Wesley's Tool-Box

Nearly a decade ago, you would have seen me wearing all sorts of gadgets around my waist, as evidenced by this television broadcast. The problem with this was clearly illustrated in that video - it takes a bit of time to put them all on the belt, however useful they may be.

I haven't let go of the carry-them-all attitude, but things have worked in my favour. A lot of the gadgets I had to carry separately were now integrated into a single device (smartphone). That meant less stuff to carry, and I was able to reduce the number of pouches and bags on the belt over the years. I ended up with a phone and an external battery each in a holster, and a bag that held adapters, cables, and other miscellany.


But then large iPhones came along. When I put it on my belt, it occupied a sizable area of my waist. This got me thinking: since the phone is thin enough, maybe I could put it in a belt bag that can store other stuff with it. And this is how I now just have this one bag hanging from my waist.

As you can see here, my iPhone 6S Plus and the slim external battery fit nicely into the front pockets of the bag. They're accessible by opening up the flap usually held in place with a hook-and-loop fastener. I also have a paper clip there in case I need to change the SIM card or poke a reset button.

Of course, there's a lot more hiding behind. Let's take a look at the rear compartment.

After I installed watchOS 2 beta 4 when it came out on July 22, 2015 (July 21 at Apple HQ), my Apple Watch felt more sluggish than usual. Even the terrible beta 1 wasn't like this. What's worse, the watch froze up after a few hours. I noticed that it'd never last more than 4 hours at a time, requiring a forced restart (pressing side button and digital crown together for 10 seconds) to get it working again.

I tried resetting and restoring, then resetting and setting up the device as new. Neither fixed the issue. Somehow, this beta was unusable on my watch. If this problem was happening to everyone, I would've heard about it and Apple would be pulling the beta, but this wasn't the case. Most people were actually saying it worked better than previous betas, which baffled me. Then I eventually found someone else having the same problem.

It turns out, having the watch face set to "Simple" was the culprit. Using another watch face ("Modular" was recommended) supposedly solved the problem. So I changed the face to Modular and indeed the problem went away. I had been using the Simple face for nearly 3 months, so I never thought of changing it to anything else. Who knew a bug in the beta would force me to do otherwise?

Using Simple face on beta 4 had serious impact on battery life as well - about as bad as the infamous beta 1. Also, it kept consuming battery while the device froze up, too. I went to sleep with the fully charged watch, only to find out that it froze up about two hours in, and had 37% of charge left after 5 hours when I woke up. So I'm guessing the watch face steadily hogged system resources until everything else became inoperable, but kept going.

So if any of the developers with watchOS 2 beta 4 are experiencing lock ups and slow performance, avoid Simple watch face and switch to something different before resetting your watch.

As many people including myself noticed, iOS 9 beta 1 and watchOS 2 beta 1 had horrible battery life. After two weeks of bearing this, beta 2 of both OSes arrived on June 23 (June 24 in Korea), amidst the hope that they would fix or lessen this battery problem. The one for Apple Watch was pulled just after release, but then re-uploaded a few hours later. I was able to have these betas installed on my iPhone 6 Plus and my Apple Watch as soon as I could.

It's now been more than two full days since and Apple Watch has finally been launched in Korea with people lining up in front of the store despite the rain. For those people who were now wondering if the new beta is anything worth diving into for their shiny new watch, here's my verdict. Yes, it's better than 2.0 beta 1, but no, it's not quite as battery-efficient as 1.0.1. As for the iOS 9 beta 2, its battery life is back to being as good as 8.3 for my iPhone 6 Plus, which was excellent.

This is good news for iPhones, but for Apple Watch, sticking to a non-beta version is still recommended if you value long battery life. As you've seen before, 1.0 / 1.0.1 version delivered about 26 hours of continuous usage on average for me, which included daily exercising and moderate interactions. 2.0 beta 1 effectively halved this, often getting only 12 hours and conservative use barely pushing it to 18 hours. So I'd say that's roughly 15 hours per charge, to be generous. With 2.0 beta 2, I've been getting about 21 hours of use daily so far, barely good enough for one-charge-a-day routine but lacking any comfortable margin.

Meanwhile, the apps do run smoother again, almost like 1.0.1, making the experience less annoying overall. There are still some noticeable bugs, like the one that prevents scrolling with digital crown in certain notifications. This has been persisting since beta 1. Another problem I am seeing is that the voice call volume is quite low and rebooting doesn't fix it. This one seems to be new for this beta. Anyone who's seeking cutting edge, beware.

Apple Watch's Korean launch is just a few days away (June 26) and I'd like to offer you a nicely consolidated list of all my reviews for your convenience. I hope this will help you get some idea on whether you should get one and how you should use it if you do.

Preview	Summary
	1. One of the first Apple Watch in Korea
	Sent three days after the official release in the US and arriving about a week later, one of the first Apple Watch to land in Korea gets prompt unboxing and gets ready for a full review.
	2. Getting the Apple Watch up & running
	I have the bands installed in place and the battery wirelessly charged up, so that I can pair the Apple Watch with my iPhone 6 Plus and make it work.
	3. Basic screens & buttons of the Apple Watch
	Apple Watch's many screens are explored, including the watch face, lock screen, home, and favourites. I also try out the digital crown and the side button.
	4. Notifications & contacts on Apple Watch
	As one of the primary functions, I took a look at how the notifications appear and interact. Then I tried contacting someone with Apple Watch, either through text or voice.
	5. Apple Watch's daily life tracking
	Fitness tracking with Apple Watch is explored, including the heartbeat measurement with an integrated sensor and the daily activity logging through a three-ring system.
	6. Running, swimming with Apple Watch
	I had both Nintendo Wii Fit Plus and Apple Watch record indoor running sessions to see how they compare. Then I went swimming with my Apple Watch to see if it'd actually work.
	7. Apple Watch as an extension, stand-in
	I tried using Apple Watch as a replacement for membership cards. Then I remote controlled my Apple TV and iPhone 6 Plus camera with it, as well.
	8. Battery life of the Apple Watch
	I recorded my Apple Watch's battery life for three weeks, through international travels and all sorts of exercises, to see if Apple's claims stood up.
	9. More Apple Watch observations
	I took a look at how fast the Apple Watch charges up and how step counting data are consolidated. Also, I have some more tips and observations on its daily use.
	10. 45 days with Apple Watch & watchOS 2
	Seven weeks later, the hardware of Apple Watch Sport is still standing up quite well. But early watchOS 2 and iOS 9 betas are incredibly rough to use.