Will you buy an Apple Watch?

Will you buy the first version of the Apple Watch?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 20.8%
  • No

    Votes: 57 79.2%

  • Total voters
    72
I've been trying to download the new update 2.2 and it hits about 5% and then just stops. Goes into pause mode. Before going into pause mode, the time to download says 4 hours 45 minutes. I checked the Apple watch online guides and get error, temporarily unavailable due to high demand. Can't even search. But Apple website and other web Apple stuff works.

Finally got it to download. Had to get deep in the iWatch General menus and delete the current part downloaded 2.2. That allowed me to try again, but it still gave a message the download failed. So I rebooted the phone with a soft reboot and now it is downloading and updating to 2.2

Hopefully this time it completes.
 
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Worked the last time. This is the first time I had serious trouble trying to do an updated iOS.

Improvement I noticed is my Blood Pressure ap, now works from my watch. It was supposed to work before but never did.
Maps also works much better with lots of new features on the watch, but it still requires the iphone.
 
Worked the last time. This is the first time I had serious trouble trying to do an updated iOS.

Improvement I noticed is my Blood Pressure ap, now works from my watch. It was supposed to work before but never did.
Maps also works much better with lots of new features on the watch, but it still requires the iphone.

Which blood pressure app are you using, I am using Qardio and still find it a hit or miss when trying to use it with the watch even with the latest update a few days ago
 
Qardio BP works fine and now it works every time with the watch. I also have the scales "Base" and it sucks. I have to re-pair the wifi every time.

One of the tricks on the BP cuff is, if the round start dot doesn't turn green when you first open the cuff, disconnect the battery cover for a couple seconds. When you reconnect the battery cover the button goes from gray to green. I do that frequently, so if that is what you meany by a miss, then we're on the same page.

I'm not sure why yet but when I use the iphone to do BP it runs 3 times and takes the average with 15 seconds rest period. When I use the watch to operate it, it only runs once then enters the reading in the database..
 
My issues are with the watch, and when it does work it is as you describe, only takes one reading although I have it set for 3, another thing I noticed is that after taking a reading and rolling up the cuff it is supposed to turn off but the led continues to blink like it is still trying to pair with phone even after I have closed the app in the app switcher, have to remove the batteries and reinstall to keep it from continuously trying to pair. Cardio says there is a switch that shuts the cuff off when rolled up but mine does not shut off
 
Qardio has had it's problems from the start. I was an early adopter of the BP Arm and the Scales Base.

The earlier units failed to pair most of the time but they finally fixed it after several software updates. Still have a few issues, but with each update it gets better.

I agree with you about it shutting off when the cuff is rolled up. I don't worry about it as the batteries last me 3-4 months even with taking 3 readings a day.

The Qardio Base is a real POS. The problems here are more hardware related. First the design of the Base makes it so you can lose your balance on it as the feet are not placed for a stable platform. It never keeps connection to your wifi network. The early ones were very inaccurate. My first one didn't work at all. After a month they replaced it and it worked but was inaccurate, one day weighs me 25 lob too heavy, the next day 20 pounds too light. My latest one is accurate but still has to be paired up with the phone wifi every time to work. The watch phase doesn't work except to see the reading. You have to hold the phone in your hand with the app open and use it to run the Base.

The concept is great, but the implementation is still a beta product needing lots of work before the average person should use it. I'm good with the BP Arm, but the scales is a POS.
 
tigerfan33-

Do you know of a way to keep the heart rate monitor up constantly while exercising?

I recently began my commitment to add treadmill daily exercise to my routine and find that having to use glances while on the treadmill throws my cadence off. It would be easier to just have it come up everytime I raise my wrist or even stay on for my 20 minutes.
 
tigerfan33-

Do you know of a way to keep the heart rate monitor up constantly while exercising?

I recently began my commitment to add treadmill daily exercise to my routine and find that having to use glances while on the treadmill throws my cadence off. It would be easier to just have it come up everytime I raise my wrist or even stay on for my 20 minutes.

You'll need to use the Apple workout app. Once you start the "indoor walk", the time of the walk will show on the face. Slide from right to left on the watch. Slide to the last screen and you'll see the heart rate.
It is constant and accurate but may lag behind somewhat.
 
Thank you! I figured you would know. Doc finally adjusted my pacemaker to allow my heart rate to go to 110 so moderate aerobic exercise is possible again.

I'll look for it in the app store.
 
Thank you! I figured you would know. Doc finally adjusted my pacemaker to allow my heart rate to go to 110 so moderate aerobic exercise is possible again.

I'll look for it in the app store.

No need to look in the App Store.
It is the pre installed with the watch.
It's yellow with a shape of a man running.
Workouts will sync with your health app on your iPhone.
 
Also have a pacemaker, have ben using an app called HeartWatch, provides a lot more info then the Apple health Heart rate, provides average, minimum, maximum, shows high and low resting can even be used to monitor sleep
 
No need to look in the App Store.
It is the pre installed with the watch.
It's yellow with a shape of a man running.
Workouts will sync with your health app on your iPhone.

Thanks, I was wondering why I couldn't find it. :)

Anyway I tried to get that to do what I wanted and it didn't quite do it for me. In fact I couldn't figure out how to keep a heart rate monitor active.

I played around with the settings in an app called "walk meter" and this gives me a number of on meters when I raise my wrist and it stores in glances for easy access.

Here is my first test run of the BPM meter.
IMG_0270c.jpg


The app works best for walks over distance, not good at all if you want to track on a treadmill because it uses GPS, but I'm not interested in distance, only time at a particular heart rate. I'm starting out at 110-125 15 minutes a day. The treadmill has the distance, incline, time, speed, and calories. The treadmill heart rate monitor is awkward to use. The Apple watch with this app is exactly what I was looking for.
 
Ended up getting one of the new nylon bands (black/grey), and while it is useless when running -- as it gets too sweaty -- for daily wear, it is comfortable, and looks good. Far more comfortable than the rubber sport band. And easier to put on and off.
 
Interesting discovery with the walk meter app. The free version appears to have a one week trial period. It stopped working after a week. I could no longer bring up the heart beat meter or access the other pages/features. These now seem to be only available in the "elite" upgrade or paid $4.99 version. So I upgraded and it opened up all sorts of additional features including what got disabled. It's a good product so I didn't mind having to pay the $4.99. But, we'll see if there are any bugs. The elite mode also allows various exercise equipment to be used as well.
 
In the Fall, the new Watch OS3 will be out. It has some really nice new features over the 2 version. You can see what features will be added by watching the latest Keynote at the developers conference earlier this week. Looks like the Fall will offer a complete upgrade of all the operating systems with lots of new features.
 
So I ended up selling my watch. I mainly sold it because it doesn't have a good enough battery life. It was the 42mm one. I would average like a day and a half , sometimes 2 . Plus having to have Bluetooth on all the time was killing my iPhone battery. So I'll wait for watch 3 to see what it has to offer and if not then I'll wait for the 4th one.
 
I also get about 40-44 hours on my original 42mm watch. Doesn't bother me because every other night I remove the watch and put it on the charger. My iphone 6+ gets about 3-5 days mostly with wifi connection as I'm home most of the time.

I believe that as the watch gets more use with more features and apps, the battery life will be less, not more unless they figure out how to make the electronics more efficient. I don't believe there is a more powerful battery technology on the horizon so we're stuck.

My suggestion to Apple was to work on solar recharging to extend the battery. The solar cells could occupy the entire wrist band for added power.
 
I spotted an article in NASA Tech Briefs about an IR sensor for wearables that uses 1/5 the power of current heart rate sensors, so that's encouraging.