walkitout (walkitout) wrote,
walkitout
walkitout

A Few Remarks About the Apple Watch

I've already posted some partial reviews, but I wore both FitBit and the Apple Watch on a 4 day weekend trip to two regional kiddie amusement parks. One, Santa's Village in Jefferson, NH, has _terrible_ cell service, and what there is is EVDO, IIRC -- it just sucks the life out of your phone. They do have some wifi in the park. Next time, I think I'll just turn cellular off entirely. I did eventually turn off almost everything that I had using cellular data, because my phone just kept running lower and lower on battery, but which I believe, in the end, was the Weather App. The face I use on the Watch will include current temperature based on location and the Apple Weather app, which meant, well, you can imagine. Not Pretty.

The second and third days in the parks were at Storyland, in Glen, NH. Cellular is much better but there is no wifi (that I have been able to find anyway). They have only added digital photo options this year, so I feel optimistic that the future holds wifi altho probably not this year (Santa's Village has an app; to the best of my knowledge, Storyland still does not). No problem with battery life. I remembered to bring my kindle into the park these days, so I had something to do while waiting in line.

Step counts on the Apple Watch and the FitBit are not directly comparable, and I have no idea why. I first thought that it was because I was taking the Watch off to go into the water park, but then I started checking _before_ I took the Watch off (and yes, I put them both on at the same time in the morning -- I can't sleep with the FitBit on so I don't). The FitBit _always_ has a lot more steps than the Watch, even when the distance is the same (or even when the distance is greater on the Watch!!!).

For example, today's steps are 15,062 on the Watch, distance 7.87 miles. Meanwhile, on the FitBit, the steps are 16,801 and the distance is 7.33 miles. I'm assuming this is because the Watch figures stride at a different number than the FitBit (and presumably this can be adjusted altho I don't know how to do it on the Watch and have forgotten how to do it on the FitBit).

I did not find the Activity iPhone app until today, and I didn't find the step counter until partway through the weekend. I was debating whether I was happy with the Watch's summary of activity, which is kind of cool. It uses heart rate and steps to figure minutes of "exercise", in addition to the you-should-stand-up-at-least-one-minute-per-hour and a step counter/active calories meter. Once I found the step counter, I got interested in whether the FitBit and the Watch were the same. I'm not sure how I feel about the difference between the two, however, I don't feel any particular commitment to the FitBit beyond having Friends there to compare to. And I sort of really like the "Exercise" aspect of the Watch, in that it is measuring elevated heart rate.

The headphone pairing situation with the Watch vs. the phone continues to be spectacularly annoying, mostly because my headset wants to pair with the last thing it paired with, so switching back and forth is ... problematic, to say the least.

My son thinks that my Watch should be water proof/immersible. I don't disagree, but I took it off before I went to the water park, because I didn't want to tempt fate.
Tags: apple watch
Subscribe

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
    Help
  • 0 comments