Let’s face it, it’s shiny, it’s purported to be amazing and you want it. But no you don’t NEED it, and nothing that the watch does, or anything you say will change the fact that you do not need it. You can want one sure, but don’t lie to yourself and others. You need love, you need human contact, you need air, food and water, but no one needs an Apple Watch.
I have wanted an Apple Watch since the moment they were released and I finally plumped up to buy the 42mm Nike Apple Watch series 3. This is because I am told, the processor is finally powerful enough to ensure that the watch can perform its tasks well enough and that the battery capacity is enough to ensure the watch stays charged past lunch time. In fact it lasts up to 3 days sometimes. It also has GPS and LTE – meaning you no longer need to carry your phone everywhere… unless you have the non LTE version…. which I do.
So despite agreeing with myself that I would only buy an Apple Watch if it has LTE I bought one without it anyway. This is because I can’t have LTE as I live in Germany and have a Vodafone contract with a year remaining and it is only available on a rival carrier. I still had 2 choices, firstly don’t buy it, wait a year, cancel my mobile contract and take out a new Telekom contract with an Apple watch. Or, buy it anyway. Which I did. This was my first mistake in making an Apple watch become something I only wanted and don’t need – at least with LTE you could argue a need… kind of.
Having LTE functionality on your watch makes sense because you will not need to remember your phone every time you leave the house. You can go running, nip out the house or go partying in your tightest skinny jeans and not have to worry about having to force an Iphone 8 plus into your pocket. For that reason you may try to convince yourself that you NEED an LTE Apple watch. (Spoiler you still don’t) But without LTE you most certainly don’t NEED an Apple watch - yes even if you work out or are a swimmer.
The day I bought it, I spent hours setting it up, playing with watch faces, downloading all the apps that the you-tuber and Apple fanatics tell you that you need and are must haves. First of all, I was amazed by the technology this little computer has. Siri integration is fantastic, it just works so well and I loved being able to answer calls on my wrist (provided I am in range of my phone) and carry on working or doing whatever it was I was doing. As a not particularly active person, the activity tracker which is probably the biggest sell of the device and the one of things that makes the Apple Watch so attractive to buyers is pretty much a waste of time to me. Of course it tracks my movement and my activity – but it doesn’t encourage me to do any more activity than I would be doing without it. It does try to coach you if you are say 100 calories short of your daily goal with a message saying “you can do it, a brisk 20 minute walk should get you there” but the satisfaction you get from closing the rings is smaller than the satisfaction you get from another episode of Game of Thrones, so it has never convinced me to venture out in order to do this.
Another peeve I have with it, is it has clearly been designed for people that live in permanent sunshine. Because trying to check your watch in the middle of a freezing rain storm in Germany is so difficult that by the time you have taken off your glove, pulled back you coat, jumper AND shirt sleeve to struggle to reveal the face, it would have been easier all along to just check your phone from your pocket. But when you wear the watch notifications no longer display on your phone screen. So this watch is for a permanently Sun kissed wrist. Meaning the convenience of this last me roughly 2 weeks in September.
So no – I do not need an Apple watch, it can be fun, it is amazing technology but it is not essential. It doesn’t do anything to improve my life (personally) LTE would have been handy because without it, to be honest it’s another 400+ euro distraction that adds to all the other distractions you have. Distractions such as your laptop, your phone and your Ipad.
Also, I have already scratched the damn thing, meaning I now have to wear the it in a “watch case” exactly like I have to do with my sleek Iphone making it even bulkier on the wrist and more difficult to pull my sleeve past to look at the time in Winter. So as practical as it is supposed to be, it’s still highly impractical. So my advice, if you’re not clumsy and still think you want one, buy the LTE version – otherwise, just don’t bother.