Coming from S4 to S5..my quick review.

[Rangers94]

So I’m on day 3 with my SBSS S5 coming from the S4 and I gotta say, the “Always On Display” is a game changer! The convenience of not having to twist and/contort wrist to get the display to light up just for the simple task of telling the time is an absolute pleasure. There’s so many scenarios where my arm is resting and just being able to glance at the watch and tell time is such a nice overlooked feature and I’m glad it’s finally here.

Another thing with the AOD is that instead of the watch looking like a big black slab of tech while it was off, it now always shows a dim version of your watch face and it now always looks more like a watch and not a “smart watch”.

I know some people say going from the S4 to S5 is not worth it for 1 feature (I don’t count compass) but for me it really has made a huge difference in how I look at the Apple Watch. It just looks less “nerdy” in a way with the watch face always on and some of the new watch faces are very nice! The Apple Watch has really hit its stride with the S5.

Who else here has gone from the S4 to the S5 and what are your thoughts?

 

[FenC]

I feel exactly like you - I wouldn’t go back to an earlier Watch. In fact I bought a used S4 Hermes for the bands and much as I love the Hermes faces I have never worn it except for sleep tracking because it hasn’t got AOD.

I gave my wife an S5 last week as a birthday grift to replace her S4. She absolutely loves the AOD, and she has started using a nice watch face rather than Infograph Modular as her default because it’s always on. When the S5 came out she said she wasn’t too excited by AOD (but that could have been her attempt to put me off upgrading her 😁).

 

[Rangers94]

she has started using a nice watch face rather than Infograph Modular as her default because it’s always on.

I’m the same way. You are definitely more conscious as to what watch face you use when and where since it’s now always on. I love it!

 

[44267547]

The Series 5 Apple Watch really wasn’t meant for Series 4 owners, [even though anyone can upgrade at their willing.] Essentially, Apple probably is understanding that Series 4 owners wouldn’t graduate to the Series 5, being it’s really only adding a compass and AOD. For me, I think the Series 5 is the most mature Apple Watch to date with the technology, but quite wasn’t adding enough From a Series 4 owners perspective to the Series 5, if Apple added native sleep tracking included, I think it would’ve been a significant upgrade. But I realize sleep tracking is obviously on its way for the Series 6.

 

[danmart]

Good to hear you are enjoying it, it really is much better at being a Watch than the early versions.

Personally, I was hooked as soon as I saw the keynote launch. When people were stood there talking and you could see the face on their watch I just knew I had to have that 😁

 

[FenC]

The Series 5 Apple Watch really wasn’t meant for Series 4 owners, [even though anyone can upgrade at their willing.] Essentially, Apple probably is understanding that Series 4 owners wouldn’t graduate to the Series 5, being it’s really only adding a compass and AOD. For me, I think the Series 5 is the most mature Apple Watch to date with the technology, but quite wasn’t adding enough From a Series 4 owners perspective to the Series 5, if Apple added native sleep tracking included, I think it would’ve been a significant upgrade. But I realize sleep tracking is obviously on its way for the Series 6.

AOD is as big a single upgrade as any other the Watch has had. Because of it the S5 was more of an upgrade over the S4 than S0 to S1, or S1 to S2. Maybe even bigger than S0 to S2 in fact.

It fundamentally changes the way you use the watch and, with respect, anyone who hasn’t got a 5 doesn’t have the experience necessary to comment on its worth. I’d wear an S3 with AOD rather than an S4 - and as I have worn S3, S4 and S5 I have the experience required to make that statement; it isn’t just something that I’ve made up because I think it‘s probably true. Or to justify to myself that I chose not to upgrade when secretly I really wish I had.

Suggesting that S4 owners were somehow not supposed to upgrade to the S5 is laughable. It moved the Apple Watch from being a smart watch to being an actual watch.

You do realise that even if the S6 has native sleep tracking it will just be a first party app that does what several currently available apps already do with data from the current sensors? If you want sleep tracking it’s already available today for a small app purchase price.

I only recently retired my S0 from sleep tracking duties and replaced it with an S4. Literally the only thing it didn’t capture that the S4 does is noise. The S4 also does automatic HRV, but the S0 could do it manually using the Breathe app. If sleep tracking comes with game-changing increased battery life then that will be worth having, but I can’t see how it will; the Watch will not have multi-day battery life in its next generation. That means it will be a first party app, and I fully expect it will work on earlier Watch series as well as the S6 because it will be part of WatchOS7, not the new hardware.

Some of what I have seen you post is well reasoned counterpoint, and while I could suggest you’re opinionated I would freely admit I can be opinionated myself, so don’t take that negatively.

The post above is unsubstantiated and does you a disservice.

 

[Rangers94]

AOD is as big a single upgrade as any other the Watch has had. Because of it the S5 was more of an upgrade over the S4 than S0 to S1, or S1 to S2. Maybe even bigger than S0 to S2 in fact.

It fundamentally changes the way you use the watch and, with respect, anyone who hasn’t got a 5 doesn’t have the experience necessary to comment on its worth. I’d wear an S3 with AOD rather than an S4 - and as I have worn S3, S4 and S5 I have the experience required to make that statement; it isn’t just something that I’ve made up because I think it‘s probably true. Or to justify to myself that I chose not to upgrade when secretly I really wish I had.

Suggesting that S4 owners were somehow not supposed to upgrade to the S5 is laughable. It moved the Apple Watch from being a smart watch to being an actual watch.

You do realise that even if the S6 has native sleep tracking it will just be a first party app that does what several currently available apps already do with data from the current sensors? If you want sleep tracking it’s already available today for a small app purchase price.

I only recently retired my S0 from sleep tracking duties and replaced it with an S4. Literally the only thing it didn’t capture that the S4 does is noise. The S4 also does automatic HRV, but the S0 could do it manually using the Breathe app. If sleep tracking comes with game-changing increased battery life then that will be worth having, but I can’t see how it will; the Watch will not have multi-day battery life in its next generation. That means it will be a first party app, and I fully expect it will work on earlier Watch series as well as the S6 because it will be part of WatchOS7, not the new hardware.

Some of what I have seen you post is well reasoned counterpoint, and while I could suggest you’re opinionated I would freely admit I can be opinionated myself, so don’t take that negatively.

The post above is unsubstantiated and does you a disservice.

Great post! And as far as sleep tracking in the S6, you’re right there’s a few 3rd party sleep trackers out there already. But honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is with sleep trackers. I could care less..I sleep, I wake up. Plus I hate wearing a watch while I sleep. The S5 just might be the first Apple Watch that pushes me to skip a gen or 2.

Btw, I hope everyone and their families are safe out there during these scary times.

 

[anthonymoody]

Apple is smart as always, releasing improvements incrementally. For those S4 owners determined to get the AOD, the upgrade was a no brainer. For others, like me, who felt it wasn't a big enough update on its own to upgrade from S4 to S5, we're poised to pounce on S6 when it's available.

For my part, if the S5 had the AOD and a more powerful, faster processor, I would have upgrade because incremental gains in responsiveness are something I appreciate. Anyway, I'm sure they'll bump the CPU in S6.

 

[Rangers94]

For my part, if the S5 had the AOD and a more powerful, faster processor, I would have upgrade because incremental gains in responsiveness are something I appreciate. Anyway, I'm sure they'll bump the CPU in S6.

I hear ya and I thought of that also, but I look at it this way my S4 was plenty fast/snappy enough so I knew the S5 would be just as fast if not faster than the S4 and I’m perfectly fine with that. The AOD is the killer feature for me and is the icing on the cake for an otherwise outstanding S4 Apple Watch.

 

[FenC]

Rumour I just red on another (credible) Apple news site is that the S6 will have minimal hardware improvements. The suggestion is maybe WiFi 6 and better battery life. Also possibly sleep tracking will be S6 specific, though no corroboration as to why, and if there are no hardware changes to sensors that can only be due to battery life if it happens, because (contrary to what lots of people post all over this forum) Apple does historically make updates available to all older hardware that can support them. The same article suggests that blood oxygen might be coming - again if no hardware changes then perhaps only linked to better battery if it’s S6 only.

More battery life would be nice, but I can’t see it being more than an incremental bump as there hasn’t been any quantum shift in technology that I know of to translate to a step change in the Watch. If native sleep tracking is S6 only then I personally wouldn’t see that as a reason to upgrade, with good third party options out there already.

Personally I’m not fussed by WiFi 6 - even the MacBook Pro 16” I bought this week doesn’t have it, nor does my UniFi WiFi setup at home, and I surely won’t look at upgrading the APs in that until I own something that will make use of it (and I don’t include my 11 Pro Max in that, far less my Watch).

Obviously time will tell, but S5 to S6 will be a very small increment IMO if the rumours are right.

 

[Significant1]

Personally I’m not fussed by WiFi 6 - even the MacBook Pro 16” I bought this week doesn’t have it, nor does my UniFi WiFi setup at home, and I surely won’t look at upgrading the APs in that until I own something that will make use of it (and I don’t include my 11 Pro Max in that, far less my Watch).

I don't know if there is any new power saving features in WiFi6, but I think 5GHz support would make more sense.

 

[danmart]

One of my challenges at home is that my Watch won’t connect to my iPhone via WiFi, possibly because I have an ac network and my iPhone is connected to that.

If the next Watch can connect to a wider range of WiFi networks that would be a big plus for me. Currently my Watch jumps to 4G if it looses Bluetooth and that chews through battery if I am away from my phone for an extended chunk of time.

 

[The Game 161]

It’s weird AOD is the only difference going from S4 to S5 but now that I have the AOD I couldn’t go back to a watch without it...so for me I guess it is game changing.

 

[MisterSavage]

Now that I have AOD I absolutely would never go back to not having it. I knew it would be good in situations like meetings where I'd like to discreetly check the time but it's just so convenient being able to glance down in any situation and see the display. I don't regret upgrading from an S4 at all.

 

[44267547]

One of my challenges at home is that my Watch won’t connect to my iPhone via WiFi, possibly because I have an ac network and my iPhone is connected to that.

If the next Watch can connect to a wider range of WiFi networks that would be a big plus for me. Currently my Watch jumps to 4G if it looses Bluetooth and that chews through battery if I am away from my phone for an extended chunk of time.

Your situation sounds more unique in terms of the ‘Bandwidth’ Wi-Fi issue you’re experiencing. You should try resetting your network connections at home and see if that makes a difference on the overall connection consistency.

 

[danmart]

Your situation sounds more unique in terms of the ‘Bandwidth’ Wi-Fi issue you’re experiencing. You should try resetting your network connections at home and see if that makes a difference on the overall connection consistency.

Thanks, however I've never had it work in the last few years. It might have worked back with S0 watch, but I think my router might have been a non-AC one at that time.

Everything has been rebooted many times and no benefit...

 

[FenC]

I don't know if there is any new power saving features in WiFi6, but I think 5GHz support would make more sense.

Very much agreed, and of course WiFi 6 would have to include 5GHz. I hadn’t thought of that.

One of my challenges at home is that my Watch won’t connect to my iPhone via WiFi, possibly because I have an ac network and my iPhone is connected to that.

If the next Watch can connect to a wider range of WiFi networks that would be a big plus for me. Currently my Watch jumps to 4G if it looses Bluetooth and that chews through battery if I am away from my phone for an extended chunk of time.

I have that issue also - the WiFi I use for our Macs, iPads and iPhones is 5GHz only - and it also uses WPA Enterprise which the Watch can’t authenticate to.

I knew that if I join my iPhone to my IoT SSID, which has a 2.4GHz band as well, it gets passed on to the Watch, but I discovered recently that if I then unchecked the ‘connect automatically’ box for IoT so the iPhone won’t choose it rather than the one I want it on (actually on all my devices as iCloud shares the IoT credentials across all of them) that the Watch will still connect to IoT.

That has given my Watches the ability to get to the internet while they are away from the phone, or on the charger and not connected to the phone, which speeds up updating etc. as well as enabling email and messages without the battery hit. What I am going to do today, after writing this, is give our Watches and iPhones fixed IP addresses and create a firewall rule to allow them to get to our iPhones, as that will let them connect to the phone as well as the internet.

That’s convoluted, but it will work until such time as the Watch gets 5GHz and WPA Enterprise support.

Your situation sounds more unique in terms of the ‘Bandwidth’ Wi-Fi issue you’re experiencing. You should try resetting your network connections at home and see if that makes a difference on the overall connection consistency.

Not correct; the Watch can only connect to 2.4GHz WiFi.

 

[44267547]

Thanks, however I've never had it work in the last few years. It might have worked back with S0 watch, but I think my router might have been a non-AC one at that time.

Everything has been rebooted many times and no benefit...

I was thinking about your predicament earlier today, and there was a member that was experiencing the same issue you did, but I can’t find that thread that He (Barracksi) participated in.

Anyways, his router configuration/IP was altered (He also was using an A/C unit), If I recall correctly, that resolved his issue.

 

[FenC]

I was thinking about your predicament earlier today, and there was a member that was experiencing the same issue you did, but I can’t find that thread that He (Barracksi) participated in.

Anyways, his router configuration/IP was altered (He also was using an A/C unit), If I recall correctly, that resolved his issue.

The Watch only connects to 2.4 GHz. Say it all you like but AC will never work and you'll just look less and less credible every time you do. And by the way I've lost the bulk of the respect I used to have fr your opinions.

 

[danmart]

Thanks for trying to help, folks. I appreciate that.

What I personally find hard to understand is why the waveband even makes a difference? Both are on the same network, they are even on the same router. Just one is on AC and the other is on A/B/G or whatever the Watch will do (I forget the specifics).

 

[FenC]

It might be worth a quick look at Wikipedia if you really want to understand, but in short:

802.11A/B/G are (were) 2.4GHz standards. 802.11AC is a 5GHz standard. N operates on both, but don’t let that confuse you as it doesn’t change the next part; it just has two parts that are described in the same standard.

2.4 and 5GHz are entirely separate and the same radio / antenna can’t cover both - at least not efficiently. Your WiFi router that supports both does so using two entirely separate radios with different antennae. It does routing between the two to make them appear to be the same.

The reason to have both is that 5GHz can carry more data (so is faster), but it is less capable of penetrating obstacles. To be able to connect devices further away and through walls, 2.4GHz is better, so commonly routers have radios for both so clients that can connect on 5GHz can get the speed benefit and those further away can get a usable, if slower, 2.4GHz connection.

Most devices these days have both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios so they can take advantage of 5GHz when it’s there, and fall back to 2.4GHz for when they are out of 5GHz range.

The Apple Watch only has a 2.4GHz radio however. I assume that is because there isn’t room in the chassis for a 5GHz radio and antenna. A 5GHz antenna would be shorter than a 2.4GHz antenna, but the Watch already has a 2.4 and a Cellular antenna in it as well as a radio for each and all the other components, and to keep it small something has to give.

I don’t know of any other reason to leave out 5GHz, but I’m far from an expert.

Anyway, if you only have 802.11AC enabled on your router ther is no way the Watch can connect as it doesn’t have the necessary hardware.

 

[danmart]

i understand the elecronics part of it (though thank you for taking the time). As a person who works in computing what I don’t understand is why that matters when from a networking perspective they are on the same network. They surely communicate via IP address over the network? The physical layer shouldn’t matter courtesy of the OSI 7 layer network model?

 

[FenC]

i understand the elecronics part of it (though thank you for taking the time). As a person who works in computing what I don’t understand is why that matters when from a networking perspective they are on the same network. They surely communicate via IP address over the network? The physical layer shouldn’t matter courtesy of the OSI 7 layer network model?

Ah,, with you now. Yes; I agree. Sorry if my post was condescending - it wasn't meant to be, but some people were repeatedly posting that it should be possible to connect the Watch to AC, which it simply is not.

Following my first post on this I gave all four of the Watches in our house a static IP address (my wife and I both have an S4 we use for sleep tracking and an S5 daily), and also each of our iPhone 11 Pros. I then set up a firewall rule allowing the Watches on my IoT VLAN to reach the iPhones on my User VLAN - devices on IoT are generally firewalled away from the User VLAN.

That didn't work - the Watches connect to the IoT WiFi, but they only get internet access and don't connect to the iPhone. Admittedly mine are not on the same network, but just now I tested by putting my iPhone on the IoT network, and it still doesn't connect.

I think at least. If the Watch connects to the phone over WiFi, what does it show in Control Centre? I'm seeing the SSID name, and assuming I am not connected to the phone because I can't see the iPhone in "now playing".

 

[danmart]

No apology needed

I haven’t played around with this for years because I simply gave up banging my head against the wall! I think there is an icon which appears when you are connected via WiFi, but haven’t seen it in so long that I can’t remember what it looks like!

 

[bobsamm]

The Series 5 Apple Watch really wasn’t meant for Series 4 owners, [even though anyone can upgrade at their willing.] Essentially, Apple probably is understanding that Series 4 owners wouldn’t graduate to the Series 5, being it’s really only adding a compass and AOD. For me, I think the Series 5 is the most mature Apple Watch to date with the technology, but quite wasn’t adding enough From a Series 4 owners perspective to the Series 5, if Apple added native sleep tracking included, I think it would’ve been a significant upgrade. But I realize sleep tracking is obviously on its way for the Series 6.

Apps do sleep tracking already, not everyone wants to wear a watch 24/7 either so would be useless to me and my wife. AOD is way better v a blank screen too.