Gadgetory

Apple has a reputation for rolling out products that do less than competitors but do it better with its first proper SmartWatch the company takes a different tack trying to do just as much and still doing it better does it succeed I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow let's find out in our Apple watch video review no matter how you feel about Apple you've got to admit the company makes beautiful hardware even at the entry-level sport version the attention to detail is evident in everything from the knurled digital crown to the placement of the heart rate sensors to the seam between the ion strengths and the cover glass and aluminum composite body the 81 gram total mass of watch and band is solid either too light nor too heavy the band itself whose fluoro elastomer material looks rubbery and stiff in some photos is actually comfortably soft and swapping it for another band is just a button push away the watch sport includes two band sizes in the box and apple also sells additional styles at typical Apple prices also included in the box is a charging puck with a simple design that attaches magnetically and charges via induction that makes it similar to the inductive pedestal that ships with the Moto 360 smartwatch apple's version isn't quite as elegant in that it doesn't stand the watch up but at least it's compact for travel and speaking the size our review device is the 42 millimeter version of the Apple watch those with smaller wrists will appreciate that there's a 38 millimeter version as well both feature a 1.3 to inch high pixel density OLED display and all versions of the watch can be set up for either right or left handed users the watch is rated ipx7 meaning it can theoretically survive immersion in a meter of water for at least 30 minutes though Apple doesn't recommend this driving the day-to-day experience is watch OS 1.0 which is based on iOS and powered by Apple's s1 processor the feature set is where Apple goes the extra mile with the watch compared to much of its competition but once you've paired it to your iPhone there's an awful lot you can do without taking your phone out of your pocket and a lot of it works very well first and foremost among those notifications the watch is very good at knowing when you're looking at it and when you're not and raising it after getting a notification will immediately display the alerts content if you missed that chance or just want to review notifications you've received you can swipe down from the top of the watch face to view a list of them and dismiss them individually swiping up from the bottom of the screen gets you access to glances which range from miniaturized card versions of apps like Apple Health Calendar Twitter and Instagram to collections of functions like power management heart rate reading media controls and the watch's control panel here you can set the watch to silent or airplane mode and also ping your phone to make it ring out if you've misplaced it you've also got more options for interaction with all this software than on any other SmartWatch in addition to the usual touch screen taps and swipes the digital crown is here for scrolling and zooming so you can keep your finger clear of the display there's also the new force touch which works just like it sounds you press a little harder on the screen to access more options like changing the watch face the faces Apple ships with the watch out of the box are fortunately very customizable my favorite configuration tells me battery level date outside temperature exercise activity level and of course the time all at a glance I've been using the Apple watch tethered to an iPhone 6 for two weeks and in that time I've found more than a few reminders that this is very much a version one product firstly all those separate kinds of interactions make the watch more confusing than some of the competition the digital crown is fun but it also feels underused I'll twist it to try scrolling through glances for example only to find that most of the time it does nothing also you can use it to scroll through your favorite contact but try selecting one of them by pressing the digital crown and know you're going back to the watch face I understand that Apple's trying to keep its behavior consistent as the kind of home button of the watch but there's a whole nother button that could do that speaking of it's great to use that other side button as a shortcut to the friends list but confining such a prominent control to such a limited purpose feels odd somehow almost as odd as sharing your heartbeat with another Apple watch user some base functions could also use some improvement every time you try a new app that requires specific permissions you need to grant access on the phone first frustrating speed bump also you can reply by voice dictation to some alerts but not others and taking calls on the watch requires an almost totally silent room so weak is the integrated speakerphone this is one area that Samsung's gear s enjoys an edge admittedly at the cost of a much larger size get past those frustrations and there's so much to like here thanks to the linear actuator that Apple calls the taptic engine notifications really are more gentle tap than rattling vibration voice dictation is an accurate and fast way to reply to texts and Siri on the wrist is a big help when it comes to simple requests leaving my phone in my backpack I successfully navigated a four mile suburban walk to a specific restaurant just by telling Siri to take me there and I also used it to track my exercise during an all-day hike in the woods in both cases it performed flawlessly even on my more sedentary days the reminders to get up and stand every hour were less annoying than encouraging thanks to the gentle tactics and then easy to read exercise meter navigating the app launcher is much easier than it looks and apples off to a great start encouraging developers to build apps that also work on the watch though it must be said that you'll often be waiting longer for an app to load on the watch than you would on the phone you'll want to charge the watch every night but even with lots of wrist navigation and heavy notification traffic my watch would usually have more than half a charge left at the end of the day which came as a pleasant surprise to me considering its tiny battery pleasant surprise is a good way to sum up the Apple watch experience as a whole given all I'd seen from other reviews and Apple's own advertising the watch seemed ungainly confusing and overpriced after 14 days only one of those strikes really sticks the Apple watch ain't cheap especially considering the nigh inevitable upgrade coming in a year or two if you're looking for a simple and affordable wearable companion for your iPhone there are better choices out there from pebble Martian and Alcatel One Touch among others but if you want your SmartWatch to echo the features and fit and finish of your iPhone and you don't mind spending a pretty penny to get it the Apple watch is a good buy and for Apple it's a very solid jumping-off point for a whole new category of gadget for more wearable reviews from pocket now check out the videos above and see our full Apple watch review at the link in the description below available may 13th at pocketnow.com in the meantime please subscribe if you enjoyed this video and be sure to follow us on social media til next time that's been michael fisher captain to phones on twitter reminding you to watch yourself in the comments we've got no time for flame wars honey bunny bunny thanks for joining us everyone we'll see you on the next one