We’ve been testing the Apple Watch for over a week now. The following is a transcript of some of our observations.

As registered Apple developers, MichiganLabs received an invitation from Apple to purchase an Apple Watch with expedited delivery. Meaning, we received the Watch nearly when it came out to the public. This was nice.

Unboxing the Apple Watch was every bit an Apple experience. The box was white and everything fit perfectly together.

When the Apple Watch was first powered on, there was some initial setup and syncing with the iPhone. This involved turning on Bluetooth and taking a picture of the Apple Watch with the iPhone. Once the iPhone and Apple Watch were paired, it was a similar experience to setting up normal Apple devices such as an iPhone or iPad. Language > English, etc. There was one new question: Left wrist or Right wrist? Left won.

Once the Apple Watch was on and setup there were several things to do. First, change the default watch face to something more custom. To accomplish this (which took a Google search), we pressed down on the face of the Apple Watch firmly, and scrolled to the right to find additional faces. There were several options including: Simple, Motion (with a butterfly), Astronomy (with a globe), and, of course, Mickey Mouse. Gotta love Mickey.

By pressing the Digital Crown, twice, the apps displayed in an assortment of circles. To navigate to an app, we could spin the digital crown to zoom in or use our fingers to press on an app. Since we were not used to navigating with the crown, touch was the preferred method of navigation – at least at first.



Photo: Trying out Apple Pay at the grocery store.

Throughout the week, the Apple Watch was a test of functionality and exploration.

To sum up the experience, here is a list of pros and cons:

Pros

1. Comfort on wrist

2. Heart rate monitor

3. Notifications pleasant (once setup)

4. Battery life and charging

5. Fitness apps

Cons

1. Siri required handoff

2. No ability to reply to emails

3. Display didn’t always turn on when checking the time

4. Audio privacy for phone calls

5. Navigating the device (clock, glances, apps, etc.)

For a full review of the Apple Watch, we encourage you to read the recent New York Times article titled: Dear Diary, My Week Wearing an Apple Watch

Until next TIME (pun intended),

-MJ