I’ve got my first watch as a present in the middle school. It was a very nice watch for a kid and I still have it. Since then I’ve started appreciating watches and was wearing them daily. The last one I had was a vintage soviet watch Raketa, I’ve found and restored. You had to manually wind it about once every two days.
I’ve never used the phone to tell time, only watch. When I’ve bought Fitbit – it was an additional accessory on the right hand. Analogue watch always stayed on my left, no matter what.
That is until we’ve travelled to the New York City two years ago, where I got Apple Watch. I liked the Series 3 a lot for two main reasons – activity tracking and notifications. The one thing I didn’t like? The ability (or more precisely the lack of) to tell time. I was even considering wearing two watches – Apple Watch and an analogue one, but this would look too dorky, so I’ve decided to manage with just an Apple Watch.
When the Series 4 came out, I didn’t feel the need to upgrade. There were a couple of health features like fall detection (I think I don’t need it yet) and EKG (it is still not available in Latvia) and changed screen design. Sure, the Series 3 looked really old the second I’ve seen Series 4 in person, but I still couldn’t force myself to upgrade to another watch that you have to shake in order for it to tell time.
This year when the Series 5 was announced, I had to upgrade. How couldn’t I? They fixed the most important thing! I’ve had 42mm Series 3 and decided to get the big one again.
Display
The always on display is such a crucial feature of the watch that after half a day of using it, I couldn’t even imagine how it was possible to live without it. At first I had to learn not to turn my wrist too aggressively, but then it became natural, like so many years before.
When your hands are on the keyboard typing or you are driving, just a little glance at the wrist and you know what time it is – what a novel concept!
In total Apple fashion, they’ve though the feature through, there is an option to hide sensitive complications while in always on mode, I would argue it should be on by default, but it’s not. For me it shows time, weather and date, but doesn’t show reminders, activity and progress in Streaks. That is a great feature, if you commute, for example, people won’t be able to glance at your wrist and read information.
The full screen display with rounded corners looks nice, if you have those new complications along the corners or full screen watch face.
Notifications
This is the thing that changed the least after two years. It is the same mess if you don’t manage them, but if you do, it is possible to live with them. The one feature I would really love is the ability to manage notifications in the messaging apps on the chat by chat basis. A couple of chats would definitely buzz my wrist, but most would stay on the phone, probably silently.
Activity Tracking
When I wrote the review of Apple Watch Series 3, I had my first perfect month. Since then I’ve had 23 more. Since the day I bought a watch, I didn’t miss a day, closing all three rings. I’ve had Active calories ring set to around 500 most of the time, but for the last two-three months the goal is more than 900. The challenges for the month became, well … more challenging. Something changed in the algorithm and I don’t get easy ones anymore (like closing all the rings for a month, which I already do), right now those challenges really push me. I have to plan in advance how to complete them. This is great, but I would still love to have a less challenging month once in a while – some rest is also needed.
Battery
When the Series 4 came out, there were a lot of raving reviews saying how good the battery was. For some it was a two-day battery, for some it allowed to start tracking sleep. This year is different. On a big watch with the normal use from 6am to 23pm with one hour and a half workout there is about 15% of the battery left. On Series 3 after the same day there would be more than 50% left (and my watch is two years old).
On Twitter some are trying to turn everything off (like noise monitoring or always on display), with no luck, so the reason could be in the software (there are some reports WatchOS 6.1 beta fixed it). This one is definitely on Apple, I shouldn’t manage battery life and I have to be able to use all the feature that they’ve advertised.
On the other hand, they said it is “all-day battery, which lasts 18 hours”, and it does (although “all-day” one would think is a bit more than 18 hours). It’s just before battery was so good, I never would even think to manage it. You just put it on a charger before going to sleep and that is the whole management. The one time I had to think about battery was during the 14 hour flight, but that’s expected.
I’ve tried to restore the watch and set it up as new, as it helped some, but battery life stayed the same. In order to stay sane, I’ve decided to try not to think about the battery and see how will I manage.
Watch Faces
I agree with Marco Arment – there is still a shortage of good watch faces. Previous generation watches faces look so bad on the new screen, that they should probably be removed from the new watches. The most easy to use yet configurable are digital faces. But as someone who was wearing watches before Apple Watch, I like to use analogue and there are not many good ones. I love Navy Blue California face, but it looks good only in the full screen mode, which has only two complications and one of them is limited in choice, so I can’t use it during the day, because I actually use complications.
Meridian face would be a step in the right direction, but I don’t like the white background shining at me and black just looks really bad.
So that leaves me three watch faces I use a lot – switching between black California face with circular dial and Infograph Modular. And in the evening or when going out – Navy Blue California face with full screen dial.
Taptic Engine
Apple has a lead in a couple of places, some big – like an A-series chip, some small – like haptics. It is very enjoyable on the phone and it is changed a lot on the watch. I’ve noticed new engine immediately, it’s so much nicer. I like how it works when you use Digital Crown, it is so delightful. Vibrations for notifications are also quite nice. This is a small thing, but the one that gives you a joy using the device.
Room For Improvement
As my main gripe about the Apple Watch was fixed, I have a couple of small wishes going into the future.
As I mentioned the algorithm in challenges changed, so I have to plan how to complete them. Adding complication that shows progress would help a lot.
As someone who closed all the rings for more than two years, I would really love to have the ability to have a day off (I can even show a note from the doctor if it would be necessary).
More thought through watch faces, especially analogue ones. I’m not sure Apple has to allow 3rd party watch faces, but they definitely have to step up their watch face game.
And of course battery life. I know it technically lasts “all day”, but if you want to go out in the evening, you have to either charge the watch or forget about it, because it just won’t last.
Conclusions
Last year when the Apple Watch Series 4 got announced, even though it didn’t change the form much, the bigger screen with rounded corners looked fresh. Comparing two watches, you could definitely see how Series 3 was a previous generation. Using it day-to-day, though didn’t bother me much, because you don’t have something to compare to all the time. This is why I had no desire to upgrade.
This year they sold me after the words “always on display”. My guess is, this feature would be the reason for many to buy a new watch. It is a game changer. Yes, I have problems with the battery life, but I didn’t even think for a second trying to turn off the always on display to preserve battery life. It wouldn’t be the product I’ve bought.
