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If I upgrade from a series 4…..

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naturalguy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 31, 2018
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I use my Apple Watch for notifications and heavily for fitness tracking. If I upgrade from my current series 4 to the 9 will I really notice a big difference?

I am also considering the Ultra
 
You might or might not. Only you will know.

Some people view all Apple Watches from S0-S9 as the same. Some understand that S8 and S9 are different watches. It's a question of granularity and detail.

The S4 and S9 (and Ultra) are all capable of fitness tracking and notifications, though the S4 has the older sensors and misses blood oxygen.
 
Howard2k said:
You might or might not. Only you will know.

Some people view all Apple Watches from S0-S9 as the same. Some understand that S8 and S9 are different watches. It's a question of granularity and detail.

The S4 and S9 (and Ultra) are all capable of fitness tracking and notifications, though the S4 has the older sensors and misses blood oxygen.
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Thanks. So it sounds like I may not see a difference in day to day performance.
 
naturalguy said:
Thanks. So it sounds like I may not see a difference in day to day performance.
Click to expand...
It's a huge difference in performance, and there are many other improvements -- always-on display, larger display area on the screen, etc. It sounded like your question was what you would notice and, to naturalguy's point, we don't know.
 
bluespark said:
It's a huge difference in performance, and there are many other improvements -- always-on display, larger display area on the screen, etc. It sounded like your question was what you would notice and, to naturalguy's point, we don't know.
Click to expand...
What performance difference have you noticed? Personally, I can't say I've noticed any, but I hardly use the watch actively -- it basically just collects my health/activity data, which I view on my iPhone. Curious what other people do with their watches where they see performance improvements in the more recent models.
 
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naturalguy said:
I use my Apple Watch for notifications and heavily for fitness tracking. If I upgrade from my current series 4 to the 9 will I really notice a big difference?

I am also considering the Ultra
Click to expand...
I’d say definitely….and for these 3 reasons alone: 1) Always on display: Once you have it…you won’t want to go back. 2) 2,000 nits peak brightness: Will be great for reading those notifications and fitness tracking numbers outdoors in full sun. 3) Screen size: Greater usability overall in a number of apps!

That said! Given that it’s so late in the AW cycle for a design refresh, I’d look for an AW7 or AW8 at a “deep” discount and ride with that one until you can get a new AW with a fresh new design (ie rumors are the AW10 will be that one).
 
DSTOFEL said:
Given that it’s so late in the AW cycle for a design refresh, I’d look for an AW7 or AW8 at a “deep” discount and ride with that one until you can get a new AW with a fresh new design (ie rumors are the AW10 will be that one).
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I'm inclined to agree with this. While I think there is an enormous difference between either of these and the AW4, there is nothing about the AW9 that makes me want to upgrade my AW8. Next year may be a different story (although I am worried what Apple's current rudderless design team might do to it).
 
I’m tempted about upgrading from series 4 to ultra 2. Still thinking about it because, at the moment, I use my AW only for sleeping and running monitoring, rest of the day(s) a mechanical watch.
 
Moving to an S9 from an S4, I often find myself using it in areas with out cell service or proximity to my iPhone so having on device Siri to start timers and a new gesture to stop timers will be a big daily improvement.
 
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I was thinking about upgrading my Series 4 to a refurb 7 or 8 after seeing the 9 announcement, but what got me about the 9 is the on device Siri processing. I know on the phone it's so much faster on device vs. relying on the query getting sent somewhere to be analyzed, which is annoying on the watch (first world problems I know). Might also be annoying just cuz it's a 4 showing its age......

What's more annoying with my Series 4 is that the battery life has become complete garbage. I checked and the battery health was down to 67% and said "Service Recommended" or something, and since I have Apple Care I sent it off to get the battery replaced. So hopefully that can hold me off until some sort of design change (hopefully) next year.
 
MacNut said:
Battery life will be better. Mine barely goes a full day now.
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Battery is really my deciding factor on a new watch purchase.
But I'd upgrade for a really cool new sensor too if my current watch was at least a couple years old, even if the battery was still good.
I could give or take AOD. It's fine. But it's not a "must have" for me.
 
I would think you’d see noticeable improvements. You also get the bigger screen area, and some of the features are bound to work more efficiently with a better chip, not to mention more ram.

And I really do love the Always on display on my watch. Can’t imagine going back to the black box on my wrist.
 
I plan to upgrade my S4 this cycle. It sounds like this will be the last version to use the current bands. i haven’t yet decided if it will be S8, S9, Ultra 1, or Ultra 2. How it looks on my wrist and discount for the older version will help me decide.
 
Larger screen
Faster battery charging

AOD and different sensors = don't really make a difference IMHO.
 
Things I notice jumping from my Series 4 (which I still own and use at times) to my Ultra:
  • Interactions are much faster – booting, loading apps, tapping, Siri, etc. are all noticeably faster and smoother
  • Screen is greatly improved – new watches are brighter (much better on sunny days), size is larger (obviously the Ultra is bigger, but so is the Series 9 with its 45mm case and screen pushed out to the edges under the curved glass), and the addition of the always-on display
  • Fast-charge is awesome, when necessary (admittedly, I don't need this often, but when I do, it's great to have)
  • Bump in storage makes it far more realistic for me to store a usable amount of music on the Watch for my outdoor walks
If anything here is important to you, I suggest you may notice the difference, too.
 
Saturn007 said:
LOL!

Clearly, loads of people love it, but AOD is the first thing that many of us turned off! For us,

“Once you have it, you won’t ever use it!” 😁​

As the Romans used to say,

De gustibus non est disputandum!​
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I prefer this ancient Roman saying best: Apple's Always on display is the greatest invention since the toga
 
Good thing that AOD is actually a feature that one can turn on/off depending on liking, wish that were true for other “features”
 
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