For Christmas this year, I got the Apple Watch Series 3. I know that Christmas is long over, but I didn’t want to write about it before I had the chance to try it out for a bit.

I had wanted one for a long time, but I wanted to make sure that I would really use it, and it wasn’t just a whim. But when the Series 3 came out, I really liked that it had the ability to work without being tethered to your cell phone, so I knew it was time. I was lucky enough to get one as a gift, and I’ve been wearing it daily ever since!

Obviously, I don’t use it for exercise/step tracking like a lot of other people do. But I still think it’s really useful. I know there are a lot of smart watches out there to choose from, but I have too many Apple products to think about getting a different kind! I love that the watch works so well with all of the other Apple things I use – it paired so easily with my phone, and after the first time, I never had to worry about it again. It also unlocks my laptop just by being nearby, which is cool!

It’s super easy to reply to texts from the watch – you can either speak the text (and I think Siri is better on the watch than on my phone, actually), or you can “scribble” the words and they convert to text and send! I might not use this for a paragraph-long text, but it works really well on shorter ones. It’s also great to be able to glance at e-mails as they pop up on my screen – I don’t have to look at my phone every 10 seconds for another promo e-mail from another store that misses me and wants me to come back. This is silly, but I also like that you can use the watch to operate the camera on your phone… so if you have the perfect selfie lined up, you can click the watch to snap the picture, rather than having to try to reach the button on your phone, and mess up the picture in the process.

The fact that it works without the phone also gives me a sense of security. I try to be careful, but my phone sometimes ends up slipping off my lap/the desk onto the floor. And since I can’t pick it up myself, I have to hunt someone down to pick it up – when I’m at work, this can be difficult because I never know who will be in their office at any given time! So, I like knowing that even if I had to head to class/a meeting without my phone, I’d still have a way to be in contact with people in case of an emergency. My wheelchair once stopped working in an elevator at work, so crazier things have happened!

The sports band that the watch came with isn’t bad at all, but I wanted something that looked a little more professional. After a lot of searching, I chose this black leather band from Gigi New York. I love how classic it looks, and it even fits my tiny wrist, which is great. 

If you’re looking to get a smart watch yourself, the team at Reviews.com has done great work comparing some of the different models – you can check it out here. They and I both highly recommend the Apple Watch!

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