The Apple Watch

fifth

Cheers, just ordered online anyway so don't mind waiting the couple of weeks. Space gray sport 42mm. (Original I know)

drunkmonkey

eirlink wrote: »

ive outlined the process for buying in apple store belfast in my post above ^^^

eirlink, can you pop into an Apple Store, check out the watch, then go to internet and reserve then pop back in shop to collect all in the same hour or two, sorry passing an Apple Store in the morning but have a limited time window, want to have a look before I buy.

shanec1928

drunkmonkey wrote: »

eirlink, can you pop into an Apple Store, check out the watch, then go to internet and reserve then pop back in shop to collect all in the same hour or two, sorry passing an Apple Store in the morning but have a limited time window, want to have a look before I buy.

Others have said a page or two back that if you reserve you don't have to buy you try on a few different models and then buy if you want.

wtlltw

Re apple care for your watch

You can buy in store (just bring your watch with you and get it done there and then)

Otherwise, I ordered mine over the phone but used a UK address (NI call centre but as the watch isn't available here they wouldn't allow an Irish address - you could get a different answer, but I had a Plan F in place)

wtlltw

I was in Cex in Newry last week and they had two Apple watches (not sports) for £360 (no strap)! Not sure if the price is good or bad but I remember a month after release Cex was offering £560 for the sports version.

bop1977

Apple watch to be released in Italy holland and a few other places on the 17/07 but not Ireland.

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/26/apple-watch-nl-sweden-thailand-july-17/

Sad Professor

We don't know that. There's no final list of July 17 countries yet. Ireland might still be among them. The blogs are just going by the websites. The Irish Apple site is due an update soon as it's missing a lot of info about WWDC and Apple Music.

eirlink

drunkmonkey wrote: »

eirlink, can you pop into an Apple Store, check out the watch, then go to internet and reserve then pop back in shop to collect all in the same hour or two, sorry passing an Apple Store in the morning but have a limited time window, want to have a look before I buy.

you can, provided that they have your chosen model in stock and there is a reservation slot available / no guarantee of either as models and slots sell out fast.

i bought mine this day last week and a week on im kinda thinking i will sell it.
the main reason is because i wear reading glasses, and although i had considered this before buying, i decided to go ahead anyway and increase the text size and enable bold.
During the past week ive tried various watchfaces and am finding that a lot of the time im either squinting to read the info or im reaching for my glasses.

i ove the watch and the design, and functionality, however im beginning to realise that my poor reading vision is prohibitive
im going to think long and hard about parting with it and if i do it will be for what it cost me to buy last fri,and i will give boardsies first refusal.

difficult decision TBH......

Update....im selling.

Blazer

^^ what model?

nevermind

42mm aluminium space grey sport

foobar

I can pick on up in the states next weeks. If i pick the black sport watch i think i will save around 90 euro. Is it worth the risk as there could be issues with the watch later on esp as this is a relatively new product?

Graham

foobar wrote: »

I can pick on up in the states next weeks. If i pick the black sport watch i think i will save around 90 euro. Is it worth the risk as there could be issues with the watch later on esp as this is a relatively new product?

I think time works the same way on both sides of the atlantic, you should be ok.

According to the apple website: Global repair coverage

dmn

Ordered mine through Apple.co.uk last Sunday and set for July 10-17 delivery. I'm heading to Belfast on Sunday so if it hasn't dispatched by then and it's available in store via appointment then I'll cancel and get there. So excited though!

neilc

Have my reasons but have to wait till it's available here in Rep. FFS getting so impatient

dmn

Waiting for an apple employee discount?

Inquitus

foobar wrote: »

I can pick on up in the states next weeks. If i pick the black sport watch i think i will save around 90 euro. Is it worth the risk as there could be issues with the watch later on esp as this is a relatively new product?

No, it will be obsolete shortly, you'd have to think it should work at least that long.

eirlink

sold mine...unsubscribed. chao .....

needhelpguy

So, for those of you who've had the watch a while, has it been worth it? Is it an essential part of your day now?

I was in belfast recently and had a play around with it in the Apple store, and while it was very nice in hand and on wrist, I couldn't see a reason to buy it.

Dermoth

I'm happy with mine so far. Battery life is not an issue. I'm looking forward to the native apps on the new OS. I had no intention to get one as I like mechanical watches but I was able to pick one up and don't regret it.I like the handling of texts and Whatsapp. I've had a couple of times where I've taken calls without having to find the phone. The only thing that I wasn't impressed with yet is the Golfshot app which didn't really do it for me.

tonylee

Had mine since the end of May and really like it. I’ve been a fan of smartwatches since getting the original Pebble a few years ago.

The Apple watch does a lot more and has better (obviously) integration with the iPhone than the Pebble has. It’s important to use the apple watch app on the phone to manage the frequency and type of notifications you get. Too many and they get annoying, too few defeats the purpose of the watch. Apart from the obvious ones, messages mail ,calendar and reminders, I use a few news alerts like RTE , the Guardian and NYT.

There’s a good email app called SPARK which works well at sorting mail and only pushes the important ones to the phone. Its also one of the few apps I know that lets you reply to emails from the watch.

I use very few third party apps as they are generally too slow until native apps arrive in the Autumn. Interesting that the Indo news app has a “glances” apple watch feature. I don’t know of any other Irish apps that have targeted the phone yet.

The most important thing I think to keep in mind with the watch, and any smartwatch, is that you aren’t going to get the same tech play value from it that you might get from a phone or a tablet. It’s just going to sit there on your wrist and alert you when needed. This fact, and the relatively high price of the watch, probably means it will take longer to gain traction than phones and tablets.

Zcott

tonylee wrote: »

The most important thing I think to keep in mind with the watch, and any smartwatch, is that you aren’t going to get the same tech play value from it that you might get from a phone or a table. It’s just going to sit there on your wrist and alert you when needed.

Absolutely this. To me the watch is like a doorbell in a way - it'll alert you when there's something that needs done, rather than you going to it and spending time there. The third party apps aren't great, but the native apps are good, and responding to texts quickly is really useful.

Plus it's a gadget

higster

Was a pebble user pre Apple watch.

Like color screen, been able to see photos in mail/test is good, been able to reply to texts (all be it using dictation) is cool, I like the activity tracker (thought I'd never use it but i do and does make a difference), use VIP option in Apple mail which minimises e mails to critical few, calendar works well, use "Hole19" for Golf GPS (tried it before with iPhone but wasn't "usable" but on wrist it's ideal), battery could last 2 days I believe but I charge it each night with the phone (eg its at 65% rat 8:30 in the evening), have used it for making & taking calls...discreetly...feel a bit I look like a gobs@&€e when using it, gets lots of attention when people spot it, haven't been using many apps yet but didn't with pebble either.

It's expensive vs pebble but is a definite step up...not convinced it's worth the difference though. Hoping iOS 9 changes will swing me 100% over.

Overall yes I like it. As commented before it's a gadget. Unless have a few hundred quid and are a bit of a geek for this kinda stuff I would have my doubts.

OU812

Do the sensors on the back (bottom?) of the watch do blood pressure or is it just heartrate?

tonylee

OU812 wrote: »

Do the sensors on the back (bottom?) of the watch do blood pressure or is it just heartrate?

only measures heartrate. Apparently a teardown of the watch revealed that it has a pulse oximeter (to measure blood oxygen level) but it hasn't been turned on. Some speculation that this was due to not having got US FDA approval at the time the watch was released. Not sure how reliable any of this information is. It would be great though if a hidden feature is unlocked at some stage!

ohsomuchbetter

Hey will be in Manchester for the weekend and hoping to go get me a watch. If I reserve it online am I right in saying I need a UK phone number? Anybody find a way around this yet?!

fifth

My 42mm Space Grey sport was delivered to Parcel motel depot this morning so hopefully will have it tomorrow

galljga1

Anyone worn one in the shower yet? Did it survive?

squonk

galljga1 wrote: »

Anyone worn one in the shower yet? Did it survive?

Yup, every day now. I used to take it off after I got it but after reading reports of people swimming with one and Tim Cook himself saying he showers with his I decided to bite the bullet and keep it on. It's fine. No problems with reliability and water ingress at all.

The screen does get a bit smudgy though and the shower itself messes with Force Touch so I often notice that the weather app has opened on the watch or I'm viewing my calendar. Another issue is that the wet surface doesn't help the touch screen functionality that much. I got a call while I was showering lately and needed to take it but when I touched the green answer button, nothing happened. I think the film of water caused my finger press to not register.

It's a tough, resilliant watch which is grand for day to day tasks I think. I can see why they don't support it under water. Not so much that the construction isn't up to the task but more that the tech they use isn't really able to operate effectively in a watery environment. I would like a swim activity monitor but I suspect that'll be something we see in Gen 2 or even Gen 3 when they've refined the tech somewhat.

Graham

squonk wrote: »

I would like a swim activity monitor but I suspect that'll be something we see in Gen 2 or even Gen 3 when they've refined the tech somewhat.

I'm sure I read about just such an app last week although there was also mention of it invalidating your warranty.

galljga1

squonk wrote: »

Yup, every day now. I used to take it off after I got it but after reading reports of people swimming with one and Tim Cook himself saying he showers with his I decided to bite the bullet and keep it on. It's fine. No problems with reliability and water ingress at all.

The screen does get a bit smudgy though and the shower itself messes with Force Touch so I often notice that the weather app has opened on the watch or I'm viewing my calendar. Another issue is that the wet surface doesn't help the touch screen functionality that much. I got a call while I was showering lately and needed to take it but when I touched the green answer button, nothing happened. I think the film of water caused my finger press to not register.

It's a tough, resilliant watch which is grand for day to day tasks I think. I can see why they don't support it under water. Not so much that the construction isn't up to the task but more that the tech they use isn't really able to operate effectively in a watery environment. I would like a swim activity monitor but I suspect that'll be something we see in Gen 2 or even Gen 3 when they've refined the tech somewhat.

Well that is good news, though I am not sure that I would risk swimming with it. I still think I will wait for gen 2.

OU812

I wonder if they're going to do a hardware refresh to Gen 2 in the next year? I personally would love to have one but after being badly burned on the iPad I'm hesitant to commit to Gen 1 again.