“People are eyeing the Apple Watch for a variety of reasons. Its luxury appeal, its newness, and its utility as a smartwatch and fitness tracker are among the selling points of the device,” Kelly Hodgkins writes for AppleWorld. “My interest in the Watch does include its usefulness as a smartwatch and fitness tracker, but there are three other reasons that compel me to pick one up on day one.
“The first reason is social in nature. I spend a fair amount of time in the company of other people where it is awkward to pull out my phone,” Hodgkins writes. “With the Watch, I expect to be able to turn off my iPhone ringer and receive vibrating alerts on my wrist. Though I haven’t experienced it, I assume the buzz-buzz on your wrist will be much more discrete and less noticeable to me than the buzzing of my iPhone 6 Plus.”
“Lastly, the Watch will protect my phone from imminent danger. I spend a lot of time kayaking during the warmer months here in Maine,” Hodgkins writes. “With the Watch, I expect to keep my phone in a floatable, watertight box. It will be near to me, but safely stowed in a waterproof environment. When my daughter texts me, I will be able to receive the notification and respond without touching my phone. That convenience, along with the protection it provides to my phone, is well worth the $349 price tag for the Sports Edition Watch.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Another reason is that, if you really want an Apple Watch, supplies are likely to be heavily constrained and the best chance to get on on Day One is to hit Apple’s April 10th preorder site the moment it goes live, but before most people have even laid eyes on an actual Apple Watch, much less tried one on.
The kayaking/canoeing aspect is one of my major concerns but the watch is apparently waterproof within it’s designated specs.
It’s Water RESISTANT not proof.
To the extent that it has the IPX7 rating, it is “waterproof” for my purposes:
Apple Watch has a water resistance rating of IPX7 under IEC standard 60529.
“By achieving the IPX7 standard, Apple Watch should be able to withstand immersion in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes. Exposure to sweat, rain or the shower should be fine (although mist from the shower has been known to creep into devices…) but extended submersion is best avoided — so no swimming or washing the dishes.”
If you will able to make sure that your kayaking will not spread though whole day — even with pauses — then you can use Apple Watch.
Otherwise you can not since Watch should become absolutely dry inside-out after each of wet sessions. If there was not enough time between Watch feeling splashes, then they will stop working.
This is the reason why Apple does not recommend to swim with Watches: not a lot of people are capable to track whether there was enough time for Watches to become dry if they go to all-day rest with periodical swimming through the day. If you personally can do that, then try; if not sure, then better not.
And this is the reason why Cook has answered that he takes shower with Apple Watch, it is reliably possible: because even if you take shower twice a day, there are always many hours between those and Watch will certainly become dry inside out until next shower.
“…Watch should become absolutely dry inside-out after each of wet sessions..”
I’m curious. Where does this information come from? How do we know the extent of the wetness or location of the wetness or where a “critical” area might be?
“…there are always many hours between those and Watch will certainly become dry inside out until next shower.”
I’ve not seen anything about “cumulative” wetness or specifications on “drying times.” Perhaps Apple needs to – or will – clarify at some point soon. Apple seems to have spent many hours on fitness research (see the ABC News Nightline story from a few nights ago). Certainly the company didn’t ignore use in water sports as a possibility for the device.
And how long are Cooks’s showers? Maybe he’s a “hour-in-the-shower” type of guy. He hasn’t said anything about the length of his time there.
I’m just wondering if there’s a source of specific information on this topic I haven’t seen.
This information comes from conditions for IPX7 test. It is 1 meter for 30 minutes with presumed condition that device is absolutely dry before the test.
Most devices, including Apple Watch, go through this test with borderline success. This means that even they stay in the water even a little longer than 30 minutes, they will already fail the test. This is how those devices designed: to pass specific requirements, but not with not much beyond.
So if you would try to pass Apple Watch this test when it is not absolutely dry in the first place, they may easily fail IPX7 requirement.
This is the only reason why Apple Watch have IPX7 certification but still have declared limitation about swimming. Apple does not want accept liability of Watch failing because users had couple of swimming sessions with not enough time between them for Watch to become completely dry.
But, again, if you will be very careful and not rush into series of kayaking sprints after in one of previous Watch became wet, then you can hope that everything will be fine. (If that would be me, it would be easier to just take off watches after first part of kayaking trip and not think about.)
Good explanations.
I’m still curious about where the water infiltration might take occur: the crown, the crystal, the button, the speaker, the sensors? I guess that the waterproof-ness is affected by pressure. The deeper the water, the greater the pressure, the greater likelihood there will be infiltration.
If the watch gets wet from splashing or brief submersion I still think that the IPX7 rating should mean what it says. I’m being nit-picky here, but if it has the IPX7 rating, inevitably someone will use the Apple Watch in a wet environment using the rating as a guideline – maybe even just in the shower – and there will be fogging or damage. I think Apple needs to clarify how the damage might occur and from which areas. I’m sure the lawyers will be eager to hear that as well 🙂
I think – using the kayaking example – someone will wear the watch while kayaking just to see what their heart rate was while barreling through a Class IV or Class 5 rapid! I’ll just take it easy and stick with the Class III for now 🙂 Taking off the watch just doesn’t seem right. But, to your point, maybe if a big wave from a rapid hit the watch that might have the pressure to cause water infiltration somewhere.
The Watch has been hyped as a health device and water sports are very much a part of a lot of people’s activities. This is a topic I’ll be researching further, and hopefully Apple will give more information about the Watch in wet conditions.
It is waterproof enough.
Strictly speaking NOTHING is waterproof. So most companies go for the “water resistant” label. I think it will be fine to go kayaking in. Just don’t go diving down more than 10 feet or so.
What if your mortgage is underwater. Can you use ApplePay?
I bought AAPL shares the day after the announcement Steve was coming back to the company. I don’t have a mortgage 😉
I’m trying to decide: Buy this year or wait a year.
If you don’t buy now then what could end up happening is: it will sell out, then you may decide “I should have gotten it now”, you’ll finally get one months later at mid-cycle and always be late on upgrades. Just get it now.
As described on Apple’s Watch site:
2. Apple Watch is splash and water resistant but not waterproof. You can, for example, wear and use Apple Watch during exercise, in the rain and while washing your hands, but submerging Apple Watch is not recommended. Apple Watch has a water resistance rating of IPX7 under IEC standard 60529. The leather bands are not water resistant.”
Now that is for a brand new watch out of the box. One mark on the watch or even the band could be deemed evidence that the case was compromised. My son would suggest that I take it off anywhere near water. He is expecting to get the hand-me-down unscathed when the next iteration is launched.
Erratum. Should have followed BMWTwisty comment.
Sometimes I can’t follow my own comments 🙂
The family have already decided for me. My son in particular doesn’t want to wait two years before I give hm mine.
Won’t buy it this year, so you can subtract 1 from the millions of sales.
I see no compelling need to buy it. More important, Apple already knows what they replacing it with next year. I bought the first Mac Mini and the first iPod Touch. Regretted it. Got a lot of use from the devices, but I suspect Apple withheld features deliberately to force second purchases.
Lots of people who view this as a standalone device will be very disappointed. They’re expecting a Dick Tracy watch. Apple, sad to say, has allowed people to believe this. They have not lied, but they have not driven the point home.
It’s almost ritualistic.
To minimize potential for transaction issues, $1099 (no sales tax here) is preloaded onto an Apple Store gift card, balance is triple confirmed. The card sits on my desk awaiting it’s brief moment to shine.
I will shut off most wifi devices in the house at 11:30pm, with my MacBook Pro directly connected and my cellular iPad’s hotspot ready as a backup.
Automatic screen locks and pass codes temporarily disabled, with the seconds option enabled for the system time. Hard wired mouse and keyboard and 34″ monitor. A single instance of Safari as my only open application.
The Space Black link added to my Apple Store account’s Favorites. Anything else I’m missing?
Coffee?
Optimize your DNS lookup with something like Namebench.
Do this about 3 hours ahead of time to allow it to finish.
Eventually, a web page opens with three recommended DNS IPs.
The paranoid / careful may want to do a trial run well before watch day.
You then update your DNS preferences in System Preferences/Network.
To do so, open the tab for your active net connection / click Advanced / click DNS. Update your DNS by copy/paste the recommended IP addresses.
Happy shopping.
I always set my alarm for 1130 pm Cuppertino time….the the one-click buy option set with Safari up and running hardwired to the network…
12:01 am hit send!!!
I had my iPhone 6 Plus purchase confirmation in my email at 11:58am from AT&T. Apple’s website wasn’t even usable for several hours. Hopefully we don’t have this same problem.
I’ve got that all setup in the Apple Store app for my 42mm Space Gray WATCH SPORT on my iPhone 6 Plus. 💥😃
Why are you buying the Apple Watch before you even see it? One word – TRUST. Apple has earned it. I will be ordering on April 10th – handy since it’s around my birthday!
Don’t we already order every iPhone before we even see it?
The only difference here is this is a new product category so there is a little blind faith in knowing Apple will do good and make something we will be delighted with based on past history. We know that new iPhones are simply (not so simply made) upgraded versions of something we already love so easy to order sight unseen (I LOVE my iPhone 6 Plus despite initial size trepidations).
Don’t fall off you kayak with it on.
I want the black stainless model, but not with the $400+ link band. I’d rather order a leather band. I wonder if those band options will be available on day one.
Let’s see I bought Newton Message Pad….nope I am waiting to see what happens.
I think it’s pretty crazy to buy ANY expensive tech product you’ve never at least seen in person, but I’m definitely in the ‘version 2’ camp. After a year of data, battery life should be vastly improved on the second-gen model. Plus perhaps by then one or two apps might have arrived that make a genuine, compelling case for owning a smartwatch and a smartphone above and beyond very minor gains in convenience. It’s all well and good saying how great it is to be able to keep your phone in a waterproof box and reply to notifications from your wrist while kayaking, but then if I was off kayaking I’d probably just wait until I’d finished kayaking and then reply to stuff. People can usually wait for a bit without the sky falling in.