It probably comes as no surprise that I ended up getting an Apple Watch.
Friday (12/16) Joe came home work and told me he had gotten some American Express gift cards, and between that and finally selling the coffee table he had restored over a year ago, it would cover the watch and I should get it. He wanted to surprise me, but he knew I wasn’t sure which one I wanted (SE or Series 8), nor what color/size case.
He mentioned Target had them on sale through Saturday the 17th which put me into a bit of a panic since I needed to make a decision quickly. Needless to say, I spent the entire evening looking at options and using the Apple Store app on my phone to compare the watch case to the Amazfit Bip 3 to get an idea of how it would look on my wrist.
I finally settled on this one:
Apple Watch Series 8 GPS 41mm Silver Aluminum Case with White Sport Band – S/M
Initially, I thought I wanted a black one, but I didn’t care for the fact that the midnight case isn’t truly black, but instead a very deep blue. I briefly considered the Starlight color, but I tend to wear cool tones, so silver seemed to match better and would be more versatile with different color bands.
As for size, I felt the 45mm one was a bit too large for me and would be heavier than the watch I was currently wearing. The 41mm one is 1 gram lighter. I excitedly ordered the watch and then had to painstakingly wait until Wednesday (12/21) for UPS to deliver it.
It arrived with a nearly dead battery so the first thing I did after letting it come to room temperature was charge it. Luckily, I was aware of the absence of a power brick, so I had ordered one from Amazon which, in a stroke of perfect timing, arrived a half hour after the watch did.
Small rant: I think it’s shitty of Apple to not include everything you need to actually charge the watch. Imagine buying the watch as a gift for someone and not knowing this. Here’s something you can’t use until you buy something else. It’s pretty presumptuous of them to think someone getting a watch already has the appropriate plug when they recently changed from lighting to USB-C. I owned exactly zero USB-C compatible plugs until now.
First Impressions
The silver case is even nicer looking than I pictured, as is the white sport band. White is not a color I ever really wear so I was kinda bummed I couldn’t get a black band, but I’m actually really digging the white after all.
It’s heavier than the Amazfit and hurt my arm at first. This is because the band has more heft to it. It also takes getting used to with the way it fastens and then loops back into the side of the band against your arm. Initially I really didn’t like that, but now that I’m used to how it feels it’s not bad, and the bonus is the band cannot not get caught on anything since there’s no exposed excess.
The screen quality is stunning and even though I chose the smaller case, I can see everything quite well even with my bad eyes (I need progressive lenses ASAP).
Pros
I love how easy it is to customize watch faces and switch between them on the fly. You can store a bunch of them in memory.
Watch faces are interactive & offer at least one, but usually many, Complications (Apple’s term for small interface elements that users place on the clock face). For instance, if you add a weather complication that shows the temperature, tapping on it with your finger will bring you to more detailed weather data.
Notifications are intelligent – if your iPhone is locked, notifications will only make noise/vibrate on your watch. If you’re actively using your phone, they won’t bother you on the watch since you’d see them there immediately.
You can make/answer calls from the watch.
You can control media from the watch such as Spotify, podcasts, YouTube, etc. although you cannot actually listen to that media directly from the watch’s speaker.
I can keep better track of my hydration with the water app I have installed. Spoiler alert – I never drink enough.
The Activity app helps motivate me to move around more during the day and exercise at a higher intensity in order to complete my goals.
Cons
Audible notifications on the watch all sound the same regardless of which app they come from (with the except of phone calls). I wish you could mirror the same sounds as the phone since some notifications are more time sensitive than others.
There’s no Complication for steps as Apple doesn’t think they are as important as how much overall activity you have per day. I really don’t like Apple telling me what to do. I have just gotten into step counting and don’t like I need to install a 3rd party app to see that information at a glance. Apple tracks it, but I have to click on Activity and scroll down to see my steps. That is obnoxious and the 3rd party app wasn’t syncing the data correctly, so I ended up uninstalling it.
Conclusion
Despite some of the frustrations I have, I really love this watch! It’s very functional, and looks great too.