Hey Siri!

 So guess what? This girl got an apple watch for Christmas! T says I’m unqualified to write a review, as I can’t speak to the technical aspects of it – but oh well. I’ve read it could in the futurestop you from drinking and driving, tell you to take a breath when stressed,monitor & track seizures and I’m sure many other amazing things. Google will tell you all of that. I can tell you about wearing it every day.

The watch is a mixed bag for what I want it to do – which is everything. It’ll get there I’m sure; I’ve just got to be patient (which I am not).

First things first; I can say “Hey Siri” followed by whatever and boom it’s done. I set reminders, I message people, I check the weather all by saying “Hey Siri”. This is very useful for cooking – you know because talking is easier than having to push buttons on the oven.

At any given time you can check how many steps you have taken in the day, how many calories you have burned, how many ‘active’ minutes you’ve done, and the distance you’ve gone. It also wants you to stand every hour for at least a minute. So you’ll be sitting there all nice and cozy and then “DING, get your ass up”. You know you want the reward of perfection (or I do) at the end of the day so up you get. It sets daily goals for you and then ups them weekly depending on how you’ve done. Luckily for me I started it when I was couch ridden with the plague so I set my bar low.

I have found that you need to have your phone close by for it to work. Leave your phone inside, go outside and shovel your driveway – no active minutes for you. If anything, I’ve become a pro at not forgetting my phone anywhere.

Speaking of which. Can’t find your phone? You can control your itunes account from your watch. Start it up, play a song. Done. The watch locks as soon as you take it off, so without knowing the pin code no one can just put it on and have access to all your stuff.

You can’t get facebook on it – probably for the best. You can however send & receive facebook instant messages. You can get instagram. Those are really the only two I use. I also synch my instagram pictures with the picture ap on the watch. For what, I have no clue?

Are you lost pull up a map. Actually have Siri do it. For the most part though it only gives you tidbits of the actual aps. By that, I mean a news headline will come through followed by ‘read more on your iphone’ and you can have it then open on your phone. Same with the camera & flashlight aps. You can open them & then control that feature on your phone. I can see maybe using the camera for setting up pictures, but not sure the purpose of the flashlight?

Another really bad thing (for me) is that you can Amazon shop right from your watch. That is just unhealthy.

My issues with the watch:

1.     It having to be so close to the phone to track. I don’t want to run with my phone, but do want the data. Boo. Fitbit might still have one up here.

2.     I think the options for the face display are corny

3.     It could get really annoying to have constant notifications coming in – I turned off email/instagram notifications.

4.     If I wear it for say 16 hours the battery drains to 40% or so. There is no way I could go two days without charging it.

5.     When needing to respond to a text/email and want to say something other than the standard ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘talk later’ etc. options, you have to dictate to Siri, which means everyone around you hears your side of the communication.

I think that’s it. Answering your watch in public is unbelievably weird. You feel kind of like Inspector Gadget and then very quickly have to tell the person they are on speaker. I learned that one quickly. You can turn off the volume so you don’t get the beeps, and then it kind of taps your wrist – that confuses people even more. Silence, and then you are talking to your arm.

Also learning all the punctuation commands for Siri is exhausting. I can’t stand shortcuts & laziness in text & email communication. I spend more time trying to correct what I just attempted to say than pretty much anything else right now.

Overall, it is making life easier, so that is awesome. I hate becoming more dependent on technology, but there are more pro’s than con’s. So I’ll keep it. Now if only Siri could cook & clean...