Bought My First Apple Watch

[jyl]

Bought my first Apple Watch. Not for me. A Xmas present for my wife.

I did this for one and only one reason. She leaves her phone in the depths of her purse on vibrate. So she is essentially unreachable, despite carrying a $650 smartphone connected 24/7 to high-speed data and cell networks. I'm hoping that I can set the watch to alert her when, and only when, I or the kids call or text.

What do you think?. Will it do this?. And do it well?

It will be interesting to see what other apps she uses, but honestly if all it does is allow me to contact her, that's all I need.

[Neilk]

I got my wife an Apple Watch and that is the exact reason she loves it. Her iPhone gets buried in depth of her purse and the watch allows her to easily see who is calling etc. She will even talk on her phone Dick Tracy style too.

You did good!

[enzo1]

it will also "find" her iPhone when she can't find it ex: we get in the car, start to head off and "where's my phone" hits her watch it starts beeping from wherever it is ....

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm guessing the watch ends up buried in the purse before long too.

[Scott R]

Custom alerts? No. It has haptic response or a tone, and for me as far as I've found just a single tone. Is your wife into fitness? Because that's what it excels at. The Outlook app is good, but the calendar is nearly non-functional. The calculator app I have, which is a good one is not very functional. Maybe it's better on the bigger screen?

Also don't mistake it for being able to text, it has a few simple canned text responses, like "yes," "no," etc. And you must get used to it being your nightstand clock or you will forget to charge it. And it doesn't last long on a charge. It's just now 7:00 PM MST, I got up at 6:00 AM and I have 55% left after lite use today.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I picked up a Pebble Time for $129 and it does the same thing.

Oh, and the battery lasts a week.

[Scott R]

My totally boring home screen:

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Custom alerts? No. It has haptic response or a tone, and for me as far as I've found just a single tone. Is your wife into fitness? Because that's what it excels at. The Outlook app is good, but the calendar is nearly non-functional. The calculator app I have, which is a good one is not very functional. Maybe it's better on the bigger screen?

Also don't mistake it for being able to text, it has a few simple canned text responses, like "yes," "no," etc. And you must get used to it being your nightstand clock or you will forget to charge it. And it doesn't last long on a charge. It's just now 7:00 PM MST, I got up at 6:00 AM and I have 55% left after lite use today.

Can you have it give a haptic alert if certain people call or text you, and no alerts for any other calls, texts, etc?

[stealthn]

My wife and I have them and love them. I especially like alerts for multifactor authentication to websites, very handy to have them on your wrist.

[jyl]

Well, so far the wife likes this electronic tether (how I think of it). I've turned off all notifications besides phone, text, and calendar. She hates the sports band, but third party bands are only about $20-30. She likes being able to talk on the watch and dictate text replies. I also spent some time setting up custom canned text responses. The usual "on my way", "running late", "okay", etc. But also "I'm so sorry, that's a tragedy", "that's too bad", "is that good or bad?", "that sounds pretty good", "that's awesome!!!", and "I don't care", "what do you think", and "uh huh".

[porsche4life]

I got one for Christmas. Loving it so far. Really like the black sort band too actually. Would be cool on a leatherman tread if I can figure out how to hook it up!

[porsche4life]

[jyl]

Watch adapter for the Leatherman Tread Multi-Tool - TreadLinks

Apple Watch Universal Watch Band Adapter

[porsche4life]

Thanks! I had done a Google search but hadn't found that.

[jyl]

Ordered a black leather band with white stitching. $20.

Apple Watches and the accessories for them are widely discounted. Not sure if this means they aren't selling well. Analyst estimates of Watch sales sound pretty healthy. But Apple might need to drive higher units to attract more developers.

Edit: looks like at least $2BN sales in 2015 through Sept, implying about 4MM units.

[porsche4life]

I think more apps being developed will help too. As more functionality comes, so will more users. I think the navigation on it is awesome when driving. Gives you a haptic notice before the turn and lights up with your next direction. Very slick.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by jyl

Well, so far the wife likes this electronic tether (how I think of it). I've turned off all notifications besides phone, text, and calendar. She hates the sports band, but third party bands are only about $20-30. She likes being able to talk on the watch and dictate text replies. I also spent some time setting up custom canned text responses. The usual "on my way", "running late", "okay", etc. But also "I'm so sorry, that's a tragedy", "that's too bad", "is that good or bad?", "that sounds pretty good", "that's awesome!!!", and "I don't care", "what do you think", and "uh huh".

You forgot "feck off ya bloody bastage!"

[enzo1]

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by jyl

Well, so far the wife likes this electronic tether (how I think of it). I've turned off all notifications besides phone, text, and calendar. She hates the sports band, but third party bands are only about $20-30. She likes being able to talk on the watch and dictate text replies. I also spent some time setting up custom canned text responses. The usual "on my way", "running late", "okay", etc. But also "I'm so sorry, that's a tragedy", "that's too bad", "is that good or bad?", "that sounds pretty good", "that's awesome!!!", and "I don't care", "what do you think", and "uh huh".

Did you check for "text templates"?

My cheap azz android came with a list of those like "I'm running late", "where are you?", "how's it going?", "when can we meet?", "my dog ate my homework", "sorry can't answer the phone right now, having a threesome with the twins across the street.", etc.

Sorry Enzo, too ADD to watch a 13 minute video, maybe it shows how to use the templates or whatever they are called in the apple world.

[jyl]

Wow. 10:46 pm and my wife's Watch still has battery at 53%. Her usage today was light: some texting, a couple short phone calls on the watch, occasionally checking the time. I'm surprised. Perhaps the battery life will decline as she uses it more.