I wasn’t one of the first people to get an Apple Watch and to be brutally honest, I didn’t think I needed one. My initial reactions were to think of it as much more of a fad than a necessity. I was late to the party when I finally decided to buy one, but I can see clearly now why I made the right choice in getting one of these watches.
Make no mistake, buying an Apple Watch is a serious purchasing decision for most of us, as these watches aren’t exactly cheap. Especially for something small, that’s not considered as much as a necessity as the iPhone or iPad.
My foray into deciding to get the Apple Watch was after my friends who I regularly walk and jog with started showing me all the functionality they were using to track their health. Allowing them to not only get accurate information on their step counts, heart rates but even see how well they were sleeping.
I realized then that maybe my initial doubts might have been misplaced, and the watch could become an ally in my fitness regime, by keeping track of my progress. By knowing how my health was progressing, or not progressing, I could make the right decisions, to aid in improving my overall health.
Fast forward to today, I can’t imagine being without my Apple Watch. It has become an indispensable part of my life. So much so, when I forget to charge it overnight, and can’t use it the next day because the battery is low or runs out. I find it difficult to get over it not being available. It’s as though something of my physical being is missing.
What is an Apple Watch?
The Apple Watch is a smartwatch that goes beyond just telling time, offering smart features like fitness and health tracking along with seamless integration with the iPhone.
It’s a little computer on my wrist, helping me track my steps, monitor my heart rate, receive notifications, and even make calls. Keeping me connected and aware throughout the day.
The Apple Watch comes in different models with features like GPS, cellular connectivity, and water resistance, making it both a stylish accessory and a practical tool for daily life. With its seamless integration into Apple’s ecosystem and an easy-to-use design, it stands out as one of the most popular smartwatches today.
Buying an Apple Watch
When I’d finally convinced myself I need an apple watch after months and months of rationalizing it would make sense. My next decision was to actually see the watch in the flesh so to speak and work out where to buy one from.
I decided to go to the Apple Store and initially get some more information, allowing me to make an informed decision at least. My local Apple Store wasn’t as local as most would expect, being a 40-mile (64km) drive away. Whilst there was a department store with a decent tech department, half that distance away, I decided to do the drive to the Apple Store.
My reasoning for driving further to the Apple store was that the tech people there would have more expertise than those tech departments in other retailers like department stores, electronics retailers to warehouse clubs. Simply due to them dealing with Apple products all the time instead of being so called experts in Apple products but also in flat screen TVs, cameras to a whole host of other tech products sold by them.
Apple Watch model choices
The Apple Store was not like any store I’d seen before, there was a queue to get in, as there’d been a new iPhone launch. The people lined up waiting, all looked super excited about going inside the store and as I joined them, I could hear their excited chatter amongst themselves.
When I finally got inside the store, it was pretty busy and I made my way over to the smart watch section.
The Apple tech guy was just finishing up with another customer, whilst I gazed at all the different models on display. Believe me, I was apprehensive, there were several different Apple Watch models, and I didn’t want to make the wrong decision by purchasing a model not suited to my needs.
Ending up with an older model was not on the cards for me either, if I was going to go all in, then only the latest model suited to my needs would do.
At the mall I’d gone past the Apple Store a couple of times on my previous few visits. Never really paying attention, only noticing the bright Apple logo at the front but never going in. Now, I found myself going into the store and it was a daunting experience. The store was very busy and, in some places, crowded.
Trying to get assistance from the Apple experts, looked like an impossibility as people jostled to get their attention, however I decided to be patient and was sure help would come soon.
Apple Watch Ultra 2
The first watch, the tech person showed me was the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I didn’t like this watch. It was too big and being a woman, my naturally smaller hands and arms made the ultra-watch look like an adult’s watch on a small child’s arm. It was not only expensive but just too bulky for my needs.
Apple Watch Series 10
This watch I liked a lot, as the smaller version at 42mm fitted snugly on my arm and was a decent size, looking like a normal watch would look on my arm. The slightly larger version at 46mm just felt a little bit too large for my liking. I think this size would be more suited to men than women.
The only downside of the 42mm version would be the text and buttons would be smaller than on the 46mm, as this larger size had more pixels. This wasn’t a deal breaker it was merely a compromise of having a watch that I was comfortable wearing albeit with smaller text and buttons to one which was slightly bulk.
Apple Watch SE
This version of the Apple Watch is a lower-cost model with some of the functionality of the standard Apple Watch missing and lower processing power. I did initially think of buying this version of the watch but there were several health features that the SE version didn’t have. The ECG monitoring and temperature sensing are two key functions not available.
Wi-Fi or Cellular
Most Apple Watches come in two flavors, with just Wi-Fi or also having Cellular. The Cellular version can still pick up internet connectivity when there is no Wi-Fi available, subject to the owner having a relevant cell plan in place. There is a higher price to pay for the cellular version that doesn’t include any additional cellular plan costs.
For me, the Wi-Fi only version was sufficient for my needs, I couldn’t come to terms with paying more for the cellular version. Especially as the health functionality was no different on either of the Wi-Fi or cellular versions. The only difference would be that any health apps that needed to update my progress, wouldn’t be able to do it there and then would need to wait for a suitable Wi-Fi connection before being able to do so.
One of the apps I used where reaching a certain number of steps a day, would result in points that could be used for discounts on food and free coffee (when sufficient points were reached within the week).
The updates this app made, happened when I got home from my workout and having the updates made as soon as I’d reached the required targets using a cellular version of my watch wasn’t really something too important to me.
Health Alerts
During one of the mornings, whilst doing the weeks ironing and watching my favorite morning show. My attention was drawn to one of the guests, when they talked about how wearing an Apple Watch had saved their life. Saying the watch had picked up on an issue with their heart, an irregular heart rate and given them a warning.
Prompting the guest to seek medical advice, where their physician checked them out and was able to validate that they may have Arterial Fibrillation (AFib) and needed treatment. This ultimately helped them get vital treatment that potentially saved their life, as many people who have AFib, don’t realize until it’s too late. As the blood clots can occur leading to strokes and heart failure.
Genuine Health alerts Vs False positives
Upon further research [1], I found it’s important to realize that not all alerts are genuine AFib issues. Apple Watch and many of the competitors use electrocardiograms (ECG). This monitors the wearers’ heart rate and their blood flow.
If anything is analyzed to be irregular, the wearer is alerted. The ECG monitoring done on the wearable like the Apple Watch is no match for proper ECG screening done by medical professionals. Leading to many medical centers and facilities being inundated by people who think they have AFib but when check over, don’t have it.
So, it’s important to consider whether these types of health alert(s) received are genuine and need further investigation, or they are the result of inadequacies of smart watch detection hardware and algorithms.
Overall
The Apple Watch is an important part of my life, and I take it for granted, as it helps me monitor my health and gives me peace of mind about my overall well-being. I totally appreciate it’s not a necessity and is more of a lifestyle choice, as the watch for what it is, is an expensive addition to the other smart devices many of us already have. That being said, I would thoroughly recommend having one.
[1] https://healthmatters.wphospital.org/blogs/how-seriously-should-you-take-a-smartwatch-s-afib-alert/