We tested the Apple Watch, the best smartwatch of the moment

The Apple Watch has just arrived in stores in Spain and Mexico among other countries after two months of its original launch in the United States and other countries. Apple has done it again and despite the fact that many assured that it was late in this new market, the Apple Watch has become the fashionable device, the watch that everyone wants to have on their wrist. In Actualidad iPad we already have it for a long time and we analyze all its characteristics with photos and video so that you know even the smallest detail of the best smartwatch that can be bought, at least for now.

Design in true Apple style

The model we are reviewing is the 42mm steel Apple Watch with a black sport strap. Its design does not disappoint, and like any Apple product the attention to detail is maximum. Everything fits perfectly, it is a very solid product and the bright polished finish of the steel is exceptional. The digital crown is not at all out of place and its movement is very smooth, without any click or movement out of place.

Not being able to see the watch before buying it raises many doubts about the most appropriate size. However I think the 42mm model, the largest, is the most suitable for most. Only floors with very small wrists or those who prefer small watches should opt for the 38mm model. When you take it out of the box, the first thing that impresses is that its size is not as big as you thought, and even less when you put it on your wrist.

Its thickness is not exaggerated either. Despite what it may seem from the photos that we have seen on the internet or even some opinions that we have been able to read, my impression is that to be a smartwatch it is quite thin. In fact, it is much thinner than the watch that I usually use, as you can see in the image, although it is true that it is a model with a particularly thick case. The Apple Watch is comfortable to wear, and although the steel model is heavier than the aluminum one, it is not a watch that you notice you are wearing at all.

Sport strap comfort

As most of you already know, the Apple Watch with a sports strap Includes two strap sizes in the box to fit any wrist well. I don't have particularly large wrists, and the medium-large strap that comes by default fits me well in the penultimate hole. The watch is well fixed, without gaps, and hardly moves, but it is not at all uncomfortable. The strap has a very soft touch and there are no problems with the small pinches that some straps cause, especially in those who have hair.

Of course, when we want to do sports, it is best to adjust the strap well so that it is even more fixed. I put it in the last hole, it is still not bothersome and the heart sensor works much better this way. I have not been able to try other straps to see the sensation they cause when wearing it so tight, but of course the sports one is very comfortable.

Initial setup

Connecting your Apple Watch to the iPhone is very simple. Thanks to the Apple Watch application that includes iOS from version 8.3 in a few steps you will have your watch ready to work perfectly. The easiest thing is to capture your watch with the camera, but it can also be linked manually without much hassle. The initial setup process is quick, although if you choose to have all the compatible apps installed on your watch then it will take a while for them to be transferred to your watch. The best thing is that although it requires a little more attention and time, you choose the ones you really want to use, and later you will have time to add or remove applications.

Clock settings are basically done from the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, with very few options available on the Apple Watch itself. You can barely configure the orientation of the watch according to the wrist you wear it, the brightness of the screen and the size of the text, the volume of notifications and the intensity of the vibration, and the code lock. The customization options are, for the moment, minimal, something that undoubtedly Apple will have to expand in future versions.

Customizable notifications

The Apple Watch is much more than a watch to which you receive notifications from your iPhone, but without a doubt notifications are an important part of what the watch can do, and they can be very annoying. The initial configuration includes that all the applications that send notifications to the iPhone also send them to the clock, and that is something that I think few can endure. With messaging applications, social networks, email and notifications about your daily achievements in terms of physical activity, the watch does not stop vibrating at all times, so it is important to know how to filter what you want to reach your wrist and what not.

Luckily Apple allows you to customize this so that there are notifications that reach your iPhone but not the clock. Once you have configured it to your liking, the use of the Apple Watch wins a lot, and it really is nothing annoying, neither for you nor for others. Notifications produce a sound (which you can turn off) and a very discreet vibration (which you can increase if you want), but they don't turn on the screen. Only if you turn your wrist to see the notification will be shown on the screen, which is appreciated so that if you are in a meeting or at the cinema your watch is not permanently turning on and off.

Do not disturb mode becomes more necessary here than ever, and if you activate it on one device it will activate on the other. You have it in one of the «Glances» to be able to access quickly from your Apple Watch or from the control center of your iPhone. It is also important to note that the notifications that arrive on your watch will not be notified on your iPhone, thus avoiding duplicate notifications. The option to remove all notifications from your Apple Watch using Force Touch is very useful and is missed on the iPhone.

Very varied but improvable applications

The catalog of applications compatible with the Apple Watch is very wide, with more than 3500 in just two months on the market, but this does not mean that all of them are really useful or well designed. There are very few that really take advantage of the clock's possibilities and work correctly. Some are extremely slow to start, the clock even turning off the screen without having been opened. I do not know to what extent it can be the fault of watchOS or the developer of the application, most likely it is a combination of both, but it is something that seems to be resolved shortly with the possibility of installing applications directly on the watch, something that will directly influence their performance and speed.

The native applications do work very well, and they are a good example of what the clock can really do. Answer calls, write messages by dictation, manage your email, monitor your physical activity, manage your calendar events ... all this is done simply and quickly from the clock, and it will be a matter of time before application developers achieve the same that Apple has made are its applications.

Very sensitive screen, improvable outside

The screen has a very good definition. Both the watches and the images are seen with great quality, and that is especially noticeable if you come from using a Pebble. The colors are good, and the pressure sensitivity is high. Even at first this is a problem, because you always do Force Touch, which means that you have to press several times to get what you wanted. In little more than a day you get used to it and you realize that to press a button you only have to touch it, without pressing it, and that when you press you do Force Touch and open the corresponding menu.

An improvement point is the visibility outside. Under normal conditions it is good, but when it receives direct sunlight things get somewhat complicated. Although you can see what is displayed on the screen, the visibility then is not what we would all like. It is something that seems to be worse on this model with sapphire glass than on the sport model with Gorilla Glass, but I have not been able to test the latter. Still I insist, the content is visible and there are only problems with direct sunlight.

Yes, it is missed that the brightness adjusts automatically. The watch has an ambient light sensor, so it is not understood that Apple does not add this function. In the end what most of us do is adjust the brightness to the maximum, but that inevitably affects battery consumption.

A day of autonomy without problems

We know that the battery was not going to be the strong point of the Apple Watch, but what Apple promised in its presentation is fulfilled without problems. With medium-high use it is easy to reach the end of the day with 40% battery still available, and with more intense use including physical activity monitoring for one hour you can hold out smoothly until the night. I have not yet managed to drain my battery before going to sleep, and there have been days when I have used it to the fullest.

Unfortunately this means that every night you will have to charge it, because it does not matter if you arrive with 40% or 10%, it will not last another day. Although the charger is very comfortable (except for the length of the cable), you miss a support to place it at night, and it is a pity that Apple has not thought about it more than for its Edition (gold) model.

The best smartwatch although it can be improved

It is not risky to say that the Apple Watch is the best smartwatch that you can buy today, although it is not difficult to have achieved it with the options that are available right now. There are smartwatches with greater autonomy, but their functions are not even close to what the Apple Watch offers (yes, I mean the Pebble). Regarding the quality of materials, design, finish and performance, no rival right now can overshadow the Apple Watch, although in the case of the apple company, this means that its price is high. Few smartwatches have a higher price than the Apple Watch, although if we take into account that all their models work exactly the same, a good option may be to choose the cheapest model.

At the software level there is still much to improve, and most of these improvements will come with watchOS 2.0. It misses customization options as basic as the notification tones, and being able to personalize the clocks more. But we must also bear in mind that we are facing the first generation of a completely new device, And that has a price.

Wait for a second generation?

There are many who say that it is best to wait for the next Apple Watch model. In technology it is something that could be applied to all the products that are launched: the one in a year will be much better, and maybe even cheaper. Obviously, as I said before, being an "early adopter" has a price, but it also has that special feeling of having a special watch on your wrist that few people still have. Can you wait for Apple to launch the next model? Rumors say it could arrive in 2016, but that remains to be seen. At this point we know if the Apple Watch will be renewed every year or every two years, and that is a lot to wait.

The improvements will also come at the software level, without a doubt. The Apple Watch can still give a lot of itself, and watchOS will improve a lot from the month of October. Developers will also optimize their applications, and new utilities will appear for Apple's smartwatch. As an Apple Watch owner, smartwatch lover, and techie, I don't think I would recommend waiting for the next generation to anyone. The Apple Watch has a fabulous present and an extraordinary immediate future.