Introduction
Like many of you who resold the Apple Watches during the Best Buy never-ending sale this past Christmas, I’m sure you got a return or two. Now you have 2 choices – you can either resell it as ‘used – like new’ or you can say, “the heck with it, let me try it out for a while before I decide to resell or keep it.” Let me make your decision a little easier by giving you my review of the watch. I actually bought it used from Cowboom last November for $262+tax. I got the 42mm rose gold one to match my rose gold iPhone. Okay, I lied. I got that color because it was the cheapest color that they had in stock.
By the way, if you got a returned watch from FBA, you should try to pair it with your account before reselling it. Although the buyer may have reset the watch, it may still be locked to their iTunes account.
First Impressions
Like many people these days, I don’t read the manual. I just sorta dive right in, and when I’m stuck, I’ll open up the manual. It should only take a few minutes to figure out how to power on the thing and pairing it is also pretty fast. After that, go get ’em! I changed my ‘home screen’ to show data that I’d care about vs having a “pretty” watch face.
What I use it for
Here are the main uses for the watch (in order of importance):
- I can read text messages, FB Messenger messages, and other notificaitons from my wrist without taking out my phone.
- To check the date and time
- Calendar reminders
- Answer a phone call from my wrist while driving
- iOS maps – gives turn directions on wrist
- Check the temperature
- Set timers [for Kate] – easier on wrist than on phone
- Ask Siri to remind me to do stuff when I’m away from phone
Notice I don’t really care for the reminders to get up and walk around.
My gripes with it so far
My biggest gripe is that sometimes in the mornings, it loses the pairing with the iPhone. Although the iPhone says the watch is connected, I’ll realize it’s not paired when my pocket vibrates instead of my wrist.
Another gripe is when I get 2 FB messenger notifications, I can no longer read the message on my device. It just says I have 2 notifications in Messenger. I can’t actually read them on the watch.
They could also make it a bit thinner. I expect this to come with the Watch 2 whenever it gets released. I mean, that’s really it. I realize I’m probably only using 25% to 50% of the watch’s functionality, but to me, the rest is just gimmicks that I don’t really care about.
Is it worth $300?
Not really. But you’re talking to the same guy who had the Samsung Gear 2 before the Apple Watch. If you have the discretionary income, go for it. If you don’t, then pass.