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Series 10/Ultra 2 owners: What would make you upgrade this year?

satchmo said:
Here’s an honest question. Not only direct ed to you, but everyone.

Do you think Apple actually cares to compete with the likes of Garmin for battery times?

Surely by now they can, but choose not to. I think Apple believes that watches are meant to be charged every day at night. So 18 hours should suffice.

Any hope that an Apple Watch will ever have a seven day battery life perhaps is a pipe dream.
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I think apple cares to compete only to maintain a marginal lead, flagship status and maintain ebitda and the share price. Garmin has battery advantages but their sensors aren’t great. They’re expensive. Many garmin measures can be replicated through apps. The ultra has proven to be good enough for most people and that god enough to keep apples sales up there.

My problem is I’m tired of the endless upgrade cycle throwing away a lot of money for barely any improvements. There are new players coming in. They’re not quite as good overall but close enough and they’re certainly nearly as good as garmin. Their price is much cheaper. Their battery life stellar. Their sensors close to apples and they’re innovating at a much faster rate. I can get a 90% solution with a 10 day battery life better watch faces prob 90% of the accuracy which is good enough for about 35% of the price. Satellite emergency calls ok fine nice idea but 10 day battery life better yet and better watch faces better too.

They don’t try to grab me with “awe dropping events” and other marketing rubbish whilst offering nothing new. I mean come on if your awe had dropped then presumably you’re not awed. If that’s what they intended then one has to give apple kudos for being honest. I’m not awed at all. Haven’t been for a while. I prefer the pixel watch faces and Samsung galaxy watch faces. They’re clearer. The apple ring fencing is beginning to get me down. The kindle app is just one restriction. The Samsung z fold 7 was very cool and quite impressive but it wasn’t awe inspiring so why does apple think making no changes to speak of will have an effect.
 
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I have a ultra 2 and if the S11 have the same battery life, I’m going to upgrade
 
satchmo said:
Here’s an honest question. Not only direct ed to you, but everyone.

Do you think Apple actually cares to compete with the likes of Garmin for battery times?

Surely by now they can, but choose not to. I think Apple believes that watches are meant to be charged every day at night. So 18 hours should suffice.

Any hope that an Apple Watch will ever have a seven day battery life perhaps is a pipe dream.
Click to expand...
At the heart of the argument is the unspoken understanding that engineering is about making hard decisions about which features to prioritise and which features to not focus on. Let me flip this question around - how many consumers would be willing to accept the drawbacks that came with an Apple Watch sporting a longer, 1-week battery life?

The typical apple sport watch has 18-day battery life. While I have been able to get around 1.5 days out of my S10, this is admittedly with the original OS and a fresh battery with 100% capacity. Either way, I am charging my S10 watch every morning while I wash up for work, so charging is largely still a daily affair.

The Ultra Apple Watch gets 2 days, but it's also way heavier and bulkier. You can imagine how much bigger an Apple Watch would have to be to get 7 full days.

I don't think Apple executives are losing any sleep over the small number of customers who opt for a Garmin watch for the longer battery life. It's a niche of a market, and for all we know, maybe these users own both an Apple Watch and a Garmin watch (which they use accordingly), and Apple hasn't really lost out on any sales here.

It's probably more accurate to say that all factors considered, Apple has decided that 18-hour battery life is an acceptable tradeoff to make, when you consider all the other aspects of the Apple Watch that needs to be prioritised as well (eg: complexity of the OS, form factor, thickness). It's not that battery life isn't important, but that other features matter just as much as well.
 
satchmo said:
Here’s an honest question. Not only direct ed to you, but everyone.

Do you think Apple actually cares to compete with the likes of Garmin for battery times?

Surely by now they can, but choose not to. I think Apple believes that watches are meant to be charged every day at night. So 18 hours should suffice.

Any hope that an Apple Watch will ever have a seven day battery life perhaps is a pipe dream.
Click to expand...
Both things are true. When making choices, Apple is opting for a "good enough" battery life and the hardware and software needed to run the current features. If Apple could double battery life (or having a seven day battery life) and maintain watchOS as it is, they would obviously make the effort and investment necessary, and that device would obliterate both Garmin and the WearOS crowd. But they can't have both.

So it's not whether they care, but whether they can. At this moment, engineering limits is where the bottleneck is. Having said that, they definitely care a lot, since it is their users' number one complain, and it's a number that they always work on and mention.
 
Will be ordering the UW3 for 2 weeks and see how it does on my wrist.
If it's too large, then I'll return it.
That's my biggest concern....
 
nonns said:
I think apple cares to compete only to maintain a marginal lead, flagship status and maintain ebitda and the share price. Garmin has battery advantages but their sensors aren’t great. They’re expensive. Many garmin measures can be replicated through apps. The ultra has proven to be good enough for most people and that god enough to keep apples sales up there.

My problem is I’m tired of the endless upgrade cycle throwing away a lot of money for barely any improvements. There are new players coming in. They’re not quite as good overall but close enough and they’re certainly nearly as good as garmin. Their price is much cheaper. Their battery life stellar. Their sensors close to apples and they’re innovating at a much faster rate. I can get a 90% solution with a 10 day battery life better watch faces prob 90% of the accuracy which is good enough for about 35% of the price. Satellite emergency calls ok fine nice idea but 10 day battery life better yet and better watch faces better too.

They don’t try to grab me with “awe dropping events” and other marketing rubbish whilst offering nothing new. I mean come on if your awe had dropped then presumably you’re not awed. If that’s what they intended then one has to give apple kudos for being honest. I’m not awed at all. Haven’t been for a while. I prefer the pixel watch faces and Samsung galaxy watch faces. They’re clearer. The apple ring fencing is beginning to get me down. The kindle app is just one restriction. The Samsung z fold 7 was very cool and quite impressive but it wasn’t awe inspiring so why does apple think making no changes to speak of will have an effect.
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Yes, 3rd party watch sensors are good with neat watch faces, however they cannot maintain other features as well, and the activity rings are really useful and versatile, and have nowhere as good customization and formality, trust me, I have been there.
 
4sallypat said:
Will be ordering the UW3 for 2 weeks and see how it does on my wrist.
If it's too large, then I'll return it.
That's my biggest concern....
Click to expand...
In my experience some days the AWU feels totally fine but the next day it may drive me crazy…especially on hot days. I kept a S9 with blood oxygen as a backup/sleep tracker, and found I was resorting to that more and more this summer.

I may go back to an AWU/S10 or S9 rotation once the AWU 3 is released.
 
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PatrickNSF said:
In my experience some days the AWU feels totally fine but the next day it may drive me crazy…especially on hot days. I kept a S9 with blood oxygen as a backup/sleep tracker, and found I was resorting to that more and more this summer.

I may go back to an AWU/S10 or S9 rotation once the AWU 3 is released.
Click to expand...
That's what I was afraid as well.

UW3 might be too large or heavy on my skinny wrist and on hot humid days like now.

I also have the the S9 and love it - it's been fantastic for 2years now.
 
Applewatch42 said:
Yes, 3rd party watch sensors are good with neat watch faces, however they cannot maintain other features as well, and the activity rings are really useful and versatile, and have nowhere as good customization and formality, trust me, I have been there.
Click to expand...
As have i. I have a Amazfit Helios band and a Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the amazfit band is damned good and the ap isn't bad either. It needs to improve but its an 85% to 90% solution with most of the accuracy of the apple watch. The new amazift watches are half the price with much better battery life and aren't bad looking at all. They use the same app. When i sat on my rowing machine last night it was my new Amazfit band that connected seamlessly not the apple watch to the pm5 computer. As of last night I'd been wearing it for 6 days and it was still at 56% battery and its not a big device. The trade in values for apple gear are eroding too. Apple is helping to do that so the justification of an apple device on the basis of trade in values is reducing too. Apples closed wall and the issues with the amazon kindle app as I have said yank my chain. There is literally no benefit from it.
 
I’ve been using the AWU since it debuted in 2022, and I haven’t noticed any difference in size from my S4, that I upgraded from. I wear mine 24/7 except when charging when I shower in the morning or the 20 minutes when I need to top before bed to sleep track. I track my walking at work as my workout for the day and although it drains my battery, it doesn’t irritate nor make my AWU2 feel any heavier or hot and humid days during the summer months. There’s no way I can get through the day with any watch other than the AWU. I’m a woman with child like wrists and the AWU doesn’t look big, bulky nor ridiculous on my wrists and if anyone else thinks so, I can care less, because they’re not wearing it nor did they pay for it.
 
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Got the u2 black last October , coming from a 6
Does everything I need for mountain biking and road cycling.

Pending the presentation , the 4 looks like next jump for me

Will reply tommorow. Pumped for new color bands, but since I got titanium melanise loop in spring, wear that all the time except for trail loop mtn biking.
 
If they make a smaller ultra then I'm in, other wise my 45mm series 7 lives on another year. I had a awu2 for a short while, it fit ok, but was just a bit big
 
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I completely understand you. 2 years is very long time for 1 watch 😄.

I think that 5G and satellite will not work in our country. Ticking hands is not for me - there should be option to disable this for better battery life (but not completely turn off always on).
I have AW Ultra 2 black only one year and still without single scratch, so I will stick for another year.
 
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kecinzer said:
I completely understand you. 2 years is very long time for 1 watch 😄.

I think that 5G and satellite will not work in our country. Ticking hands is not for me - there should be option to disable this for better battery life (but not completely turn off always on).
I have AW Ultra 2 black only one year and still without single scratch, so I will stick for another year.
Click to expand...

Yep, to be fair I am looking for a reason to upgrade as I just want it! :)
 
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The Cockney Rebel said:
Same here.

But just read that hypertension alerts are coming to existing watches, so only sleep score will be unique to the new models.
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No..
incoming-28B67110-C46F-4E79-BBAD-952B5C3232FE.png
 
BillGates1969 said:
I think sleep score is there anyway for older models.

But to be fair you have a natural S10 and a slate S11 coming so really the best of both worlds and whatever mood takes you. And the mix of straps!
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Sleep score is coming to S10?

Do you have any links?

My slate order was cancelled, so I placed a new order. I thought about it, and natural goes with any strap. I don’t think that’s the same with slate, so I ordered natural.

Anyway, hope this order completes.

By the way, I’m installing the OS26 RC beta on all of my devices.

You?
 
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