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The display will measure in at almost two inches diagonally, which is larger than the 1.9-inch diagonal screen size of the current Apple Watch Series 7 and the planned Apple Watch Series 8.
Dang, I would love a more rugged watch -- I've cracked two screens replaced on my series 6 just with yard work and home/car maintenance -- but love the current 40mm size.
 
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My S6 can't last through a surf session longer than 2 hours. An extreme version with longer battery life and higher water resistance would be nice. Might be able to replace my dive watch.
My S4 can last for a 2 hour run while tracking GPS, HR, and streaming to my headphones. Always amazing how different peoples experiences are with battery life.
 
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The Apple Watch needs a ‘shake up’ and this is it for me.

This would also make this rugged model more competitive to the Garmin, so there defeinelty is a segment of people who would want this, especially for the likes of dedicated weightlifters (Such as myself), cross-fitters, outdoor sports/activities, ect.

If anything, this is the one product I would like to see happen this year.
 
Nope. It’ll be useless for extreme sports.

After hiking 50km in heavy rain I won’t be using my S7 or any Apple Watch next time. The thing keeps telling me I’ve stopped hiking and bugging me even if I put wet mode on. It also stopped tracking entirely I assume because something circumvented wet mode. It’s a distraction, unreliable and unsuitable for such trips. To the point it becomes a safety issue.

Back to the £50 eBay eTrex 10 and a map case.

Even the iPhone is useless when it’s wet. Nothing with a capacitive touch screen should be considered fit for purpose in any extremes. Fully tactile controls only.

Watch is fine for any normal activity and light exercise but to market anything in this space is comedic.
 
Did anyone else notice this? The article claims the current series 7 has a 1.9-inch screen, but at 45mm it should be closer to a 1.77-inch screen. A 1.9-inch screen would make it around 48mm. I know 3mm doesn't sound like a lot, but that's the difference between the series 1 and series 7.
 
Please make it have some way of working in colder temps, please! I can’t be the only one frustrated by having it lose runs due to shutting down from “low battery” only to see it at 60% left once you get back inside. Same with my phone, but at least I can put that in a sock with a hand warmer and then in my pocket, but I worry about the chemicals in those hand warmers and what they can do to my screen. And I rarely run in lower than 0F, but Apple only says the watch and iPhone should run down to 32F.
 
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Apple, please have 1) offline maps (with navigation when hiking), 2) at least 1 week of battery life, and 3) additional buttons (or other reliable UI when watch is wet); and I'll consider getting back to Apple Watch (from Garmin Fenix).
 
Not sure why they have to keep making it bigger, it's going to take up half of a forearm here soon. I am all for a sport version, will be interesting to see what they price it.

with the flat sides it may not be really more physical space on the arm than the current 45mm, the increase is fairly small, much smaller than the jump from 41->45.
 
Interesting. In my unscientific cataloging if AW complaints from this forum and those who I know IRL, “not extreme enough” isn’t widespread by any means.

Perhaps this is Apple addressing what is the actual #1 complaint (not long enough battery life) - and making the device larger is by far the easiest way to accomplish that - and by claiming this is a niche product, they are able to assign a higher price point.

It’s analogous to those that only need the power of a MBA but desperately desire a larger screen. With the larger screens being exclusive to MBP’s, they’re able to move customers to a higher profit margin item even if they don’t want or need all the other bells and whistles.
 
It will be Apple Watch 8 Pro because… you know… PRO sport guys
“Who says I am not a Pro Sport Person? I am very extreme. How do you do, fellow kids?”

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Apple, please have 1) offline maps (with navigation when hiking), 2) at least 1 week of battery life, and 3) additional buttons (or other reliable UI when watch is wet); and I'll consider getting back to Apple Watch (from Garmin Fenix).
No way AW will jump to a week with gps activities. I used to wear my AW 24/7 and add my Fenix6X when I ran. I upgraded to the F7X and flipped the use case - I now add the AW when I run to stream music and for cellular. I get 2 weeks between charges on F7X with gps runs 5-6 days/week.
 
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Wait - didn't Gurman say this about the s7 ahead of its launch? Regardless, I am all for this!

While I know the glass on the higher-end models are more scratch-resistant, all of the aluminum watches I have owned (s0, s5 & s7) had face scratches on them within the first two months of owning - and I am really careful with my tech (no case on my iPhones, computes, etc.). It's kind of wild, as the scratches are always random things that never struck me as overly aggressive (once, my dog pawed at my arm) where as super aggressive collisions (Watch face crushing into a marble counter corner) yielded nothing. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Anyway...

To date, what Watch offers, affords and how I use it, [for me] has yet to justify me moving to a higher tier than their A-lu-min-ee-um offerings. With a heaping pile of unknowns aside, a more rugged Watch could finally get me to move up from their Al offerings - especially if truly more durable. We'll see. Would like to see this rumor finally see the light of day. Feels like the platform is [over]due a more significant hardware update than the [albeit, nice] iterations we've seen to date.

Bring it.
All they should do is put sapphire on the aluminum frame. The aluminum is strong enough as it is.

I don’t want to pay an extra $300 just to have a screen that doesn’t scratch when I look at it.
 
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because the large one now looks pathetic on anyone over 6'2"
People over 6'2" represent about 1% of the US population, and this country is taller than most. These things definitely have to split the difference among lots of sizes.
 
For, what I would assume are obvious reasons, this sounds like it would be great for healthcare workers in hospitals and ERs.
I’m not sure the reasons are that obvious- why would these groups specifically need or benefit from an Apple Watch?
 
I never cared about my sports watches getting scratched. Also I don't need a fancy band collection to work on it. A few practical bands (plastic or canvas) will do. The most important thing that Apple would need to add is battery life. And I'm not sure they can achieve that. You would need 24 hrs battery life with GPS and a few other functions on to make it through a long weekend hike or climb. Most outdoor sports people I know select their watch mostly based on battery life and an easy readable display and a good GPS. After that it has to work in a wide temperature range. Waterproof is a given. Rechargeable in the field from a power bank is a nice to have. Not sure that Apple can pull that off but it would be nice.
 
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