I’ve been really curious about the new Apple Watch and so I asked a lot of my friends if they were getting one. No one in my (baby boomer) circle planned on making that purchase. I heard indications that they would take a while to ship, but I was really curious to check one out, so I knew I would have to go to the Apple store.
I also called my 28-year-old (millennial) son Joel, to find out his take on the Apple Watch. He is my technology go-to guy and he helps me a lot with my electronic gadget purchases. Although intrigued, he didn’t see himself sporting one in the immediate future. He never likes to buy Apple products that are first generation, believing it takes mass audience testing to figure out the kinks.
And then something unexpected happened. His wife won a trivia contest while attending a tech conference, and the prize – an Apple Watch certificate that she lovingly gave to Joel.
Suddenly, his excitement grew, as he was about to be the owner of Apple’s latest technology toy. He ordered the watch online and it arrived within a couple of weeks.
So instead of visiting my local Apple Store, I decided to check with him on what he thought now that he has had it for a few weeks. There was a lot I wanted to know, including what were the top questions that people asked him when they saw his Apple Watch.
Here is what he shared, including some things he likes and some he would like to see improved on.
The crazy questions:
Is that an IWatch? Nope. It’s called an Apple Watch.
Do you feel like you are living in the future? Nope, I’m pretty sure I’m living in the present.
Do you like it? Of course I love it! But I am tired of being asked about it all the time. That part is annoying. It makes me feel like an elitist.
Can you talk like Dick Tracy? Yes, you can talk on it, but you need to have a phone to connect with via Bluetooth
What apps or features do you like best?
• System Notifications for texts and emails. I love that the watch mimics notification-wise what the phone is doing. I don’t have to pull out the phone. When I get a text message or calendar alert, I don’t feel my phone vibrate, my wrist (watch) vibrates instead. I can glance at my watch and come back later to look at the event, either on the watch or my phone.
• Haptics Defined as the science of using touch to control interaction with a digital device, i.e. the watch vibration. It’s very discreet and can be muted easily by simply covering the watch face with your hand.
• Apple Maps. It has an integrated GPS and it vibrates when it wants me to make a turn so I don’t have to focus on looking at a map. This has proven very helpful, as I have been navigating a new city.
• Text Messaging. There are many preset words and phrases to choose from and the voice to text feature is incredible.
• Google’s Translate App. It’s very dynamic. There are many languages integrated.
• Two-day battery life (although he admits to plugging it in more often) and it doesn’t drain the phone battery.
• Twitter is great and easy to use. You can also browse Instagram and like photos.
• Apple Pay is fantastic. It is easy and extremely convenient, especially for groceries and coffee ala Starbucks.
Joel said the Health app reminds him to keep moving. He can track goals as well. He did note that after walking several miles in one day, when he finally sat down, he was urged to get up and move again.
The Apple Watch claims to be water resistant although he hasn’t had to find out yet. He has seen many videos (not Apple endorsed however) of people experimenting by swimming and cliff diving.
What about the Apple Watch would you like to see improved?
• While it’s great to be able to glance at the time without pulling out his phone, he shared the time disappears if you aren’t looking at right angle.
• When someone calls, you only see their name, not their picture.
• There is currently not a Facebook App, so have to pull out your phone to use it.
• You have to keep your phone with you or very close by. If you are too far away, the Bluetooth sync on the phone won’t connect.
There are no ring tones yet. (In other words, no warning when Mom calls!)
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
