Considering Apple still sells it I'd say a couple years
Agreed, it will get watchOS 8 at a minimum which means software support through fall 2022.Considering Apple still sells it I'd say a couple years
I decided to trade up this cycle from a series 3 and it was mostly because of the slower speed and the updating process - with only 8GB onboard storage I had to completely wipe the watch every time I wanted to apply an update. That's not to say it's totally necessary to do every update, but the ownership experience was starting to get annoying. On the other hand, the hardware itself was in perfect shape and I handed it down to my son who still uses and loves it. I've been quite impressed with the duraability and reliability of the apple watch.I would say 2 years tops.
The series 3 is very, very slow. I wouldn’t buy one at this point. You will get more for your money with a newer model.
This really annoying for me too. Why do I have to wipe this thing every update? I still use for S3 on my work phone when I am working from home, so I don't update it very often.I decided to trade up this cycle from a series 3 and it was mostly because of the slower speed and the updating process - with only 8GB onboard storage I had to completely wipe the watch every time I wanted to apply an update. That's not to say it's totally necessary to do every update, but the ownership experience was starting to get annoying. On the other hand, the hardware itself was in perfect shape and I handed it down to my son who still uses and loves it. I've been quite impressed with the duraability and reliability of the apple watch.
The iPod touch (5th generation) was released in late 2012, and then was sold until mid 2015 during the era of iOS 8, but its last OS supported is iOS 9, which came out late 2015 with iOS 9.3.5 coming out summer 2016. ie. It lost iOS update support one calendar year after it was discontinued.Not certain it will get OS8. Even though Apple always supports 'currently on sale devices' with OS updates they have pulled this trick before and pulled devices mid-year. I believe one of the older iPod Touch models was pulled from sale mid-year and lost iOS support at the next update.
For me the AW3 is missing too many features and faces now - it doesn't even have the handwashing countdown - and combined with the smaller faces and annoying low storage issue at updates means I would always recommend the SE as an entry point. Alternatively you should be able to pick up a 2nd hand S4 for less than the cost of a new S3 wich is what I did.
I am not complaining about my series 4. Still is fast and has plenty of disk space for apps and whatever.Not certain it will get OS8. Even though Apple always supports 'currently on sale devices' with OS updates they have pulled this trick before and pulled devices mid-year. I believe one of the older iPod Touch models was pulled from sale mid-year and lost iOS support at the next update.
For me the AW3 is missing too many features and faces now - it doesn't even have the handwashing countdown - and combined with the smaller faces and annoying low storage issue at updates means I would always recommend the SE as an entry point. Alternatively you should be able to pick up a 2nd hand S4 for less than the cost of a new S3 wich is what I did.
Apple didn’t really upgrade the Series 5 processor. The S4 and S5 are mostly the same. So in terms of processor generations, the Series 3 is only a couple back.
I was watching a video comparison where they looked at the SE vs. the 3, and it said that while the stock apps usually perform fine on the 3, some third party apps that use up more resources were noticeably sluggish on the 3 in some situations, whereas they remained fast on the SE.when you look at processor upgrades, it’s not for the speed, it’s to support the new health features that are constantly being introduced on an annual basis. I mean, even the Series 2 Apple Watch still performs fine, it just doesn’t receive the latest updates in terms of supporting health features. In general, apples SoC processors have always been decently powerful, well last the lack of support for OS updates.
I was watching a video comparison where they looked at the SE vs. the 3, and it said that while the stock apps usually perform fine on the 3, some third party apps that use up more resources were more sluggish on the 3 in some situations, whereas they remained fast on the SE.
One such example was chirp.
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