Apple’s gaudiest gadget is best when it disappears

It’s not about the apps.

The first thing I did with my Apple Watch was to load it up and run through everything it could do.

I installed every app, enabled every glance, and set myself to tapping, scrolling and Force Touch-ing my way through Apple’s newest device. I looked at photos from my friends, caught up on the news, tracked a package and set directions home all from my wrist.

This is not the way to use Apple Watch.

The screen is too small, controls are too limited, and the apps too slow for the Apple Watch to carry out those tasks better than the iPhone. I had to force myself to do all of this on the watch just to give me an excuse to play with my shiny new toy.

But Apple Watch is best when you use it for seven seconds or less.

You get a little nudge. You raise your wrist. The screen awakens and displays a message. A couple of taps sends a quick Yes, No, or “I’ll call you later”. And then you get on with your day.

Notifications are the heart and soul of Apple Watch. Yeah, there are a couple of decent apps (CalcBot’s tip calculator is particularly useful), but dealing with the daily deluge of notifications feels far more natural on a wrist-worn device.

I don’t have my iPhone held constantly in one hand anymore, because my watch will let me know if I’m missing anything. A quick raise of the wrist is all I need to determine whether that buzz was my mother, an ESPN score alert, or a Twitter mention.

And when I need technology to vanish again? I lower my arm.

It’s funny to me that adding a second gadget made technology less prominent in my life, but that is exactly what’s happened ever since I started using the Apple Watch with my iPhone.

Then again, it’s funny that the only Apple product to come in 18-karat gold has the ability to disappear.