Apple Watch Transformed Me — Other Reviewers Myst Like Windows

The Apple Watch has changed my life for the better, solving all the problems I had with the iPhone (such as missing calls while I tried to find it) as well as solving other problems I didn't even now I had until I got it.

I didn't want to write this blog about the Apple Watch, because I didn't want to seem like an Apple geek. But after reading the misleading reviews by other editors that shall remained unnamed, I just felt like I had to set the story straight. For one thing, all the features that one reviewer panned (he had put his Apple Watch on Craigslist because of them) were exactly the ones that not only work for me, but have streamlined by workflow and changed my life for the better.

I know that Apple CEO Tim Cook showers with his Apple Watch and its supposed to be water proof to 5 meters or some such, but I put my Apple Watch on as soon as I get out of the shower--it doesn't seem right to me to shower wearing a watch. But as soon as I put it on I start using it. I check the weather first, which tells me hour-by-hour (on a round display that shows temperatures instead of hours) so I know what layers to wear to make it through each day. While I'm dressing I turn on some mood music from the watch which is paired to my "bedroom" Mac. And at breakfast I continue listening to music in the kitchen by streaming it from my iPhone to my Bluetooth headset I wear all day to answer the phone. Whenever a phone call comes through I get a tap on the wrist then it goes straight to my headset, or if I'm not wearing it, it "rings" on my wrist where I can them answer directly from the watch, which has a small but very hearable speaker, to which I answer back by talking into the MEMS microphone on the same side of the watch (opposite the crown) just like Dick Tracey.

To do a selfie, all you do its put your iPhone where you want it (I have a stand built into my ZeroChrome case, so it can be propped up either horizontally or vertically). Using the photo app on the Watch I can see in realtime what the iPhone's camera is seeing, and after getting every-one, -thing or -whatever framed properly I snap the shutter directly from the watch.

The edition I bought was 38 millimeter (because the 42 millimeter doesn't look like a watch on your wrist unless you are a giant) with the black anodized aluminum case for light weight and sweat-resistant band which is curved underneath so it breathes).
(Source: Apple)

I never miss an appointment anymore, because it taps me on the wrist in plenty of time, even if I have to account for driving time to get there--which the calendar keeps track of for me. It also gives me a summary everyday of what I need to do and even reminds me to get up and walk around at least every hour to maximize circulation or something which it keeps track of with infrared sensors on the bottom side of the watch that look through my skin to track my heart rate by the minute. (You can also send an "intimate" heartbeat message to someone, if you're into that kinda thing).

It also reminds me to do my exercises everyday (which for me is yoga, but it can track any type of exercise, multiplying your heart rate times your movement to estimate calories burned). When I walk the dog everyday it keeps track of that too, telling me afterwards how long it took, how far I went, how many calories I burned and a bunch of other details it automatically transfers to my iPhone for long-term logging and for setting automatic goals. Its smart about goals too, normally encouraging me to gradually increase them everyday, but also letting me drop back and get a new start (say after a business trip when I haven't been exercising).

I also use the timer daily for all sorts of things--from timing how long things are baking in the oven (yes, the oven his its own timer, but you have to be in the kitchen to hear it) to keeping me from wasting water by tapping me on the wrist when its time to turn off the sprinklers.

I also check the sports scores I am interested in and have switched to only watching games (on replay) when my team wins (its too depressing to watch games where I know my team is going to lose).

At Starbucks I pay for my drinks with two taps on the screen, likewise at the airport I just show them my boarding pass bar code at the gate-again with just two taps. My friends all have their credit cards scanned into their Apple Watches so they can pay for things with their watches, but for me that's just an invitation to accumulating credit card debt (so I carry cash on a money clip, and when my discretionary money of the month runs out, I stop spending, which my girlfriend says makes me "cheap" but I'm wise to that trick).

I could go on and on, such as about turn-by-turn warnings it gives with a tap on the wrist and a voice in my headset (or coming out of my iPhone), the notifications it gives of incoming mail, the instant access to Siri (which seems to work even better than Siri on the iPhone), the voice-based dictionary access and a hundred other apps I haven't even tried yet.

I got the cheapest model ($349) which is more than I've ever spent on a watch, but the Apple Watch is more like an iPhone on your wrist. I've started carrying my iPhone in my tiny briefcase that's just big enough to hold my 12" Macbook, a single file folder and my iPad too. I hardly pull the iPhone out anymore (except to read the funnies everyday). Likewise, I've stopped carrying my iPad all the time (unless I want to use it as a second screen for my Macbook--yes, there's an app for that). But I still use my iPad everyday at home for things like watching sports on the back porch.

Now I've gone and revealed I'm an Apple nut. Sprint gave me a Samsung tablet for free--all I had to pay was $10 per month for 4G access--but I took it back after a week and had to argue with them to not charge me a $75 restocking fee. Samsung must have made a lot more tablets than people are buying. Others rave about Android, but it just seemed as clunky as Windows to me.

So if you are an iPhone and Mac user, the Watch is an essential accessory in my book. I guess those other reviewers must be Android lovers or (shudder) Windows lovers, or are just used how they work, but for me Apple's stuff all fits together nicely and the watch is definitely worth $349 even if it will be obsolete next year.

I’m looking forward to getting mine!

I say that with some fear, because there are a lot of crabby old geezers on this forum who will immediately surge forth to tell you they have the same watch they bought for $3.00 in 1952 - but who cares about their $3.00 watch?

I don’t know why they are so obsessed with posting insults if they’re theoretically not even interested in the product. Anyway, they should remember that once upon a time, the $3.00 watch was new technology and many people probably thought it was pretentious and above your station to have a watch anyway. Silly Luddites!

They don't have a life or friends beyond this, I'd imagine. It's the only way they can get anyone to respond to them. They think the feedback they get is demonstrative of their fact they are alive. . . sort of like the feeling taggers get for putting their ugly graffiti on walls everywhere, destroying the beauty of things others built. . . or spitting in the punch bowl at a party, thinking it's funny. The only people who find it funny are other 13 year old juveniles.

To do a selfie, all you do its put your iPhone where you want it...Using the photo app on the Watch I can see in realtime what the iPhone's camera is seeing, and after getting (everything framed) properly I snap the shutter directly from the watch.

Now that's a cool feature I didn't think of!

Here in NYC, all the tourists are using those selfie-sticks that they sell at the newstands and nothing looks dorkier than a selfie-stick. Except maybe riding a Segway with a bicycle helmet.

It is such a sad statement on people and society today....a watch/phone/tech gadget “transformed their life?”

Not sad at all actually. When I was a kid growing up, all the gadgets we are using today was science fiction back then.

For example, when you wanted to contact somebody out of state in 1975, you had basically two options. Write a letter, stamp an envelope and hope they get it in three days. Or make a very expensive long distance telephone call. Today, my grown children live out of state and it's like having them in the next room with all these texts, chat sessions and video calls on Skype, etc.

Maybe the younger folks who grew up with all this stuff think it's no big deal but for anybody over 50, this is truly transforming technology.

It’s an advertisement. That’s all.

An editorial review by a senior Advanced Technology Editor at the premier online Electronic Engineering magazine in the World with editions in multiple nations and you dismiss what he has to say as a mere "advertising?" You are deluded. He is not in the business of selling Apple products. . . nor, as far as I know, does Apple advertise with EE Times, or with their parent corporation UBM.

90210 iOS Munchausen's Apple-Plexy Syndrome (MAPS), The overwhelming compulsion to post negative, judgmental, aggressive, and false commentary on any website thread related to Apple products wherever found, including phobic reaction to projected Apple user euphoria. First and subsequent encounters.

“They don’t have a life or friends beyond this, I’d imagine. It’s the only way they can get anyone to respond to them. They think the feedback they get is demonstrative of their fact they are alive. . . sort of like the feeling taggers get for putting their ugly graffiti on walls everywhere, destroying the beauty of things others built. . . or spitting in the punch bowl at a party, thinking it’s funny. The only people who find it funny are other 13 year old juveniles.”

Classic projection.

It’s the flowery “transformative” sales pitch I was poking at. They are making the watch to be the next Jesus Christ. It’s a watch. It’s a phone. Like it or don’t. But it’s not going to transform lives. If people think so that’s pretty shallow.

By the way, and not directed at you, I noticed for expressing my opinion without insulting anyone, I am referred to as the cranky old fart with no life. Some folks need to stop being so sensitive. There is a whole lot more to life than what someone posts about me or anyone on any forum.

FRegards

“...there are a lot of crabby old geezers on this forum who will immediately surge forth to tell you they have the same watch they bought for $3.00 in 1952...

I don’t know why they are so obsessed with posting insults if they’re theoretically not even interested in the product. “
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IMHO, they are obsessed with posting their insults because they suffer from Apple Derangement Syndrome (ADS). It’s the same cast of ADS sufferers who show up over and over with their insults, misinformation and lies. Mama would have said “those folks are strange...stay away from them”.

They are the Apple Watch users who are finding that it does make things far easier for them. . . and if they like the author of this article chose to make this claim, who are you, who does not use one, to claim different? You don't have the experience to say differently. There are informed opinions and opinions pulled out of nether orifices. . . and we have seen too many of the latter type. Those get tiresome.

FRegards back at you, Magnum44.

I like the iPhone 6, the iPad and the Macs....

That being said the iWatch..... is a 100% complete turnoff.

The #1 issue with the iWatch..... is the screen size.

It’s simply TOO DAM SMALL.

Even though I like Apple Products I will not purchase the iWatch.

Another BIG MISTAKE Apple has recently made is with the music.

1) I like the way the new music works, but APPLE IS NUTS TO THINK I WILL PAY $10 A MONTH FOR IT after 3 months. I’m dropping it.

Why pay for music when I can a Sirius (stream only) satellite commercial free music, TV channels and NFL for the same price?

What about Amazon’s Prime where you get free music, free e-books, free movies and 2 day delivery for free at LESS THAN what Apple is charging?

What about all the free music online via web sites like Youtube, Pandora, Sound Cloud,Vimeo, etc...?

Finally Spoofy which is similar Apple is doing only has 6 million payers World Wide. What out of 7.3 Billion people. It’s a joke!

Sorry I just do not see Apple iWatch and the streaming music for $10 as popular as their iPhones ever.

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