7 days with the Apple Watch: What users and tech enthusiasts are saying

It has been well over a week since Apple began its Watch deliveries. Several users as well as tech enthusiasts have started penning down their experiences with the new wearable. From useful notification alerts, to lack of apps support, here are some user experiences.

There’s one thing that most users agree on and that is the watch’s impeccable design. “Apple Watch strives for high fashion, but it still looks like a techie watch. With that said, I’ve worn my fair share of smartwatches and none are as good-looking as Apple Watch,” Re/code’s Lauren Goode writes. She has been using the stainless-steel version for over a week that starts at $549. It is a mid-ranger priced between the Sport version ($349) and the gold Watch Edition ($17,000).

Another aspect that most users have loved is the notifications feature. In fact, many feel its like the best feature on the device. “But even with all the stuff the Apple Watch can do, I still found myself using it mostly to glance at the time or incoming notifications, two things I found incredibly useful,” Steve Kovach of Business Insider points out.

“The watch gently vibrates to alert you. It’s more like a gentle tap on your wrist than an aggressive smartphone vibration. Unlike a smartphone, the watch’s screen doesn’t light up with every notification; you have to raise your wrist to see it. It’s more like your watch telling you “Hey, there’s a new thing here for you to check when you get a sec” than alerting everyone around you,” Kovach adds.

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However, the working wasn’t smooth for everyone. “The Apple Watch activates its screen only when it thinks you’re looking at it. Sometimes a subtle twist of your wrist will do, but sometimes it takes … more. Many times while using the watch, I had to swing my wrist in an exaggerated upward motion to bring the display to life,”  said Bloomberg’s Joshua Topolsky .

There weren’t many complaining about its call quality. “Both my boss, Walt Mossberg, and my mother told me that call quality was very good, and that they couldn’t even tell I was calling from a smartwatch. The volume on the watch doesn’t go up very high, though, so calls sounded best when I was wearing Bluetooth headphones, Goode said.

In terms of fitness, it really doesn’t do anything new. Its just like what most fitness bands out there do. “Here’s nothing revolutionary about the Apple Watch as a fitness tracker. We’ve been using devices like the Fitbit and Jawbone UP for years. Like those wearables, the Apple Watch can monitor your steps, calories burned, and heart rate. All that data shows up on your watch or the accompanying Activity app on your iPhone,” Kovach further adds.

Getting to the most talked about and crucial aspect - its battery life. The battery life has performed better than what everyone had expected. Goode writes, “One day this past week, I woke up at 5:15 am, exercised for an hour using the Watch, ran Maps during my commute, made phones calls and received notifications throughout the whole day, and by 11:00 pm the Watch was just hitting its Power Reserve point.”

Several users have taken to Twitter to talk about the battery life:

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Another make or break aspect is support for apps. Now, the watch doesn’t really support too many apps, but reports claim that the ones it does, don’t work as smooth as on the iPhone.

“Third-party apps load slowly because they’re technically stored on your phone, not the watch itself. All the data has to push from the phone to your watch via Bluetooth. I’ve spent far too long over the past week staring at loading screens for Apple Watch apps,” adds BI report.

The Mashable review sings to a similar tune, “I often found that new apps took forever to install, and they then worked sporadically. I installed Trivia Crack and initially couldn’t get it to work. It took initiating a game on the iPhone for it to finally be available on the watch.”

Considering the tiny watch face, one would expect voice commands to take forefront. However, Siri comes with limited support, so far. TheVerge’s Nilay Patel points out, “When Siri did work, it was for the small stuff Siri is generally good at, like converting units in the kitchen or setting a timer. Anything more complicated generally resulted in Siri prompting me to use my iPhone.”