A positive Apple Watch review

By destructatron, 16 April, 2016

Forum
watchOS and Apple Watch Apps

The watch was easy to set up and the only complaint I have is the enhanced quality voice isn't available on the Apple Watch. Some bands are harder to put on or take off than others. The sports band is very fiddly but I'll get the hang of it. I love reading and replying to messages right on my wrist. I love the friends button and the fact you can call contacts on the watch. You can actually where your Apple Watch in the shower. I know this because I forgot I had the watch on and went into the bath and put my left arm with the watch on into the water. The watch wasn't damaged in the slightest.
Conclusion
The Apple Watch is a very good device and would highly recommend to blind and visually impaired people.

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Comments

By Fatima.Hamoud10 on Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 23:20

Hi Harley. That was a nice review on the Apple watch. If you want the enhance quality voices to be available on the Apple watch, you can submit feedback to Apple. You stated that your Apple watch wasn't damaged in the water. Does that mean it is waterproof?

By destructatron on Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 23:20

I was only in the bath and I don't recommend jumping into a pool with it on, but I think you can where it in the shower.

By destructatron on Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 23:20

Sometimes sirry is snappy on the watch but not very offen.

By Seanoevil on Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 23:20

I find that I have a much better experience with SIRI if I wake the watch first, i.e. tap the screen and let the watch announce the time before launching into a request.
I have also got into the habit of shutting down and restarting the watch at least once a week.

Sidenote: not sure if this is due to a recent update or if an existing feature, but I recently used SIRI on the watch all day asking SIRI to set timers, alarms, check weather and open Apps while disconnected from my iPhone. The watch stayed connected over my home WiFi even after my iPhone battery died.

Have a happy day all.

@SeaNoEvil00

By David on Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 23:20

I don't seem to have any noticeable performance issue with SIRI. Perhaps I've just got used to it, but certainly since the update to OS 2.0, SIRI performs better than it did in the original release, which wasn't too bad for me anyway. I have no idea if there is a difference depending on which model you buy. I have the straight Apple Watch, not the Sport or Edition versions.

I too tend to wake the watch first before using SIRI. I don't use the "Hey SIRI" option, simply to save battery power. So I always press and hold the digital crown to use SIRI.

Because the watch speaker is so small, I'm not really sure what the benefit of having the high quality voice would be. OK, if you're using a BT headset with your watch, it might be more noticeable, but I tend to find I'm not listening to SIRI on my watch for extended periods, so I don't feel the need for such high quality. I would, however, like to have a choice of voices because I find the female voices easier to hear in outdoor environments. Perhaps an option to synchronise the voice with your IPhone.

I am fairly sure that since OS 2 the watch has been able to do some more things independent of the phone, although I've not really put that to the test much.

I wouldn't recommend entering a shower with the watch on. I would not even describe the watch as water resistant. It is definitely not waterproof. At best it is splash resistant, as there are holes in the casing for the speaker and microphone where water can enter and damage those components if nothing else. For a VoiceOver user, damaging the speaker would be pretty final unless you've taken out the extended accidental damage warranty.

By David on Thursday, April 21, 2016 - 23:20

The other thing I've done in the past to extend battery life is to turn on the screen curtain, especially if you've chosen one of the more dynamic watch faces. Even without that, my 38mm battery will generally last 36 to 48 hours with my usage.

Turn off notifications you're not interested in, to reduce the haptic energy used. And if you're able, keep the volume as low as you can work with in the environment you most commonly inhabit. Anything that generates movement will use more battery power, so sound and vibration are probably the main things to go for.

One thing I'd like to see in future versions of the Watch OS is the ability to turn off the VoiceOver sound effects, like you can on the IPhone. I find those clicks and beeps annoying and turn them off on my phone, but the watch won't let you. That would save a very small amount of battery power too.

By Eric Davis on Sunday, August 21, 2016 - 23:20

There is a company that makes a case to make your watch water and shock resistant. I have there case on my iPhone 6sPluss, and it works well. The company is called catalyst. The web address is www.catalyst.com. The solution is not cheap, but it will solve the problem.