If you’re looking to get an Apple Watch but you’re not sure which one to get, here’s everything you need to know!

The Apple Watch is a brand-new product, but it has long established roots both in time-keeping and technology. That makes choosing which one you’re going to get — 38mm or 42mm; aluminum Sport, stainless steel, or gold Edition; and which band, buckle, or loop you’re going to get with it — both simple and complicated.

Enter iMore’s 2015 Apple Watch buyers guide: If you need help deciding what to buy, we’ve got your back. And if you’ve already decided, you can always bookmark, email, Facebook, or Tweet this guide so that we can help your friends and family and you can get on with enjoying your new Apple Watch!

Apple Watch buyers guide podcast

If you’d rather listen than read, Serenity Caldwell, Peter Cohen, Georgia Dow, Ally Kazmucha, and Rene Ritchie spent an hour talking through all the decisions involved, and which way they’re all leaning when it comes to buying an Apple Watch.

• Subscribe in iTunes: Audio
• Subscribe in RSS: Audio
• Download directly: Audio

Should you get an Apple Watch?

If you have an iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus, you can use the Apple Watch. But should you get one? As we come closer to the Apple Watch’s sale date, that’s the big-ticket question. Most people need a phone. Many people need a computer. Like an iPad, however, the Watch feels like an extra accessory, and that can make it harder to figure out if you need it or not. So, let’s break down the decision process and make it a little bit easier.

• Read our guide on deciding if you should get an Apple Watch

Should you buy an Apple Watch now or wait for the next generation?

Once you decide you want an Apple Watch you need to decide if you want it now. Buying a first generation product, be it the Apple Watch today, an original iPhone or iPad back when they launched, or a newly redesigned Mac any time, is something that used to be considered the domain of tech aficionados and early adopters. For most people, conventional wisdom was to hold off, to avoid brand new products and let the early adopters serve as the early testers. Yet as technology becomes more mainstream, products are becoming more mature, even in their original iterations. So, if you’re interested in an Apple Watch, is it okay to jump into the first generation, or should you wait for the next?

• Read our guide on deciding if you should buy an Apple Watch now or wait for the next generation

Should you get the 38mm or 42mm Apple Watch?

Apple has provided two sizing options for the Apple Watch — 38mm and 42mm. That’s consistent across across collections, from aluminum Apple Watch Sport to stainless steel Apple Watch to gold Apple Watch Edition. Some might consider the choice obvious, based solely on wrist size, gender, or some other factor. If you’re not finding it quite so obvious, here are some things to consider when picking the perfect Apple Watch size for you!

• Read our guide to choosing between 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch sizes

Should you get an Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, or Apple Watch Edition?

Apple has divided the Apple Watch into three collections — aluminum, stainless steel, and gold. Those three collections come at three very different price points: That alone might make it seem easy to choose between the less expensive Apple Watch Sport, the premium Apple Watch, and the high-end Apple Watch Edition, but there are also a few other factors to consider. Here’s everything you need to know to pick the perfect Apple Watch collection for you.

• Read our guide on choosing between Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch, or Apple Watch Edition

Which Apple Watch Sport band color should you get?

White, blue, green, pink, or black — the Apple Watch Sport collection offers five pairs of vibrant fluoroelastomer sport bands for you to choose from. Molded out of high-performance, fluorocarbon-based synthetic rubber, the Apple Watch Sport bands are meant for exactly what the name implies — active lifestyles. That means they’re tough enough to survive runs in the sun, workouts in the gym, and hikes in the woods. Form-fitting and skin-friendly with a pin-and-tuck-closure, the Apple Watch Sport band is what ships with every case in the Apple Watch Sport collection. There are several bright, fun colors to choose from, however, and that can make the choice more difficult. If you’re having trouble deciding, here’s some help!

• Read our guide on choosing between white, blue, green, pink, and black Apple Watch Sport bands

Which Apple Watch band you should you get?

Bands, loops, classic and modern buckles, or link bracelets — the Apple Watch collection offers a wide range of straps for you to choose from. That gives you a lot of options, but it also means you might have a harder time making that decision. There are bands for active lifestyles, for casual comfort, and for elegant occasions. There are bands with pins, with magnetic fasteners, and with traditional buckles. There are bands with earth tones and made of metal. There are… a lot of bands! If you’re having trouble deciding, here’s some help!

• Read our guide on choosing between bands, loops, buckles, and link bracelets

Which Apple Watch Edition should you get?

Golds in rose and yellow, bands white and black, buckles pink and red and blue — even the Apple Watch Edition offers a few choices for potential buyers. You may not have access to the range of band styles enjoyed by the Apple Watch or colors available in the Apple Sport collection, but the Apple Watch Edition does have unique bands carefully paired in distinct — and distinctly elegant — combinations. There are bands with pins for those who are active and athletic, and there are buckles both modern and classic for those who want take their Watch out on the town. Colors range, including traditional black, deep blue, soft pink, and bright red, allowing for both understatement and making a statement. If you’re having trouble deciding, here’s some help!

• Read our guide on choosing between sport bands, modern buckles, classic buckles, and rose and yellow gold Apple Watch Editions

Should you get AppleCare+ for your Apple Watch?

Every Apple Watch comes with standard AppleCare but also provides the option to upgrade to AppleCare+. The free level of AppleCare includes a one-year limited warranty on hardware repairs, and 90 days of free technical support. AppleCare+ extends that hardware warranty and technical support to two years and adds coverage for up to two incidents of accidental damage — though there’s an additional service fee for those. So, is it worth it?

• Read our guide on choosing between AppleCare and AppleCare+

Need more help?

If you still have questions about your Apple Watch purchase, check out our comprehensive Apple Watch FAQ or dive into our Apple Watch Forums and ask away!

Apple has released a new version of iTunes for Mac with improved compatibility with the new Photos app.

iTunes 12.1.2 adds better support for syncing photos from Photos for Mac, released as part of OS X 10.10.3. You can see the complete set of changes below:

This update improves support for syncing photos to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch from the new Photos app for OS X. In addition, this update also adds several refinements to the Get Info window and improves overall stability.

Photos for Mac was recently released as part of OS X 10.10.3. You can grab iTunes 12.1.2 from the Updates section of the Mac App Store.

You have a lock screen password on your Windows Phone, right? It’s the smart thing to do in case you misplace your phone. Another layer of security is the Wallet PIN. This one is a little different. It’s not required, but it’s a good way to prevent accidental or unauthorized purchases by children or anyone else who has access to your phone. We’ll show you how to set it up in our how-to video.

Bing Image Search has been updated with a number of tools that make it easier and faster than ever to find exactly what you’re looking for.

The updates to Bing‘s image searching tools include related searches, bigger images, and even store results that sell the thing that’s in the image, all just a swipe or scroll away.

Microsoft’s web-based Office Online suite has added integration with Dropbox, letting you open and save documents by way of the cloud storage service. This is an expansion of existing integrations with third-party services such as Box and Citrix that began earlier this year.

In Windows 10, Microsoft will not only be unifying the application platform which developers use to create apps, but also the store in which they are all available in. Beginning today, Microsoft will be giving Windows Insiders on the latest Technical Preview of Windows 10 some new additions to the Store Beta. Movies & TV will be the first addition to the store experience.

Previously, the Movies & TV section showed up in early March, but there has been no content available. Microsoft is now turning this feature on, and the roll-out is expected to take place over the next 24 hours.

Does the arrival of Photos for OS X mean you have to stop using iPhoto or Aperture? Absolutely not.

OS X 10.10.3 was released Wednesday, and with it, a brand new Photos app for the Mac, complete with support for iCloud Photo Library. Photos is the future, yes, and with its release, we won’t see any more changes to iPhoto or Aperture, but that doesn’t mean those apps are going away today.

You may remember that when Apple introduced iOS 8, it abruptly stopped iOS device users from using iPhoto. Opening the iPhoto app on iPhone or iPad resulted in an error message — the company forced iOS 8 adopters to use Photos instead.

Fortunately, that hasn’t happened on the Mac. iPhoto and Aperture still work, and will still continue to work on OS X Yosemite. Apple’s given us that much reassurance, at least.

Obviously the Mac doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Apple’s continuing to develop new versions of OS X and new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that OS X developers will use to unlock new features in their own apps. There’s no promise of backward compatibility with legacy apps like iPhoto and Aperture beyond Yosemite.

I’ve spoken to many iPhoto and Aperture users who are already looking (or have migrated) to other programs like Adobe’s Lightroom, though in fairness, most of the actual photo pros I’ve spoken with migrated away from Aperture years ago when Apple stopped putting any sort of effort into updating it with new features.

Still, Aperture and iPhoto both work presently; in fact, Photos’ share sheet includes an “Add to Aperture” function that makes it really easy to use Aperture along with Photos (I’ve been using it this way for the past couple of months, to do things like quick color-correction, cropping and resizing for product photos I use at iMore, for example).

The bottom line: If you’re trying to “future-proof” your Mac, your best bet is to migrate to Photos and starting using it. But that doesn’t mean you need to make that change today. After all, some of us have invested years in iPhoto and Aperture-based workflows. Figuring out how to integrate Photos into those workflows will likely take some time and some effort.

To that end, the iMore team has created a lot of information for you about Photos:

• How to use Photos for OS X: The ultimate guide
• How to use iCloud Photo Library: The ultimate guide

(Actually, it is bad. It’s just that by the time you get to it, it’s too late to really do anything about it.)

We hate bloatware. Let’s stop mincing words. Most everyone hates it, and every time a new phone is released the topic comes up, because the folks making the phones and the carriers selling them all like to put “value-added” applications on the phone before they sell them. Some of these preloaded apps are useful to some of us, but those useful ones can just as easily be downloaded through Google Play by the people who actually want them. Heck, I install the same Yellow Pages app on my phone that AT&T forces on me. It’s the forcing we all take issue with.

Recently, folks have been talking about the bloatware on the Galaxy S6 (and, yes, the edge model, too) and how you can’t really remove it. While that’s an issue of its own — once paid for you own the phone hardware — some are concerned about these apps taking away space for your own applications.

But it doesn’t really work that way. We’ll explain.

Sure, the Apple Watch is just around the corner, but that’s not going to stop Google from continuing work on getting Android Wear to work with iOS.

It’s been rumored and reported for a while now that Google was working to get Android Wear to be properly compatible with the iPhone, and it appears that they’re rapidly approaching the point of actually seeing a release. According to The Verge:

In its current state of development, Android Wear works along with a companion app on the iPhone and supports basic functions like notifications — as you can see in the photo below. As it does on Android, on the iPhone Android Wear also supports Google Now’s ambient information cards, voice search, and other voice actions. It should also support some more advanced features with Google’s own iOS apps, like replying to Gmail messages.

Enterprising code spelunkers have found references to iOS in Android Wear’s code on previous occasions, and some have even managed to get the watch to work on a basic level with iPhones. But proper integration, something that would even start to approach what Android Wear can do when paired with an Android device, or even the Apple Watch, will require the companion app that Google’s been working on.

For what it’s worth, Android Wear on Android needs a companion app, Pebble on both iPhone and Android needs a companion app, and even the Apple Watch uses a companion app (though that’s mostly for management of the device and not enabling basic functions).

Whatever happens, it’ll be nice to see additional choices for wearable accessories for iPhone users. There are issues to overcome, sure, though if Pebble’s success getting developers to build tie-ins to their iOS apps is any indication, Google might do alright if Wear for iPhone ever comes to fruition.

There are several Android Wear smartwatches — these are the best

Source: The Verge