how to make it better.

      The apps and the design language is far from perfect, agreed. Thus I hope there is a second edition!

      • fruit on 07/06/2016 - 22:31

        screen is a decent compromise
        HAHAHAHA wait till they release a bigger one

  • fruit on 07/06/2016 - 20:58
    +1

    Pebble > Apple

    • [Deactivated] on 07/06/2016 - 22:06
      +1

      E ink with no backlight. No thanks. Honestly that looks the worst of the potential options

      • fruit on 07/06/2016 - 22:30

        Did you use a watch before the iWatch?

        • [Deactivated] on 07/06/2016 - 23:30

          Yes. Watches don't have issues with glare.

          One can only surmise that either you are an idiot or you are a bad troll. Take your pick

        • fruit on 08/06/2016 - 13:42

          @sagiballs: You haven't used eInk have you?

  • cell on 07/06/2016 - 22:04

    I have an Apple Watch Sport 42mm, and I use it:

    1. To check the time

    That's about it tbh..
    I do enjoy reading (short) text messages without pulling my phone out and do have a look at the fitness tracking every so often
    All the other functions are not needed as I have my phone with me almost all the time
    Wouldn't recommend it to anyone tbh…

    • [Deactivated] on 07/06/2016 - 22:07

      Mmm I can see how that could happen. Thanks for the input mate

  • Mysterious Laptop on 07/06/2016 - 23:24

    Got one, it's just not worth it, I use it mainly for the time and peek at FB messages - you'll find you wont use the stuff in the ads. I think it's a bit like Siri, ads show how "useful" it is (it does work) but I never use SIri anyways, and in the apple watch instance i've got $600 less.

    Other point is that there should be a round face, and feels awkward on my wrist if I don't adjust it (could be personal issue). But sounds like you're set on it, I would resist the temptation and wait for the WWDC in case.

    • [Deactivated] on 07/06/2016 - 23:35

      Face design is a tough call. I think round is better to wear but you lose so much usable screen. My favourite shape is that of the panerai luminor (which does have a round face) - a kind of rounded square case of sorts.

      Sadly I couldn't justify dropping that much dough.

      500? Maybe.
      I was going to get "something"
      The other watch I was looking at was the seiko Sarb035 cocktail time which is veeeeeerry different indeed

  • Boba on 08/06/2016 - 07:46

    I bought mine from Dick Smith at 20% off. Stainless Steel with red rubber band. Then I bought a Milanese loop from eBay for $22, posted from a seller domestically and arrived within a few days. Seems good quality and the magnet clips the band together better than the >$200 Apple version.

    I thought I was going to regret the purchase but even within a few days of owning the watch, I can't imagine life without the Apple Watch anymore. My main uses of the watch are:
    1. Telling the time
    2. Sleep tracking with Sleep++. It's pretty good, tells you how long you've slept and the quality of your sleep so check it out.
    3. Steps counting with Pedometer++. It motivates me to walk more than I used to, and it's much more accurate than Apple default because it analyses movement readings from both my phone and watch to provide a true number of steps. Check it out.
    4. Sms and Call notifications.

    I thought I would value the heart rate monitor but for me, I find the readings to sometimes be a bit inaccurate, overshooting the mark. I assume a strap will always do a better job, but it's comfort vs accuracy, I wish there was the option to decrease heartrate polling frequency to preserve battery life.

    I've disabled most other notifications like Facebook Instagram emails etc because I don't want to be distracted by all these things. I have these disabled on my phone as well.

    Battery life for me is about two days, if I were to not charge. Having said that, I hardly ever run out of battery because I plug it into the charger every now and then at times such as shower and dishwashing. It charges very quickly. I usually let it completely drain once every two weeks and then do a full charge to maintain the battery though I suspect some people will say this doesn't help with maintaining battery.

    If you value owning a first generation product for treasure keeping / sentimental value purposes, then I suggest buying Gen 1 at a discounted price.

    What I'm not looking forward to is battery replacement. Can't just pop It open and stick in another button. Actually I don't even know whether battery replacement will be easy, say in a few / ten years' time. Suspect I'd be on a new model by then but the original will always have a special place in my heart.

    I did consider some Fitbit alternatives but the lower range ones while cheap did not have the ability to disable Bluetooth, which is important to me (I know others disagree). The higher end ones can disable Bluetooth at night when I'm not using it, however they look a bit ugly to me and if I'm going to pay that much I might as well pay a bit more for a useful Apple. Android might have a good alternative but I haven't looked into it.

  • TimApple on 08/06/2016 - 11:49

    I use it. I've had it for about a year. It provides enough functionalities for me to keep using it, but I probably would not buy another one in a year or two, and am more interested in buying the different looking bands.

  • huit on 08/06/2016 - 12:56

    I'm on my 2nd pebble (Pebble Time Steel) and every time I go back to a normal watch I feel naked. You miss being able to check notifications and even respond to instant messages/short emails without taking the phone out of your pocket. 10-day battery and the fact you actually can swim with it is also great.

    No doubt the Apple Watch and various Android Wear watches will have more functionality, but my theory is if you need to swipe and do various button turns and pushes to do something you'd be better off doing it off the large screen of your phone. Simple device for simple operations, up-down-select-back and the occasional flick of the wrist is all you need.

  • klaw81 on 09/06/2016 - 09:58
    +1

    I've had a smartwatch (Moto 360) for about 6 months. While it's not exactly the same as the Apple Watch, the basic concept and execution is very similar.

    My impressions are:
    a) It's surprisingly handy at times - timers, silent notifications and voice control on your wrist can be very useful.
    b) Fitness features are not a priority for me, but they're interesting to look at. I don't find them motivating at all though - I'm either way too lazy, or I'm not shallow enough to care.
    c) Sleep monitor is great, and my favourite feature so far.

    All that said, there's no way I would pay full RRP ($300) for this thing - it's just not that good. The main reason that I'm happy is that it only cost me $110, which means my expectations are much lower and I'm quite happy with it as a cool gadget with some limitations. At full price, I'd want it to be far more useful.

    At $500, the Apple Watch is well beyond impulse buy territory and for that money, it would want to be damn near perfect. And it's far from perfect.

  • Blottski on 12/06/2016 - 13:19

    After work switched us over to iPhones, I had to sell my Urbane. It was compatiable but the experience was crap. Can't respond to stuff etc.

    So I'm looking at getting one as well. Don't care about the fitness side of things, just for notifications etc.

    If there is no announcement at WWDC, i'll get a version 1.

  • dealsucker on 22/07/2016 - 11:31
    +1

    Just bit the bullet yesterday and loving it so far. I dont mind the rectangular shape because it looks less awkward when the display is off. The round one will definitely look better IF the display is on all the time which it is not going to. I had LG Watch Urbane earlier which I sold off within a day of getting. The quality and the depth of engineering between LG watch and Apple is not even close.

  • sonic910 on 06/11/2016 - 09:37
    +1

    Don't know if you've made a decision yet sagiballs.
    My waterproof watch needed replacing and at $250-$300 I decided to do some research on other options.
    I bought the nike version the other week.
    I'm very happy with it.
    The 2 main reasons to spend the extra $$ were:

    1. Open water swimming - version 2 is waterproof. This has been good. I'm not interested in timing my swim just want to know how far I'm swimming. The only other option for open water swimming is a watch designed for triathletes at around $900.

    2. To remotely start the tracking app we use when sailing. Unfortunately the app I've been using for years for tracking everything from bushwalking to kayaking doesn't work with IOS10 & watchOS 3, even though there website doesn't elude to this. But that another discussion. I've since found another sailing specific app which actually does more and worked well so I'm a happy camper. My phone is stored below deck safe in a dry bag & starting the app via the watch is much quicker.

    Other benefits that I didn't think were important but have since been very handy is the ability to get notification for text & calls especially since I keep my phone on silent at work so as to not be an interruption during presentations etc. This is not a apple watch exclusive though.
    To access my music skip/stop/adjust volume.
    Navigation while walking, Don't have to look down at the phone. Safer & I can look around as I've recently moved to Sydney.

    From the research I did, watchOS 3 is a big step forward in usability of the watch.
    It works with both series of the watches so if you don't need the waterproof feature save some $
    I've had no issue with battery life even using the tracking function for 3 1/2hrs sailing this week. I'm not sure if it using the watch GPS or my phone?

    • [Deactivated] on 07/11/2016 - 14:18

      Hey mate

      Thanks for the reply

      I did buy one. I use it mostly for exercise since I have a few normal watches which I also enjoy wearing.

      Hope you enjoy your purchase!

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