Apple Watch Run Accuracy 2.0

In 2016, I ran a series of tests with the Apple Watch to see how accurately it maps distance. The results didn’t impress me much. I still love the device overall, but ever since then I’ve been taking these readings with a grain of salt. I begrudgingly tried various running apps on the iPhone, but I couldn’t get used to carrying a phone again while running. Leaving clunky phones at home is why I bought an Apple Watch in the first place. I decided to run these tests ago in 2017...

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Going to WWDC without going to WWDC

This year I made the trip out to San Jose for Apple’s annual WWDC developer conference but without a ticket to the actual conference. The tickets sell out so quickly Apple introduced a lottery based system where the winners get to shell out $1600 for the golden ticket if selected. However, the Apple developer community is so large there are plenty of alternatives to the sold out conference. Given the steep ticket cost (and odds) I decided this year to give some of those alternatives a shot...

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WWDC 2017 Day One Favorites

The WWDC 2017 Keynote kicked off with a hilarious video of a massive AppStore outage. I loved mostly everything from the App Apocalpyse to the very ending with the announcement of HomePod. It might take some time to get used to "High Sierra" and "HomePod", but they look like promising products. However, this year it was the small things that got me most excited. Here's a few quick favorites....

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      Make sure to calibrate your Apple Watch before running...

      As the weather warmed up, I slowly got back into running this season. Unfortunately my Apple Watch was also telling me how much slower I was compared to last year. I noticed a significant decrease in my pace, so I decided to test if it was me or the Apple Watch. After running the same measured route several times, I can conclude it was definitely the Watch. I'd run the same 3 mile path several times and each time the Watch only recorded around 2.6 miles...

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      Apple Watch Fitness Wants

      The initial Apple Watch keynote sold me instantly on the design, AppStore, and health & fitness features. The subsequent keynotes focused heavily on fitness with several runners and athletes participating in the presentations. The low end model is even called "Apple Watch Sport". Rumors are abound that an Apple Watch 2 will release sometime this year. One year later after the initial release - I love the Apple Watch but have some high hopes for additional fitness features. 

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      Running With the Apple Watch 2.0

      Five months ago, I wrote about my initial impressions of the Apple Watch as both a runner and iOS developer. My main gripes were the lack of music options, third party app restrictions, and some minor UX issues. So many of these issues have been solved since writing my initial post. watchOS 2.0 and Apple Music have made the experience so much better as both a runner and developer.

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      Disconnecting the Run - Running with the Apple Watch

      Today was a day I’ve been waiting months for - getting to run with the Apple Watch. Over the past few months people have questioned the necessity of the Apple Watch and what will be the “killer apps” given some of its limitations. Will it really be useful or just an expensive luxury item? They had good reason to be skeptical with some of the device limitations. I knew the whole time I would want one for running, so I didn’t have any hesitancy staying up until 2 am to make the preorder. After the first run today, I would definitely recommend buying an Apple Watch for any runners out there.

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