New to Apple Watch. What might be best?

[jaybar]

Hi

I’m considering my first Apple Watch. I would get the Series 4. What are the advantages of Aluminum vs SS? Cellular vs not? What type of band is easiest to place or remove from my hand? Any advantages to Milanese Loop? Nike vs not? I am confused!

Anyone using the watch with vision issues?

 

[44267547]

Hi

I’m considering my first Apple Watch. I would get the Series 4. What are the advantages of Aluminum vs SS? Cellular vs not? What type of band is easiest to place or remove from my hand? Any advantages to Milanese Loop? Nike vs not? I am confused!

Anyone using the watch with vision issues?

The stainless model has a sapphire display, which is highly scratch resistant, and you’re purchasing it strictly for the aesthetics of the stainless, rather be gold, regular or black stainless, which the black stainless also has a diamond like carbon coating around the casing to help protect it.

As for opting for cellular, depends if you would appreciate not being tethered to your iPhone if you’re into fitness, or if you just simply want to leave your iPhone behind where your Apple Watch is an extension of that. Obviously there will be a surcharge additional on your carrier bill for that feature.

As for bands, there are many choices, the Milanese loop is a stainless band, it’s very supple and pairs well with the stainless
watch.

 

[waw74]

you watch can join wi-fi networks, so for places like the gym or work where you might be frequently and not want to carry your phone, it lessens the need for cellular.
a couple things.
--you can't enter a password on the watch, so you must have joined it from the phone at some point.
--you can't pick a network from a list, so even for a place with no wifi password, you must have joined on your phone
--You can't join a network that has a log in page, like you might see in a hotel. even if you've joined from your phone
--the watch keeps all the wifi passwords that are in your phone

keep in mind your budget, and that the watch is probably a 2-3 year life span,
as they're fairly new, year over year improvement is pretty big, so a watch that's a couple years old will feel very slow.
It's not a normal "investment" purchase like a nice watch, it's actually quite the opposite.

you can get bands on amazon, i'm not a "dressy" person, but i do have a $15 milanese loop that works for when i need it.
also have a black leather band also $10-15 bucks.

think about color pairings
to me, a black watch with silver band looks off, but a silver watch with black band looks ok,

as far as easier to remove from your wrist, it's the same as a normal watch,
if you have dexterity issues, both sport band types are fairly easy, just have to push the nub through the hole on one, and the other is like a Milanese loop, but nylon and velcro instead of metal and magnets.
you should be able to try any combination at the apple store. they have a large selection you can try on.

and 100% no questions asked, get the apple care+
One screen replacement, and it will pay for itself,

 

[Fabian90]

you watch can join wi-fi networks, so for places like the gym or work where you might be frequently and not want to carry your phone, it lessens the need for cellular.
a couple things.
--you can't enter a password on the watch, so you must have joined it from the phone at some point.
--you can't pick a network from a list, so even for a place with no wifi password, you must have joined on your phone
--You can't join a network that has a log in page, like you might see in a hotel. even if you've joined from your phone
--the watch keeps all the wifi passwords that are in your phone

I am pretty sure your info is outdated. With the new watchOS you can manuall join WiFi etc.

 

[Neo1975]

you watch can join wi-fi networks, so for places like the gym or work where you might be frequently and not want to carry your phone, it lessens the need for cellular.
a couple things.
--you can't enter a password on the watch, so you must have joined it from the phone at some point.
--you can't pick a network from a list, so even for a place with no wifi password, you must have joined on your phone
--You can't join a network that has a log in page, like you might see in a hotel. even if you've joined from your phone
--the watch keeps all the wifi passwords that are in your phone

keep in mind your budget, and that the watch is probably a 2-3 year life span,
as they're fairly new, year over year improvement is pretty big, so a watch that's a couple years old will feel very slow.
It's not a normal "investment" purchase like a nice watch, it's actually quite the opposite.

you can get bands on amazon, i'm not a "dressy" person, but i do have a $15 milanese loop that works for when i need it.
also have a black leather band also $10-15 bucks.

think about color pairings
to me, a black watch with silver band looks off, but a silver watch with black band looks ok,

as far as easier to remove from your wrist, it's the same as a normal watch,
if you have dexterity issues, both sport band types are fairly easy, just have to push the nub through the hole on one, and the other is like a Milanese loop, but nylon and velcro instead of metal and magnets.
you should be able to try any combination at the apple store. they have a large selection you can try on.

and 100% no questions asked, get the apple care+
One screen replacement, and it will pay for itself,

You can join an unknown WiFi network directy from your watch.

 

[newellj]

SS/sapphire vs. aluminum/ion glass mostly comes down to individual preferences and use. I am very active and had a S3 for a year and had zero wear on the case or display, but that's not everyone's experience. The SS cases, even the SB version, are not immune from scratches or dents, just more resistant to them. The same is true of the sapphire display - people here have reported scratching the S4 sapphire displays, it's just less common.

I had a SS S4 and it was a beautiful watch, but after thinking about the economics I returned it for a Nike+ (aluminum) version. I don't know what the trade-in prices will be next fall for S4 watches, but last fall the trade-in price for the SS was only $25 more than the aluminum watches. Since the SS watches are hundreds of dollars more expensive initially, almost all of that extra cost evaporated after a year. If you plan to upgrade your AW every year, as I expect to for at least the next year, that's something to think about.

Another way to think about the pricing would be to compare (1) the cost of the SS without AC+ to (2) the cost of the aluminum watch plus (2A) the cost of AC+ plus (2B) the cost of replacing the display once with AC+. That would give you a total cost of ownership figure on the aluminum watch *including* one display replacement.

LTE - I had a S3 with LTE and my S4 has LTE. I never hooked it up, but it's possible that I will. Potentially more usefully, the LTE watches (like a cellphone) *will* make emergency calls (if they're in a service area) even if you're not hooked up, so there is some health/safety value there even if you never put it on your plan.

 

[rgyiv]

To address your vision issues question, they do have text size and "bold" text options.

 

[cdcastillo]

To the useful suggestions and explanations laid here, I can only add a tip: do not buy more than 1 extra original bands from Apple, there are a lot of options of third party bands, way cheaper than the ones Apple sells.

Also, if you end buying the small watch (40 mm) keep in mind the loops are ALL SMALL. I have big wrists/hands but chose the 40 mm because I think the 44 was ridiculously big. When you buy the fluoroelastomer bands they have 2 sizes on the box (small/medium and medium/large), but all the loops for the 40 mm watch are small/medium and if you have large hands, it will be hard to put on and take off the watch.

 

[MisterSavage]

you can get bands on amazon, i'm not a "dressy" person, but i do have a $15 milanese loop that works for when i need it.
also have a black leather band also $10-15 bucks.

I was going to say the same thing. I thought a dirt cheap Orobay watch band would be trash but I actually love it.

 

[Significant1]

regarding vision issue, you can enable zoom in accessibility. I use it for easier pulse reading during workout.

 

[neutrino23]

I had the original stainless steel model and changed to the aluminum S4. I really like that it is so light. I barely feel it.

I have the original Milanese black band. The advantage is that it allows your skin to breathe. I don’t like solid bands because I sweat under the band. I find the Milanese band to be very comfortable. It is also infinitely adjustable so you can adjust the tension just as you like.

You can go to an Apple store and try all of these on.

 

[44267547]

I had the original stainless steel model and changed to the aluminum S4. I really like that it is so light. I barely feel it.

I have the original Milanese black band. The advantage is that it allows your skin to breathe. I don’t like solid bands because I sweat under the band. I find the Milanese band to be very comfortable. It is also infinitely adjustable so you can adjust the tension just as you like.

You can go to an Apple store and try all of these on.

Side note:

For those who don’t know, the black Milanese loop band has a diamond like carbon coating (DLC), it’s the same coating that is used on the space black stainless casing. The coating on the stainless black Milanese loop has the potential to actually scratch the Apple Watch display and casing, use caution with this specific band.

 

[nepatriot]

I had the original stainless steel model and changed to the aluminum S4. I really like that it is so light. I barely feel it.

I have the original Milanese black band. The advantage is that it allows your skin to breathe. I don’t like solid bands because I sweat under the band. I find the Milanese band to be very comfortable. It is also infinitely adjustable so you can adjust the tension just as you like.

You can go to an Apple store and try all of these on.

I swapped an 4 ALU for SS last week. Noticed 0 difference in weight. Read somewhere that the difference between the two is equivalent to a few paperclips. Lots of reports that the DLC Milanese seems to be the culprit for a lot of scratches, case and glass. The same thing happens with traditional watches.

 

[MEJHarrison]

It seems like most questions have been answered pretty well so far. As for the Nike question, with the Nike watch, you get a different band, you get a couple more watch faces and that's about it. Might be an extra app, but I don't use it, so I can't say for sure. Not sure if they were more different in the past or not, but at this point, they're essentially the same watch. I went for the Nike one this year because I liked the reflective watch band and wanted the extra faces (which I NEVER use).