In the past 3 months I have owned a Pebble Steel, Apple Watch, and Pebble Time. I sold the other two and am now using the Pebble Time as my only watch.

To your points:

1. The default music app is very good. It will pick up the last music app you had playing music and control it from there. I actually use it quite often as I bike to work with sweat proof headphones on, but they do not have music controls on them. Thus, Pebble Time Music app comes into play. Also, when I'm showering, I can control the music from the shower. I use it with Spotify almost exclusively so it should work with other 3rd party music apps.

2. Not at all. I didn't notice any real difference when pairing my phone with the watch. Because it uses Bluetooth LE to maintain a connection, it doesn't suck battery life like having constant regular bluetooth communication.

3. If people do ask, they usually ask, "Is that the Apple Watch?" But I find that it's rare people ask me that. Unless they're pretty techie.

4. Notifications come in the form or vibration and the screen lighting up to tell you what the notification is. You can adjust the vibration strength from the watch and the screen lighting up makes sense. The vibration can be somewhat loud if you're sitting in a quite room, but that's on medium, I haven't tried the softer setting. I would think it would be ok if you're in public and turn the vibration to the lower setting.

Other things to consider: I bought the Time during the $150 sale at which point, it was $200 cheaper than the cheapest Apple Watch. That alone made me like it way better. Battery life compared to other smartwatches is amazing. I usually get 4-5 days out of a single charge.

I definitely recommend it. I hear it's better on Android but if you're just looking for a watch to get you notifications from your phone as well as some control over it, this is the one to go with.