The Apple Watch Thread

[krlock3]

Did anyone already pre-order one? What choice did you make?

I pre-ordered a sport on the UK store. Of course, I would have ordered one in Switzerland, but the date for release is still unknown!

Negative ..

It's square.. That's all

[jacek]

The Apple Watch unwanted app got installed on my device along with iOS8.3 upgrade.
I think this is good for the starter, isn't it?
The rest of discussion I shall leave to our experts ...

[xynth]

So what does the "available from 24.4.2015" mean? Can it then be purchased in stores? I saw some rumors/news that it won't be possible to purchase it in stores, at least initially.

[Tom1234]

	Quote:	xynth
	So what does the "available from 24.4.2015" mean? Can it then be purchased in stores? I saw some rumors/news that it won't be possible to purchase it in stores, at least initially.

I thought that was to avoid the massive two or three days queues outside Apple stores by people who want to own the Apple products first as Apple did not really want those sort of weird people to be associated with their 'cool' products?

So who's already pre-ordered one?

[Slaphead]

	Quote:	Tom1234
	I thought that was to avoid the massive two or three days queues outside Apple stores by people who want to own the Apple products first as Apple did not really want those sort of weird people to be associated with their 'cool' products? So who's already pre-ordered one?

2 people where I work have. Oh, how the rest of us laughed - we've been taking the mickey out of them all day.

[Assassin]

I need an iWatch about as much as I need to have a sharp instrument inserted into my eye.

Hate anything that's a wearable.

[Hoppy]

I am trying to dissuade My husband form buying one, however now they are in stores (to look at) so He'll probably head down to look at it. I will persuade him to wait 6 months, and I will try to wait 6 months to buy the Microsoft Surface.

[krlock3]

I frequently use a Sport watch already for running training so I'm keen to see what Apple is doing, plus I think the variety of watch faces and customisation is pretty stunning.

I do think in some ways it resembles a first gen product. My existing Nike watch already has GPS built it and is fully waterproof for example. On the other hand, there's a lot of promise there for the future as a fitness watch.

In other ways it is breakthrough. Aside from the customisation of the face, I'm sure it will be useful in other ways. I'm hoping though that I don't turn into a guy who is always talking into his watch!

I went for the Sport, it's not prohibitively expensive in my view so it's a no brainer for me to try it out. Also, i do think it looks pretty cool.

[krlock3]

	Quote:	xynth
	So what does the "available from 24.4.2015" mean? Can it then be purchased in stores? I saw some rumors/news that it won't be possible to purchase it in stores, at least initially.

No, it can only be purchased online, though deliveries will start on 24.04.

I ordered in the UK store just minutes after it opened and already missed the first wave, I have a predicted dispatch date of mid to late May.

You can have a look at the watch in Apple stores now, but I guess only in the countries where they are releasing initially, which does not include Switzerland. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong about that.

	Quote:	Sbrinz
	In this country, famous for their expensive craftsman made watches, do you really think that wearing a timepiece of plastic junk will impress the natives? Buy a plastic Swatch, at least it is Swiss.

You seem to misunderstand what a smart watch actually is: and what it is, isn't a watch!

It's a convenient, wrist-worn interface with your phone. This means that without having to dig into your pocket or bag and fiddle about with a tiny keyboard, you can:

• preview text messages and emails to see if they're important
• use voice input to send text messages and emails
• set reminders and alarms, either time or location triggered
• do instant translations into all kinds of languages
• check things on the internet, such as exchange rates, quick calculations, the capital of Tanzania, whatever
• control your music player if you have one
• check the outside temperature before going out
• be informed about the next buses or trains leaving from the stop at which you're standing
• drag up pictures of things to settle arguments "show me a picture of a pangolin!"

I shouldn't imagine a smart watch would be useful for everyone, but for me - with my job and my interests - it's absolutely invaluable. I use mine every day, several times a day, and it has become as much an important part of my life as my phone or my hat. Sure, I could live without it - but why should I? It's useful. I could live without tea, but my life would be the worse for it.

I don't know much about the Apple watch - I'm not a great fan of Apple - but if it's anything like Samsung's smart watches, I'm sure it will be great.

Well done Apple for catching up at last!

[Castro]

The only question for me is whether Apple's is the best smartwatch available, not 'why does anyone need one?' (that's a separate thread).

I will wait for the noise to die down and then go and see one in the flesh. How it feels, looks and functions will become much more apparent once I've actually got one on my wrist so I won't be pre ordering blind. However this pretty balanced review from Bloomberg has whetted my appetite.

How does this work?

[jacek]

Herewith a rather interesting review:

http://www.theverge.com/a/apple-watch-review

Personally, if I got one in my hands I would like to use it for active life.
"Jacek, please get off the EF - your blood is boiling and your heart rate has increased significantly". But isn't Siri already informative enough?

My only rant that it's going to be very, really very difficult to watch movies on it But hey that's what my iPhone 6 plus is for

[k_and_e]

	Quote:	Tom1234
	I thought that was to avoid the massive two or three days queues outside Apple stores by people who want to own the Apple products first as Apple did not really want those sort of weird people to be associated with their 'cool' products?

Imagine the release of the iWatch 2: iWatch 1 owners will all run out of battery charge while waiting if the queue is very long.
I foresee all Apple stores being provided with outdoor charging stations soon.

[yacek]

Let's say I can rationalize a purchase of a new expensive smartphone every 4 years. But do I want to add to this another expensive gadget?
Besides, I'm already a smartphone/internet addict. Would it add new addictions on top of it?
And after using a 5.5" phone, a iPhone 4 screen seems like a keyhole now. I pull out my phone for a call or to read books, news, and mostly I wish it were bigger and the controls more ergonomic. I disabled all alerts except for calls and messages.

Maybe Google shouldn't have killed its glass for the always-on and wired crowd? No need to look at one's wrist, and the screen was bigger.

[rainer_d]

Coworker ordered one in Germany (where they're available).
I believe he's the only one (of 50-ish people).
I don't even have a phone I can pair it with (still on iPhone 4S, which works great for what I do with it).
I'm thinking about buying a sports-watch (or some fitness-band), though.
But I'm more leaning towards something like this:
http://www.bikester.ch/garmin-vivosm...rt-392272.html
coupled with a speed and cadence sensor for the bike.
Mostly, because a one day battery life is sort of silly. And not being "really" water-proof (beyond being able to wash your hands without taking it off) is a bit of an oxymoron for something to be used as a SmartWatch.
I do take off my current (water-proof) watch off when I swim, shower, bath (and often also when I wash my hands - mostly because it's more convenient) - but I don't want to worry about it.

From the various reviews, the Apple Watch must be a marvelous piece of technology - much more responsive in use, light-years ahead in terms of production quality and "finish" and, due to Apple's existing eco-system of developers and accessory-makers, a much more "future proof" device.

But as pointed out, adding yet another 400 CHF per X years device to your existing purchase-cycle has to be considered.
I do have a couple of notifications on my phone (mails from parents, GF), 20min + tagesschau.de alerts, and earthquakes above magnitude 6.9 but that's basically it. And I don't have Facebook. At all. (I've got twitter but follow very few people and certainly don't want notifications from it).
I don't use WhatsApp either. Only classic SMS (and iMessage).

The Watch is meant as an "extension" of the phone, displaying only the "most important" alerts and allowing you to respond to them swiftly (via simple yes/no answers, Siri commands etc.pp.).
Also, it allows you to send your heartbeat to your loved ones (if they have an Apple Watch, too)

If you don't want or need to use that part of the feature-set (which is really the case for me), it's not much more than a sports-watch with the benefit of being absolutely integrated into the Apple universe and Apple taking the responsibility for updates, repairs etc.

Lastly, people spend all kinds of money on silly things like cars or motor-bikes that cost much more. So, if somebody wants to spend 400 or 1000 (stainless steel edition) on another gadget - it's not my call to criticize or even ridicule them.

[krlock3]

Well, I was in Brighton in the UK this weekend and so made an appointment for a try on.

Major findings:

It's really really nice, nicer than I expected.

It's much smaller than I thought. I assumed that the 42mm was the 38mm and was surprised to be told otherwise. It's WAY smaller than my Nike+ watch (which admittedly does have GPS).

I liked the space grey version and stainless steel. I didn't much care for the aluminium sport version, it already seemed a little dated and if anything reminded my of the very first iPhone somehow.

The extra straps are good quality and look very nice.

Haptic feedback to the wrist is really cool, I can see that being indispensable and taking the place of audio alarms that we are all used to from our phones.

The display clarity is superb. It really does look like it does in the apple watch adverts.

The sports strap takes a bit of getting used to in putting on, but its very comfortable.

Everything seems intuitive.

They had the gold edition there. I cannot possibly see how people are going to justify spending such a large amount when the design and functionality are fundamentally the same on the £300 watch. For that kind of money, I'd have a mechanical timepiece from a classic Swiss manufacturer any day of the week. I predict a fail on that front.

The watch is very cleverly designed in that it looks elegant with the elegant straps and sporty with the sporty straps.

[Chuchu17]

Had an appointment to try and not sure if consistent with others experiences, but you don't really get to play with the watch in the appointment. The whole demo is preset and it just takes you through so you can't just try any of the functions on yourself.

Several reviews have said it does slow down under heavy load significantly.

[krlock3]

Nope, you missed out.

The actual try on watches have a rolling demo but the ones sort of stuck to the desk are actual working apple watches which you can interact with on the desk but not wear. TBH this was not really clear until the assistant pointed it out. So I had a play with the working model as well and there was no lag.

[krlock3]

My watch order status changed from "June delivery" to end of May, beginning of June.

Has anyone else ordered one?