Animated Emoticons on the Apple Watch

I am still learning new features on the Apple Watch.  The one I learned about today was that you can change the appearance of the Messenger Emoticons with force touch.  I use emoticons all of the time when sending messages to my husband and good friends.  What is unique about the Apple Watch emoticons is that they are animated.  You can read more at http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/05/16/153-animated-emoji-apple-watch/ 

If you have an Apple Watch, experiment with the animated emoticons on your own.  Enjoy! 

Apple Watch - Other Features Including Music

I am still enjoying my experience with the Apple Watch.  It is fascinating to be working on school work when a student phones me on the iPhone.  The iPhone happened to be in another room, but the phone rang on my Watch and the MacBook.  I answered on the MacBook, but could have just as easily used the Watch.

I noticed that when I selected music, that the music played from the iPhone.  With a little more investigation, I realized that I could load music on the Watch and play it from the Watch.  Will explore that more after I get final course grades submitted for this semester.

I noticed Air Play icon but it is grayed out. The  information in the 9-5 column below provides a very good review of the Watch features.  I suspect new OS features might make it have more meaning.  

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/21/watchos-2-apple-watch-feature-walkthrough/ 

Paying with Apple Watch

I live in a small town, however, Apple Pay is beginning to emerge finally!  What that means is that I had to learn how to pay with my Apple watch.  I thought that since my watch mirrors my iPhone - that the credit cards would appear, but that was not so.  I had to select Apple Watch Wallet & Apple Pay on my iPhone and add each credit card.  I also had to enter the security code for each card when adding it.  To use the watch to pay, all you have to do is double-click the side button of the watch and then select the card you want to use.  Just like Wallet on the phone, you tap or swipe the card.  At any rate, I am ready to use the Apple Watch to pay the next time there is an opportunity.  

Apple Watch and Apple Maps

We took a short vacation over Thanksgiving break this week.  The GPS in my car is not as flexible as Google maps.  The car GPS does not give me any choices of routes. I wanted to avoid driving on the Interstate because it is always a nightmare with heavy traffic.  I used Apple Maps app to find a way to get to our destination on my iPhone.  To my surprise, the maps feature showed up on the Apple Watch.  The watch indicated each turn and when it was time to make a turn, it vibrated and signaled with a tone.  The tone for left is different from the tone for turning right.  The automatic sync of the iPhone Map app with the Apple Watch was very nice.

Back to the car GPS and choices for routes.  I can edit a route, but would not be able to do that easily if I am driving.  The Apple Map app was much more accurate for distance and time than the car GPS system.  

Apple Watch Update - Works best With a Paired iPhone But Retains Some Features Without One

A few more days learning the Apple Watch and the update.  Apple Watch is designed to be paired with the iPhone.  It works best using Bluetooth, however, it can pair using Wi-Fi.  From what I have read, Wi-Fi uses a little more power from the watch than Bluetooth.  What is interesting is that the watch does have some features when using only Wi-Fi without the paired iPhone.

Two websites explain the relationship:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204562  and https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20767?locale=en_US 

The experience of a new device is interesting.  I am amazed of the incredible capabilities that the watch provides with such a small "footprint."  I am learning a little more every day.  

Apple Watch

With a couple of upcoming holidays in the next few weeks, I received an Apple watch as a gift.  Not that I needed a watch, because I never wear one.  After I figure it out a bit more, I will wrap it up so that I have a gift to open.  The watch uses a "haptic" as an alert, which is a buzz feeling when emails and messages arrive.  The watch is tethered to the iPhone and that may be the downside.  The phone should be within 30 feet but it seems that my watch wants the phone closer than that.

I did answer a couple of phone calls with the watch this morning and the quality of the audio was excellent.  I really like the emoticons that you can send with messages.  Fun!

As I read, developers are still creating apps for the iWatch.  The two I added are Google Maps and App in the Air.  You can read about other Apple watch apps at http://www.wareable.com/apple-watch/best-apple-watch-apps-832 

Even more features are noted on the YouTube video below.  Enjoy!