Apple Watch 2 Review

[codeorama]

So, I previously had a Basis Peak, which I loved and wrote a positive review for it on this forum, but it was recalled recently so I received a full refund (even though I bought it on release day at Best Buy for 50 dollars cheaper).  I really liked it and wanted something that was waterproof, as the Peak was.  So, the original iWatch wasn't waterproof so I never really considered it.  
Being that I had the refund check in hand, I jumped in and decided to try the new iWatch (I know that's not the real name, but its easier to type) knowing that I could return it if it wasn't worth the money.

I've had it for a week now and actually love it.  As a watch, it does its job, but its hard to imagine if it couldn't do something that simple. 

As a fitness tracker, its a lot better than the Basis Peak or any of the Fitbit's i've tried.  Its easy to use.  It registers a lot of exercises that the others don't always give you credit for. (yes, I"m dumb like that, I'm easily motivated by getting credit)  I like the way that your goals are visualized and it easily shows you where you are and what you need to do.

The GPS is cool. Not necessary IMO, but cool. I went for a walk and in the app, it shows everywhere I walked, what pace etc... 

I like that I can sync music playlists to it quickly and easily from my phone.  Then you don't have to have your phone with you to listen to music.  

Other stupid stuff I like:  It has a breath app that asks you to kind of meditate several times a day.  Pretty relaxing. It bugs you to stand up every hour.  When you are using your phone for navigation, the watch vibrates to let you know when to turn and shows the directions.  You can quickly answer text messages. You can even scribble a response on the watch and it converts it to text.  You can make phone calls from the watch.  Cool when you are driving.  Evernote works with it. 

Last cool one, you can control you camera from it. Put your phone somewhere, then activate the app and you see the camera viewfinder on your watch and can take the picture.

Most of it is luxury type stuff, nothing that is OMG life changing, but its pretty sweet.  I got the cheapest one and will be keeping it.  I like it a lot.  My best friend will have his in the next couple of days and we will link ours together to compete for fitness challenges.

 

EDIT: one more new cool thing.

I use Keynote for presentations in the class room.  I have always linked my iPad up to keynote so I can annotate on the screen and move slides forward. It really comes in handy for helping the kids to label maps etc...

Now, I can use the watch to move keynote slides forward. I can walk around the class to monitor the kids and just touch the watch face to move the slide forward. For me, its really nice.