A day in the life of an Apple Watch newbie

The Apple Watch (AAP)
The Apple Watch (AAP)

From today, the Apple Watch is officially on sale here in New Zealand. To buy or not to buy?

I wore one for a day to see what all the fuss was about. Here's what I found…

0600: Wake up and wonder what the time is. No idea! Worn my old watch to bed for 20-plus years. This new fangle-dangle device needs charging.

0601: Grope for the Apple Watch in a state of excitement, and in my groggy stupor knock fancy magnetic charger off the bedside table and send watch flying.

0700: Find toddler is obsessed with watch. Keeps poking it and asking for Peppa Pig. Pray this is not possible.

0830: Call random people on way to work while still holding steering wheel. Smug with my multi-skilling. Get beeped at for being too slow coming off red traffic light.

0900: Casually stare at my watch in the hope someone will notice and ask about it. They don't.

0930: Feel like James Bond with boobs. I'm on a mission, just watch me talk into my watch as I stride purposefully across the newsroom... to the water cooler.

1000: Notice I have wrist ache. I have tiny wrists and there's an awful lot of flicking going on. Note: I'm female, therefore not used to this sensation.

1100: Ooh, just been ticked off by watch for sitting too long. Get up and stride around the newsroom. Get another message rewarding me for acting. I'm liking this praise. Know someone overseas who swears they've already lost 9kg from watch obedience.

1200: Admire the gently swaying jelly fish and other watch faces. It's like a beautiful painting on the wrist.

1230: Swap sketches, and send heartbeats to the only other person in the office with an Apple Watch. Dangerous. I'm old enough to be his mum.

1300: See? I'm working on a twenty-four hour clock now, I'm so cool.

1400: Decided Siri is like a slightly unreliable friend. Chirpy but at bit useless at responding when you actually need her. And maybe slightly deaf. I've had to shout a lot.

1530: Yup. Not imagining it. Definitely got wrist ache. 

1600: Get a phone call during a meeting. Discreetly cover the face and the ringing stops. Very useful feature.

1700: Apps seem weeny bit slow. But hey, early days. Still feeling cool. Find some cool apps to download. Apparently good All Blacks and Air NZ ones.

1800: Got prominent haptic enabled on Watch so get wrist taps before alerts arrive. Also apparently works with navigation. Different ones to turn left and right. Off to navigate my way to the car park.

Verdict: Buy one if you want to be cool right now and have cash to splash. There are 38 models to choose from. Prices range from $599 to $30,000. Noel Leeming is selling the entry level and sport, or you can go online to the Apple store for all three. Alternatively,  you could wait for the next version just to be sure and no one will judge you.

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