Following the opening of pre-orders for the Apple Watch on Apple's Online Store this morning, Apple Retail Stores in first-wave countries today opened their doors to fans waiting for Apple Watch try-on appointments. Below, MacRumors has rounded up a collection of videos made by both fans and tech blogs, showcasing the busy but excited atmosphere no doubt permeating throughout most Apple stores today.
First is a video uploaded to Hong Kong-based Chan Xin's YouTube channel. In the video he tries on both 38mm and 42mm Sport model cases, and is put through a short demo presentation of the Watch by an employee, ending the video by checking out the Stainless Steel Milanese Loop option.
The Telegraph has a video interview with a big Apple fan at London's Selfridges Apple Store on their channel, showcasing employees gently handling and sizing various Watches - from Stainless Steel Leather Loop to Sport versions - amongst a busy crowd.
One of the longer and more in-depth try-on videos comes out of Australia and was originally live-streamed via Periscope by user "lachlanlikesathing". For the first few minutes in the video, Lachlan tours the Apple Watch displays before getting into a try-on appointment of his own, showcasing a few Sport options.
Of note, around the 10 minute mark, Lachlan begins attempting to mix-and-match the Space Gray casing with bands not exactly meant to match that particular color, the Apple employee helping him out going on to note the Space Gray's intended Sports Black Band and Link Bracelet options.
YouTuber TechSmartt has published a video showcasing his Apple Watch Edition try-on appointment, where he was escorted to a special room to see the watch away from the crowds of the Apple Store. The Apple Store salesperson walked him through the composition of the gold in the device and helped him try on several different bands. The video also includes a good look at the Apple Watch Edition box.
A few other blogs have posted try-on videos, including iMore and Reuters. The Verge took a trip to all three of Apple's pop-up stores for the Apple Watch in Tokyo, Paris, and London, mentioning the difference of experience compared to a traditional Apple Store thanks to the high-end locations, especially the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. No doubt more videos and experiences will be coming in the next few days as more and more people are able to visit an Apple Store of their own.
All models of the Apple Watch officially drifted past the earliest 4/24-5/8 delivery estimate in just six hours after pre-orders went live this morning, with eBay scalpers re-selling the device for more than double Apple's official price point in most cases.
Top Rated Comments
Let me tell you about my experience here in Berkeley's 'tony' 4th Street Store...
First off, as people have mentioned, and I myself pointed out previously, the watch isn't remotely bulky. In fact, most of the people there that hadn't had any previous real-world exposure to it* were absolutely flabbergasted. If you have any doubts, go to a store and put one on. They got it right.
The experience itself, maybe it's Berkeley/California, maybe not, was not really as 'ridiculous' as the leaked write-ups made it seem. The specialist I worked with, Dan, was an actual watch guy and was wearing his HUMONGOUS Brietling Chrono. There wasn't any 'weirdness' of false compliments or anything like that at all. It was pretty much, well, an Apple Experience...for watches.
And make no mistake. It is a *watch*...it isn't a gadget. The best way to describe it would be a Watch that happens to be 'smart'.
The fit and finish, the spooky smoothness of the Digital Crown...no one in the "computer business" has made ANYTHING of this class. Period.
When you see just how...sleek...it is in real life, the fact that they managed to get as much battery life out of the thing as they did and still have it bright and that liquid-smooth animation will probably shut up a lot of people. It isn't a "toy" at all.
Anyway, moving on.
I told Dan I'd already ordered what I wanted, so we got those out (SS + classic band, link bracelet separately so 'everyday' and 'occasions') and did a try on.
The leather is really supple. It's really high quality. I see where the price comes from.
We compared the bracelets of his Brietling and Apple's. It's that class of workmanship, folks. It's crazy that Apple would even 'go there' and I suspect if they didn't have the scale they do, it would have been about twice as much.
We then went thru the watch ui and functions. The faces are CRAZY customizable, far beyond what Apple has shown. The Chrono face can not only be inverse, but then the shades/hues themselves are finely adjustable. You can even add complications to Mickey :D
We also discovered, together apparently (they didn't even do a 'prep' last night he told me. Apple was super, super, SUPER strict around this product) that while most people will be inclined to "press and hold" Force Touch, it is triggered by *velocity* as well. It's really cool, you can tap it 'hard' and get the other 'dimension behind' Force Touch.
Also of note was the fact that you don't have to worry about 'mis-tapping' an app icon because they are so small - you can simply move the one you want to the middle of the screen and turn the crown to "zoom into" it. It's really pretty to see and makes 'touch anxiety' go away. I believe Dan was the lead as he made a note to tell the rest of his team about it because he wasn't aware of this.
The weight of the SS wasn't heavy, but it was...solid. Like a good watch. We actually compared the weight with the bands (he clearly likes bigger, heavier watches...his was just *dwarfing* the 42mm).
The experience itself was pretty interesting in that Apple knew what it was doing here - the way people were talking about it, engaging with it and scenarios (I'd wear it like this/with this band when I'm blah blah blah) and their *care* about this was pretty informing - these people weren't looking at it like a 'computer-machine on yer wrist'. It was like going to a clothing store :)
I don't know if Angela A was worth what they paid her, but she got this right.
My appointment lasted as long as I wanted to. I asked about this and he said it was fine, to take as long as I liked. It wasn't rushed. In fact *I* was the one that brought up that surely we were running close to time, if not over :)
Oh. He did actually notice it fit my style...because my choices very much did and had I been undecided, he definitely would have gotten it right. They've been, or certain he was, trained VERY well.
Apple's going to do just fine with this product on the whole, but the experience in-store, at least where I was, was top notch but not...snooty/douche-y.
Hopefully others will be as well.
-K
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It doesn't look innovative but transforming a mechanical knob into a digital input is actually more sophisticated than it looks.
People that don't work with this kind of thing don't even know :)
-K
They look really large and bulky in these videos. Will be seeing them in store tomorrow so find out in person
I tried them out today and can tell you they are absolutely NOT bulky. It's so strange but in person they appear much smaller than in pictures/videos. The difference is a bit startling actually.
Also, the actual watches seem to work pretty smoothly to me. There were sometimes lags when something loaded, but not nearly as bad as the reviews made it sound. Also, the reviews said the watches were confusing, but they seemed pretty simple to me.
Based on the reviews, I was pretty disappointed, but in real life, I really like these watches. I'm ordering one.