Have you used your nose?

Here's my actual watch. And my hairy wrist is included for no extra charge
Here’s my actual watch. And my hairy wrist is included for no extra charge

Quick post, with a quick thought. Have you used your nose?

I’m talking about using your nose to tap something on your Apple Watch.

I have, more than once.

I was baking some (special) cookies today and using the watch as a timer. It’s very cool, because you can do it hands free, with the “hey Siri” voice command.

I was baking my cookies for 12 minutes, so they came out nice and crisp. While preparing the next batch for the oven, the timer went off, telling me to take the current batch out of the oven. My hands were gooey with dough, so I used the tip of my nose to dismiss the timer alert on my watch.

I’ve been wearing my Apple Sport Watch for around 6 weeks now and I like it a lot. Notice I didn’t say “loved”.

I love my iPhone, I love my iPad, I love my iMac. The watch doesn’t inspire that sort of awe for me.

I think it is beautifully crafted, fantastically designed and executed. It’s nearly everything I would want in a watch from Apple. And the rest is coming in the next OS in the autumn.

But I don’t love it, like I love the other devices. The interactions I have with it are very brief, as they are meant to be, but also very useful.

The watch has fit right into my life, but I wore a watch before. I’ve always worn a watch. If you don’t wear a watch now, then the utility of the Apple Watch may not be as apparent to you, but for me it is just an extension of what my previous Casio G-Shock did.

Utility is the word I keep coming back to when I talk about my watch. It’s all very useful and very cool, but it lacks the fun factor (for me anyway) of my other devices.

Yes, I know there are games for the watch, but they really don’t appeal to me, on something with such a small screen.

What I find useful are the alerts. I don’t miss texts any more, ever. And breaking news…it is so cool to receive a breaking news alert on your wrist, before you see it any place else.

I use the watch to remotely skip tracks on my music player. I’ve already mentioned the messaging. I’m looking forward to being able to reply to emails, a feature which is coming in the autumn. Yes, It should have been included in the first version, but it wasn’t.

I’ve used it for walking directions, I’ve used it to plot journeys on public transport and I’ve used it to summon an Uber. That’s actually cool as fuck and very futuristic.

So is Shazaming a song on the radio, in the car, while stopped at a red light.

I’ve taken phone calls as well, which is also surreal and I’ve seamlessly handed it off to my iPhone.

I definitely fiddle with my iPhone far less, and I really only grab it when I need something the watch can’t do.

Utility. A very attractive, comfortable to wear, device that provides me with utility.

Everyone who’s seen it, asks me the same question: Should I get one?

Tough question. If you’re reading this and thinking everything I’ve mentioned sounds cool, then yes, get one. But if you’re thinking £339 (around $400) for the cheapest model sounds like a lot of money for a watch, then it probably isn’t for you.

I’m glad I bought one, I would miss it if I didn’t have it and I will probably buy the next one, if it really has a Dick Tracy style videophone in it. But I love toys and gadgets and sometimes like to be an early adopter.

It’s Apple’s most personal device, and I think they are right. Everyone will have a different relationship with their Apple watch.

My original question remains….have you used your nose?

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