More Apple Watch Thoughts

This is not was I was planning to post this week, but I kept hearing about how the Apple Watch was a 'failure', 'not cool' and some tech writers were abandoning it.  I decided to put down my thoughts on it, since I've had one since last Father's Day.

First, I still wear it everyday.  I've forgotten to put it on once and two times it didn't get on the charger correctly and died during the day.  All three times I was irritated that it wasn't on my wrist.

What do I use it for?  Probably what Apple should have focused on when they released it:

1. Messages.  No it's not 'necessary', but it is very useful.  Especially in meetings it is much less obtrusive to check my wrist than dig out my phone.  It also makes it very easy to respond if a short message is appropriate.

2. Maps.  Yes, it does this well.  It is a little slow if you set it up on the watch but most things are a little slow on the watch, so...

3. Complications.  Specifically the temperature and next appointments. Yes, this is lazy.  Yes, this is convenient; especially the temperature since for some reason the 'Today' notification would rather give what the rest of the day might be like rather than let you try to figure out what coat you need RIGHT NOW.

4.Exercise.  The built in app is pretty good.  So is the app for MapMyRun.  Not for hard core fitness buffs but for the casual user it works very well.  I like the daily rings, too as well as the heart rate.

5. Notifications.  Sports scores, Credit card usage, etc.  It's very nice for that.

Other stuff?  I don't really use it as much as I'd hoped.  Apps can be very slow to open.  Some are hard to read.

I think Apple would have been better served if for version 1 they had just stuck with those few things.  Remember the original iPhone?  No app store, no thousands of apps.  It was brought out as a phone, a music player, an internet device.  The rest came later.

Anyway, if they really have sold 12 Million Apple Watches, I don't think I'd call that a failure.  As I tell everyone who asks this hasn't changed my life but I'm still glad I have one.