At the beginning of the year, Apple tried to completely open the doors and put the smartwatch in the must-have zone, which generated significant interest in this new device.
While Pebble is all about functionality and simplicity, the Apple Watch feels much friendlier and tries to engage people, not just be a passive device that remembers only when you check the weather or emails.
But did he really achieve this? Is it worth buying the Apple Watch? Yes and no. Smartwatches may be the future of smartphones and the Apple Watch has a lot of exciting features that give us a glimpse of what may be to come.
In addition to this, right now it works great, especially thanks to its updated software. So if you like a device that monitors your heart rate, tracks your steps, can play music wirelessly, send animated emojis to people, dictate messages, view notifications, send your heartbeat to your loved ones and more, then you will appreciate having an apple watch
It helps you look at your phone less, while keeping you connected, but don’t forget that it’s not a stand-alone device. To enjoy all of its features, you must have it connected to an iPhone (you must be within 30 feet of your phone, or you can connect via WiFi to further extend the range).
Now let’s take a deeper look at what Apple Watch has to offer!
Design
The Apple Watch is certainly an attractive watch, looking understated and elegant, with clean lines and curved glass that meets curved metal. Yes, you will not find a single sharp edge.
The case is made of stainless steel (also rose gold or aluminum) and is quite thick, but because it curves inwards, it appears thinner than it really is. Most smartwatches are plagued with this problem and sadly, at this point, we have to accept that smartwatch technology has not yet evolved as much as we would like.
Still, the Apple Watch feels reasonably balanced (it weighs 1.5 pounds and measures 0.4×1.4×1.6 or 0.4×1.3×1.5 inches) and if you’ve worn a watch before, chances are you won’t feel the thickness is much. of has been committed. The watch comes in two variants, a one-and-a-half-inch case and a 1.3-inch case. This differentiation has been made to please both men and women, but the larger one has better battery life.
On the right side of the watch, you’ll find the digital crown and a button you can use to show or hide friends, access Apple Pay with a double-click, and turn the watch on or off.
At the base of the watch is the heart rate sensor and the magnetic induction charging system (Qi compatible). There’s also a small speaker and microphone to the left of the watch for calling, but you’ll barely notice them.
Yes, the Apple Watch may look better than most smartwatches on the market, but it costs a lot more.
Our Apple Watch came with three straps, a black sport strap, the Milanese Loop strap, and the leather strap. The sport strap is very comfortable, but similar to other plastic straps on other smartwatches and has a unique locking mechanism that you’ll get used to in no time.
The Milanese Loop has a mesh-like texture and nicely complements the metal case, but feels much more feminine than any other strap option. It is quite flexible, feels comfortable, adjusts easily, and is suitable for both casual wear and dressier wear. The clasp is magnetic and stays closed (because the bracelet is very light, it may be better to leave the strap looser to balance the weight of the watch).
The Leather Loop bracelet also closes magnetically, it uses magnetic segments that snap together. But there are some shortcomings, as we did notice some scratches on the clasp after a few days of use and you may find yourself in the position of adjusting the strap during the day as it tends to slip a link or two from time to time.
display
The Apple Watch features a 1.5-inch (or 1.3-inch for the 38mm) OLED screen with a resolution of 312×390 pixels (or 272x340p) and a pixel density of 326ppi (same as the iPhone 6). The Retina display is a bit different than the one found on iPhones because Apple chose a flexible OLED from LG instead of the usual LCD technology.
The screen is covered by hardened Ion-X glass (for Apple Watch Sport) or sapphire glass, both of which are meant to protect it from scratches or minor knocks on furniture.
The OLED screen is bright and colorful, with high color accuracy, and overall one of the most vibrant screens we’ve seen on any smartwatch, but it’s still not as sharp as the one on the Samsung Gear S (which also has a much larger color palette).
But let’s focus a bit on the Force Touch technology (something new in the world of smart watches) that detects the level of force, distinguishing between soft or strong pressures, thanks to its small electrodes around the screen.
It’s an interesting addition that adds a few more options and functionality to some apps without adding more buttons or overcomplicating things.
Hardware and battery life
The Apple Watch includes a 500MHz Apple S1 processor, a PowerVR SGX543 GPU, 512MB of RAM, and 8GB of storage (when connected to an iPhone, you can fully access its storage memory).
The watch is also equipped with a heart rate sensor, which uses visible and infrared light LEDs along with photodiodes to determine your heart rate; there’s also a gyrometer, an accelerometer, and sadly no built-in GPS.
Also inside the box you can find a 205 mAh (or 246 mAH) lithium-ion battery. It promises 18 hours of battery life in normal use, 6 hours of music playback or exercising with the heart monitor, 3 hours of talk time and up to 48 hours of control time.
Software
The software running on the Apple Watch is called WatchOS 2.0 (an updated version of the slower first generation), and to be fully operational, the Apple Watch requires an iPhone 5 or later.
The watch is not designed for long time use, it gives a better experience if used for shorter periods of time, especially since some apps are a bit slow and not many complex apps are developed (using Facebook or any other Google apps on the small screen of the Apple Watch may be undesirable in the long run).
Now, let’s talk about the interface. If you swipe, you get the watch face with notifications and looks, and if you press the digital crown, you get access to apps. There is certainly a learning curve, but after a few days of wearing the watch, you get used to the way things work.
The watch faces have a number of new options (since the new update) that allow you to change the color, add new elements or remove them.
In addition to the usual notifications and watch faces, you can choose one of the individual screens with quick summaries of information from the apps you see frequently. To access Glances, you can swipe up on the watch face or ask Siri to open it for you, even if it’s not in your active Glances list.
Watch faces and faces look great on the Apple Watch, but there’s so much more. You get Taptic Engine, an innovative feature that actually taps you on the wrist when a notification arrives so you don’t miss anything important, it can also be used when browsing, you can tap on your wrist multiple times left or right rotates or you can use it together with the Digital Touch.
Digital Touch is a unique form of messaging that works exclusively between Apple Watches and allows you to send taps, finger drawings, or your heart rate.
There’s also Apple Pay (similar to what you might find on your iPhone), which is a really great feature, if you find places that accept this type of payment. What does it mean to offer the ability to purchase goods or services with a single tap of the clock at the payment terminal (two taps of the button is all it takes to order your card). It also works without an iPhone present.
In addition to all this abundance of apps and features, you get the versatile camera remote that lets you preview your iPhone’s viewfinder and even focus, set a timer, or activate the shutter.
conclusion
So how has our experience with the Apple Watch been so far? Well, it hasn’t been much different than any other smartwatch. Receives notifications, allows you to keep your watch in your pocket unless it’s something important, is more discreet, receives a light touch on the wrist, unlike a ringtone, and in general, meeting with friends and family is more attractive since we look less at our phone and focus more on the discussion.
The obvious conclusion is that the Apple Watch isn’t a must-have device, you don’t really need it, but if you can afford it it will make your life a little easier in some small ways.
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