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Apple Watch: What the Apple World Today staff is choosing, and why

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!

Steve Sande
the authorSteve Sande
Steve is the founder and former publisher of Apple World Today and has authored a number of books about Apple products. He's an avid photographer, an FAA-licensed drone pilot, and a really bad guitarist. Steve and his wife Barb love to travel everywhere!