Hands-On With watchOS 6: Dedicated App Store, New Watch Faces, Noise Monitoring, Calculator App and More

[Mr. Protocol]

Personally, I've always wanted a face that could show the unequal hours of the day and night (Google this if you don't know what it is - time used to be told this way almost exclusively). This would require computation on the current time before the face could display it. Goodness knows if that's even possible, but I would hope so. In a lowering moment, I found out the only mobile platform that had an app for this was the Windows phone.

 

[springsup]

So the watch has a built-in calculator App and the iPad doesn’t :|

 

[ipedro]

I've said this before, but - I think I could function just fine with a cellular-enabled watch and an iPad Mini.

Same here. I was a little disappointed when the “new” iPad mini was just a minor revision. If it had no bezels and Face ID, I’d totally get one to use as complementary to my Watch. My day to day internet use and personal assistant would be from the Apple Watch that I’d always have on me at all times and I’d grab the iPad mini for times when I’m expecting to need a larger screen.

 

[chucker23n1]

Same here. I was a little disappointed when the “new” iPad mini was just a minor revision. If it had no bezels and Face ID, I’d totally get one to use as complementary to my Watch. My day to day internet use and personal assistant would be from the Apple Watch that I’d always have on me at all times and I’d grab the iPad mini for times when I’m expecting to need a larger screen.

An iPad mini with Face ID would easily cost twice as much. I’m honestly surprised they even have it Pencil support.

 

[Mac 128]

I've said this before, but - I think I could function just fine with a cellular-enabled watch and an iPad Mini.

I’m frankly stunned that iOS 13 doesn’t allow the iPad support the AppleWatch now that it has its own cellular radio. The iPad, iPod Touch, and the Mac should all be able to pair and setup the Apple Watch for anything that can’t be done on the watch itself.

So the watch has a built-in calculator App and the iPad doesn’t :|

This I really don’t get. Why is there no Apple calculator App for the iPad? It makes no sense.

 

[ipedro]

An iPad mini with Face ID would easily cost twice as much. I’m honestly surprised they even have it Pencil support.

The price isn’t what sells the iPad mini. The mini is great because of its size. Very portable, still an iPad.

An Apple Watch as the primary personal device makes sense but sometimes you want a full screen experience. An iPad mini is easy to grab and go and carry around like a small paperback book.

 

[B4U]

Why can't I get a digital watch face with hours, minutes, seconds?

Tried the digital activity watch face?

 

[iMelhado]

Don't know where you got that, it is not on apple web site about WatchOS6?

I got it from this very thread. You did read it, right?

 

[MisterSavage]

Tried the digital activity watch face?

Thanks! I'm not crazy about it but I'll make due with what I have and use it once in a while.

 

[TallManNY]

Well. Them making Noise S4-only has different motivators than the faces.

For Noise, people should be aware the Watch has been making huge strides in performance, somewhat similar to the 4s, 5s, 6s era of iPhones. It’s honestly a bit surprising Apple even still allows watchOS 6 to run on the Series 1. At this point, the Series 4 runs circles around it and then some. On top of that, Series 4 contains specialized hardware such as an improved mic for this to work. Apple has made the determination that running Noise on a Series 3 or older would ruin the experience, probably especially in battery life. That’s the other aspect to consider: watchOS is still so relatively starved in features and APIs in part because allowing more stuff would cripple battery life, which people would hate, which would ruin the reputation.

The faces are a different matter. Apple would’ve had to design them such that they fit on the smaller displays. Maybe they tried and hated it (I’m guessing a few employees did). Maybe they already have an edict that they won’t bother investing too much effort here any more. The cutoff here is clear: it’s not to punish old customers, nor is it arbitrary; it’s that the same design will fit poorly. (For watchOS 4, several reviews pointed out that some old faces fit poorly on the Series 4. We can’t have it both ways.)

The whole discussion of whether Apple wants to drive sales of newer models is… kind of tertiary to that. Of course they do. But is the Watch experience really marred because you can’t use a new face that you didn’t even know existed last week?

For obvious reasons, Apple is going to be very cautious about adding features that ding battery life, especially on older models which likely already have degrading batteries. The noise check feature by definition has to power up the watch and run on a regular basis to do the checking. So it has to ding battery on some level. And for older watches, battery life is an issue on the watch.

So it makes perfect sense to me and you why it wasn't included for older watches.

 

[B4U]

Thanks! I'm not crazy about it but I'll make due with what I have and use it once in a while.

Glad to hear that solve the problem partially.

 

[cknibbs]

The Activity Trends feature is another nail in the coffin for my S0 (which doesn't have watchOS 5, much less 6).

The only question is whether I'll get a Series 5 in fall, or a then-discounted older one.

It’s worth the upgrade - it’s night and day from when I upgraded to S0 to S4.

 

[chucker23n1]

It’s worth the upgrade - it’s night and day from when I upgraded to S0 to S4.

Turns out Activity Trends actually does work (partially?) with the S0.