No, You Don’t *Need* a SmartWatch, But You’ll Hate Life Without It

I got an AppleWatch (Happy Father’s Day to Me) and wearing it less than a week, I realized two things loud and clear:

• I have absolutely no justification available for why I, or anyone, needs this thing.
• I will hate ever having to go without this e.v.e.r. again.

The simplicity of getting notifications on your wrist, the synchronization with my phone and, thanks to Apple’s handoff and continuity features, the out-of-the-box way it just works seamlessly with my iPhone, iPad and Mac are pretty much like getting to know an old friend whose gone away and come back cooler and more sophisticated than ever before.

I have only one use-case for the SmartWatch that makes me feel 10% justified in the brutal truth that I’m the first-world-problem of the rest of all first-world problems:

• I don’t miss notifications anymore.
• And I can instantly act/react to texts that are important or, more likely, unimportant.

Yeah, that whole “remove phone from pocket. Check message. Ignore because all it says is, ‘OK’” thing? Now, it’s a thing of the past.

Now you feel like a productivity boss.

Now you glance at your wrist in the store or hallway at work, send a quick “thanks” or emoji back to your counterpart and move on, a spring in your step because that 8/10ths of a second you spared make you feel happy. Like, I’m the 💣💩 happy.

Like this kind of happy:

Things I’m enjoying about the watch:

• Love passbook integration for movie tickets and I’m excited to use it for traveling and ApplePay.
• Love the movement indicators especially the stand-up reminder.
• Love the “tactic” feedback Apple made because I think a vibrating device on my wrist would be very annoying.
• Love the turn-by-turn nav, especially the “turn-signal” sound and tap. It’s the smallest thing, but keeps my eyes on the road, not my phone’s gps.
• “Hey Siri” right on my wrist makes me feel like Tony Stark and Jarvis and the voice to text recognition seems even better than my phone’s incredible capability here. (Related, my youngest asked, “Siri is in there too?” While pointing to the watch. I found myself replying, “Yep, she’s everywhere.” I think Siri is a superhero.)
• Calendar and reminder alerts are seamless and valuable.
• Making phone calls from my wrist feels like I’m Dick Tracy but from the future and much less halftone.

Summary? Yeah, I need this thing about as much as you need that phone in your hand, but it really is the most-intimate digital device you’ll own, and a lot of fun, besides.