Rene Ritchie over at iMore did a fun thing today — he polled all of the writers at the site about their choices of options for the Apple Watch and wrote a post about it. It was such a great idea that I’m appropriating it for Apple World Today! Here are the same questions that Rene asked his team, answered by Kelly Hodgkins, Dave Caolo and myself:
Which size Apple Watch will you be getting?
Kelly: I have small wrists and will be getting the smaller 38mm sized watch.
Dave: I’ll be getting the smaller 38mm size, as I’m afraid the larger model will be just a bit too bulky.
Steve: I’m old and have lousy eyesight. Give me the 42mm size, thank you. I think that extra tiny bit of screen space might help.
Aluminum, stainless steel, or gold?
Dave: Certainly aluminum. I’m not made of money!
Steve: Stainless steel. My existing watch — which I rarely wear, by the way — is a Tissot T-Touch that’s made of stainless steel. It has survived numerous collisions with tables, chairs, and other obstacles and just has a few tiny scratches to show for it. Since I will probably hold onto the Apple Watch for at least five years before thinking about getting a replacement, I want it to last. The sapphire face on the stainless steel model will keep it from being scratched, too.
Kelly: My first choice is the silver aluminum case as I will be wearing it mostly for sports and not for fashion.
Which band will you get with your Apple Watch?
Steve: Bright blue leather loop, thank you. I don’t like metallic bands either, which is why I don’t wear that expensive T-Touch I bought years ago.
Kelly: The green sport band as I love that green neon color.
Dave: This is a tough one and I’m still not entirely sure. Most likely a sport band, but not a flashy color. Metallic bands are right out, as I know they’ll drive me crazy.
Will you get additional bands, if they’re sold separately?
Kelly: Nah, just the green one as I plan to put it on my wrist and hardly take it off. I’m not interested in coordinating it with my outfit, just want it to track everything I do.
Dave: Probably not. The bands aren’t very important to me. Note: this will be the first watch I ever own, much like the original iPhone was the first mobile phone I had ever owned.
Steve: It depends. I might consider getting a Milanese Loop band for those few occasions where I really dress up. It would go better with my tux (yes, I do own one). But it depends on just how easy it is to change out the bands, and how expensive a separate band would be.
What other accessories would you want with your Apple Watch?
Dave: I like the charging stand from DODOcase. It’s an unnecessary luxury, but…well, I’ll let you finish that sentence for yourself.
Steve: Yeah, the DODOcase stand is nice looking. However, the good people at Pad & Quill say they will have an Apple Watch accessory coming out, so I’d like to see what they’re offering.
Kelly: The only accessories I want are those that provide support for third party devices, such as a wrist-control for a GoPro or a remote sensor that turns on my lights when I enter the house.
How much on-board storage would you want on your Apple Watch?
Steve: I really don’t know just how much space things like songs, photos, and “apps” are going to take up on the Apple Watch, but I’m guessing that 8 GB would be a decent amount.
Kelly: I don’t see myself needing a lot of storage as I see the Watch as a conduit to my services and other devices and not the central hub to store my digital existence. I would expect that 4-8GB would be more than enough to meet my needs.
Dave: Not being sure how much I’ll use it, I’ll go with the minimum amount. I can’t imagine I’ll be working with large files on it.
What’s the maximum price you’d feel comfortable paying?
Kelly: I’m expecting to pay $349, but would pay up to $499 to get the color, style and storage options that I want.
Dave: The base price. 🙂
Steve: If I assume that I’m going to get five years of service out of the watch before I get a new one, I think $1,000 isn’t unreasonable. I’d like to pay less, of course, but in doing a comparison with other stainless steel watches I think laying down a cool grand for one of these would be worth it.
Will you be buying immediately or will you wait and see?
Dave: Immediately! There is much testing, writing and reporting to be done!
Steve: Immediately! If I have to sit at my computer for hours some night to order one, I will. Tech bloggers are in the odd position of actually needing to have these new devices right away. And hey,
Kelly: I will buy immediately, staying up to 3AM ET to pre-order or waiting in line on day one if needed.
Let’s hear your answers, AWT readers! The comments are on and we’re listening!
