Not Too Impressed With Apple Watch

I am a big fan of Apple products. I have an iPad, which I enjoy very much. And I have an iPhone, which I absolutely love. The phone is really an amazing computer in my pocket that can do a zillion different things — even once in a while make phone calls. I probably would love my Mac Book, if I had one. However, various tasks I need to do at work require a Windows-based computer, so I currently must use a non-Apple laptop along with those delightfully virus-prone Microsoft programs.

In addition to being a fan of Apple, I am also a really big fan of wrist watches. I readily admit that I own way more watches than what is reasonable. But in my defense, they’re all fairly inexpensive, and their combined cost is still a fraction of what my brother-in-law paid for his Rolex. Ever since I was in the first grade and my aunt bought me a wrist watch for my 6th birthday, I’ve loved watches. By the way, she wouldn’t give it to me until I proved that I knew how to tell time. After a while, she finally relented and let me have it, figuring at some point I would learn there is no such thing as “Thirteen o’clock.” She was right; I finally figured it out — in 9th grade.

Anyway, since I like Apple products and I love wrist watches, you would think I’d be very excited about the new Apple Watch. Well, you’d be wrong.

Call me old-fashioned, but I am of the opinion that the main job of a watch is to tell time, not do a thousand different functions, with telling time being one of them. Also, a wrist watch should be something that can be confidently worn while doing minor chores around the house, not something that will shatter if it accidentally bumps into a doorknob. If I had an Apple Watch, I'd probably wrap my wrist in padding to protect the device. And I suspect the screen would be slightly more difficult to view if it were covered in two inches of foam and duct tape.

From what I've read, the main benefit of an Apple Watch is that it synchronizes with the iPhone in your pocket, and allows you do a lot of iPhone stuff without actually having to pull the phone out of your pocket. Really? Are we so lazy nowadays that pulling a small 4-ounce phone from our pocket is that much of a chore?

There are other aspects of the new Apple Watch that I find unattractive, starting with the price. You have to plunk down close to four-hundred bucks, and sometimes much more, to own one. And since it's not a phone, you can't get AT&T or Verizon to subsidize three-quarters of the cost by signing up for their service plan.

Maybe it's just me, but if I spend a lot of money for a product, I don't also want to climb a brutal learning curve to understand how to use that product. Again, from what I've read, you do not simply purchase an Apple Watch. You have to make an appointment and attend a one-on-one training session. No thanks, I already attend so many training sessions at work my brain is sore.

Other drawbacks of the Apple Watch: the rechargeable battery barely lasts one day, and you can't wear it in the shower. So I think I'll skip jumping on this particular bandwagon. I'll stick with my collection of reliable and inexpensive watches, especially my current favorite, a digital Timex Ironman. And with my watch, if I set it to military time, there actually is a “Thirteen o'clock.”