Will you buy an Apple Watch?

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Will you buy the first version of the Apple Watch?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 20.8%

  • No

    Votes: 57 79.2%
  • Total voters
    72
I have always liked the idea of the Apple Watch, but didn't care for the previous implementations. I thought this newest version would be the cat's meow with the LTE calling and so forth. Which leads me to my first screwup! I ordered the wrong damned watch! Got the GPS version and everything Watch at Apple has a 3-4 week+ shipping time! 🙁

After installing a few apps and playing around a bit, I still love the ideas presented. But my poor old eyes don't like the small screen much at all. I can read the bigger stuff without my reading specs, but the smaller stuff just is fuzzy and not useful. Not the fault of the watch, just a fact of my aging process.

I got the watch to use on the golf course as primary usage. Loaded two of the golf GPS apps on and while they work, they both offer very simplistic layouts due to the real estate restrictions of the screen. One of them wouldn't even work unless you upgrade ($) to one of the non-free versions. Both do what they do quite well, but are very limited in scope. One biggie is no presentation of the hole layout, neither as a made up picture nor as a satellite image. That is important. And what it means, is that even though the apps work and provide some info about the hole that is useful, you still need the phone using the same app being in range of the watch. Pretty much precludes the idea of only taking the watch on the course.

Because of that the most likely scenario is that I will send the watch back to Apple. Or less likely just keep the GPS version because the LTE version brings nothing to the table that I would need. I'm disappointed to say the least.
 
Apple policy- You have 14 days to return it based nothing more than your own fault. If you wanted an aluminum one you could possibly pick up one from a store near by, but call first to see about inventory. They may accept your return model but more likely if you had it shipped in you would need to return auth by carrier. I know stainless is only available by mail order now, any model. But Aluminum 42 & 38 mm in all colors were selling off the shelf at my local store.

As far as the apps limitations are concerned. they do get better with time but with so many out there you have to do your homework. Is there a device you can use that does what you want, better than the Apple watch? If so then by all means, send it back and get that. Only Apple fanboys would keep something just because it is Apple. Remember, I gave up on the iphoneX because of the screen resolution and aspect ratio. Sony was far superior for my needs on that requirement.
 
Local Apple store in my case is 100+ miles away, so that’s not going to happen. As to swapping at the store, yes that is a choice for an Apple return. I’ve checked Verizon and Best Buy local stores and neither have stock. Both indicated that ordering now for a later delivery date is the way to go as neither expects store stocking anytime soon. Local Verizon store thinks they won’t see store stock until much later.

The golf gps apps are a bit weak and looking at other wrist devices doesn’t look any better for them. I have emailed both developers to see what their plans are going forward, so I’ll hold off on a possible return until I hear from them
 
Battery drain report:

I'm at 44% now after 26:20. That's not bad.

I also hit all three of my exercise goals just an hour ago. Been doing yard work cleanup after the new sewer line was put in this past week. They left some large slabs of concrete from the driveway and I spent an hour swinging a 15 lb sledge to break it up to pieces I could lift. I used the cardiogram app on during that time and took a break when my heart rate was up to 130. A year ago the doc took me off regulated pacemaker so I could exercise again. But he warned me not to over do it meaning only brief times period over 110-120. I just love this apple watch heart monitor.


Lloyd, I have another thought. Given that these things are in such short supply with decent demand, maybe you should consider selling it on ebay for even a small profit. 🙂 When the airpods selling for $159 were in long delivery, ebay was the quick choice but the price ranged from $180-$240 for used little to new unopened. Yours would be used little. so maybe you could up the price you paid by 5-10% and see how it goes, if you wait beyond the 14 day return period.

Also check out Best Buy, Target, B&H, and Walmart. You have lots of options to follow.
 
I stopped in at the Apple Store today after seeing "Kingsmen: The Golden Circle" and looked at the new Series 3 ?Watch. One thing I wanted to see in person was the new Edition color. If anyone remembers Audi's Nimbus grey from a few years back, that's it. It's it wasn't $1,200+ it would be tempting. But I did try on the black Stainless 38mm and 42mm watches. I prefer the 38mm size since it's closer to the Seiko I used to wear. I checked my resting heart rate (55 ppm) and tried messing around with a few of the watch faces. Since I have Cricket Wireless, I can't use the LTE feature at this time, but the watch will work without it. But, since they don't have stock in my Apple Store, it's a moot point at this time.

I did end up with the new 32GB 4K ?TV and was able to use my EPP discount to save a little money. This is my Sunday project, replacing a 1080p ?TV on my Home Theater setup. One big change I was able to verify was the ?TV Remote now has a raised white ring around the MENU button. Makes it much easier to orient in the light or in a dark room.
 
My altitude is showing 40 ft. I thought I was 45 ft above mean sea level.

That might be the street level and my house floor is about 5 ft above the street so that may be the difference. 🙂
 
I had to reset my iPhone to factory settings and needed to unpair my watch and repair it after the restore.

Somehow the activity data for most of September was lost in the processs. It is on my iPhone 7 but there is no way to just selectively restore an app. Frustrating but not worth wiping everything out. Still....
 
Might be a conflict in your backup timing. I did two backups prior to upgrading to iOS11 on my 6+ and my wife's 5SE. One each to the icloud and a second to the iMAC. The upgrade - restore went off without a hitch on both.
 
OK, my GPS Watch, run time on charge so far : 27 hours
Light use yesterday with just a few wifi phone calls and twiddling with apps
today 18 holes of golf using Golf Logix GPS app

Charge left : 67% - that's wonderful!!

Golf apps are VERY weak! 🙁 Also very slow to update when changing holes and moving forward. That's not good. Golf Logix app works but requires the phone to be running the app also, so it must be getting data from the phone vice the watch itself IMO. Swing by Swing would never find me even though I had good signals, so I couldn't see how well/bad it worked. So far, for my primary usage, I'm not happy. I've emailed the developers to see what they are planning going forward and a rough timeline for dramatic improvement.

My secondary usage is for lifeline type services. Part of that is built into the phone which can call 911 and send them medical data. There are a sparse few apps for fall detection which require subscription, but from reading it sounds like they aren't actually using the watch for the detection, but the phone. I need to get that verified.

I'll know by the middle to end of this week whether the watch goes back, gets kept, or gets swapped for an LTE version.
 
Battery Report:

45.5 Hours and down to 18% remaining.

With heavier use than I did with my original watch, this one seems to be even better. I will get used to putting it on the night stand charger every other night at this rate. Those naysayers who claimed this watch3 would be a battery hog of only 18 hours were, once again wrong! I wish Apple would stop handing out free review products before release date to hostile Apple hating reporters.


BTW- I just looked at my Verizon file and it showed I added a new number for the watch LTE. But the add on fee was waved and charges for the next bill is listed as $0.
 
If you learn anything about the "I've fallen and can't get up" apps, please share. I'm thinking when I move on to a band 12 & 71 phone, my MiL will get my 6+. That would be handy for her. It would have to work in a fairly rural area.
 
Battery report:
50 hours 10% remaining.

This is the longest I have ever had for an Apple watch.

I have been customizing 4 watch faces now with custom touch areas in the corners for my most used watch apps. This wOS4 is really nice!

The one watch band I wanted to get for this Black SS model is a black SS band with yellow gold trim. Can't seem to find any, anywhere. If any of you run across one, let me know. Shouldn't be any more than $25.
 
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I'm pleased with my battery life. 67% since 7am, and I did a 2 mile walk, and a 13 mile bike ride.

Still getting used to the Watch OS 4 software. Nice, but a bit different.
 
rockymtnhigh said:
Still getting used to the Watch OS 4 software. Nice, but a bit different.
Click to expand...

I'm finding everything in wOS4 easier. I switched my apps from that pile of dots to list view and my left brain finds it much easier to use. I also organized the watch faces so that I can slide 4 different ones in as needed and have custom apps I frequently use to tap on from the watch face. I just swipe to the side and then tap. That is even easier than the list view.

For style ( right brain ) I organized the color of the face to match my band and protective color.

Speaking of which I had been using the polycarbonate plastic covers but these were really fragile and broke. I recently found aluminum ones that are stronger but look more like the aluminum apple finish.

After searching for almost a week for the black SS band with Gold trim for my new watch3 in Black SS Amazon must have been tracking my unsuccessful searches and I got an email alerting me to this one which I ordered yesterday: 🙂
Amazon product ASIN B01NGTWSAB
This is the style I was looking for.
 
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navychop said:
If you learn anything about the "I've fallen and can't get up" apps, please share. I'm thinking when I move on to a band 12 & 71 phone, my MiL will get my 6+. That would be handy for her. It would have to work in a fairly rural area.
Click to expand...
Built into the Watch is a way to push a button and call 911 quite easily. Fall detection to automatically call or text some emergency contacts is a subscription service. One I saw was about $7/month.
 
BTW, got an email from the Swing by Swing developers. Unfortunately they said nothing is in the works to improve it with the Watch. So that makes me lean even more to returning the Apple Watch. And I've ordered a Garmin Approach S20 watch which looks to be a much better Golf GPS solution at a more reasonable price. Of course it doesn't do as much overall as the Apple Watch.
 

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