Apple Watch is pretty good, eventually

It took me a fortnight of frustration, but now I love my Apple Watch.

At first, I was tempted to send it back, but I’ve learned to appreciate it. Here’s my experience so far.

The screen isn’t activated by a kiss. I had to be sure though ☺

Telling time

It’s been so long since I last wore a watch that I’ve forgotten how useful they are. It may sound obvious, but Apple made checking the time a delight. There are 10 core watch faces to choose from, which can be customised to make it feel more personal.

I particularly enjoy being one glance away from the weather forecast (above). I can also see the weather for a whole day (which really helps me to plan my day when I’m out with friends):

Siri

Say I’m cooking and I have my hands covered in pastry. I turn my watch to face me and say: “Hey Siri, countdown 20 minutes”.

“Hey Siri, countdown 20 minutes”.

A stopwatch appears and starts counting down.

When I’m driving, I might say to my watch:

“Hey Siri, remind me to print out my boarding pass at home”.

Later, when I arrive at home, my watch taps me on the wrist to remind me.

THIS IS AS AWESOME AS IT SOUNDS.

English is not my first language (I’m Polish), so computers usually struggle to understand me, but Siri was great at this. Of course we’ve had Siri on iPhone for a while, but I’ve found it inaccurate and time consuming: I had to pull my phone out of my pocket and hold down the home button. I needed free and clean hands. On a watch, it’s just a turn of the wrist and I speak.

Texting

You wouldn’t think that a watch without a keyboard would be ideal for replying to text messages, but actually this works really well, especially for short replies which the watch tries to guess for you or your voice. I usually use Siri for that — it’s very handy here.

Fitness

I love running with my watch. Every time I complete a mile I get a gentle vibration to let me know. Glancing at my wrist while running is so much easier than turning my phone on, finding the app and checking the time/mileage.

The watch also monitors your heart rate and movement. If I sit down for too long Apple Watch advises me to stand up and move for a minute before sitting back down just to keep me healthy.

Unfortunately, it sometimes gets confused and tells me to stand up when I already am. This wouldn’t be annoying if it didn’t happen so often.

Notifications

The first thing I did with Apple Watch is turn off almost all notifications. I only kept the essentials: phone calls and text messages. Getting notified about Instagram likes will just drive you crazy.
What’s left is really useful though:

Receiving calls on my watch may sound silly, but it’s handy to talk to my friends and family “over the watch” while cooking or shopping.

Some people have said you have to carry your iPhone around with you to use Apple Watch but this is not always the case. The thing is, your phone doesn’t need to be in your pocket anymore - I can leave my iPhone in a handbag or in another room - and not worry about missing a call. I love that!

Conclusion

I’ve seen many reviews that love to hate Apple’s new device. They tend to say this isn’t the most amazing device ever created and they’re right.

For me, this watch is defined by what it can do, not by the things that it can’t.

Yes, it has its flaws (like any first gen device) but if this same watch was made by any other company this would be the hottest gadget all year. It took 9 iPhones to get to the iPhone 6 so I’d give it time.

The Apple Watch, in a funny way, has become a part of me — it feels uncomfortable not to wear it.

I can’t wait to see what comes next.