I broke my Apple Watch in Vienna on Thursday and replaced it the next day. This is quick post about why I replaced it, and what features drove the decision to replace it rather than going back to my old first gen watch.
The main reason to replace the watch was autonomy. With the watch I am more able to travel alone and have lots of little day to day adventures. Without the watch, I could see myself becoming much more reluctant to go out. The watch provides a unique set of features, none of which are essential, but all of them work around a small barrier.
Some of the features are subtle. For example, fall detection, Medical ID and SOS mode are not things I use everyday. However knowing they are there helps too reduce risk in my day to day life. While i don’t use them often, having them available is a big win for my autonomy.
Day to day the watch also gets used for a bunch of mundane stuff. Apple Pay means I can use it for travel etc without worrying about loosing it. The podcast / music / audiobooks playback means I can save battery on my phone. Even the calendar ends up being useful as it gives me various prompt throughout the day.
The main thing putting me off replacing it was the cost. At £399 the cost is a barrier. The mundane stuff doesn’t justify the cost. However for the autonomy benefits it’s an easy decision. Hopefully this watch will last much longer… if not, at least this time it’s covered by AppleCare!
