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Anyone still use first Apple Watch

T

tennisboygr

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 21, 2016
65
77
Hi there,

I’m thinking about getting the new Series 3, and obviously the price for the stainless steel is a bit high.

I wanted to know if anyone still is using the first Apple Watch that came out 3 years ago and how is it functioning?

I’m more tempted to buy the stainless steel if I think I can get 3-5 years out of it. I have a MacBook Pro that is over 6 years old and still works great, so I feel like it was worth paying the extra $ for it.

Thanks!
 
Still have it - series 0 black stainless - held up perfectly. In pristine condition and I wear it all the time. Functions great even on watchOS4. That said..I am getting a black stainless series 3 today. So I am hoping to get some use out of that as well. Resale is garbage, but I didn't get it to make money on it - I got it because I love it...
 
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mizzourah said:
Still have it - series 0 black stainless - held up perfectly. In pristine condition and I wear it all the time. Functions great even on watchOS4. That said..I am getting a black stainless series 3 today. So I am hoping to get some use out of that as well. Resale is garbage, but I didn't get it to make money on it - I got it because I love it...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I’m thinking that if I got the stainless steel I would keep it until it dies (only way for me to justify spending $600)
 
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tennisboygr said:
Thanks for the info. I’m thinking that if I got the stainless steel I would keep it until it dies (only way for me to justify spending $600)
Click to expand...

I'm still wearing mine daily, although I'm awaiting its Series 3 replacement (come on, UPS!). The watch case and screen are pristine, despite daily wearing in a variety of conditions that generally involve horses, dust, dirt, water and general banging around.

WOS4 seems to have improved performance and added features. Typical of Apple -- superb build quality and craftsmanship. I don't know what I will do with this one now... Resale value seems nil.
 
I'm still using my Series 0 SS. Still functions on watchOS4, but it is a bit laggy. However, I generally use the watch to mainly tell the time and scan texts/notifications, and it's still great for that.

My wife also has a Series 0, but the sport case. She uses her watch mainly to track her workouts. She has been complaining lately that a lot of tasks take forever to do. I'll probably upgrade her watch as well as mine.
 
I have had my S0 SS since initial release and have worn it every day. It's never played up and still going as strong as the day I first put it on. Eventually the single core inside is going to give up trying to keep up. As such if I can get another year I'll be more than happy.
 
LoveToMacRumors said:
If it's only for notifications, it's still very capable.
Click to expand...

o_O
My two year old series 0 (wOS 2) controls music & podcasts, tracks sleep & steps & various training. Notifications works of course and so do all regular clock functions of digital watch... Weather-info is really useful too, and I usually have around 65% of battery left when I charge it (I wear it for 22h and charges it for 2).
 
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Still have my original 42 mm SS. Really no reason to jump into a S3 other than I want to and I want to try the SB SS for a change. For messages, mail, time checking, podcast and music streaming, and fitness tracking the S0 works just as well today as it did 3 years ago. The only thing I -might- be seeing is a slight decrease in battery potential. I still get a full day easily. But if I have it in activity tracking mode for prolonged periods and it is doing a lot of heart rate monitoring, I am starting to see really low battery left when I put it on the charger each night. I'll keep it for a change of pace or pass it on to my teenage son if he has any interest in it.
 
My S0 was just replaced with a S3 this morning, but I had my S0 for 2.5 years, since its original launch, and it's held up okay. Towards the end of the 2.5 years, it became incredibly sluggish and slow and really wasn't usable for anything except notifications, and the battery life began taking a pretty big hit unless I turned off features like raise to wake, Hey Siri, etc.

About a month or so ago I found a deep scratch in the display and I have no clue what caused it. But before that, there was not a single scratch anywhere.
 
I have one of the original SS models. Takes quite a lickin’. I got that model because I was worried about it holding up outdoors. I was a geology major and so I was imagining a ton of rocks getting thrown at me. But what has happened is I wear it mowing the lawn and so it brushes up by tree and bush branches. If I gave it a cleaning, it would probably look brand new. Screen has zero scratches.

I haven’t used it much deeper than for notifications and fitness tracking. I also use it for Siri at times, but the battery started to drain faster and so I’ve used theater mode a lot. Saves more battery (it especially is useful when I’m driving) but when you forget to turn it off, some usefulness is lost.

I’d love to get a Series 3, but I just can’t justify doing it even for an aluminum model at the prices they’re at and the awful resale value.
 
JRoDDz said:
How does the aluminum version hold up? Is the watch crystal easily scratched?
Click to expand...
My wife and mother both have the S0 aluminum on OS 4. My wife's has been replaced twice through AppleCare because the back heart rate sensor came apart, no issue on Mom's.

I don't have any doubt now that the SS versions are built with much better materials and worth the money.
 
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My Series 0 is still used daily. Received my Series 3 with cellular just about 15 minutes ago, and will be moving that into the spot of my primary watch. The series 0 will be getting my brand new band, then setup as a replacement for my Mom’s Fitbit that she rarely uses.

A few little dings and scratches on my aluminum watch, but, nothing too significant. I wish the Series 3 had as nice of a case / box that the 0 did though!!

7E340895-8DFE-47D0-AD49-27AD06D030F2.jpeg
Series 3 box

9B45D93E-7B3F-4886-B7FE-C04C287177F9.jpeg
Series 0 box and included free plastic case

image.jpg
Current condition of my Series 0, purchased 3 months after it was released.
 
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My 38mm s0 SS is about 2.5 years old I think and is showing it’s age. The case is scratched quite a lot and cannot get through a day without needing a charge - it’s usually dying after being on for 12 hours. This would be primary reason to upgrade but I’m still annoyed that you can only get the LTE version in SS as I’ve bashed mine loads against walls, etc and the screen is pristine. I’m not going to use the LTE functionality as I’m on O2 here in the UK and it’s only available on EE at present (and the red dot looks silly!). So I’m in a quandary about “downgrading” to a sport...
 
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Thanks everyone. Love hearing about how you all have used it in various capacities. I don’t plan on using the LTE at all. But that was the only version you can obviously get in SS
 
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Until today I was wearing a SS S0 that I had since day 1. It has worked well with no real issues. The battery still last a full day. The screen is perfect (sapphire was a big selling point for me based on previous experience with sapphire watches) and the case has the standard stainless steel scratches. Today I switched to a SS S3 which I plan to wear at least two-three years unless they bring something irresistible.
 
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Trent0341 said:
Until today I was wearing a SS S0 that I had since day 1. It has worked well with no real issues. The battery still last a full day. The screen is perfect (sapphire was a big selling point for me based on previous experience with sapphire watches) and the case has the standard stainless steel scratches. Today I switched to a SS S3 which I plan to wear at least two-three years unless they bring something irresistible.
Click to expand...

Thanks Trent. That's great to hear. The stronger glass is a big selling point for me. I'm a tennis teaching pro, so my wrist will bang against ball hoppers and racquets all day.
 
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I have had my Series 0 since 2 weeks after it launched. Still works great but I'm ready to upgrade due to how slow it is to do anything other than notifications. I'm switching from SS to Alum. due to me hating the weight of my watch and hoping Alum solves that issue.
 
I am still wearing my first gen. Tomorrow is my last day since my watches are ready to be picked up, but I won't make it to the Apple Store till tomorrow. I hope I can sleep tonight not without wearing a new watch :)
 
I just switched over today. The new watch is much smoother and tapping on the Dexcom complication to get the trend graph and establish the initial connection after watch setup was nearly instant. A few things still make me wait a bit but I haven't actually used the watch much yet.

Basic things like scrolling in the Siri face and changing faces are much smoother, though, so I think it'll be much better than the series 0.
 
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