Apple watch

[Ilovecashews]

I’m thinking of buying one for my birthday but I don’t know whether I’m wasting my money. I might like to take a call or two on it, but I don’t want emails to come through as I wouldn’t have a life if so. I’m really keen on health stuff, like steps, calories burned, heart measure etc, but is there any other reason why you like yours? Thanks a lot

I use mine all the time, timers when cooking (or just to remind me to get of MN after 10 mins); steps, heart rate, see who is texting / calling, apple pay, and several times a day to ping my phone to see where I left it.

I have an assortment of straps depending on what I am wearing - I tend to wear this day to day

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C5CZ41RN/ref=twister_B0C5CXWRSC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

and similar to this when going out

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DJ41WS2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes I love mine. I control notifications on it or there’s various levels of do not disturb also.

I use mine for my alarm. Absolutely brilliant for that - especially as I usually get up before DP and it doesn’t disturb him.

I also love all the health and fitness stuff - slightly obsessed with my rings! I use the timer for various exercises at the gym.

I use it to control what I’m listening to on my phone without having to get my phone out.

I pay with it all the time - it feels like I’m living in the future!

I occasionally take a call - very useful when I’ve decided to go out without my phone so I’m not distracted by it.

I use it to find my phone when I’ve put it down somewhere.

Just This morning I used the torch / light thing to look in my sock drawer as DP still asleep and I wanted a particular pair.

useful for directions when walking so you don’t have to keep peering at your phone or keeping it in your hand.

TBH I wouldn’t be without it.

You absolutely can have steps on the watch face!

I’ve just got a refund for mine as the function I wanted (heart monitor) failed twice - the first time two months in and now a year later. I realise I don’t need all the info it provides, nor emails or texts and have happily gone back to my old watch.
I had the single loop rubber strap and found it very sweaty too.

I have the weather on my watch face which I find really useful as you can tell at a glance if it's going to be a hot or wet day. I use Siri on it all the time to text people (the voice recognition is really good, you don't need to type on a tiny keyboard), and you can ask it off the cuff stuff like 'how tall is Tom Cruise?' Or when I was on holiday 'what's $5 in £?'. If you're driving 'how long to home from here' will let you know if there's traffic.

But my life is now organised by the reminders. 'Set reminder Tuesday 7pm DD needs food tech ingredients' sort of thing is great as you don't need to be looking at your phone.

I have the fabric strap

I like the health stuff on it - I have turned off notifications anything other than messages which is great

omg yes!!! How did I forget this as such an amazing feature!!!

Love mine, miss it when I don't wear it and would definitely replace it if anything happened to it.

I've had the solo loops - lovely but need to get the right size and they do slacken a bit over time. Have just bought the sports band one so I can tighten it up when I'm exercising. I don't find either of those uncomfortable in the heat.

You can control what notifications come through and I'm another one who loves and heavily uses the 'ping my phone' function.

Thank you for all your replies and for suggesting to wait until September, I definitely hadn’t thought of that one!

I have one and it's ok; I have to charge it every day and it's a bit hit and miss as to messages coming through. The silicone strap made my wrist sweaty and sore so I bought a cheap leather strap from Amazon which was super easy to change and has solved the problem of skin irritation.

My daughter has a Garmin Vivo Active 5 which is much better in terms of battery life (she charges it once a week) and fitness tracking is much better than Apple she assures me.

I have one as I'm locked into the Apple ecosystem. I choose what notifications stay on the phone and what come through to the watch. I love how it's linked and I can text back by dictating or spelling out. This can be very convenient.

However, the battery life is pathetic. If I do any exercise it won't last long. There's no way you could track a solid session for its entirety - a half marathon, a long walk or bike ride - forget about it.

If you want to track your sleep, you'll have to take it off to charge before bed and probably again in the morning meaning you aren't tracking as much as you could.

Mine is a series 4 LTE which I purchased in 2019 for £500. If my calculations are correct (unlikely) I've had this 1886 days and without the new battery it has still cost me 26.5 per day - cost per wear! At what point does it become acceptable to buy a new one? I feel I'm there now but it's incredibly outdated and a real watch at that price would last longer. Maybe I'm full of shit tho.

I could do a couple of hours of 'workouts' in a day with no battery issues. Do you have the face as 'always on'? I have it so that it only shows the time unless I raise my wrist, which definitely helps with the battery.

Face is set the same as yours. It's due another battery replacement now but even at its best, I wouldn't be able to do a half marathon or long walk without depleting the battery either significantly or fully. That's why I'm reticent to replace. But I also don't want a bloody sports watch.

Do you mind me asking which series yours is and how old? I don't think it's me...

Actually I think mine is so old that you can't have it always on 😂 I remember that coming out with the series 5 just a couple of weeks after I got mine.

Mine's a 7 but I had a 3 before that and the battery was similar, lasted all day.

Do you listen to music though? I never do.

I had a 5 and the battery was below 80%, I traded it in for about £65 at John Lewis and got a 9 which last loads longer.

I don't listen via the watch. Songs via Apple Music on my iPhone into my AirPods. Like I say ecosystem although I just lost the AirPods and am devastated.

Mine is a series 3 that I have had for over 6 years and I think it cost about £350 iirc, so 16 ppw.

The battery is not so good now and needs charging every night, but it has been worth every penny as I wear it pretty much every day and have no intention of changing it until it breaks.

Oh, battery life is important to me so that’s something to consider. Can someone please explain it to me as if I was a child (they probably are way more on top of this stuff than me…)? If I buy a watch and I want it to work independently of my phone, so let’s say I leave the phone at home but I still want to see texts or use maps etc, do I have to get a contract specifically for the phone, or can I link it to my phone O2 contract? Thank you!

Soo, you need to get an LTE or cellular watch. This is the capability to forget your phone but still have contact. You have to turn this on and off and it drains the shit out of your battery when you do forget the phone. You can't, for example, complete a working day with your phone at home.

You can buy a watch with this capability from anywhere but your phone needs to be on a network that allows this - last I heard this was o2, Vodafone and EE. You have to pay a monthly contract for the watch part as well. I used to be on o2 and paid £5 for the watch (but that was 2021 ish so prob £10 now) but I moved to Tesco mobile and now my watch is essentially just a watch.

I use mine for everything and yes I do have my step count on the watch face.

My battery lasts 18 hours no matter what I do 🤷‍♀️

Don’t even think about the strap, the £5 market stall ones are every bit as good as the Apple ones.

I don't like the silicon strap it came with - moisture gathers under it and it made my skin itchy. I bought the John Lewis Apple fabric single band. Don't love it but I do put it in the washing machine and it comes out clean.

Love the find-my-phone function (use often), love the sleep tracking function - I really like to know how much sleep I'm getting. Love the activity tracking, love the photos of my grand-daughters (and dog) I've set up on the face, love getting texts and emails - v discreet when necessary to check.

I don't overall love the appearance and considered an Oura ring. But the functionality is less good and it's also very pricey. And as someone else said, I'm fully in the Apple ecosphere and the watch is a key part of that.

I charged my strap to a fabric one as I am allergic to the silicone. My wrist broke out but that also happened with a silicone watch strap when I was younger. I also seem to have a reaction to the metal bit on the strap so I bought a fabric strap.