Hey guys, I plan to get last year Apple watch since now it gets cheap enough. I have no interest in the GPS on the series 2 as I always carry my phone anyway. Thing is I heard last year's model is slow in loading apps. Now with watch OS 3, is it better? Anyone has the series 1 or 2 can give some comparison? Thanks!!
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Is last year's Apple watch usable now after watchOS 3?
- Thread starter techiebug
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I have a Series 2 and I think it is noticeably faster but it should be.. Honestly, if you are concerned about slowness, I'd recommend a Series 1. Based on BestBuy.com pricing, the price difference is $80? Which isn't much for a watch with a processor that is twice as fast.
To correct the previous poster Series 1 is not Gen 1. Series 1 is Gen 1 casing with better processors.
To your question, I have the Gen 1 on os3. I find it almost like a device upgrade in and of itself compared to os2. The only thing missing other than obvious hardware upgrades are waterproofing and GPS without a phone. If you take your phone with you on runs like I do, it functions exactly the same as what Series 2 does and gives you route and speed info.
The Dock speeds up app opening a lot. I put my apps I use in there, and can quickly switch between them and reorder them in a way that speeds everything up. Now I use just the stock apps, never really bothered with any other apps since they are rubbish, but the speed increases from the Dock is a game changer.
Plus it is thinner than Series 2
Tl;dr os3 is great, fixes a lot, Dock speeds up apps dramatically
I had an S0, put watchOS 3 beta on it and it worked just fine. I sold my S0 when I pre-ordered my S2. Got tired of waiting on the S2 and ended up buying an S1. Probably should have just kept my S0, would have saved myself another $100.
I don't think you'd regret the S0 if that's all you're wanting to spend.
I don't think you'd regret the S0 if that's all you're wanting to spend.
I have both the S0 and S2 Apple Watches and there is a definite noticeable difference in speed between the two. Apps load faster and animations are definitely smoother on the S2 than the S0. After using the S2 all last evening and then playing with my S0 this morning, the animation and scrolling lag is really apparent.
I will be either gifting my S0 to a friend or just selling it on Ebay.
I will be either gifting my S0 to a friend or just selling it on Ebay.
I don't think the OP was implying it wasn't usable before. Rather asking whether it's still usable.
By almost all accounts things are better than they ever were.
By almost all accounts things are better than they ever were.
No correction needed
. I was referring to Series 1 vs Gen 1. Basically if someone was choosing between Series 1 and Gen 1, I'd recommend Series 1. I think the OP is trying to figure out if buying Gen 1 makes sense but there is only an $80 difference between the two, for a faster processor it makes sense to go with Series 1.
Agreed. It's kind of shocking how much faster the new processing engine in the S1 and S2 is. It FEELS like 50% faster, and there's also 2X as much RAM (2GB vs 1) so many more apps stay loaded and resident. I am using the watch far more often now that it's not a huge wait fest.
The S2 has vastly better battery life too. WatchOS3 killed my battery on S0 watch.
That said, WatchOS3 DID significantly speed up my S0 watch on apps I kept in the dock... at the expense of battery. If you choose your apps carefully it's far more fluid than WatchOS2. But the S1 and S2 are far more fluid and fast on top of that.
wOS3 on a S0 makes it MUCH more usable. It's faster, the battery life management was better, all in all it was like a slightly newer watch.
I sold my S0 when the AW2 was announced and ordered the same watch in AW2. It's quite a bit faster (you're not going to get that with an S0 and OS3) and having the gps is NICE but not a deal breaker. The brighter screen is also very nice outdoors as the watch is much more readable (this is the sport version mind you not the SS version) and the battery is lasting me now TWO DAYS with one 1 hour workout in the middle. That's having the watch on 24 hours a day, at night as well and not taking it off to charge till at least going to bed on the night of the 2nd day. For me that's fine amount of BL and not having to hassle with an every day sort of thing. Historically, I would just either take it off at night or take it off while showering and getting ready and that was enough to have it work all day and into the following morning. Now, I just put it on full in the AM and worry about it on the 2nd night.
I sold my S0 when the AW2 was announced and ordered the same watch in AW2. It's quite a bit faster (you're not going to get that with an S0 and OS3) and having the gps is NICE but not a deal breaker. The brighter screen is also very nice outdoors as the watch is much more readable (this is the sport version mind you not the SS version) and the battery is lasting me now TWO DAYS with one 1 hour workout in the middle. That's having the watch on 24 hours a day, at night as well and not taking it off to charge till at least going to bed on the night of the 2nd day. For me that's fine amount of BL and not having to hassle with an every day sort of thing. Historically, I would just either take it off at night or take it off while showering and getting ready and that was enough to have it work all day and into the following morning. Now, I just put it on full in the AM and worry about it on the 2nd night.
I have the S0 as well and didn't upgrade because I found watchOS 3 running awesome on it. The watch does what I want and with the background refresh activated and my most used apps (3rd party as well) in the dock it is really, really fast, much better than before. I will jump aboard when the next gen is released (maybe in 18 months as well?).