Apple Watch: a Useful Tool or a Smart Toy?

After six months spent with my Apple Watch, I am still not sure if I consider it a useful tool or “just” a smart toy and fancy accessory. The design is minimalistic and wristbands are available in multiple colors and sizes. I have it in white and unfortunately it gets dirty pretty fast. Apart from this, it is definitely a cool accessory to wear. My smartwatch usage relates mainly to App notifications and workout tracking.

What I like

• Useful notifications by discrete vibrations on your wrist. Useful for instance when I left the phone at the charger.
• Quick message editing.
• Make and receive calls (via the connected iPhone)
• Workout tracking (for running, walking, cycling, etc.). When you finish your exercises, your history will appear (calories burnt, steps, time spent standing and exercising).
• Workout goal set (helps motivating me to move more, and stand up more frequently. Nice to have, especially in case of desk jobs).

What I dislike

• Battery life (one day max at normal use). Also, it considerably affects your iPhone’s battery life, as bluetooth needs to be always switched on.
• Not waterproof.
• Step counting is not accurate.

What has been announced for the second series

• Brighter screen
• GPS built-in
• Waterproof

It seems that with the new release, the Apple Watch moves from being just a cool accessory to a useful work and sport device. It appears that battery life has also been improved (+35%) somewhat, which might make a difference for potential buyers.