This is my honest review of the applewatch. I got my apple watch for my birthday back in April and as a loyal fitbit user for 4 years (and have used my fit bit with both an iPhone and with my google pixel) I think I have a good understanding of a functional fitness tracker that will allow me to review the apple watch thoroughly.
I have always been a fairly active person, I work out quite often and during the summers I enjoy being outside rollerblading, walking, hiking and biking. I got a fitbit in 2017 (coincidentally also on my birthday) and I have worn it EVERY DAY since I received it. If you’ve read my previous post about 4 things you should be tracking you’ll understand the type of person I am haha; I’m THAT girl.
First I’d like to say that I had the Fitbit Alta HR which is not really considered a smart watch but more of a fitness tracker. The design was pretty thin in width but its profile was fairly thick making it sort of bulky. Although the Fitbit HR is very different from something like a smart watch there is definitely a difference between the two. The right one for you really comes down to whether you are looking for a fitness tracker or a smart watch. The two are very different (apples to oranges as some may say).
I have been using my apple watch for almost 2 months now. I have the Apple watch SE. Here is a short and sweet pros and cons of the apple watch:
PROS
1. surprisingly super comfortable
The design of the watch, although wider than the fitbit I had, is fairly slim. The benefit of this is that it didn’t protrude from my wrist so far that it was constantly banging into things which was sometimes the case with my fitbit. In addition, the regular silicone band that the watch comes with is super comfortable and stays put. I love the closure as well as it sites flat against the wrist making it very comfortable and easily to remove and put on.
2. customizable watch face
I love that the watch face is large enough that you can set it so that it shows everything you care about. Personally, I have my watch face set to one where I can view the weather, my watch battery life, the time (of course) and the date. These are just the things I personally look for at any given time. If you are concerned with your heart rate you can customize your watch face to display that information as well.
3. productivity
There are a number of productivity features especially for working professionals who are always on the clock. You can turn on notifications (or turn them off) when you are waiting for an email or a phone call. This way if you don’t have your phone on you for whatever reason you are alerted by way of your watch.
Another useful productivity feature is the timer. For anyone who works in a profession where you have to bill your time this is great for keeping track of your time on a particular task for billing purposes. So for example, you will start the timer when you begin a task and then when you are finished you can easily take a look at the time on your wrist to see how much time was spent on that task so you can accurately bill.
4. wellness features
Like many people during this pandemic, wellness has quickly become a priority and something to constantly work on these days. The breathe function of the apple watch is one of the most underrated features that I don’t hear enough about. This is a 1 minute long breathing exercise that you can do at any given time and it helps really relax you and has been very helpful for times that I begin to feel overwhelmed or stressed.
CONS
1. no auto detection of activity
My fitbit had an auto detect feature so if I was biking or running for example, it would automatically detect that activity and log it. The apple watch is only able to do this with walking (personally this rarely works) so I will have to manually start and stop a workout.
2. need to charge it often
Another unfortunate reality of smart watches is that you need to charge it often. I will usually charge my apple watch once a day that way it is never on the “battery reserve”. I find this practice better than draining the battery completely and then charging it. Keep your apple watch fully charged as often as possible will ensure that you are able to really take advantage of all of its features.
I will usually charge my watch in the morning while I am in the shower and getting ready and usually this is enough time to get it to full charge. Otherwise I will charge it in the morning when I am working as I am just sitting at my desk so there is no need to log the inactivity.
The issue with charging your watch at night is that if you track your sleep you will not be able to get that data if you are charging your apple watch while you are sleeping rather than actually wearing it.
3. the sleep tracker is not the best
I loved the fitbit app interface and found it very user friendly. I particularly loved the sleep tracker on the app, it would display the different stages of sleep during your night. So if you did not get a lot of REM sleep that would be revealed through the sleep report on the fitbit app. This is not something that you can access on the apple watch health app unfortunately. It will only track the time you spent sleeping and the time you spent in bed. I also do not think that the sleep tracker is automatic, rather you will have to put your watch in bedtime mode so that it will begin tracking your sleep. The fitbit would detect sleep automatically. However on the rare occasion I have had instances of sleep detection during sedentary bouts of time.
All in all, so far I am really enjoying my apple watch and find it super aesthetically pleasing and functional (best of both worlds!). If you are looking for a watch to track your activity and productivity but also care about aesthetics then this is for you. If you have an iphone and other apple products the apple watch will be an asset to your apple arsenal. Unfortunately I do not think the apple watch makes sense if you don’t have an iphone as it is designed to be paired with the iphone.
If you have any basic questions about how I use my apple watch on a day to day basis please feel free to reach out. If you’re interested in my daily activities feel free to follow me instagram.
