My (rough) first day with Apple Watch

Jefferson Graham | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption My first (tough) day with Apple Watch--save your money Jefferson Graham's impressions of his first day with the Apple Watch--a non-intuitive, tough to master new digital device that he finds frustrating to use. TalkingTech.

SAN FRANCISCO — If Apple could come up with a device as intuitive and easy to use as the iPhone but was worn on the wrist, I'd say that would be a pretty cool thing to buy.

But the Apple Watch ain't that product. At least not for me — so far.





In my first seven hours with a review unit of the watch on Thursday, I found myself incredibly frustrated with endless nags to type in a passcode, a screen that constantly went dark and confusion about simple navigation. And oh, the battery was 100% dead within seven hours, although Apple says that was probably due to not being fully charged before use.

It's fully charged now, and I'll be back to you later this weekend with an update.

(UPDATE: The passcode nag went away after I tightened the watch strap. While it still urges me to sign in over and over again--that's only if the watch is off the wrist. When worn, I only had to sign in once--or every time I put the watch on. So if you plan to show the watch off to friends and pass it around--plan on signing in again and again.)

Based on the first day, it's hard to get over the steep learning curve.

This new watch — Apple's first new category since the iPad in 2010 — is very different from past Apple devices.

The company has always been known for creating products that were intuitive, and didn't need instruction manuals because they were so simple to use.

The watch is a mouthful, a new way of cramming most everything we do on the iPhone into a device that's less than 1-inch tall. I believe that's why you can't walk into an Apple Store today to buy it. I don't think Apple wants the general public to take it home yet.

The watch starts at $350, but has many different models and bands available that bring the price all the way up to a whopping $17,000.

Apple, I believe, would prefer that you come in and have an associate walk you through how to use it, because it knows you'll have too hard a time figuring it out on your own otherwise.(Apple posted a collection of 11 instructional videos on its website Friday offering tips on how to do everything from changing your watch face to making phone calls and giving instructions to Siri, the personal digital assistant.)

It sounds simple enough: a digital device that tells time. You swipe it and use the crown on the side for navigation. But that's not how it goes.

Take, for instance, Apple's own language on how to send and receive texts.

Logic says you swipe the timepiece away, go to messages app and click a button, right?

Actually, you:

"Raise your wrist to see who your message is from and to read the full message. Lower your arm to dismiss it."

To compose a new one, you:

"Force Touch in the Messages inbox to compose a new message."

Force Touch isn't the swipe we've come to know from the iPhone, but a new command, which I guess I'll eventually get used to.

No one had to show me how to use the iPhone. I got it immediately. Watch after a few days? Probably.

Hope the next few days aren't as frustrating as the first.

Apple Watch shipping--but sold out Apple Watch is shipping, but it's already sold out, except for a few luxury retailers.

Readers: How are you faring with the new Apple Watch? Let's chat about it on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham and Facebook.