My Apple Watch Experience

I've had the little black watch now for 7 weeks, and for those that like their headlines right up front, I really enjoy it.

I admittedly had a defined use-case up front - I wanted an activity tracker, a watch that could help me with running feedback, and my old watch had experienced an issue that made it unwearable.

The fact that the balance of the interactions would be smart, and I'd get to mess with haptic feedback were all bonuses.

It hasn't disappointed.  The running app is integrated and seems to work well, tracking distances and heart rate to offer a number of mathematically derived conclusions such as pace, caloric burn and so on.  The activity tracker actually does motivate me to get up and to move.  Not a bad thing and it's not really a nag, at least not yet.

The most pleasant surprise has been that my phone stays in my pocket significantly more than it used to.   I heard a characterization of the various types of tech interactions we have using engagement time as the variable. For most things we interact with - the silly emails we all get, the notifications on sports or news that flash up, the watch is perfect for the 2 second glance and dismissal those things deserve.  For slightly more complex engagements, a longer work email to respond to or create, or a website I need to review then the phone is still the best tool with it's deeper interface.  For significantly larger efforts than we revert to laptops to write a paper, do research or capture a spreadsheet meaningfully.  The watch therefore addresses a need I unconsciously had, and for that I've enjoyed it.

There are some nice little things about that exceed expectations too.  It's really very water resistant. I've not swam with it, but it's been soaked numerous times. The haptic feedback when your wrist is tapped is an interesting new way to get involved with your world, and the build quality seems very high, as you'd expect from an Apple product.  Not everything's fantastic - it's much more a slave to the iPhone than I understood initially, and while the battery is good for a day and a half for me, it'd be nice to have it last longer.

I'm sold on the concept of wearables now though.  More so than a laptop, and more so than a phone the form, function and interface are crucial.  The watch seems to me to be the most personal of all the little digital world toys.  I know I'd have a very small tolerance for one of these done poorly, but this one is good and will only get better.