Heavens to Betsy! I have an Apple Watch... again.

Nov 01, 2025

I know. I know. I tried, complained and belittled the Apple Watch back in 2020. More on that in a moment…

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Wait. You really have an Apple Watch now?

Yes. I do.

For those of you who are new to my previous disdain for Apple Watches, you probably need to read Why I bought and sold an Apple Watch in 24 hours.

Broader context

For several months now, I’ve been monitoring my use of my iPhone. I haven’t been pleased with the amount of time I spent on it. I’ve had several folks suggest various techniques:

create a “dumb phone” focus setting
delete the apps that cause you to spend too much time on your phone
set up limits on phone time
blah, blah, blah 😕

I grew determined to change my digital pathways and screen time. What I really wanted to try was another Digital Life Adjustment Experiment (DLAE).1 I went nuclear and ordered a dumb phone. A flip phone. $70 later, and I had a Nokia 2780 in my hands.

I lasted all of 30 minutes with it. I had overestimated my patience with TTY text input. It took me most of those 30 minutes simply to type in my email address and details to look at my Google calendar. It was not going to save me time.

What I really wanted was a dumb phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I considered buying the Minimal Phone.

It is exactly what I wanted. Contacts, calendar, email, and few basics. No other distracting apps. It even has a 16MP camera.

But with a price tag of $400, I had an aversion to paying more money to do less on a phone.

As I boxed up the Nokia to send back, I had an epiphany.

The Epiphany

I needed a watch that would also function as my phone. While I had a Samsung Galaxy Watch Classic 6, I had not bought the LTE version which would allow me to answer calls/send messages. Getting a version that didn’t wasn’t really an option because I didn’t want a second phone number.

The Apple Watch would let me do that.

And so, I bought an Apple Watch SE 3 5G for $300. Most of the complaints that I had with the Apple Watch back in 2020 have been worked out.

I’m a week old with the Apple Watch, and so far, I have to admit, I love the new sense of focus I have.

I leave my phone in my truck when I’m running errands.
I rarely look at my phone during the day.
I can do all my basic functions on my watch.

It’s the camera

One reality that I had to face in making the decision to stay with a smart phone was the camera. Being able to take wonderful pictures and document life with video and image is a blessing. One significant historical innovation was digital photos. We used to buy rolls of film, cross our fingers when we snapped and then pay to have the pictures developed. When our phones became our cameras, it was truly a wonderful innovation.

I still think dumb phones with a QWERTY keyboard have huge advantages, especially if they’re smaller than today’s monstrous devices. But they will need quality cameras (no need for the cameras on steroids that all smart phones have today). If the price point was about $200 and compatible with existing cellular networks, such as dumb phone would be a smart addition.

Watch Faces

One sad reality… there is no Donald Duck watch face with moving hands on the Apple Watch?! Let’s make that possible, Apple!

Notes from the Trail

Discussion about this post

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