My Comprehensive Apple Watch Review After a Year of Owning One

I have had my Apple Watch for over a year.  I wear it almost every day and I could not imagine what it would be like to live without it.  I figured after a year, I have enough ground to stand on to give an educated Apple Watch review.

My Motive

I first bought my Apple Watch when I was leaving to go study abroad in Florence.  If you want to read about those experiences, you can read them my Apple Watch when I was leaving to go study abroad in Florence.  If you want to read about those experiences, you can read them here.  Anyways, I wanted something that would track my activity, but also was excited about the ease of having notifications to my wrist.

When you go abroad, pick-pocketing is huge in certain cities.  Florence is one of those cities where it is pretty bad.  I knew when I was out and about, I didn’t want to keep pulling my phone out.  This would lead to higher risk of leaving my purse open, getting pick-pocketed and losing everything.

With my Apple Watch, I was able to leave my phone in my purse, but could still respond to messages, get directions, or check the time (obvi).  So that is my story that motivated me to buy the Apple Watch.

Here is my comprehensive Apple Watch Review of things I love and things that aren’t so great.

What To Love

1. Very lightweight and easy to put on by yourself.

   I cannot stand when a bracelet or watch is impossible to put on by yourself.  It makes you never want to wear it.  I have NEVER had any issues putting my Apple Watch on.  I also barely know that I have it on most of the time because the size is so nice.

2. Extremely customizable.

   You can pick from a variety of metals.  I have the rose gold and love it.  It is extremely feminine and I can dress it up or down with different bands.  The number of bands that Apple has created for the Watch is insane.  Being able to change it from something I work out in, to an accessory I can wear at night, is one of my favorite things about the Apple Watch.

3. Can check notifications without needing to interrupt a conversation by checking your phone

   When you are talking to a friend, sitting in a meeting, or in a movie, no one likes the person that pulls their phone out.  It is rude and seems like you do not care about what is going on.  With your Apple Watch, you can simply turn your wrist, glance down to see who texted you, and then turn your wrist back and it goes back to sleep.   This can be a seamless glance in a conversation without being rude or causing an interruption.

4. Can verbally respond or write responses to text messages

   I love to do this when I am in the middle of cooking, cleaning, or doing laundry.  I do not want to stop what I am doing to pick up my phone, so I simply just speak my response to my Apple Watch and it sends the message off.  This is a great feature.

5. Tracks your activity throughout the day to keep you moving

   Many smartwatches do this now, but I love my Apple Watch tracker because it syncs perfectly with my iPhone and other IOS apps.  There is a Move goal, an Excercise goal, and a Standing goal.  All of these goals have research backing them to be healthy minimums for your day.  It also has a wide range of different workouts that you can select and track properly.

What Not To Love

1. Battery is not great

   If I get up early and wear the watch all day, it is usually telling me that it is on 10% by 9 pm.  As a college student, this can be hard because if I want to wear it out for the night, I need to recharge it while I am getting ready.

2. Accessories are extremely expensive

   On average, extra bands to make it customizable cost a minimum of $100.  That seems pretty expensive to me.  But, this does give you an easy idea for anyone that is getting you a birthday present.

3. Small range that you can be away from your phone

   I was excited to get my Apple Watch because I thought it would actually let me disconnect from my phone a little.  I thought I could leave my phone and at least walk around my house and get things done.  Well, the Bluetooth range is not that strong on the Apple Watch.  Sometimes if I go to a different room, I lose connection from my phone.  Apple has told me this shouldn’t happen and that it is my WiFi connection.  We have a very strong internet connection at my house, so I kinda just giggle this excuse off when I hear it.

Now, I do have the Apple Watch Series 1.

I have heard that the new Series 3 has an amazing battery and that the cellular data on it allows you to not have your phone.  These are two great positives for me that make me want to buy the Apple Watch Series 3.  It is still expensive to buy and the accessories still have a high price point, but I think that it is worth it since there are so many positives.

If you have any other questions about the Apple Watch, please be sure to leave a comment!

Like I said, I have had mine over a year, so I can give you a pretty good Apple Watch review and there may be things you want to know that I didn’t cover in this post.  Don’t be afraid to speak up 🙂  I love being able to talk and build a community with all of you.

As always, thank you for following along with Classically Clad!

Did you like my Apple Watch Review post? So here’s Amazon Fashion Review: Tips, Ideas, and Troubleshooting for the Best Purchases and Work Wear Wardrobe #1.