{"id":5819,"date":"2016-05-16T16:07:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T16:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2016-05-16T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T16:42:00","slug":"technology-one-year-with-apple-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/05\/16\/technology-one-year-with-apple-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology: One Year with Apple Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been an Apple Watch Owner for an entire year. I\u2019ve never worn a single thing that long aside from my eye-glasses that I generally replace every 3 years whether they need it or not. My keys, wallet, phone are out of my pockets while driving or sitting at my desk and when I get home, my iPhone gets docked beside my iMac and I don\u2019t touch it again until I set an alarm for it before bed. I\u2019d prefer to set the alarm on my Apple Watch instead but it\u2019s necessary that I charge it at night. That\u2019s the only limiting factor to not wearing my Apple Watch 24\/7.<\/p>\n

\u2026and I bet Apple wants me wearing it 24\/7. The amount of motion and health (biometrics) data they can collect from me by wearing the watch constantly would be vast. They\u2019d calculate sleeping patterns, heart-rate, location and how often I get up to use the bathroom or let the dog out. If Apple could build solar charging or motion charging (similar to how hybrids charge while the car comes to a rolling stop), this watch would be worn full-time. Further, if Apple could make the watch work fully over WiFi w\/o the iPhone in my pocket and if apps actually worked, I\u2019d never need my iPhone except for typing out long messages which I rarely do since I\u2019m always 20 feet from a computer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m getting ahead of myself though. Let\u2019s talk about Apple Watch, one year in.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important that I preface that I\u2019m not your typical reviewer. The first thing is, I unconditionally love Apple\u2019s Products. I have for many years. Since my Mac LC III and hand-me down PowerBook, I would call quarterly investors meetings in 1999 to hear Steve Jobs answer questions and even though I was only 13, I loved Apple. That feeling has not changed although I am a bit more mellow about my love for Apple. I still camp in front of Apple Stores for yearly iPhone launches despite the act being completely unnecessary. The second thing I should mention is I\u2019m not your typical reviewer in that I actually have a real job, real hobbies and I do more than sit on my computer all day tweeting and blogging. The majority of Apple-Bloggers who proclaimed they stopped wearing the Apple Watch are guys who sit at a desk all day with an iMac, iPad, iPhone and don\u2019t go to physical meetings or go out for lunch or buy groceries on their way home from the office or sit in meetings where staring at your phone is not cool but glancing at the watches fully accepted. These are not people who drive 20,000 miles a year and using the watch to keep up to date w\/ things while not being distracted is a godsend. I think I\u2019m the perfect use case for the Apple Watch outside of its health tracking features because honestly, since buying Apple Watch, I haven\u2019t set foot on a treadmill or walking-path.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I put the Apple Watch on at 6AM. I took it off at 11PM. It was at 25% Battery. This is the norm. I\u2019ve never seen the watch in the teens except maybe one case where I didn\u2019t take it off to charge when I laid down to sleep. The battery life for AM to PM wear is great. AM to next AM, nah. By the time 8AM the next morning rolls around, the watch will have about 5% battery left and soon shut down. I bring my charger with me and plug the watch in on my 26 mile commute to work and it\u2019s at 50% by the time I get to the office and will last until at least dinner-time. You can sleep with the watch if you turn on Airplane mode as I did for a while with the Sleep++ app. I\u2019d use it all day normally, go in airplane mode for 1 hour while laying down to read, put it on in airplane mode and fire up Sleep++ then wake up, charge for an hour and take it out of airplane mode and it\u2019d be at around 80% charged for my day at work. I got tired of the activity and now charge it at night but it is possible to wear it full time if you work at it. Tracking my sleep patterns just wasn\u2019t that important for how much work I had to put into it.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

I have gone swimming in lakes, braved rain storms, showered with and washed dishes with Apple Watch. I have never removed the watch due to the elements. I wash my car with it, it\u2019s always on me and I\u2019ve never had any issue. For almost all purposes, I consider this watch to be waterproof. I won\u2019t go diving with it but it can brave the daily elements.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also not very careful with the watch. I bang it into a door, wall, desk, drawer every single day. It hangs on my motorcycle gloves and siri activates almost every morning. I\u2019m incredibly abusive to the watch and bands. While there are surface scratches on the Space Black finish, the watch has held up incredibly well.<\/p>\n

The Milanese Loop is uncomfortable and it\u2019s why I haven\u2019t upgraded to the Space Black version yet. While it would look beautiful on my watch, I find the Milanese loop starts comfortable and when I bend my wrist, it comes loose, to make it fit snug, I have to go ultra tight and then the bones in my wrist have these loop imprints on them an hour after removing the watch. It\u2019s light which is nice but I wouldn\u2019t recommend it especially at $149<\/p>\n

I have a Black and Red sport band. These are great. High-quality, great if you\u2019re going to have an active weekend. When i go on a trip, I pack one of these with me. They are light, flexible, breathable (in that they don\u2019t snug your wrist too much) and the feel is soft without pulling out your hairs.<\/p>\n

The included Stainless Steel link bracelet. I love it. It\u2019s my 90% band. It doesn\u2019t yank out hair, it\u2019s heavy and feels really expensive. The clasp mechanism is genius, it\u2019s just gorgeous in how each link is curved and easily adjustable without visiting a jeweler. I love the link bracelet a LOT. As I show in photos though, you\u2019ll see how the black finish is wearing off on the edges of the links. I wish there was a way to stop this from happening without babying the watch which I promised myself I\u2019d never do.<\/p>\n

There are other bands I\u2019d like to own but at this point, I\u2019m fully covered. The black link bracelet is the \u201chey guys, I have the expensive one\u201d bracelet, the sport is comfortable and useful and the milanese, despite its fitment and comfort issues is very light weight while still being steel so it has a \u201cout for drinks\u201d use for me which means I use it once a month.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

For daily wear and as a new product, two things are really interesting. Despite the heavy weight of the steel watch and steel band, I don\u2019t notice it anymore. It sits on my wrist basically undetected. I wear it on my left hand, control my mouse with the right and while I am left handed, I touch a pen perhaps once a month at most and that\u2019s just to sign my checks at restaurants. So with that, it never intrudes on anything. Maybe the only time I take it off is working on my car\u2019s engine and it\u2019s not to keep the Apple Watch looking good, it\u2019s to make it easier to get into those hard to reach places with a screw driver where the Apple Watch\u2019s height may get in the way.<\/p>\n

Close acquaintances \/ co-workers will perhaps once remark on the watch and ask me what I think. After the initial launch, no-one even notices it except women. But I\u2019ve read that women notice watches where men do not. I find women staring at it but I think that\u2019s any watch. I don\u2019t think that has anything to do with it being an Apple Watch and more that it\u2019s solid black jewelry that stands out on my arm. It\u2019s one of the reasons I don\u2019t like wearing the black or red sport bands because the make the watch look like any commodity Wal*Mart watch or cheap FitBit knock off. Rubber red bands just don\u2019t appeal to me unless I\u2019m out camping and function is better than form.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said this before but as a new product category, this is the first time I\u2019ve experienced not being noticed with Apple Watch and I\u2019m actually very much okay with it because outside of the features I outline in this piece, the watch is only valuable with certain activities andI don\u2019t think the money I paid for this watch has been justified outside of the core features that even the $300 model can do. People still talk to me in Cafes and ask about my Retina MacBook Pro or iPad Air 2. I get emails from people asking me about the Core i7 iMac over Core i5 and is the BTO option \u201cworth it\u201d? but the Apple Watch hasn\u2019t had that issue once the initial hype wore down.<\/p>\n

I spent $1099 on the Space Black Apple Watch and aside from the materials and color, it\u2019s identical in every way to a watch that costs $299. The additional $800 gets me a color and steel. While I love my watch an I\u2019m one of the elite who chose to get the top-end of a first gen product (top-end compared to solid gold), I wouldn\u2019t recommend this model to others unless they, like me, like rare-ness. I\u2019m the kind of guy that would buy the carbon ceramic breaks and aero kit on my Porsche and essentially double the car\u2019s price-tag. Most people get the next level up from base and call it a day. For people like me, the Space Black has been awesome.<\/p>\n

Overall, the one benefit I can explain without feeling like a jerk is that Space Black Stainless Steel uses a process where black carbon is bonded to the steel to make the watch more scratch proof. While mine has some surface scratches, compared to a standard shiny, mirror-finished stainless steel Apple Watch, the finish has held up surprisingly well. The Sapphire screen is supposedly more scratch proof compared to the Ion-X glass in the Sport model but it is more shatter-likely than the glass version of the screen and I can attest that there are very few scratches on the screen except in certain light.<\/p>\n

Every watch will do the same tasks with the same storage and battery life. Spend what you want but realize you\u2019re paying for materials after $299. I do stand by the fact that there is value specifically in the Space Black Stainless Steel over any other model. Is that value $1099? That\u2019s only up to the consumer.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Then again, most of this rabble rabble is moot because if a new Apple Watch comes out, we start over again but I think it\u2019s all worth stating.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

1800 words in and we\u2019re finally talking about the software.It took a while but I did have a lot to say about ownership of the watch in general. Thanks for your patience.<\/p>\n

The Apple Watch is really good at these things:<\/p>\n