Tech Tools review: Apple Watch

Where do you stand on smartwatches? It seems everyone is interested in selling you a watch with added features, from the ability to count your daily steps to keeping an eye on your Twitter mentions.

The Apple Watch treads a lot of ground that other smartwatches have already gone over, tracking your activity, acting as a handsfree phone kit, allowing you to get all your notifications to your wrist and leave your smartphone in your pocket.

It just does it in a nicer package, and one that works more easily with your iPhone.

The Apple Watch originally went on sale in April, but it took until September for Irish retailers to get their hands on it. When it arrived though, it came with Watch OS 2, a step up from the original software that the watch shipped with, and more apps than you would have got in the first few weeks. So maybe there is something to be said for having to wait a little longer.

Watch OS2 irons out a few little wrinkles. While you still need your iPhone for a lot of things, the watch is no longer completely tethered to it.

You can load music from your iTunes account on to the watch and connect it to your Bluetooth headphones, leaving your phone at home while you go for a walk. And while you’ll need your iPhone for GPS data, you can get reasonably accurate estimations of the distance you’ve walked just from the watch, once you give it data such as your height.

So is it a must-have device? I abandon my trusty smartwatch for a few days to see if the Apple Watch is all it was cracked up to be. It’s a 38mm stainless steel version with a Milanese loop band, provided by Apple, along with a spare sports silicon band. It’s prettier than I thought it would be. That particular version of the watch will set you back a cool €779. I’m instantly paranoid that I’ll damage it before I leave the building.

Setting up the watch is reasonably simple, although it can take a while to get through all the pairing. Connecting it to your iPhone is done via an on-screen graphic that communicates all the important data from the watch to the phone. If you have apps on your iPhone that have a Watch equivalent or companion, they can be automatically downloaded to the phone (the easiest option).

Text messages can be dictated through Siri – the hit rate is better than you think, even though the Irish accent isn’t specifically catered for in the system – or created with short responses that are preloaded on the device. You have several ways to say the same thing – a rejection runs from a short “No” to the more polite “No, thanks” to the flippant “Nope!”, while you can send a straightforward “Yes” or opt for the more effusive “Great!”.

When you get a notification, it’s pushed to the watch. And you can control what notifications show up on your watch.

When calls come in, you can take them through the watch. Remember when Tim Cook talked about the Dick Tracey moment? It's not something I ever aspired to personally, although it's handy when you're in the car because the position of your wrist means you can talk normally and still be heard, without ever having to touch your phone. It also means you can be more choosy about what calls you take because you can instantly see who is calling, unlike other handsfree kits.

Watching your activity monitor gets addictive. Sit down too long and the watch will prompt you to stand to fulfil your daily goals, and seeing the three rings – calorie goal, exercise and standing goal – close gives me a weird sense of achievement.

All the notifications are gentle taps rather than harsh buzzing. it’s a subtle but important difference that makes wearing the smartwatch more relaxing than some of its rivals.

The good

The digital crown is an easy way to navigate around the watch. You can scroll through contacts quickly, zoom in on apps and even see your events up to 72 hours in advance through the Time Travel capability that Watch OS 2 brings.

The not so good

The Apple Watch may look good, but you’ll pay a hefty price for it. Starting at €429 for the Sport version, the Apple Watch is an investment. And while the battery life was sufficient for a day’s use, the watch needs to be charged every night. That means you can’t use it to monitor sleep, if the apps are available.

The rest

Apple Watch works only with iOS devices, so if you don’t have an iPhone, you’re out of luck.

The verdict

HHHH As smartwatches go, it’s a decent option for Apple fans.