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If you passed on the first AW, will you get the Series 2?

richpjr

richpjr

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 9, 2006
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I passed on the first gen because it seem rushed and not very polished, the lack of a GPS, short battery life and the less than impressive use for exercise (note - these are my reasons and I realize that it works just great in some of these categories for a lot of others).

GPS is obviously not an issue and the watch has gotten more polished so a couple of my main concerns seem to have been addressed.

So those of you who passed - did this release change your mind?
 
Yes it did. the lower price is tempting but the better water resistance and display along with the GPS and arrival of watchOS3 is making me a believer. I had the first gen for a weekend and took it back.
 
richpjr said:
I passed on the first gen because it seem rushed and not very polished, the lack of a GPS, short battery life and the less than impressive use for exercise (note - these are my reasons and I realize that it works just great in some of these categories for a lot of others).

GPS is obviously not an issue and the watch has gotten more polished so a couple of my main concerns seem to have been addressed.

So those of you who passed - did this release change your mind?
Click to expand...

I passed on the first one because I was using an Android phone when it was released. When I got the 6s+ last year, the AW wasn't much of a temptation.

Now that it's faster with waterproofing & GPS, I'm going to go for it. My only concern is that Apple might be close to adding cellular and that an AW w/LTE could be released in the spring. (I bought the iPad 3 on release day & following spring the next generation was released. Once bitten . . . .) If an AW with LTE is released in less than a year, I'll be ticked off.

I'm buying one, but with some reservation.
 
Yes. I'll be in for one of the Nike ones, plus a set of the airpods. Can't wait. This will be the ultimate setup for running, plus I can use the he headset for conference calls at work. No more carrying a phone while I run
 
Passed on the AW1 because I felt it was chunky, not a huge fan of the design, and also super sloppy performance and lack of GPS.

Over time, square design grew on me (just a tiny bit), in person chunkiness isn't too bad, watchOS3 fixed shabby performance, SB color makes the entire thing look sleek enough to warrant my potential purchase...

Series 2 added GPS, so I was expecting I would pull the trigger even just a few days ago. Much brighter screen is a huge plus, since I'd be going for the SB sapphire screen version, which has even worse reflectivity. Thicker design is a real sore point for me though, and considering I'm not all that psyched I can probably preoccupy myself with something else for 6 months and then safely look forward to the full redesign I know will blow us all away next year - so I'm reconsidering.

What I may end up doing is just buying a super cheap Sport AW1 (or dual-core AW1 if they start getting discounted early) and use that until I upgrade to a SB AW3 with thinner smaller bezel design next year - that I can enjoy for years, without feeling like I missed out on what I wanted.
 
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Got the AW1, but returned it because it wasn't that good at anything but showing me my iPhone notifications. The AW2 has similar battery life, the same optical HRM, is thicker, and although it has built-in GPS it's laughably short at only 5 hours. I still like the OS and form factor but this one isn't appealing to me. Maybe AW3, or AW4.
 
I passed on AW1 after I got the 1st generation iPad and realized not to many software upgrades after that. I see with the series 2 that a lot of improvements, speed, waterproof, gps, and better screen. I am going to go with the sport model with the lower price and overall weight.
 
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I've waited so long for the Gen 2 so it's a yes from me. I did not want the first gen because I knew the edges had to be ironed out. Because I'm lazy I could care less about the GPS, waterproofing and brighter screen. Give me the updated CPU, GPU and price cut.
 
It did change my mind but it's not only series 2, it's also watch os 3 and the S2 soc (which is now on the series 1 as well)...

Yesterday i was hesitating... series 1, series 2... i think i'm gonna go with series 2.
What makes me want to (now) buy an Apple watch in general and a series 2 in particular is :
  • i usually am more inclined to keep a device longer if it's new-gen when i buy it (+ longer support by Apple... but, then again, with S2 on series 1, i maybe wrong)
  • 1000 nits display
  • it's nice to know i can swim with it (but i think i don't care about GPS... though it's always a plus, just in case)
  • the price of series 2 (sport edition, in my case) is still "ok" to me
  • i consider the watch product is propably more "long term" than i thought (i was afraid it would be abandoned after a year or pretty quickly if it wasn't as successful as exepected), the fact there's series 2 doesn't eleminate the risk (far from it) but shows, at least, minimal motivation to make it work
  • i don't like to buy 1st gen products
  • and like i said > watch os 3 & S2
 
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cdmoore74 said:
I've waited so long for the Gen 2 so it's a yes from me. I did not want the first gen because I knew the edges had to be ironed out. Because I'm lazy I could care less about the GPS, waterproofing and brighter screen. Give me the updated CPU, GPU and price cut.
Click to expand...

So are you going for the new dual-core AW series 1 then?
 
I always pass on first generation. I've decided to get this series 2 even if I'm skeptical about its battery life. I'll do a test drive and see if I like it or not. I really like the addition of GPS on it.
 
Still on the fence about series 2. Not sure I will benefit enough from the waterproof capabilities and GPS to justify the extra premium.
 
Don't think I am going to, I got a Garmin 735XT which although isn't as good looking as the AW it has week long battery life and does all the sports I need very well so going to stick with that as my every day and night watch
 
I've looked at the series 1 options and was a bit disappointed to find that there are only 6 models of series 1 and they all use the plastic sport band. If you want a decent looking band like the woven nylon you have to buy that separate for $50. So when you add that in the series 1 is only $50 less than the series 2 with the nylon band. The extra $50 gets you waterproofing, better display and GPS. that's a value that is hard to turn down.
 
WLS said:
I've looked at the series 1 options and was a bit disappointed to find that there are only 6 models of series 1 and they all use the plastic sport band. If you want a decent looking band like the woven nylon you have to buy that separate for $50. So when you add that in the series 1 is only $50 less than the series 2 with the nylon band. The extra $50 gets you waterproofing, better display and GPS. that's a value that is hard to turn down.
Click to expand...

This is to be expected with any apple product. Same thing they did with the Jet black color option for iPhone 7. If you want the unique color, you have to pay at least $100 more for 128GB storage or higher. Also the same exact principle for the iPhone SE once you go to 64GB I think the price increase is like $150? Just your normal price gouging procedure.
 
VanillaCracker said:
So are you going for the new dual-core AW series 1 then?
Click to expand...

Yes but I still need confirmation that the new GPU is actually part of the CPU package. I don't see why not but Apple pulled the same crap with the iPad mini 4 vs iPad Air 2 by saying that the performance was equal which was a lie (A8 vs A8X).
Most likely a 42mm Series 1 because all the old accessories should fit with no problems. Just not enough updates that I would use to justify the $100 increase, I don't swim, I don't run and I haven't heard issues over display brightness.
 
OllyW said:
No, it still looks the same and the £100 price hike over the 1st gen is too much.
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And I got a SS 38mm at BB for $200 off.

I am a happy camper, I will do the same thing next year and get a good deal with AW2 :)
 
VanillaCracker said:
Passed on the AW1 because I felt it was chunky, not a huge fan of the design, and also super sloppy performance and lack of GPS.

What I may end up doing is just buying a super cheap Sport AW1 (or dual-core AW1 if they start getting discounted early) and use that until I upgrade to a SB AW3 with thinner smaller bezel design next year - that I can enjoy for years, without feeling like I missed out on what I wanted.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. Wasn't blown away by AW1, thought for sure the AW2 would be an improved design, better battery life, more features, so I was waiting for AW2 to be released. I'm not impressed at all with AW2 either, same size, same battery life. The improvements are nice, but to me AW2 just means AW3 will really be the first actual 'new' AW2, which I definitely plan on buying. Since I know I'm gonna upgrade next year, now I'm consider getting a used AW1 off craigslist for $200 (or less). It will give me a year to try it out and see if it's really worth the money for me, and in the mean time I will likely be able to recoup 75% or more of my cost when I resell, as opposed to a new Series 1 or Series 2. I'm really banking on all the reports that watchOS 3 makes AW1 much more useable.

Any one see a mistake in my thinking here?
 
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scottomfg said:
I'm in the same boat. Wasn't blown away by AW1, thought for sure the AW2 would be an improved design, better battery life, more features, so I was waiting for AW2 to be released. I'm not impressed at all with AW2 either, same size, same battery life. The improvements are nice, but to me AW2 just means AW3 will really be the first actual 'new' AW2, which I definitely plan on buying. Since I know I'm gonna upgrade next year, now I'm consider getting a used AW1 off craigslist for $200 (or less). It will give me a year to try it out and see if it's really worth the money for me, and in the mean time I will likely be able to recoup 75% or more of my cost when I resell, as opposed to a new Series 1 or Series 2. I'm really banking on all the reports that watchOS 3 makes AW1 much more useable.

Any one see a mistake in my thinking here?
Click to expand...

Get the AW from a retailer who has a return policy so you can at least try it out for awhile with no risk. You will need to look around for a good deal as supply is limited. I got lucky at BB, maybe you will too or elsewhere.
 
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scottomfg said:
I'm in the same boat. Wasn't blown away by AW1, thought for sure the AW2 would be an improved design, better battery life, more features, so I was waiting for AW2 to be released. I'm not impressed at all with AW2 either, same size, same battery life. The improvements are nice, but to me AW2 just means AW3 will really be the first actual 'new' AW2, which I definitely plan on buying. Since I know I'm gonna upgrade next year, now I'm consider getting a used AW1 off craigslist for $200 (or less). It will give me a year to try it out and see if it's really worth the money for me, and in the mean time I will likely be able to recoup 75% or more of my cost when I resell, as opposed to a new Series 1 or Series 2. I'm really banking on all the reports that watchOS 3 makes AW1 much more useable.

Any one see a mistake in my thinking here?
Click to expand...

Nope, that's exactly what I'll be doing too. If I even buy an old apple watch. Might just go with no smartwatch for another year.
 
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