Gear Review: Apple Watch Series 3 with Cellular (electric boogaloo)
Hi, I’m Pete and I’m an Apple fanboy. Whew. Glad I got that out of the way.
It’s no secret that I love gadgets and when Apple announced their Apple Watch, I jumped right in and got one… and I wasn’t really that impressed.
Wait, is a fanboy even allowed to say that…?
I think my expectations of what the watch could do and what it actually was capable of were a bit too far apart. The apps that were written for it were tethered to the phone and it was extremely laggy and slow. I stuck with it like any good fanboy would and hoped that subsequent software revisions and hardware updates will improve it.
I had been researching for a while on what fitness watch I should get. Fitbit, Garmin, etc - I wasn’t really that impressed with any of them. I had a few requirements that none of them really fit:
Wirelessly connect to bluetooth headphones (I hate wires…)
Store or stream music
GPS
Fitness and heart rate tracking
Doesn’t need the phone
Can place and receive calls
None of the devices I looked at so far could really do any of those things together. Some did some of the things very well, but none of them did them all. The ability to place and receive calls was the toughest feature that very few fitness or smart watches had at the time - so I was ready to resign myself to taking my phone with me on runs.
Fast forward to the Apple Watch Series 3.
This watch pretty much checked all of the boxes so when it was announced, I ordered one right away.
Have I mentioned that I was a fanboy?
Now I won’t get into the nitty gritty details of the watch; you can get much better reviews from professional technology review sites. I will say that I was able to pair my headphones with it, store my music, pair my heart-rate sensor with it and Strava worked on it - done deal.
The killer feature for me though was the ability to un-tether from my phone when I’m out for a run and still be reached. Why would I want someone to get ahold of me? Because with two little children, you never know if or when you need to get your ass back to the house as soon as possible. For example, one time during a run, my wife called me and told me she had a really bad migraine and needed me to get home. I was able to answer the call and turn around and get home in less than 10 minutes.
Worth every penny.
An added bonus is that my wife could track me if she wanted to in case she was worried about me on my long runs.
It’s not all rainbows and unicorns. The battery life isn’t great (lasts about a day). The notifications during my runs can be distracting. I’m not a huge fan of the interface. Not all of the apps work well on it or can be run without the phone nearby.
At the end of the day, as a workout and fitness companion, it more than gets the job done for me. It worked for me but your mileage may vary - just go with what works for you. In the end, just get out there and have fun, gadget or not.