The Apple Watch

Zcott

Mine arrived this morning, which isn't bad considering I ordered it on 22nd. Must say, I could see this becoming a permanent body part pretty quickly...

squonk

What model did you go for ZCott, and colour?

Kaizersoze81

Surprising lack of posts from people who've purchased it . The buzz seems to have died off pretty quickly especially for a new product category.

Clem H Fandango

Kaizersoze81 wrote: »

Surprising lack of posts from people who've purchased it . The buzz seems to have died off pretty quickly especially for a new product category.

Plenty of action over on the applewatch section of Reddit, especially from UK/Irish owners.

mackerski

Kaizersoze81 wrote: »

Surprising lack of posts from people who've purchased it . The buzz seems to have died off pretty quickly especially for a new product category.

You want us to keep repeating how awesome it is? What interval did you have in mind?

FourFourRED

My SS with sport white band arrived today.

I've had a play with it for two hours. First impressions: absolutely gorgeous. Glad I went with the stainless steel, looks very classy. 42mm is the perfect size. Couldn't have gone 38.

I haven't done too much yet. Dictated a number of text messages, made and received a few calls flawlessly. Looking forward to testing the health tracking stuff. I don't have many third party apps yet.

I'll learn more over the next week of course but first impressions are that's it's a gorgeous little gadget with great potential.

Bob24

mackerski wrote: »

You want us to keep repeating how awesome it is? What interval did you have in mind?

I think he has a point though: 500+ posts about ordering/receiving the Watch and almost none about using it. An Apple hatter would say they have released the ultimate hyped consumerist product whereby the expectation of getting the product matters more than the product itself.

Anyway I am not an Apple hater and looking forward to reading some user feedback if anyone is interested in sharing :-)

Graham

Bob24 wrote: »

I think he has a point though: 500+ posts about ordering/receiving the Watch and almost none about using it. An Apple hatter would say they have released the ultimate hyped consumerist product whereby the expectation of getting the product matters more than the product itself.

Anyway I am not an Apple hater and looking forward to reading some user feedback if anyone is interested in sharing :-)

I've had mine for 48 hours ago, here's my thoughts so far.

It arrives in a very substantial box for such a small product. Setup takes a few minutes and begins with pairing your phone and watch. The pairing process is fairly funky, a spirograph style image is presented on the watchface and you hold the watch up-to your phones camera to complete the process. Any phone apps with Apple Watch support are synched to your watch during this setup. You will need a wi-fi/internet connection for the setup.

The Sports Watch is surprisingly light and not at all as chunky looking as the photographs would have you think.

Setup complete, I put the watch on and spent about half an hour learning to find my way around. I have to admit, at that point I did think 'is that it'. It's not like an iPhone or iPad or Mac where it would keep you occupied for hours/days/weeks, I guess that came as a but of a shock.

It's only over the next two days two days I slowly started to see the real utility of it.

I probably receive between 50 and 120 emails in an average working day, another 50 instant/SMS messages and a dozen Skype messages/calls. Not having to reach for the phone or flick to a mail client is a massive improvement for me. I restrict watch notifications to my personal email account and a hand-full of 'VIP' customers safe in the knowledge everything else can wait. A new email comes in, the watch buzzes and a quick flick of the wrist immediately shows if it's something I need to address quickly. For this feature alone the Apple watch is worth its price.

Siri works surprisingly well from the watch, much better than I was anticipating as I'd abandoned Siri on the phone a long time back.

Phonecalls from your watch are a novelty, any Dick Tracy fan would be delighted. Personally I think you'd look like a complete tool doing it in public. You know all those times when you see some plonker making a speakerphone call while holding their phone 2 inches in front of their face, that what it looks/sounds like.

Being able to send tap gestures to the Mrs is handy at times too. Where previously there would have been a quick iMessage to say 'can you talk for a sec', now there's just a quick tap on the wrist.

The heart rate monitor is amusing and appears to be reasonably accurate. When I look at a day-chart of my heartbeat I can pinpoint (to a 10 minute time-slot) the exact points where I was considering clubbing somebody to death with both sides of a keyboard. I'm actually thinking of charging clients a higher hourly rate for any work that raises my heart BPM above 90. :pac:

An old Ryanair boarding pass still lurking about in Passbook gives a hint at where the Apple Watch could go and I'm really curious to see where Apple Pay turns up over here.

Summary (so far) expect to put the Watch on and think 'is that it'. If you're anything like me though that opinion will quickly change. You know how you feel at the moment when you realise you've left the house/office without your phone. That's how you'll feel if you forget to put on your Apple Watch.

Bob24

Great feedback, thanks.

Graham wrote: »

The Sports Watch is surprisingly light and not at all as chunky looking as the photographs would have you think.

Interesting point ... It does indeed look a bit chunky to me on the picture but my brother who tried it at an Apple Store made the same comment as yours.


And also I guess no major issue with that on your side given your feedback, but could the notifications be a bit overwhelming? (as in interrupting what you are doing all the time) ... I guess the phone you can ignore and leave in your pocket while it it is just there n your wrist it is too tempting.

QikBax

I ordered mine in US store as I was meant to be heading there at the weekend. It was delivered to my hotel on the same day I had to cancel the trip.

Eventually arranged for UPS to pick it back up and ship it over here so since it was made it has gone from:

China - Anchorage - Harrisburg - Louisville - Charleston - Louisville - Cologne - Shannon - Cologne - Dublin - Shannon and then held by customs today in Shannon.

Got a call from UPS this morning to arrange customs payment but won't have it now until Tuesday because of the bank holiday : )

Bob24

QikBax wrote: »

I ordered mine in US store as I was meant to be heading there at the weekend. It was delivered to my hotel on the same day I had to cancel the trip.

Eventually arranged for UPS to pick it back up and ship it over here so since it was made it has gone from:

China - Anchorage - Harrisburg - Louisville - Charleston - Louisville - Cologne - Shannon - Cologne - Dublin - Shannon and then held by customs today in Shannon.

Got a call from UPS this morning to arrange customs payment but won't have it now until Tuesday because of the bank holiday : )

Luckily UPS where quite flexible! Did they charge a lot for this? (could be useful in the future :-))

And in the end with custom duties is the price about the same as the UK one?

QikBax

Customs came in at €120 on a 42mm Watch Classic buckle.

It's a pain but glad for the saga to be over!

Graham

Bob24 wrote: »

And also I guess no major issue with that on your side given your feedback, but could the notifications be a bit overwhelming? (as in interrupting what you are doing all the time) ... I guess the phone you can ignore and leave in your pocket while it it is just there n your wrist it is too tempting.

No issues at all, I have a few email accounts and only have watch notifications running on the two key accounts, that way I can assume anything only reaching the phone can wait.

If that doesn't work out I understand you can set notifications to sho for VIP senders only.

Zcott

squonk wrote: »

What model did you go for ZCott, and colour?

38mm sport with the white band. I also ordered a Milanese loop but there's no sign of that order moving at all.

It's a very nice device - takes a bit of getting used to but it's a very, very powerful 1.0.

FourFourRED

Has anyone managed to order AC+ for the watch through the phone yet? Those of you who didn't order it with the watch.

mackerski

Bob24 wrote: »

I think he has a point though: 500+ posts about ordering/receiving the Watch and almost none about using it. An Apple hatter would say they have released the ultimate hyped consumerist product whereby the expectation of getting the product matters more than the product itself.

Anyway I am not an Apple hater and looking forward to reading some user feedback if anyone is interested in sharing :-)

I think this is partly due to the nature of this channel - this is a forum constrained by geography to a territory where the thing isn't even officially on sale. So whereas this thread is the perfect place to discuss the challenges and logistics of actually getting your hands on one, the best info on how it is to use will be on international fora like Macrumors or iMore or similar. The few of us in Ireland who already have one won't give as rich a picture.

bop1977

Did anyone else see that your man Jean Claude trichet (ex ECB) was sporting an apple watch for his visit this week:

http://m.independent.ie/business/the-punt/the-punt-apple-cant-bear-to-watch-as-jeanclaude-tries-to-be-cool-31186043.html

Zcott

Kaizersoze81 wrote: »

Surprising lack of posts from people who've purchased it . The buzz seems to have died off pretty quickly especially for a new product category.

Another thing: unlike the iPhone or the iPad that encourage you to spend time using them, the watch is designed to get out of your way. I don't spend hours using my watch because it's just not designed for that kind of interaction. Instead, it's for very quick glances. The watch sort of sinks into being there and coming to you with notifications, instead of you going to it wanting to spend time with it.

Firewalkwithme

Andy Richter shows off his new Apple watch to Conan O'Brien

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQPJSaiNS-Y

arch_stanton

Ran today in Limerick with my sports watch. It was very light and comfortable. I used both the activity app and runkeeper. It was very handy just to raise the watch to see the distance and pace. I read somewhere about the activity app tapping you on the wrist after every km but it didn't do it. Must read the check the guide.

I stopped runkeeper at the finish but forgot the activity do it heart rate checked continuously for almost 4 hours and still had 37% battery when I noticed.

It also survived the torrential rain over the last 10 minutes with flying colours although it was difficult to use the touchscreen when it and my fingers were soaked.

Branoic

bop1977 wrote: »

Did anyone else see that your man Jean Claude trichet (ex ECB) was sporting an apple watch for his visit this week:

http://m.independent.ie/business/the-punt/the-punt-apple-cant-bear-to-watch-as-jeanclaude-tries-to-be-cool-31186043.html

:rolleyes:
From that Indo article -

The device is very much aimed at tech-savvy teens and the like, so you can imagine that images of a 72-year-old retired public servant wearing one is every marketing man's worst nightmare. What next? (Super) Mario Draghi playing with an XBox?

I think it would come as a surprise to Apple to hear that the watch is "very much" aimed at tech-savvy teens.

Oh so THAT's who they're targeting with their pricing strategy.

If anything, Apple would be delighted with a high profile "elite" like Trichet wearing the watch. It gives some credit to their whole "luxury high end watch" marketing, which that Indo reporter clearly must have missed. :rolleyes:

Blazer

The Indo tech writers (i won't insult journalists by calling them that) are complete morons. Same goes for most of their staff really and especially their motoring columnists who are completely clueless really

Graham

Blazer wrote: »

The Indo tech writers

The what??? When did the Indo get tech writers?

Bob24

Graham wrote: »

The what??? When did the Indo get tech writers?

When did the Indo get writers? I through regardless of the subject matter they only employed propagandists? (And isn't the article just that: a piece to make it clear to the reader that the that the Apple Watch is uncool)

miralize

Mine has just been shipped . 38mm black sport. Delivery by.. 2nd of June??

For anyone who has theirs, how long did it take for it to deliver once status was changed to "Shipped"

Zcott

miralize wrote: »

Mine has just been shipped . 38mm black sport. Delivery by.. 2nd of June??

For anyone who has theirs, how long did it take for it to deliver once status was changed to "Shipped"

Your dispatch email will give an estimated delivery day but it's supposed to be next day delivery. Enjoy!

prettyboy81

Prob late to the party but "Stocard" is a good app for the watch. All your loyalty cards get added to Passbook or your app for ease of use.

I added about 8 cards easily over the weekend but I haven't tried them all yet to see if they work from the watch.

godtabh

So it appears that I have won an apple watch. They are offering me a 38mm one (haven't specified what watch) in any band type but I'd prefer a 42mm one. They said they can offer me a giftcard to the value of a 38mm one instead. No hassle there.

Are apple giftcards restricted to location? If I get an irish one can I only use it on the Irish apple store?

brianomc

miralize wrote: »

Mine has just been shipped . 38mm black sport. Delivery by.. 2nd of June??

For anyone who has theirs, how long did it take for it to deliver once status was changed to "Shipped"

Just wondering when you ordered yours so I can try work out roughly when mine will ship. Order status says delivery between 20th May and 2nd June so hoping to narrow it down a bit. Thanks.

miralize

Got mine! Love it