Below are my thoughts about the first week (or so) with my new Apple Watch.Day One: Just put it on a few minutes ago...first act...sending my wife a text via Siri...let's see if she replies! Yesterday and today I listened to this interesting podcast called The Critical Path. The host...who sounds like he knows his stuff...was talking about (among other things) the potential of the watch...thinking about how it might make our lives simpler, more productive and that the only way to find out...is to live with it. I agree with him wholeheartedly. The watch feels good on my wrist…I'm wearing the classic, black leather buckle band. I don't think its too tight. It's all an experiment though. My second act with the watch will be to send a very good friend a text to wish her well regarding the birth of her second child! It's really easy to send texts via Siri. She's quite responsive…if you are patient. The end of my first full day wearing my Apple Watch. As of 7:08pm, 12 hours after putting it on...I was still at 58% battery. Not bad. I used the watch mainly to check out texts. Yes...I played with some other things. I used the crown to scroll and double tapped it to access apps. I tried out the button under the digital crown to access contacts. Took a phone call from a colleague to show him how it worked. Read some email and archived it. Read Twitter feed and favorited a tweet. Checked on my activity via the Activity app. I felt the haptic tapping. Oh...I did use Siri to text people. As mentioned above, that was simple. Of course I checked the time. It was nice to have a watch on and not have to open my phone. By the way...I did not open my phone until I got home. I really think this is going to keep me in the now!!!!Day Two: It's the end of another busy day, 7:05 pm to be exact and I still have 69% battery life. I'm really liking the text feature. It's so easy to communicate and reply to contacts. Tried using some of the suggested replies. I found them to be very relevant with regards to whom I was communicating with. My favorite glance so far is from the Spire app. My tension has been very low since wearing the watch. Wondering what connection there is here? Meaning I have not opened my phone at all in two days at school. Just looking at the watch. I'm also really liking having the watch aspect instead of looking at the phone. Oh...I downloaded my first app…"I translate." Thought it would be a great app to have...when needed.Day Three: The day officially started with a 30 minute personal set up session...via my laptop computer...with an Apple specialist. Very cool. Most of what he showed me was stuff I knew or had tried but he did show me some cool stuff I did not know...
- How to adjust some of the watch faces...like the Astronomy face...you can set the planets ahead or back as many days as you like, adjust the Moon and Earth.
- He showed me how to add a friend to my contacts.
- He showed me how to add my monogram to one of the watch faces.
- He showed me how to find my phone with the watch.
- He answered my questions about the Activity app and Prominent Haptics.
I also set up Apple Pay via our credit card...very strict guidelines for security reasons but it is now set up! I downloaded a few more apps…Overcast and The Guardian (podcast and news). I've since deleted The Guardian…not sure that I want to consume news on the watch…doesn't feel like the right platform…at least for now. I decided to play around with having a weekend watch face...trying out Solar right now...it's very clean...simple...beautiful...calm...everything I want out of a weekend! Went for a walk with the watch today so I have more activity showing than most days...really looking forward to getting the sport band soon so I can calibrate it with my whole day.Oh...5pm and I'm still at 75% battery...will check again at 7pm.It's 7:23pm and my battery is at 65%. Awesome!!!!Day Four: The day starts with wearing the watch almost as long as I wear the Spire and my Fitbit Charge HR…each seems to be calibrated very closely with regards to my total number of steps…nice! Tweeted a pic of my new weekend watch face…Solar…it's clean, simple, and beautiful…as mentioned yesterday. I'll be showing the watch to my parents later today…via our Skype call! Other than that…the watch is enabling me to live in the moment…with my head up and focused on what is front of me…namely…my lovely wife…knowing that if anything catches my attention…my watch will let me know and I can check it out…when I want! Phone continues to stay "in its place." Taking the phone out for a moment to update on watch happenings…I used Apple Pay for the first time earlier this afternoon at Whole Foods. It worked like a charm!!! Bought a bunch of strawberries and a package of Perrier Water. It was so simple. The cashier had already had some experience with this level of transaction.As of 7:09pm…my watch is at 70% battery!!! Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings as I experiment during day 5.Day Five: Used the Workout app for the first time. Outdoor walk with my wife after dinner. Figured out how to use it and end the workout. Got my first award from the Workout app too…for using it for the first time! Used about 7% of battery during the walk. During the day I used the text feature often and checked out my Spire glances. Of course, checked out the time too! Still loving it!!6:54pm and I'm still at 60% battery. In 2 days I will take Battery level off of my watch face and replace it with something .Day Six: Today started with me replacing the battery level on my watch face with the current phase of the moon…no need to keep up with that anymore…the battery is a beast! Right now, 7:12pm…I'm at 31%. I'm wondering what made for such a drain on the battery today? Not that that is a bad thing…I'm basically done for the day. I did use it to text and check glances again. Heard a cool tip from The Critical Path podcast…take things out of glances that are in Complications…good advice…that took care of 3 I did not need. I also downloaded a different Twitter client to try out on the watch…experimenting! I've since taken that Twitter client off. Like The Guardian…not sure that I want to read Tweets from the watch right now. I do have Tweetbot set up to send me notifications that are relevant…right now that seems to be the "right" level of entry for me. I used the Workout app again for our walk and it worked really well.Day Seven: I cannot believe it's been a whole week since I've had the watch. As I write it is actually a full week…as I got the watch right around 7pm last Wednesday! Too cool! Did some new things with the watch today…tried out Reminders…very cool and will make a great addition to my workflow which currently includes using index cards for reminders that are not time specific. Using the Reminders app via the watch will be great way to receive time sensitive reminders! Also…for the heck of it…I tried the directions on the map app…to see how the haptic tapping work in conjunction with the voice on the iphone. It worked great! I'm trying not to obsess about getting a news app on the watch (see thoughts above on that decision) and trying to figure out how to use Tweetbot and Twitter (again…see notes above) for quick hits of news. As of 7:14pm…the battery is at 53%. So, here is the breakdown with battery…53%, 31%, 60%, 70%, 65%, 69%, and 58%...in order from today…backwards to last week!Oh…my Sports band shipped today and should be here tomorrow!Day Eight: Battery went way down. 12% when I took it off around 7:05ish. Spent a bit of time looking at the Internets to figure out how to address this outlier. Took some apps off the watch I do not think I'll use or are redundant. Also…fine tuned my notifications and glances. Hoping this takes care of that issue. Listening to John Gruber's recent podcast and learning some cool things too. Like putting Gmail app on phone…push notifications on watch…to then look at on Apple's mail app. Just set that up in my watch app…on the phone. I like how Gruber and others I've been listening to are talking about how the watch is a great thing to check on things…leaving the phone and/or ipad the place to act on or do things…even though I'm finding that the watch is a great way to text people quickly. Still waiting for the Sport band to ship. Should be getting it today. Gruber's band was defective and he had to go to the Apple Store to return it. Hoping that does not happen to me. If it does…no worries though. These are "early adopter" issues.Day Nine: Got the Sports Band…it's not defective…fits really good…keeping it on all weekend as an experiment…74% battery at 8:20pm…back to being a beast!!!!Day Ten: "Took" the watch for my first indoor run with the black sports band…felt really good! The Workout app is really accurate and provides the right amount of data. Had the opportunity to show some friends what the watch can do…that was fun. Decided to trade out the Sports band…back to leather band to go out with my lovely wife for wine tasting. The watch was noticed by the couple we sat with…not because of me. It was fun showing them what the watch can do…they asked several questions and it made for an interesting conversation. Battery ended up at 62% at 8:17pm…very cool! Just before turning in for the night I read a really cool review about an I-Ching app…downloaded it. Think I'll use it daily as a part of my morning contemplative practice!