[Brave Ulysses]

Well, 5 or 6 weeks in...

I love what the watch does and is capable of doing. I do not regret it and will likely be a long time watch owner and wearer.

But, I hate how the Watch works and how I have to interact with it. The interface sucks and I think many, including myself, accept the problems with the interface, because of how great it is that the Watch can do some of the things it does.

1. Apps are virtually useless to me, and I really don't see native apps changing that much. The primary problem is accessing them. The home screen is just terrible design all around. It is not predictable, not easy, not quick, and requires too much dexterity. Then it is slow to load, and the apps are limited and their own interfaces suck. Those last complaints are likely to improve with native apps, but the fact remains, that getting to them is cumbersome and i may as well use my phone.

2. Working out with the Apple Watch is both awesome, and awful. Awesome in that I love having my workout watch on 24/7, and that it is stylish enough to wear 24/7 and that it has 24/7 heart rate monitoring on my wrist. Additional sensors will be key to Apple Watch's success in my opinion as the fitness tracking is kind of what gets you hooked and want to wear it as much as possible... at least for me, but I don't think Im alone.

However, the screen and interface is atrocious when working out... virtually unusable. The screen once it is wet with sweat barely registers touch. I just spent literally 3-5 minutes trying to force touch the screen to bring up the end workout dialog, after going on a 4 mile run in 92 degree heat. While running, it was virtually impossible to change the songs, volume, or screen without the presses not registering, pressing the wrong area, or going to and from the clock face, and/or home screen constantly. It's distracting, and i either put myself at risk while trying to maintain pace, or have to come to a stop. Additionally, there seems to be no way to quickly disable notifications JUST while working out...I may want phone calls to come through while working out but i don't need stupid app notifications or email notifications.

3. In general, the interface and the size of touch points just does not seem well thought out for ease of use.

4. Speed... lots of slow refresh rates for screen draws across the board... notifications while you are using the watch and doing something else cause hiccups all the time.



That's the ugly. What do you guys think? Agree, disagree? Add to it?