23 things I did with my Apple Watch in one weekend

I wrote my first impressions of the Watch last Friday, after spending a few hours with it. I’ve now spent a weekend with the Apple Watch.

My understanding of the device and its usefulness has broadened and deepened.

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However, my editor continues to ask me “Has it changed your life yet?,” and all I can say is that the jury’s still out. While I believe the Watch looks good and that the band is about as comfortable as it could be, it’s still a bit of a relief taking it off at the end of the day.

At any rate, here are the things I did on the Watch over the weekend, with some off-the-cuff comments on performance and ease of use.

1. Used iPhone camera to pair Watch with phone (this did not work consistently)
2. Set up two cards for Apple Pay on the Watch (this seemed to contain some extra steps)
3. Used Apple Pay in Whole Foods and Walgreens (this was not quite as straightforward as paying with the iPhone)
4. Responded to text messages with Siri dictation, quick-replies, and emojis (the dictation worked surprisingly well)
5. Checked my calendar for next meetings and details (rather information-rich)
6. Tracked steps, activity, and calories with Activity app (the graphical display works for me)
7. Obeyed the “stand up” reminders (although I got a couple of these while I was already standing)
8. Accepted a call and had a conversation over the speaker (the sound left a lot to be desired)
9. Tracked the decline of my heart rate as I rested after a workout (heart rate data looked “truthy”)
10. Set my Mickey Mouse face, customized the face (Hi Mickey!)
11. Changed the city on my watch face from Cupertino to San Francisco (hard to figure out)
12. Set an alarm to buzz me awake from a nap (strange experience, but OK)
13. Set up, and ordered, apps that would be “glance-able” on the Watch (easy after you figure out how it works)
14. Learned about the Nepal earthquake from glance at tweet (neat)
15. Remote-controlled phone camera with the Watch (cool use of “watch as remote,” worked well)
16. Remote-controlled music player on phone (works fine, but why?)
17. Talked with my Lark coach about my meals (Lark is a robot, not a person)
18. Paired Bluetooth headphones to the watch (no problems)
19. Used Maps to get directions to grocery store (no problems yet)
20. Hailed a ride using Uber app, and tracked progress in the car (no problems here)
21. Got the weather forecast from Dark Sky app glance (neat, nice app)
22. Used Withings Home app to monitor cat mischief at home (the problems with this had little to do with the Watch)
23. Turned on Watch with arm movement (this did not always work well)

(Please note that the idea for this blog post is ripped off from Eric Alba’s blog.)