Advertisement

Article

Is the Apple Watch right for you?

Is the Apple Watch right for you?
Lewis Leong

Lewis Leong

  • Updated:

The Apple Watch is available for pre-order but should you get one? We’ve already covered reasons why you would want a smartwatch and why you don’t need one.. If you’re thinking of getting the Apple Watch, you want to know if it’ll truly be useful. To help you decide, these are the types of people that would benefit the most from getting the Apple Watch.

The Business Person

GQ  Apple Watch photo shootPhoto credit: GQ

For business people, time is money and the Apple Watch could save you time throughout your hectic day. The ability to receive and act on notifications from your wrist may be enough to convince some you of its worth. But the Apple Watch can do so much more with app developers flocking to the platform.

The Apple Watch can help you stay on top of the news, check your stocks, take care of your boarding passes, and much more. There’s the Salesforce Wave app, which helps you stay on top of your CRM. If you’re staying at a Starwood hotel or resort, you can use the SGP app to check in and unlock your room’s door. Calendar notifications, Maps navigation, and Passbook make the Apple Watch your personal assistant.

You can also stay on top of different time zones with different watch faces and the built-in World Clock app. Apple definitely thought about the timekeeping aspect of its smartwatch, offering a moonphase watch face that pay homage to haute horology.

Last but not least, you can use Apple Pay to pay for your business expenses without taking out your wallet at the store.

The Fitness Buff

Out of the box, the Apple Watch works great as a fitness tracker. The watch contains GPS to track your distance, a heart rate sensor, and an accelerometer for measuring your body movement to calculate calories burned.

The Activity app for the Apple Watch acts as a hub for all your fitness data. The interface shows concentric circles that shows your progress for your goals throughout the day. To make the fitness features appeal to more people, Apple integrated reminders to stand and move, something desk-dwellers like me, forget to do.

Apple also has its own Workout app, which helps encourage you throughout your workout. it tracks real-time stats like time, distance, calories burned, and speed for a lot of different activities like cycling and running. The Apple Watch is water resistant too so you don’t have to worry about sweating all over it. However, you’ll want to leave the watch on the sink when you shower.

These are just the features and apps Apple included with the watch but there are other fitness apps too. At launch, Strava has an app that lets you track your cycling and Lifesum has an app to track your food intake. Runtastic also has an app that can replace Apple’s own fitness apps.

The Tech Nerd

Apple Watch door

Although Apple worked hard on trying make the Apple Watch appeal to the masses, tech nerds are definitely one of the main demographics for any smartwatch. We’ve all dreamed of being like Dick Tracy, taking calls on our watch.

With more apps supporting the internet of things, you can be sure app developers will figure out innovative ways to use the Apple Watch. For example, Honeywell Lyric lets you control the lights and thermostat from your watch. On a hot day, you can set the AC to run half an hour before you return so you’re greeted to a cool home. You can create presets for controlling things in bulk for times when you’re on vacation.

You can even remotely control select cars using the Apple Watch. Apple partnered with BMW to create an app that lets users control their i3 or i8 cars from their wrists. The app also lets owners see the status of their vehicle and can even let you remotely control the door-locks. Like the Honeywell app, the BMW iRemote app can let you set the cabin temp before you hop in.

The Student

Apple-Watch-buff-dude

OK maybe students don’t really need the Apple Watch but it’s definitely a nice luxury to have. In addition to being a fitness tracker, students will find its subtle notifications useful for staying on top of their classes, social networks, and news. Having notifications on your wrist means you won’t have to blind fellow students in a dark lecture hall with your phone’s screen.

With the Evernote app, you can quickly jot down reminders and notes. Don’t worry, you don’t have to type on the Apple Watch’s tiny screen. Instead, you use voice dictation to create notes and reminders. The app also shows any content related to an upcoming meeting.

For students who don’t have a car, apps like Maps and Citymapper are great for getting you where you need to go. Citymapper shows you public transit around you and gives you the fastest route. The app is limited to specific cities but Maps works everywhere.

The Apple Watch will also help students keep track of their finances with the Mint app. You can track what you’re spending your money on, create budgets, and set savings goals.

The Social Peacock

Apple Watch couple

Social Peacocks won’t need any apps at all to get utility out of the Apple Watch. While the base Apple Watch Sport model starts at a reasonable $350, you can show off to your friends by getting the $10,000 solid gold Apple Watch Edition version.

While most people won’t give your $10,000 Rolex GMT Master II another look, everyone knows about the Apple Watch. On top of that, everyone knows the gold Apple Watch costs $10,000, giving you instant recognition for your wealth.

And when your Apple Watch becomes obsolete in a year, you can upgrade to another solid gold Apple Watch 2 for another $10,000.

For more about the Apple Watch, check out our Apple Watch hub for everything you need to know.

Related Stories

Best apps for the Apple Watch (so far)

Apple Watch: everything you need to know

11 reasons you will be wearing a smartwatch this year

5 reasons I won’t get a smartwatch… yet

Follow me on Twitter: @lewisleong

Lewis Leong

Lewis Leong

Latest from Lewis Leong

Editorial Guidelines