Apple Pay/Apple Watch

[audreyh1]

OK - I ordered mine! The dark Sport model.

[Ready]

Congratulations! I have the same model. They have them in stock in the stores now if you don't want to wait for them to ship.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Congratulations! I have the same model. They have them in stock in the stores now if you don't want to wait for them to ship. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

The stores? I'm 250 miles away from any Appl store, LOL!

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 The stores? I'm 250 miles away from any Appl store, LOL!

Wow, I guess I live in the bubble here in Southern California, where I pass an Apple Store at least once every 10 miles. So I guess no Genius Bar support for you if you need assistance. That is definitely challenging, but I'm sure you are used to it.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[Ally]

My son-in-law has one and sometimes during his work as a doctor, he can't stop and pull out his phone, or if driving. If an important text comes, he can glance at his watch to see if it's an emergency, or if he has to go deliver a baby, or if the nursing home needs something right away. He got it because he loves Apple products and gadgets, but has found several uses for it at work. I would have little use for it, but I think it looks fun.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[explanade]

Read a rumor about second generation models for next April.

One feature would be FaceTime. Are there that many Dick Tracy fans?

Would have to have a lot more processing power over the current model.

And a lot more battery.

[kcowan]

Does it support Siiri? I could see saying please call "so and so" and then having a chat without holding any device. Could save some potential fines.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Does it support Siiri? I could see saying please call "so and so" and then having a chat without holding any device. Could save some potential fines.

Looks like it - Apple - Apple Watch - Built-in Apps

[Ready]

You activate Siri by saying "hey Siri" followed by a command. I used it to give me driving directions today. When it's time to make a turn, it taps my wrist a few times. No need to look at the phone any more.

It is expected that future versions will support FaceTime video conferencing. And the next version of the operating system, Watch OS2, will support FaceTime audio conferencing. For now, you can make and receive standard cellular calls on the watch, which has been a very nice feature for me, since I rarely carry my phone around the house with me.

And even though I use the watch all day long, I've never gone to sleep with less than 47% battery power, so nightly charging is more than enough to keep it going all day.

I also purchased a pair of Plantronics BackBeat Fit bluetooth headphones to work with the watch and phone. So now I can have a cordless headphone connected to me, keep my phone in my backpack so that I'm hands free, and make/receive phone calls using the watch and the headphones. The headphones also support Siri by just pushing a button to activate her. The combination of the headphones/Iphone/Watch makes it very convenient for exercising without having to hold on to anything.

[kcowan]

Very cool. Thanks Ready. It sounds better than I thought.

[audreyh1]

I just got off the "personal setup session" video/phone chat with Apple that I was invited to when my Apple Watch was delivered. I'd never done anything like this before, or been invited to such a thing.

While I waited for my appointment, DH and I followed the brief instructions that came with the watch, launch the Watch App on the phone and got it paired, and started tweaking a few of the sessions. I figured out how select the face I wanted, see my pulse and found the Apple Health App to customize a few options and select the biometric data I wanted to monitor.

Playing around a little more I discovered I could use the phone as a remote to see feed from my iPhone camera and even take a picture remotely! And then I did the Dick Tracy trick and used Siri to send my husband a text message. He was impressed!

The session was a good overview and answered several questions, and showed me several things I wasn't aware of. The specialist also sent me links to things he thought I would be particularly interested in such as how to calibrate the Apple Watch for my stride and activities. He also told me my Polar bluetooth chest strap would pair with the watch.

We're kind of amazed that Apple is going to all this trouble, but the specialist seemed to think this was the way help/support was going to work in the future.

[kcowan]

I think Apple Support is going to be the key to success of this device. Especially for you early adopters. Thanks.

[audreyh1]

Having your shopping list on your wrist!

Now that's cool.

That's what I did today when I went grocery shopping. DH and I have been keeping shopping lists in "Notes" for several years now. Notes is not an app for the Apple Watch, but you can send yourself an email from Notes, and view it on the watch which is sure handy. It beats pulling the iPhone out several times to check the list, which was my main annoyance with our prior method. Very nice!

[audreyh1]

Well today, the FitBit got set aside, as I really don't need it anymore. I'm pretty happy tracking the numbers in my Apple Health app now. I had just reached 500 miles on my Fitbit.

I wore both the Apple Watch and the FitBit for several days. At first I had the FitBit on my right hand and the steps counted per day was quite disparate between the two. I switched the FitBit back to the left hand along side my Apple Watch, and the numbers were within about 100 steps which I thought was pretty darn close.

The Apple Watch is quite a bit stricter in terms of what counts towards "active minutes" or "exercise" compared to the FitBit. On the other hand, the FitBit usually doesn't count active minutes unless you are walking continuously. The Apple Watch uses different criteria - I got 8 minutes of counted towards the day's exercise goal when I was doing some pretty serious yard work one morning, yet the FitBit counted nothing. So this is an area I will be adapting to. I went on a 45 minute bike ride today. The Apple Health app gives me the 45 minute workout credit, but only 21 of the minutes counted towards the days exercise goal. When the watch workout app is running it records your pulse every 5 seconds. I theorize that if your heart rate is too low you don't get credit for the exercise - maybe. I need to research this.

And kcowan - in the middle of putting in my contacts I remembered something and called out -
"Hey Siri, remind me at 9:45 about the phone appointment". And it setup a reminder!

And I love getting notifications and messages on my wrist. I leave my iPhone in the bedroom when at home, and now I don't have to get up to look at it when I get a message!

[Ready]

Yes, I've noticed some of the same things. If I take a 32 minute walk, I get credit for 24 minutes of exercise. I'm not sure if I was walking too slow the other eight minutes, or my heart wasn't beating fast enough, or something else caused it to deduct from the total time. I've tried taking a walk both running the activity app as well as leaving it off, and either way I get the same 24 minutes of credit toward my exercise goal even though I always walk exactly 32 minutes.

I know the watch has some accuracy issues when you use it without the iPhone, since it relies on the IPhone for GPS and cellular to track distance. By walking or running with both the phone and watch while running the activity app, the watch is supposed to be calibrated to your walking and running style to make it more accurate. Articles where people have tested this have suggested that the watch by itself is only 90% accurate out of the box, but improves to 99% accuracy after several calibration efforts.

[audreyh1]

I've been using it with my phone so far for any outdoor workout.

I was reviewing articles. They say the activity must be the level of a "brisk walk" to count towards exercise minutes, and that both heart rate and motion are monitored to determine the activity level.

[audreyh1]

For kcowan:

I told my watch: "Hey, Siri - call <name>". Then I saw the phone graphics on the watch and heard the ringing. Then I was talking to DH through my watch. The true Dick Tracy experience.

[kcowan]

Thanks Audrey.
That is what I was hoping for.
Keith