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This comment makes zero sense. Please elaborate why, and also why you would have to turn it off the “MOMENT” you got it? You’re coming from a series 4 so AoD is a key upgrade feature. I can’t figure out any downside. You’re not gaining any noticeable battery life by having it off, so what else is could it be? Genuinely curious.
Several reviews have indicated that turning always-on-display off extends battery life.

That shouldn't come as a surprise.
 
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I don't really get why so many articles and comments revolve around "is the Series 7 a big enough update to justify upgrading?" Why would your upgrade decisions revolve around incremental improvements year-to-year? For me, I buy (and replace) tech items (computer, TV, car, Apple Watch, etc) periodically based on the product's useful life, and sometimes on whether I'm ready for a change. I've never thought "this year's update to LG's 75" OLED just isn't enough to justify the upgrade from my 1-year-old TV" or "Porsche's PCM 6.0 software just isn't enough to justify replacing my 1-year-old 911". I don't think the annual updates are expected to be big enough to justify ditching last year's model, they're just part of continual evolution. I mean, I replace things after a couple of years, or a few years, and get all the latest features every time I upgrade. I can't imagine obsessing over all the tiny improvements year to year. Is the Series 7 a "big enough" update? Why does it need to be?
 
I'm in a different camp - I couldn't care less about most of the health features, I just want a (much) longer battery life. That didn't really happen either, so I too will wait another year.

Yep same here. But wouldn’t upgrade in a year in which the chip doesn’t get a speed bump. Plus s5 is fine for me as it still performs ok.
 
Coming from a Series 4 watch I’m very pleased with the improvements over the past three years. Love the on screen display.
 

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I received my AW7 early this afternoon. It was slightly annoying that I had to update my iPhone 11 to iOS 15.0.2 from 14.8 because it wouldn't pair. It paired easily after the update. Boy is the display huge! (coming from AW3). The bezels on my friends AW6 look kind of unsightly to me now after appreciating the full use of the screen on the AW7. I don't think anyone would be disappointed with the upgrade whichever AW model you have.
 
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I don't really get why so many articles and comments revolve around "is the Series 7 a big enough update to justify upgrading?" Why would your upgrade decisions revolve around incremental improvements year-to-year? For me, I buy (and replace) tech items (computer, TV, car, Apple Watch, etc) periodically based on the product's useful life, and sometimes on whether I'm ready for a change. I've never thought "this year's update to LG's 75" OLED just isn't enough to justify the upgrade from my 1-year-old TV" or "Porsche's PCM 6.0 software just isn't enough to justify replacing my 1-year-old 911". I don't think the annual updates are expected to be big enough to justify ditching last year's model, they're just part of continual evolution. I mean, I replace things after a couple of years, or a few years, and get all the latest features every time I upgrade. I can't imagine obsessing over all the tiny improvements year to year. Is the Series 7 a "big enough" update? Why does it need to be?
The reason you see that question posed so often is to generate revenue for MR, YouTube, and other places. A lot of people are too lazy to do their own research and make up their own mind. That is why this site is replete with people who decide on what action to take based on what certain biased clickbait revenuers say or other forum members.

To you and me, people make things a lot harder than they really need to be, especially with disposable tech. That is why reading this site can be frustrating at times.
 
How so? I really like the always on display on my Series 6, battery life is still excellent.
I'm glad that Apple offers the always on display, as it's obviously something that a lot of people like, but I'm in the 'turn it off' camp as well. For me, it has nothing to do with battery life, but the fact that there is a slight, but noticeable delay while the watch (at least the Series 5) switches from the AOD display to the regular display & the fact that I had to turn on the 'hide texts, etc' setting. I'm just not a fan of those things showing up while my watch is pointed somewhere else. So in order to read them, I needed to turn on the normal watch face anyways. I've never felt like my watch being blank when I"m not looking at it was an issue. But like I said, I'm glad the option is there as lots of people really seem to enjoy it.
 
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Compared to the Series 6, there's not a whole lot new with the Series 7
Is this article for clickbait? A redesigned whole screen with reduction in transparency OLED layers, less bezel with large screen, longer battery life, fast charge, upgraded sensors as advised by Apple mind you, faster processor. How much more do you Need?? Yes, if you have a 6 of course.you wouldn't buy,..like any other next year product on the market..

Yes, I have an earlier Watch, but the 7 is a massive upgrade & looks/ feels completely different to the 6 and prior models,..definitly runs snapper and yes, for those asking, Midnight is literally black.
 
Is this article for clickbait? A redesigned whole screen with reduction in transparency OLED layers, less bezel with large screen, longer battery life, fast charge, upgraded sensors as advised by Apple mind you, faster processor. How much more do you Need?? Yes, if you have a 6 of course.you wouldn't buy,..like any other next year product on the market..

Yes, I have an earlier Watch, but the 7 is a massive upgrade & looks/ feels completely different to the 6 and prior models,..definitly runs snapper and yes, for those asking, Midnight is literally black.
The sensors in the Series 7 are the same as the Series 6.

I did notice that the Series 7 updated and paired a lot quicker than my Series 6. The extra screen size is noticeable with the stock apps. People need to be patient with the third party app updates.
 
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I'm going to go to the store next week or so to see fo myself ...
It will be interesting to see how the new screen works out as app developers get them and start adjusting their apps to take advantage of the extra space. Right now, there might be some extra unused space around some apps.
 
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It will be interesting to see how the new screen works out as app developers get them and start adjusting their apps to take advantage of the extra space. Right now, there might be some extra unused space around some apps.
Certainly true, for me, I only have 1 (one) 3rd party app installed, an airline one and I haven’t been on a plane sun January of last year :cool:
Some of the apps I ever tried were just not useful to me, maybe with the larger display this becomes different
 
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Coming from my aluminium series 1, the stainless steel series 7 that I'm getting is such a huge upgrade... Almost like going from the iPhone 6 to the 13 Pro.
-larger, brighter, better, always on screen
-new form factor
-better case and back
-better and more sensors
-GPS & cellular
-3 times faster
-better bluetooth & wifi speeds
-water resistance
-quadruple storage
-fast charging and more

IMO anyone with a functional series 5 or even 4 shouldn't bother with the series 7, especially if its a non-aluminium watch. They'll certainly update the processor next year and that'll be a good upgrade coming from series 4.
 
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I’m on the fence with a 4. Also want longer battery life, but faster charging helps a bit and for all we know it’s 18 hours through series 9 or 10. I’d imagine for the 8 they’ll have a processor speed boost and a new health feature, which makes big battery gains for the 8 unlikely. My preference is 48 hours so you could fast charge for a whole day of use in minutes, and not have to worry if you’ll be away from a power source for awhile. Also would help keep the battery in the 30-80% sweet spot.
I wonder where the 18 hour thing comes from. I have an S4 and have always gotten around 30 hours to a charge, even with sleep tracking and daily workouts many with gps. 18 hours seems like a very conservative estimate but is likely to scare a lot of people away who don’t know any better.

i would like a watch that was closer to 48 hours. I’ll still plan to charge daily but if I forget to charge early in the day on day 2, I still will be fine into the evening.
 
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I don't really get why so many articles and comments revolve around "is the Series 7 a big enough update to justify upgrading?" Why would your upgrade decisions revolve around incremental improvements year-to-year? For me, I buy (and replace) tech items (computer, TV, car, Apple Watch, etc) periodically based on the product's useful life, and sometimes on whether I'm ready for a change. I've never thought "this year's update to LG's 75" OLED just isn't enough to justify the upgrade from my 1-year-old TV" or "Porsche's PCM 6.0 software just isn't enough to justify replacing my 1-year-old 911". I don't think the annual updates are expected to be big enough to justify ditching last year's model, they're just part of continual evolution. I mean, I replace things after a couple of years, or a few years, and get all the latest features every time I upgrade. I can't imagine obsessing over all the tiny improvements year to year. Is the Series 7 a "big enough" update? Why does it need to be?
There are some people who feel that if Apple is releasing new products each year, they need to have the latest version each year, whether this is watch or phone. Perhaps they got used to the big jumps in functionality early in the life of these products, but it’s been clear for several years that most of the easy improvements have been achieved and we would see smaller incremental updates since then. Perhaps they feel that they need to always be seen with the latest but are frustrated that it is harder to justify that than it used to be.

Myself, I would prefer to wait a few years and then upgrade when I will see a big improvement. In the meantime, I’m not wasting money on new hardware each year for smaller gains.
 
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Would anyone be willing to tell me if the call volume is louder than the 5? Spears to
Would anyone be willing to tell me if the call volume is louder than the 5?
Appears to be slightly louder coming from the 6 but it's probably too soon to tell tbh. I've found the quality of the connection, who you're talking to, etc. typically dictates the quality of the call, which is sometimes easy to confuse with "loudness," if that makes sense?
 
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Picked up mine before work! Starlight is pretty nice! Depending on the lighting, it’ll look more silver or more gold. Otherwise, it’s a champagne-ish kind of gold.
👎 I was afraid of that.

I would prefer a metallic or pearl white as a silver alternative instead of a silver that looks gold sometimes.
 
More battery life is always good. I do sleep tracking and do regular workouts that eat battery.

As I said in an earlier post I also work at night a lot. I don’t need some illuminated screen on my wrist all the time.

But the third and most obvious reason is that I’m not looking at it. Why waste battery life while I’m not looking at it? No thanks.
4th reason: I don’t want strangers looking at my next events or photos, so would limit watch faces and complications I could choose.
 
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Went from the 6 GPS+ to the 7 GPS+ first thing this morning. Some quick takes (only speaking for myself):

**The screen is bigger, but not "wow" bigger at first glance. HOWEVER, if that's what it took to add the glide keyboard as an option for messaging, then this, for me personally, is a game changer. I sit in a lot of meetings and using phones is frowned upon. The glide keyboard is amazing. I'm a bigger guy with sausage fingers and wondered how effective it would be. It's amazingly accurate. And I'm talking about "no-look, under the table" type usage. They might as well ditch scribble.

**The screen clarity is clearly crisper to my eyes. Like going from 720p to 4k. Some may not notice. I do, for whatever reason. It does seem substantially brighter when the brightness eventually does kick in.

**No noticeable difference in speed of apps or transitions so far. In fact, the start-up process (when restarting) seems to be significantly slower. Again, could be me. I'm impatient. But I'm pretty sure it's doing some extra work or something.

**New form factor is not immediately noticeable. You really have to sit the 6 right next to the 7 to see it. No more or less comfortable on the wrist, in my opinion.

**The neverending "auto dim" issue remains, and for me is worse than it ever was with my 5 or 6. Maybe the watch adapts over time? I really thought with the 6 it had been sort of mitigated. But it's just one full day with the 7, so I'll reserve judgment. Has been somewhat irritating so far though in borderline dim environments. Enough so that I've obviously tried a few restarts, thus my ability to comment on restart times 😂

**New charging cable paired with an 18W charger is clearly faster. But that's obviously a no-brainer. If you have long days and need to pump in enough juice in a short window to track sleep and make it through the next day, it could be pretty helpful.

Long story short, I am THAT Apple customer who upgrades every year no matter what. "Hi, my name is livspop and I'm an appleholic." Money a 0% consideration for me when it comes to technology. (Before judging, I don't drive a new car with a fancy emblem, I don't buy expensive clothes, don't have a coke habit, or feel the need to live in 3x more house than I need, etc.)

I will admit that over the years there have been times when I've had more of a "sucker" feeling than others when upgrading my phone or watch. This isn't one of those years, but ONLY because of the new keyboard option. If money is even a small consideration for you, I've seen nothing yet that would warrant an upgrade from the 6 UNLESS, like me, you want to make it easier to "multitask" in meetings with your narcissistic boss who hates not being the center of attention every second 😂😂
 
I never understand series 4 people who aren't upgrading yet. The always on display from series 5 was by far the biggest apple watch update ever

I have a 3 and I'd love always-on, but I keep hoping for a big health sensor update and every year that I doesn't happen, I say "well it's GOT to be next year, I'll wait"

I know they're almost ready with optical blood pressure and I think they could surprise with optical glucose too.
 
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I just replied asking the same question. I upgraded from a series 4 and I can’t wait to have the AoD.
It (along with raise to wake off) saves about 30% battery (on average) is why. For people who need as much battery as they can get during the day because they don't know when they will be able to charge, it can be a big deal.
Please show me any reliable source that backs up this claim. I have seen many independent tests showing that it hardly makes a difference at all.
 
Ok, here goes. First, I know I am an Apple fan boy and a sucker for a shiny new gadgets. No one needs to tell me that I’m an idiot, because I’ve been called that by experts! I’ve had a series 6 for one year. I wanted to get a 7 just because. I knew it was not a significant upgrade, and definitely not necessary. I am going to give the 6 to my son. He doesn’t have an Apple Watch and wants one. It arrived today. I got the midnight blue. It is much darker than I expected compared to the photos. It looks almost black. I can only see the blue if I hold it up next to a graphite watch with the black band. To me, the screen size difference is noticeable. I didn’t really expect that. The Keypad typing in the pass code is enlarged enough that it seems a little easier. Keep in mind I am not a young person. It seems a little bit faster. The screen seems a little brighter. Despite the larger screen, the watch doesn’t feel much if any larger overall than the six. I like it and don’t regret getting it. Of course I am just at the start of a two week return and can return it if I want to. But I’m sure I won’t. Preliminarily, that’s because it seems like it would be a little hard to go back! Maybe cognitive dissonance is causing me to over value the small changes. I don’t know. But I have no regrets.
 
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