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Not owning an iPhone reduced my interest in the AW; But Series 2 looks very interesting to me.
Question to those of you who own one (Series 1 or 2): How "standalone" is the AW then? Still not standalone at all or does the GPS render it more useful to not-iPhone-users?
 
i love my aw1, as someone that works out in a gym, i dont need standalone gps. watchOS 3 is enough of an upgrade to make me happy.

Me too, when I go outside, i keep my phone with me, I don't need GPS on the watch.
 
I'm interested to see how the GPS accuracy compares to Garmin. My iPhone 6 GPS is consistently different than my Garmin. Over a typical 6 mile run, my iPhone 6 records about .3 less distance than my Garmin FR 235. Can/does the new watch record distance using the accelerometer to track a treadmill or indoor run?

I'm not a runner but this guy is, he tested the Garmin, Tom Tom, and AW2 on a 22 mile outdoor run and seemed impressed that they were all fairly close to one another in terms of distance.

 
I honestly don't understand the point of standalone GPS on the Apple Watch. Why not just use the phone's GPS? I can't see any situation where you'd have your watch but not your phone with you.

Hiking, you fall, smash your phone... but you can find your way out because your watch is fine and has its own GPS!!

Just kidding... personally couldn't care less about the GPS.
 
I thought the Watch was stupid even after owning it for 8 months. Then I started to use the watch for fitness, and now I am a huge fan. I am upgrading to series 2.

The apple watch is also not bad for the price of a water proof GPS enabled watch with a heart rate monitor (which I saw some complaints about but in all the tests I have read is very good), a touch sensitive screen, haptics, and can get notifications, send messages, talks to a phone, is a bluetooth ipod, etc. Not a bad price.
 
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I find it interesting that Apple got rid of the 'Sport' branding just as they're basically turning the Watch into a fitness device.
They didn't get rid of the sport branding (per se)...they switched it to Nike. If you want to sell the Nike watch, you need to make it seem like that's the big, serious and only real "sports watch." So you remove the "sports" branding from the others so that the super sports minded don't think they can buy the usual watch...they think they need to buy Nike.

AND you also get everyone else thinking: "Which kind of casing/color do I want" not "Is the sports watch for all or just sports people?" Win-win. :cool: And I don't think they're turning it into a fitness device. I think they're trying to make it more fitness device friendly so the they can steal away a share of that market. If it was a fitness device, it wouldn't need to make phone calls ;)
 
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if youre marathon training i'd consider going with a garmin

much more reliable with battery life and other metrics.
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I thought the Watch was stupid even after owning it for 8 months. Then I started to use the watch for fitness, and now I am a huge fan. I am upgrading to series 2.

The apple watch is also not bad for the price of a water proof GPS enabled watch with a heart rate monitor (which I saw some complaints about but in all the tests I have read is very good), a touch sensitive screen, haptics, and can get notifications, send messages, talks to a phone, etc. Not a bad price.

it's not great on running intervals.

basically if you arent an athlete go for it - but if you are serious at running look elsewhere
 
I really dislike Lauren Goode's Verge video reviews. I know she is trying to put across some personality so to appear different and unique but I find her humour really unfunny and annoying. Nothing against her as a journalist perhaps if I read her rather than watched her I would find her more palatable.
 
So, if you run 5 miles from your house and fall hurting yourself, you'd rather not have cell service to call for help?
Well, that's an interesting question. The watch now allows you to push the lower button and bring up a 911 call for help. There are devices that use GPS to send out such "Help!" signals. Can the AW2 911 do that using GPS? If it can, then problem solved...does any review or Apple site say if it can do this?
 
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I just upgraded to the watchOS 3, and by Gods it feels so much better with the performance!
I'm certain the newer ones with even faster processors will be even better, but I'm just happy that the update didn't cripple the original gen but improved it further. :)

Although am yet to see the effect on the battery life.
 
I honestly don't understand the point of standalone GPS on the Apple Watch. Why not just use the phone's GPS? I can't see any situation where you'd have your watch but not your phone with you.

Only a runner understands the advantages of a GPS watch untethered from phone. Do you run?
 
I always have my phone on me and I go running.... I don't see the problem, just buy clothes that fit nicely and your phone is secure and isn't an issue.

Though I do swim, I still wouldn't swim with this new watch on, I just don't trust it enough.

I wont upgrade though as it doesn't look different, so there is no point, just like how I wont upgrade my iPhone 6s, I want the new phone to have a different build.
 
I really dislike Lauren Goode's Verge video reviews. I know she is trying to put across some personality so to appear different and unique but I find her humour really unfunny and annoying. Nothing against her as a journalist perhaps if I read her rather than watched her I would find her more palatable.

Do you have something against women?
 
I really dislike Lauren Goode's Verge video reviews. I know she is trying to put across some personality so to appear different and unique but I find her humour really unfunny and annoying. Nothing against her as a journalist perhaps if I read her rather than watched her I would find her more palatable.

I kinda like it, it's sort of dry; not trying too hard. Reminds me of NY humor in general.
 
I always have my phone on me and I go running.... I don't see the problem, just buy clothes that fit nicely and your phone is secure and isn't an issue.

Though I do swim, I still wouldn't swim with this new watch on, I just don't trust it enough.

I wont upgrade though as it doesn't look different, so there is no point, just like how I wont upgrade my iPhone 6s, I want the new phone to have a different build.

Thanks for sharing.
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Hiking, you fall, smash your phone... but you can find your way out because your watch is fine and has its own GPS!!

Just kidding... personally couldn't care less about the GPS.

if you were an athlete you'd care.

imagine running intervals - all out then stopping - repeat - etc.

you dont want to have a phone with you lol

how about swimming freestroke in the lake? still want your iphone with you? lol
 
While i think the watch has great potential with the GPS addition - no serious athlete will consider this.
Well, no. Serious athletes will not consider this. Nor will those who just want a watch for fitness and nothing else (why spend the money when they can get something cheaper to measure their daily runs?). But though Apple is selling it like it's a pro-athlete watch, you can't view it through that narrow a lens. It'd be like saying "No serious athlete would wear those super cool tennis shoes that every kid now wants...." even though the commercial shows all these professional athletes wearing it.

The population of serious athletes is pretty small. But the population of people who want to be more athletic is large. :D The Apple Watch, thus, gets a bigger share of the sports band market by marketing itself as a way to become more like those athletes. It gets those who think "with this I'll run farther, swim more laps..." to buy it, and it gets those who exercise regularly but not on a "serious athlete" level (run a certain number of miles, or hike on weekends, or swim laps daily...) to buy it. As they say, "Okay, now it can do as much as I need it to do...and it also has those other features I want..."

If it was going to be for serious athletes, then it would have to remove a lot of the other features so that its battery would last as long as the "serious athlete" bands (at least 4 days). But Apple doesn't want to sell this watch *just* to athletes. Just like those companies selling hot new tennis shoes don't want to sell them to just to marathon runners or pro basket ball players. So, the watch does other things that those who are not serious athletes want and need it to do. Win-win for Apple. It sells to those who want more from it as a sports watch, but keeps those who want it for other things.
 
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Yeah, having failed to push it as a (high) fashion accessory Apple is now turning towards fitness and, as such, there's no longer any need to differentiate between the old 'fashion' and 'sport' lines. I really wish they'd pick a direction and stick with it, but long-term commitment seems to have fallen by the wayside at Apple under Cook & friends. Outsiders like us can't know for sure, of course, but I suspect this same lack of focus to a specific plan is also happening over at Project Titan.

Apple actually succeeded as pushing it as a high fashion accessory. If you put it in the right band on it you can wear it in a formal setting. Many women buy it because of the band selection and colors. What they are doing now is catering to specific uses and getting better at fitness to broaden its appeal to others.
 
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Well, no. Serious athletes will not consider this. Nor will those who just want a watch for fitness and nothing else (why spend the money when they can get something cheaper to measure their daily runs?). But though Apple is selling it like it's a pro-athlete watch, you can't view it through that narrow a lens. It'd be like saying "No serious athlete would wear those super cool tennis shoes that every kid now wants...." even though the commercial shows all these professional athletes wearing it.

The population of serious athletes is pretty small. But the population of people who want to be more athletic is large. :D The Apple Watch, thus, gets a bigger share of the sports band market by marketing itself as a way to become more like those athletes. It gets those who think "with this I'll run farther, swim more laps..." to buy it, and it gets those who exercise regularly but not on a "serious athlete" level (run a certain number of miles, or hike on weekends, or swim laps daily...) to buy it. As they say, "Okay, now it can do as much as I need it to do...and it also has those other features I want..."

If it was going to be for serious athletes, then it would have to remove a lot of the other features so that its battery would last as long as the "serious athlete" bands (at least 4 days). But Apple doesn't want to sell this watch *just* to athletes. Just like those companies selling hot new tennis shoes don't want to sell them to just to marathon runners or pro basket ball players. So, the watch does other things that those who are not serious athletes want and need it to do. Win-win for Apple. It sells to those who want more from it as a sports watch, but keeps those who want it for other things.

yes - this watch is certainly good for the pseudo user who wants to work out but not super serious.

it's certainly not going to hurt sales to have these new functions but give people who were looking to splurge on competitive devices like the fitbit or the garmin into the apple ecosystem.

Absolutely agree - market it like it's a serious fitness watch it will sell.

While i doubt i'll see one at a triathlon race anytime soon i'll be certain to see the apple 2 watches out on my runs.
 
Are Wi-fi and Bluetooth any better in Edition model compared with aluminium and stainless steel?
Ceramic has different properties compared to metals, even considering it's not plain ceramic.
 
I want to see a comparison between a Series 0 running watchOS 3 and a Series 1/2. Has anyone seen any reviews like this? My guess is they won't be around until after release because all those that got "early-bird" access to the device are trying to sell it for Apple and not actually conducting non-biased reviews.
 
Question to those of you who own one (Series 1 or 2): How "standalone" is the AW then? Still not standalone at all or does the GPS render it more useful to not-iPhone-users?
You need an iPhone to use it, period. Right out of the box, you have to pair the watch to an iPhone to "wake it up." You need the phone to upgrade software onto the watch and put apps on the watch, or to download a playlist of music onto the watch. Also to enter your credit card info for Apple Pay.

So, while the AW2 will be able to chart your calories and such on a run or hike, walk or swim, tell you where you are, give you music to listen to, and let you pay for a drink (if the place takes Apple Pay) without the iPhone...it's not iPhone free by any stretch. Remember, this watch is also about being able to get messages on your wrist, phone calls if you want, mail, reminders, etc. All that requires that it be paired with an iPhone.

So. It's kinda chained to the iPhone for now and probably will be for a few more incarnations.
 
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Don't know much about anywhere else in the world, but apples have traditionally been one of the costliest mainstream fruits available for purchase in India, if not the most costly. ;)
 
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