To begin with, it’s not called an ‘iWatch’ — Apple has named their wearable timepiece, ‘Apple Watch’.
Consumer interest in the Apple Watch might be dipping worldwide, but it’s still got plenty of takers, especially in India.
We managed to lay our hands on an Apple Watch and here is how it fares.
What’s Good?
The Apple Watch is an expensive timepiece, but Apple has loaded it with plenty of nifty stuff.
The watch comes with a brilliant adaptable retina display covered by a powerful crystal, made of sapphire, to protect it against rough bruises.
The touch response on that tiny display is so smooth, that plenty of high end smartphones, don’t even come close. The Force Touch Technology is actually amazing!
The much talked about digital crown, that serves as the main home button, is easy to use for navigation and scrolling.
The watch comes in two different sizes of 38mm and 42mm. So, you can pick one depending on what size will fit your wrist.
It’s not completely waterproof, but is resistant to splashes and the speaker quality is also pretty decent if you choose to make a phone call.
The heart rate sensor is quite accurate, but it does miss out on some activity tracker stuff.
There are also a lot of watch faces to choose from, just like the one’s you get on Moto 360. There are different faces like Mickey Mouse, Modular, Motion, Solar, Astronomy, Utility, TimeLapse, etc. to make you feel that you are wearing a new watch everyday.
We have the sports edition 42mm Apple Watch with us, but you do get inter-changeable straps as well. The watch is not irritating at all on the wrist and does a nearly perfect job of a smartwatch.
It is powered by a S1 chip which handles tasks with ease, the connectivity via the app is seamless, and SIRI understands the Indian accent for you to quickly reply to messages, and do a search.
There are a lot of apps also on offer for the Apple Watch now. Apps like WeChat, HDFC Banking, Zomato, Apple Maps, Whatsapp and Twitter work pretty well on the Apple Watch. Making a phone call is also easy.
For selfie lovers, the Apple Watch also acts as a remote for your camera app on the iPhone.
The watch can be charged via inductive charging, and MagSafe unit, both of which do not take much time — it reaches 100% charge in an hour’s time.
What’s Bad?
Apple Watch is available for a starting price upward of Rs 30,900 and could go all the way upto Rs 14,20,000, depending on the band you choose to buy it with. That is just exorbitant for a piece of wearable tech, considering that you get good android wear smart watches by Motorola and LG for half the price. And they pretty much do the same stuff that the Apple Watch does.
Moreover, the 18 carat Gold Watch edition, which is also known as a luxury edition, is more expensive than a sedan in India.
Now that is just stretching it too much.
The Activity app on the Apple Watch is also off by quite a significant degree — errors on the step count and exercise levels is just too high. Better to stick with a FitBit Surge if you are into activity tracking.
The battery on the Apple Watch is also not that amazing, and hardly lasts you more than 20 hours. That is something you don’t want in today’s smartwatch simply because a smartwatch like Moto 360 lasts you a day and a half and a FitBit Surge lasts you about four days.
Why Buy It?
The Apple Watch is undoubtedly innovative, but expensive . It comes in three completely different collections such as the AppleWatch Edition, AppleWatch Sport Collection and AppleWatch Collection. The watch is also compatible with the Apple iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5.
It’s an expensive smartwatch and has some issues — probably you can give the first generation of the Apple Watch a skip for now and wait for the next edition to launch.
But, if you are an Apple fan, we really can’t stop you from buying one.
And yes, remember exclusivity comes at a price.
Also check out the Review of Apple iPhone 6s Plus here.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)