That was one of my Contingencies in order for me to upgrade was the battery life had to be improved, there was quite a few reports with the S5 struggling with the battery duration with AOD. I know it has a larger battery this year, probably to help offset some of the new health Sensors, but more importantly, more stabilized battery life. And as you mentioned in another post above, I think the S7 will be a huge year for the Apple Watch with new hardware, possibly even introducing micro LED displays.
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My observations on Always-on Series 5 vs Series 6
- Thread starter bbates123
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That was one of my Contingencies in order for me to upgrade was the battery life had to be improved, there was quite a few reports with the S5 struggling with the battery duration with AOD. I know it has a larger battery this year, probably to help offset some of the new health Sensors, but more importantly, more stabilized battery life. And as you mentioned in another post above, I think the S7 will be a huge year for the Apple Watch with new hardware, possibly even introducing micro LED displays.
I like how there’s always a group of people who own the former device say how the new one isn’t that big of a deal and they’re happy not to upgrade. Ok good? Why even mention it? You trying to make yourself feel better because you don’t have the new hotness any more?
My wife upgrade hers and it’s definitely a lot brighter than mine in almost every lighting. It’s noticeable and you do get a easier reading by just glancing at the watch while not directly looking. I don’t know about you but I do this frequently when in a meeting. A slight peek. Raising it up and directly looking at it a few times can be seen as rude haha.
My wife upgrade hers and it’s definitely a lot brighter than mine in almost every lighting. It’s noticeable and you do get a easier reading by just glancing at the watch while not directly looking. I don’t know about you but I do this frequently when in a meeting. A slight peek. Raising it up and directly looking at it a few times can be seen as rude haha.
Even for many S4 owners it's not worth it, especially if the battery is holding up well.
Yeah, you can't compare the battery levels of the watches in that photo since I took the photo just after unboxing the S6 and setting it up.
FWIW, my Series5 hasn't had any issues with battery in my usage. It's on the charger from bedtime to wakeup, and even on days with an hour outdoor run without my phone (GPS+streaming podcast/music over LTE), battery was fine until bedtime. On rare occasions on a workout day I might get a low battery notice towards the end of the evening, and on days I'd do a long run beyond and hour I'd typically drop the watch on the charger while I cleaned up after the run and it'd take on enough charge to largely compensate for the extra usage in the long run.
Don't expect miracles - battery capacity increase is ~3%
I would also mention that I remember many posts this time last year from folks skipping the S5 because they expected the S6 to be a big redesign. I suppose the "big year next year" folks will eventually be correct, yet I would suggest making decisions decisions based on what exists today rather than what might exist in the future.
I've heard that with some users with polarized sunglasses the always-on S5 was unreadable. Is that still an issue with the brighter S6?
It's never been an issue with my S5 and I wear polarized sunglasses regularly.
Who told you this?
(edit - the S5 AOD can be difficult to read in full sunlight with sunglasses -- but polarization has nothing to do with that)
I typed too fast and didn't read carefully what I posted . . . my post was question to another poster who found AOD intentionally blurring complication?? Not sure what he meant so I replied to his post. I meant to ask: Hmmm, AOD doesn’t seem to work as i thought. So AOD would blur out the complications in dim mode so that you only see the time??To see the complications, it would go from blurry to sharp, but it happens slower than flicking your wrist in a S4? In an S4 you give a good flick and you’ll see everything on the watch face. If flick too gently on an S4 then the screen stays black.
It sounded like the poster I was replying to is saying that in an S5 or S6 in dim mode the part of the watch face that gives you the time is sharp and readable, but the additional complications around the watch face are blurred intentionally??
Im with you, I love my series 5 and im sure id love a series 6. I still don't think its enough differences. sometimes I wonder about the always on display. I guess its cool but if it turns on when I life my first then its okay. I like new watch faces and better battery life. I can't wait to see what series 7 looks like cause this 6 isn't much more.
Here's my experience with an S5 the past year. Specific to watchOS6 as I've not yet upgraded.
First off, I really like AOD. Very happy with it. There's room for improvement of course, but it's fine.
#1 - when on a watch face, I've never seen a complication blur out with AOD. Everything on the watch face is visible, though a second-hand goes away and stuff may update only once a second. Complications I use all seem to work fine. I've not used every possible complication so perhaps it's possible something has an issue, I've never seen it though.
#2 - third party apps and many Apple apps aren't supported by AOD. If one of those is showing and the screen goes to AOD, the background is blurred and a digital clock is shown.
#2a - I've not bothered to figure out what does and doesn't blur on AOD. I just know that when on a run the Workout app doesn't blur and I'm good with that.
#2b - other than when on a run / workout the only thing I'm interested in with a glace to the watch in AOD mode is what time it is. Anything else I'm typically flipping my wrist to a better angle to read the screen which wakes it up anyway.
Hope this helps.
Yeah its not though. Apple has even stated that the extra brightness can only be seen outdoors. I'd check the brightness settings of both and see if they are equal because indoors they are 100% the same.
So do I and I got pushback when I mentioned I like discreet time checks before. "I'd never work in a place where you can't check your watch!" I do it so often in meetings and it's nice just to be able to glance down at it.
There’s two sorts of folks... those who admit to surreptitiously checking the time whilst suffering from Death by PowerPoint and those lie about it. 🤣🤣🤣
My example is when your kid or spouse (or pet) is curled up against you, immobilizing your arm, it’s nice to check the time without disturbing them. ... and to get ahead of the inevitable, there are many valid reasons to check the time that aren’t reflective of impatience.
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Yes. There are so many other times where it's nice to be able to glance down and check the time. I'm carrying something, using exercise equipment, etc.
There was a thread a week or two ago. Someone was complaining about poor visibility with the S5 in full daylight, like you observed. Other readers, who hadn't themselves observed the problem, conjectured that it was related to using polarized sunglasses. It's plausible, since I've definitely observed some odd behaviors reading displays when using polarized lenses.
It ain’t the polarization.
S5 AOD is dim in sunlight with sunglasses. Normal and polarized.
I’ve seen zero difference whether wearing polarized or not.
I also double checked when you posted this - polarization angle of the sunglasses has no effect on my S5 watch display.
edit: yes, polarized sunglasses do have issues with a variety of LCD displays. That issue is far less common with OLED since it normally does not utilize a polarizer internally
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Polarized sunglasses Absolutely have an affect. The problem is, when we’re outside wearing sunglasses, nobody takes their sunglasses off to read the Apple Watch display, thus resulting in the blame of said ‘dimness’. One of the tweaks Apple made for the S6, was increasing the brightness. However, reflectivity still an issue due to the Sapphire display, and that will always be a problem as long as Apple is using sapphire when you consider the reflection from sunlight.
I refuse to believe their 2.5x claim. I’ve owned S5 and S6 and there is very little difference outdoors too.
Ok, let me try to understand this, do you think Apple would publish a marketing stat about the brightness and risk being sued for libel? They’re one of the most scrutinized companies in the world, I guarantee you they would never lie about something just because it doesn’t meet your own anecdote.
Example:
Years ago, Apple was accused by a few members they weren’t really using sapphire on the camera lens for the iPhone 7, and guess what, Phil Schiller came out and actually proved that they were. My point is, just because what you believe doesn’t mean that it’s not factual that Apple is lying, not when you don’t have the evidence to back that up otherwise.
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Okay. And....?
BTW, claim was “up to” if I remember right.
Also, remember that human perception of brightness tends to be logarithmic. 2.5x linear increase will be perceived as less.
I’d focus on whether it provides an outdoor sunlight increase sufficient to make a difference to you. That’s all that matters.
If measured, it probably actually is 2.5x brightness, but humans do not perceive brightness linearly. Just like we do not perceive sound volume linearly. Twice the sound pressure corresponds to a +3dB increase in volume, which we perceive as only slightly louder, not twice as loud.
Just the same for brightness. Human vision has a dynamic range of 90dB, which is a ratio of 1,000,000,000:1. A brightness ratio of 2.5:1 is perceived as only a small change in brightness. Enough to be noticeable, but not huge.
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I’ve thought the same thing lol. Difficult to read the S5 AOD in sunlight? What’s sunlight?
It’s about as useful to us as the overheat warning on an iPhone
