I did a video around 6 months ago giving my first impressions on the Apple Watch Series
3, but now 6 months later I’m going to give you my thoughts and opinions on using it.
The design of the Apple Watch is fairly unanimous at this point, with the design not changing
since its original release in 2015.
The design is a rounded rectangle, constructed from glass and metal – and despite its shape,
it's still extremely comfortable to wear all day.
The design itself has the OLED screen on the front of the watch, which is easy and clear
to read indoors and outdoors.
The digital crown and side button are what you use to help navigate around the interface,
the crown can be used for things such as scrolling and zooming.
Every Apple Watch has the same design but you do get the choice of which colour you
want but if you want to personalise it a bit more this is where watch bands come in.
Apple has a bunch of different style bands that you can use – I have the black Sport
Band which is made from synthetic rubber but I have found out that after a while it can
start to show its use in certain areas.
Apple’s bands are quite pricey starting as well at £50 each if you want extra ones
but you can pick up third-party bands if you want a bigger variety or better affordability.
The software experience on the Apple Watch is extremely nice, there are a few stutters
here and there that I get occasionally but otherwise, I find it a pleasant and smooth
experience.
The watch faces are what you will see most of the time, your notifications are a swipe
down and control centre a swipe up from that screen.
I have a few different watch faces set up, exercise, one to keep up with my calendar
and one that shows a minimal analogue clock.
You can set these up on the watch itself by force touching on a watch face or you can
use the Watch app on your phone.
Yes, the Apple Watch does have force touch, so you can use it to do extra actions such
as clearing all your notifications.
And talking about notifications, the first big part of the Apple Watch experience is
notifications, and it will probably be the first thing you notice.
Your wrist now becomes home to your notifications, as your phone will no longer beep or buzz
to show them as it is all on your wrist.
When you get a notification on the watch, it feels like you're getting a tap on the
wrist – the taptic engine is quite impressive to be honest.
So now you can check what notification you have without even needing to get out your
phone.
The only issue I have is that every notification has the same ding sound, it’d be nice to
hear different sounds depending on what app the notification is from.
Because for example, you can't really tell the difference between a Facebook message
and some random notification from a game.
The main appealing software feature for me was the Apple Watch activity tracking.
When you first set up the watch you set your active calorie goal for the day, there’s
no step goal like other fitness wearables, and then you can aim to hit this active calorie
goal to get achievements and the satisfaction of closing your activity rings.
The watch will count your activity throughout the day, it will take taking intermittent
heart rate readings as well but when you start a workout the heart rate sensor will be recording
the entire workout.
I’ve been very pleased and impressed with the fitness and activity features on the Apple
Watch and it has encouraged me to make my lifestyle a little healthier.
To be honest the app experience on the Apple Watch is quite lacklustre.
Apple’s apps are decent and there's a few good third-party apps that you can get but
there isn’t a lot, to be honest.
Apps such as Instagram and Twitter have actually disappeared and given up from attempting an
Apple Watch app and others such as Spotify aren’t even available – which is a shame
because I’d like to use my watch to connect to my headphones so I can leave my phone in
the car at the gym.
Apple Watch is basically a notification and fitness tracking device at the moment – which
I don’t really have a problem with, to be honest.
It would be nice to see better third-party app support in the future but I can’t tell
whether developers will suddenly jump onto the watchOS platform.
Apple claims up to 18 hours of battery life with the Apple Watch, but I have managed to
get up to 2 or 3 days on a single charge which can be very useful when you’re travelling.
When you do decide to charge your watch, it will take a few hours on the magnetic charger
and then it is ready to wear again.
So, in summary, I do think the Apple Watch is quite a good wearable.
It provides a high-quality made product with a great experience, which is to be expected
from with Apple.
I have found that it is great for tracking exercise and I can’t really fault it much.
The only thing that I can fault is that the lack of third-party app support is a bit annoying
and I do wish it was better.
Otherwise, I'm very pleased and happy with the Apple Watch.
That's been it for this video, thanks for watching and I will see you in the next one.