It takes a network to weigh in definitively on a game-changing product like Apple’s timepiece. Fortunately, Medium has that network.

Early Adopters

Even before the early adopters on Medium began receiving their Apple Watches, they began writing about it. And after they unboxed the devices and strapped them to their wrists, the posts really piled up. These were so numerous — and so good — that some of the Backchannel team here at Medium decided to create the Apple Watch Project collection, inviting the writers to pool their work in a quasi-anthology, with the idea that we would eventually skim the cream to make one master review, straight from the Mediumsphere. Our review would read as if a single person wrote it, but it would actually be a product of the collective intelligence of our network.

Here it is. Twenty-five different voices, one review. Take that, Walt Mossberg.

As you read this, keep in mind that every time the little watch icon appears, a different Medium writer is stepping into the spotlight and sharing his or her views. We’ve shown you only some of their faces, but each writer is identified in a note alongside his or her passages, with a link to the post so you can check out the full range of those individual takes.

Wearables have been invented

As you read this, keep in mind that every time the little watch icon appears, a different Medium writer is stepping into the spotlight and sharing his or her views. We’ve shown you only some of their faces, but each writer is identified in a note alongside his or her passages, with a link to the post so you can check out the full range of those individual takes.

The Apple Watch was worth the price and knowing what I know now I’d buy it again. That said, I’m having a hard time recommending it to people.

• I also don’t really need it at all.
• It’s the best smartwatch available today, but it will need to get a lot better (and less expensive) before reaching ubiquity.
• It wasn’t that I didn’t like the Watch. I did. But I didn’t love it.

Setting Up

Setup requires you to use the application on the iPhone; you take a photograph of an animated fractal pattern that is used to successfully pair the Watch to the iPhone. Once that is out of the way you answer a series of questions on the watch for things like the health tracking (weight, height, sex etc.) and then start configuring the hardware and software in the iPhone application. This is by far the most sensible way to go and I applaud Apple for making the choice to get users on a new platform comfortable by using one they already know.

Keeping Time

Setup requires you to use the application on the iPhone; you take a photograph of an animated fractal pattern that is used to successfully pair the Watch to the iPhone. Once that is out of the way you answer a series of questions on the watch for things like the health tracking (weight, height, sex etc.) and then start configuring the hardware and software in the iPhone application. This is by far the most sensible way to go and I applaud Apple for making the choice to get users on a new platform comfortable by using one they already know.

It’s Got the Look

The Apple Watch is an excellent watch. It fits well in your arm; it’s easy to see the time, etc. It’s also very beautifully built, with rounded corners and the right balance of glass, metal and rubber.