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Apple Watch Review: Design
For a more subjective perspective, here’s the male half of the Macworld team discussing their 4-month-old Apple Watches and debating whether it is an impressive or underwhelming product. The Apple Watch is also well designed and crafted, giving it an attractive look and feel. Its chunky, rounded nature is reminiscent of the original iPhone, but it still feels modern and satisfying to hold. In addition, the Apple Watch is very comfortable for wearing on a wrist.
We’ve seen our fair share of fitness trackers over the years, many that all seem interchangeable: plastic wristbands with a distinct lack of style. An activity tracker company tried to sell their device as a fashionable accessory for women, and even pitched it as something that could be worn like a necklace. In the end it didn’t quite look like real jewellery. The same can be said for plenty of smartwatches that exist today. And while tech-savvy men have taken a likin’, they are not everybody’s cup of tea. A big problem with most smartwatches is that they are made for a man’s wrist, making them uncomfortable on a smaller wrist.
Apple Watch Review: Dimensions
There are two sizes of the Apple Watch: 38 mm (which has a height of 38.6 mm, width of 33.3 mm) and 42mm (a height of 42mm, width of 35.9 mm). The thickness is the same on both; 10.5 mm.
- 38mm version : 38.6 x 33.3 x 10.5 mm
- 42 Mm Model: 42.0 X 35.9 X 10.5 Mm
This is how a 38 mm Apple Watch presents on Karen’s wrist:
Apple Watch Review: Design and Appearance
The Apple Watch is made of three different materials; aluminium for the Watch Sport, stainless steel for the Watch and 18-carat gold on the Watch Edition. The Watch and Watch Edition sport sapphire screens, while the Sport edition bears ion-x glass.
We also like the look and feel of the Apple Watch. Its case is – as I’ve already mentioned – reminiscent of a smaller version of the first iPhone and feels pleasingly sturdy in my hand. Nearly a year in, the body and screen are scratch-free, though the lighter of our two Sport Band straps is starting to show some signs of wear.
The first-generation Apple Watch is not recommended for a swim or to be submerged in water at all. Although it is water-resistant to the IPX7 standard (Can be submerged in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes), Apple clarifies that the Watch “is splash- and water-resistant but not waterproof.” In other words, you can wear it in the shower (like Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is reported to do) but don’t go swimming with it.
That being said, many brave reviewers have tried its water resistance and we haven’t heard any complaints of flooding. We don’t recommend taking such a risk, but there you have it – the Apple Watch is water-resistant.
[/padding]Apple Watch Review: Straps
And now, a word about the bands for your sophisticated Apple Watch.
The Leather Loop, Classic Buckle, Leather Loop, Modern Buckle
A range of different straps are available, including the Link Bracelet, Sport Band, Leather Loop, Classic Buckle and Modern Buckle as well as the Milanese Loop and a pair of new strap options in Nylon and Hermes. The Leather Loop, Classic Buckle, Modern Buckle, Woven Nylon, and Sport Band come in up to a half-dozen color options while the Milanese Loop and Link Bracelet are limited to just two. The Sport Band has a variety of 22 colors that range from black to lilac to blue to stone, midnight blue pink, white, lavender or yellow.
Apple Watch Review: Screen
In our attempts to prolong the battery life of the watch, we tried force-quitting some apps and discovered it wasn’t so straightforward.
The resolution of the screen is model dependent. the 38mm Apple Watch has a resolution of 272×340 on its 1.32-inch diagonal screen, and the 42mm model boasts 312×390 across its 1.5-inch face. The pixel density is 326 ppi on both of the phones.
Formally classified as Retina-caliber, our footprint with the Apple Watch display has been nothing short of impressive. It is sharp as can be and the colors are bright and beautiful, with no visible pixels. We have a tendency to disregard the app launcher with the Floating view embedded and simply swipe between our faces on the device instead of using the scroll-around option via Digital Crown since it’s very responsive. Sadly, exiting an app doesn’t work the way it should — you must press and hold the side button, hardly a function that users would stumble upon accidentally.
Apple Watch Review: Interface With the User
Apple’s knack for design is a big part of what sets Apple Watch apart from rival smartwatches. User interface (UI) is another important thing. Most of today’s smartwatches have it tough on smaller screens, navigating small visual elements becomes a sour undertaking because fingers are just not small themselves.
In the following sections, we will take an in-depth look into how Apple sets out users interface and features on its smart wearable.
Apple Watch Review: The Screen of the Apple Watch
There is a way to touch the Apple Watch: Its screen. You can scroll, tap to select or press harder for more options — kind of like right-clicking with a mouse. Other gestures expose different portions of the operating system — for example, swiping up from the watch’s face brings you to Glances.
Thanks to Apple’s Force Touch technology, the device can determine how hard you are pressing on the screen, telling when you press down harder rather than simply tapping (more on Force Touch later).
Apple Watch Review: Speed/Performance
If you expect a wearable to react instantly, one possible disappointment with the Apple Watch could be its general responsiveness. Some have even remarked on poor responsiveness and slow performance when some actions are carried out.
*Update 8 September 2016: This section refers to the original watch, not the Series 1 or 2, which have a faster processor that’s claimed to be up to half again as quick. *
Our team members have had mixed results, which may also dependent on the apps and Glances currently running. There are few apps that respond immediately; they may open promptly yet freeze with users left staring at a black loading screen. Plus, syncing over Bluetooth with the iPhone can be pokey.
It’s also been said that third-party apps might be slow to open. WatchOS 2 promised a huge performance improvement for third-party apps by letting them run natively on the Apple Watch In practice, we continue to experience slowness, and frequently find ourselves turning to iPhone apps instead.
Apple Watch Review: So Close, Yet So Far From Must-Have Status
Apple’s new take on solving navigation problems is the clever concept of utilizing an analog watch feature, the crown and turning it into a Digital Crown. This modification streamlines the action to navigate the device for an easy swipe on a smaller screen.
Below the Digital Crown is a second button, which brings you to your homescreen and also doubles as a Friends app that makes it easy to talk to friends. This button is also used for Apple Pay transactions.
Apple Watch Review: Battery Life Its battery life is totally sufficient.
According to Apple, the Apple Watch should last 18 hours under typical use. This suggests work and mobility everywhere should be possible for a full day between charges as long as one charges it overnight every evening. That limitation also means that wearing the watch for use while sleeping is off the table, potentially disappointing app developers who might want to build sleep-tracking apps.
Your actual usage may differ. Apple’s “typical day” use case incorporated a half hour workout, but longer workouts might result in the battery dying faster — tests found the battery lasted 6.5 hours during one workout, which is good for a marathon run without having to worry about battery life. The Apple Watch’s other native feature that drains power by the bucketful is music playback; Apple claimed 6.5 hours of “audio playback” before the wearable crap out.
Apple Watch Review: Apple Watch UK Price
Pricing depends on watch and strap. For more on pricing, check out our Apple Watch buying advice. At the other end of the price scale, in terms of smartwatches at least, is Apple’s Watch: it costs a wallet-grabbing £259 for the 38mm version and £299 for the 42mm model with sports band – or £299/£339 if you hate your wrist. With the stainless steel Apple Watch that starts at £479, then there’s the more recent Apple Watch Hermes that starts at £1,000; or for those feeling rather flashy there is also the 18-carat gold Apple Watch Edition that costs a jaw-dropping £8,000.
Our Verdict
The Apple Watch is not the very first smartwatch, and it’s also not a watch with features that no other do. But where it truly shines is in providing a user experience on par with anything else available as a smartwatch, which comes largely down to Apple’s prowess for UI design. It’s not the most ergonomic and it does take a bit of time to get used to operating. With use you get used to it, and a bit more “blunt” in operation.
