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Apple Watch user-interface still seems confusing? There’s a workshop for that …

Following the try-on appointments that allowed 15 minutes hands-on time with an Apple Watch (or an hour for the Edition), Apple is offering Apple Watch Basics workshops at selected retail stores. Appointments can be booked now, and the earliest workshops take place on the official (or perhaps now unofficial) launch date of 24th April.

It’s unlikely many people will have received their Apple Watch by this date, and you won’t be able to buy one in-store before June, but if the tutorial videos or unofficial cheat-sheet still leave you wanting more, the workshops seem a good opportunity to get to grips with the new device … 

So far, the stores offering the workshop appear fairly random, and there’s no obvious way to find out which stores offer them other than trial-and-error. From the retail store list, search for a store and then select Workshops on the store’s page to find out whether Apple Watch Basics is listed. If it is, you can go ahead and book an appointment from there.

Appointments are also available through the Stores tab of the Apple Store app, but it’s again trial-and-error to find store that offer them. We’re guessing the workshops will be added to further stores between now and the 24th.

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Comments

  1. Gary Conrad - 9 years ago

    I can’t wait just signed up thanks for the heads up.

  2. Bernhard Prawer - 9 years ago

    I cannot really understand, where the big problem is why customers in the Release countries for 24th of April must wait now for their Apple Watch till June. Many people, also me has ordered the Apple Watch immediatly on the 10th of April when the Onlinestore opened for preorder. It is really ridiculous how Apple manage the Sale of the Apple Watch. I’m really very angry when I get my watch first in June. I hope very much that Apple delivers the Watch for preorder in May yet. I have seen many things in my life, but this what happens with the Apple Watch is really a big Desaster.

    • duepeak07 - 9 years ago

      Oh first world problems…

      • friedmud1 - 9 years ago

        Get out of here with that crap.

        Everyone at every point in their life has “problems”. This is an Apple related board where people can vent about Apple related problems. By definition: ALL of those are “first world”.

        If you don’t like it: don’t come here!

      • duepeak07 - 9 years ago

        You are right, everyone has problems and everyone certainly has the right to vent about Apple related problems. I personally think it is silly to see how angry people get about something like shipping times which are completely out of their control.

        I didn’t say I don’t like it, I rather enjoy reading all of the comments. Just pointing out that we should all put it in perspective. It may be annoying to wait for the watch but, in perspective, it isn’t that big of a deal.

    • akibbe02 - 9 years ago

      My guess is that there were way more preorders in the first hour than the 2.3m Ming-Chi Kuo deduced. KGI’s supply chain intel put the number of Watches produced at 2.3m per month. Once people started in June delivery confirmations (like me, who preordered an SS Black eight minutes after the starting bell), Kuo concluded that 2.3 had been preordered. I think that’s conservative, only accounting for the first six hours of preorders, after which all models had June ship dates.

      They only commissioned their first mass production runs in February, so even June for in-store sales seems naïvely optimistic.

  3. rogifan - 9 years ago

    Um, don’t Apple stores hold workshops for a lot of things? My local Apple store has workshops on iPhone and iPad basics, iCloud basics, Mac basics. Keynote, Number and Pages too. Does that mean they’re all confusing too?

  4. Confusing = Utterly Shameful FAIL. The Apple Watch looks like something Microsoft would have developed. Luckily the Apple Watch is being sold as a Fashion Accessory.

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      There’s nothing confusing about the Apple Watch UI/UX, it’s just new. I’ve played with it at length at the store and it’s quite straightforward and very easy to figure out after a few minutes of play. There are simply additional ways to do the same things, better ways, like using the crown to scroll instead of the screen and there’s Force Touch to bring up actions. I’ve also played with the Moto360 at length and Apple Watch is no more confusing than Android Wear. Android Wear is not any more intuitive until you learn it, what with the constant swipes in all directions and not knowing which swipe direction does what. The Apple Watch has a little more functionality and therefore requires more input methods. Some sites simply printed click bait stories of the UI being confusing, and people ran with it as usual. I firmly believe 99% of folks making these claims, likely including you, haven’t ever even touched an Apple Watch yet. I say that based on your nonsensical and obvious trolling comment about it being sold as a Fashion Accessory as if it didn’t have more power and functionality than any competitor. Apple knows how to do both, unlike the most of the rest.

    • Tech pundits are only calling the Watch UI confusing because they’re comparing it to the flat learning curve of the iPad, which leveraged their preexisting knowledge of the iPhone usage model. If you forget trying to map the Watch to the iPhone experience, 10 minutes of exploration makes you realize how simple the UI fundamentals really are:

      1. Access the watch face by raising the watch, just like a normal watch
      2. Access notifications by swiping down
      3. Access Glances (“widgets” like Maps, Calendar, Weather, etc.) by swiping up
      4. Access the home screen by pressing the digital crown
      5. Access Siri by saying “Hey Siri” or long-pressing the digital crown
      6. Access Contacts by pressing the side button
      7. Scroll and zoom by turning the digital crown

      That’s all the average user needs to know. It’s not rocket surgery.

  5. Mike Knopp (@mknopp) - 9 years ago

    Am I the only one that sees this as a bad thing?

    I can remember when one of the hallmarks of Apple products was that their UI was designed so well that using them was practically instinctive. Now they have to offer a WORKSHOP on how to use their products?

    There is no way that this is a good thing.

    • tenormasta - 9 years ago

      They’ve had workshops for all of their other products for years. This is a new device. Why wouldn’t they add it to their list? Not everyone is as adaptable to change and new hardware and software.

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      I promise you these workshops will look identical to iPhone and iPad workshops…mostly older folks who have a harder time with tech. Don’t worry and don’t listen to the trolling detractors, there’s nothing confusing about the Apple Watch. I figured it out in a couple minutes of play time, and I’m not an MIT educated tech genius.

    • freediverx - 9 years ago

      What is so complicated about the Watch’s UI? I immediately knew how to use 90% of its features when I visited the Apple store based solely on descriptions from online reviews. Compare this to your typical digital watch, which comes with 20 pages of confusing instructions printed in 4 point font.

  6. Leif Paul Ashley - 9 years ago

    It has a screen, a button, and a crown… any simpler and it would just read your mind for you.

  7. jrox16 - 9 years ago

    These workshops will have only older folks in them, just they have workshops for iPhones and iPads. Yeah, everyone forgot they do those too and no one would claim the iPhone or iPad are confusing and difficult to use, lol. They do workshops for all their products, and I’ve seen them happening when visiting a store… all older folks who didn’t grow up with tech. There’s nothing confusing about how the Apple Watch works and everyone from children to folks in their 50s will get it easily. Apple has posted videos on the site showing how the features work not because they are difficult but because they are new and different than the 8 year old iOS we are all used to. What people have to understand is that Apple does this because the Watch is actually a mass consumer product and has already allegedly sold over 2 million units, which is more than all Android Wear devices have sold over the past 2 years. The other’s don’t both with how to videos because the market for their products is small and consists of only the tech crowd, which doesn’t need a lesson. Apple Watch has mass appeal, and that includes very non tech folks who need some instruction. The proof I’m completely right will be the workshops you’ll see soon. 100% they will be mostly people over 60.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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