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Series 6 is more like Series 5S

jdb8167 said:
Faster processor
Blood Oxygen sensor
WiFi 5 Ghz
U1 ultra wideband chip
Faster charging
Brighter display outdoors
Always on altimeter
Louder Speaker

Did I miss anything? Seems like a fair upgrade to me.
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No, and I'm not saying it isn't a good watch, because it is. I was just saying that coming from a series 5, you aren't going to really notice:

Faster processor - Its not really noticeably faster than the S5
Blood O2 sensor - Yes it has it, but its a party trick. Apple has stated its not for medical use and is for "wellness" which really means that its just giving you really wide range on what your O2 level might be, which isn't really useful.
WiFi 5Ghz - Yes I'll agree, about time for this
U1 ultra wideband chip - definitely nice
Faster charging - ok very slightly, but not to where you are going to be blown away with the speed of charge here.
Brighter display outdoors - I still call BS on this
Always on altimeter - this could easily be added on the 5, its just a software tweak. And most people have zero use for this
Louder speaker - maybe, and I mean maybe just barely louder. S5 is nearly identical

The biggest complaint people have with the Apple Watch Series 5 is battery life. I would have been super pumped for this watch if Apple developed somehow better battery life. But I can tell you that it is EXACTLY the same as the Series 5, and that includes workout battery life. I'm a fitness freak and I can tell you first hand that I've worked out 4 times since getting the watch on Friday and I saw the same drop in battery that I see in my Series 5. I honestly thought that with the 6 that there would be battery optimization with the software. There isn't. Its the same as the Series 5 and with the removal of force touch its just laziness on Apple's part to not give us better battery life.

Again, I'm not hating on the watch at all. I knew what I was buying and its a very nice product. But I think its time for Apple to step up to the plate and give us some real improvements in the Apple Watch that are going to be really noticeable for anyone who's bought the watch in the past 3 years.
 
I have the Ceramic Series 5 and apart from the fact that there is no ceramic Series 6, the upgrades are so minor. This could also be proven in the fact that used values for the Ceramic Series 5 are on the rise as those changes between the 5 and 6 are so slight
 
Donnation said:
No, and I'm not saying it isn't a good watch, because it is. I was just saying that coming from a series 5, you aren't going to really notice:

Faster processor - Its not really noticeably faster than the S5
Blood O2 sensor - Yes it has it, but its a party trick. Apple has stated its not for medical use and is for "wellness" which really means that its just giving you really wide range on what your O2 level might be, which isn't really useful.
WiFi 5Ghz - Yes I'll agree, about time for this
U1 ultra wideband chip - definitely nice
Faster charging - ok very slightly, but not to where you are going to be blown away with the speed of charge here.
Brighter display outdoors - I still call BS on this
Always on altimeter - this could easily be added on the 5, its just a software tweak. And most people won't ever use this
Louder speaker - maybe, and I mean maybe just barely louder. S5 is nearly identical

The biggest complaint people have with the Apple Watch Series 5 is battery life. I would have been super pumped for this watch if Apple developed somehow better battery life. But I can tell you that it is EXACTLY the same as the Series 5, and that includes workout battery life. I'm a fitness freak and I can tell you first hand that I've worked out 4 times since getting the watch on Friday and I saw the same drop in battery that I see in my Series 5. I honestly thought that with the 6 that there would be battery optimization with the software. There isn't. Its the same as the Series 5 and with the removal of force touch its just laziness on Apple's part to not give us better battery life.

Again, I'm not hating on the watch at all. I knew what I was buying and its a very nice product. But I think its time for Apple to step up to the plate and give us some real improvements in the Apple Watch that are going to be really noticeable for anyone who's bought the watch in the past 3 years.
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I just had a thought. Those happen to me from time to time. :D Did you try turning off SPO2 and seeing it that had a positive impact on battery?
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I just had a thought. Those happen to me from time to time. :D Did you try turning off SPO2 and seeing it that had a positive impact on battery?
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BasicGreatGuy that is an excellent idea. Will turn it off and see if it improves. I imagine it would as its taking readings throughout the day so that may indeed change things here.
 
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I have a s4 40mm Apple Watch And I’ve been considering a blue 44mm watch . Is it a worthy upgrade coming from a s4?
 
Stev150 said:
I have a s4 40mm Apple Watch And I’ve been considering a blue 44mm watch . Is it a worthy upgrade coming from a s4?
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I absolutely think its worth it coming from the S4. I don't want to give anyone the impression that the S6 is not a worthy upgrade, because it is. Its just not really in my opinion for anyone who owns an S5. But hey, we all love Apple stuff so we like to upgrade to the latest, which is what I did.
 
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Donnation said:
BasicGreatGuy that is an excellent idea. Will turn it off and see if it improves. I imagine it would as its taking readings throughout the day so that may indeed change things here.
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That is probably where the bigger battery draw is going and that would be why you haven’t notified an increase in battery life, if it the increase was going to be small. Turn that off, along with hand washing and Noise alert, and you should see a noticeable increase in battery, even after a workout.
 
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odonnelly99 said:
20 years ago, you needed a machine with a cost in the five figures to take a blood oxygen reading. Now I can take a reading on my couch with this $25 little gadget that’s not much bigger in size than my airpods pro case. It blows my mind that in a few years, I’ll be take readings through my watch.

I tried out a new Galaxy Watch 3 for a few days, and it also has a blood oxygen feature. Sometimes it takes a good reading, sometimes it takes a reading that, if it were accurate, would be immediate grounds for calling 911. Sometimes it tells me it can’t get a reading and to tighten my watch band, and sometimes it just can’t get a reading at all.

But people expect this kind of **** from Samsung, who are notorious for rushing out new features in an attempt to get there first, before Apple, at any cost. It’s not fair, but no one‘s gonna really give Sammy any **** for their blood oxygen sensor performing poorly. They’ve never been held to the same standards as Apple, especially on the health centric stuff.

So if what you’re saying about the blood oxygen sensor is true, and true on a widespread level, this is gonna be really, really bad for Apple. FREAKING ESPECIALLY now, during a Pandemic where low blood oxygen readings are often indicative of the respiratory issues that come with an infection. People are gonna be buying these things expecting that feature to work accurately, because they trust Apple. You and I both know they’d be better served buying a dedicated pulse oximeter, but they won’t.

If they can’t get it right with software updates, they need to pull the damned thing (the feature, not the watch), and give everyone who bought a series 6 the chance to return it if they’re outside their return window, or a $200 apple store gift card, kinda like what they did with the original iPhone and the infamous price reduction.

It’ll definitely be interesting to see things play out over the next few weeks.
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They can only improve things so far before you run up against the limitations of physics. £25 finger devices will always be more accurate because of how they measure. Medical grade devices are placed over your finger (or your ear) for a reason - essentially the light can shine through the skin. A wrist based sensor will never be able to do this.

I expect the Apple spo2 meter to have about the same accuracy as the Samsung and Garmin ones. Apple have pretty much pitched it as a wellness feature rather than a health feature. Their launch of the feature was much more muted than their ecg launch.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
That is probably where the bigger battery draw is going and that would be why you haven’t notified an increase in battery life, if it the increase was going to be small. Turn that off, along with hand washing and Noise alert, and you should see a noticeable increase in battery, even after a workout.
Click to expand...

🤷‍♂️ I have all of these on and only have 60% battery left after the Apple advertised 18 hours (using the new S6). Has anyone tried to do a semi-scientific approach to see how much benefit is possible with everything off?
 
nill1234 said:
The changes are huge, GPS and altimeter Accuracy improved, Heart reate accuracy is way better directly locks your HR at the start and lower battery consumption during workouts.
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i have had every Apple Watch ever released. The series 4 was definitely the most major jump in all aspects overall. The S3 was a decent boost too.

S5 & 6 return to smaller incremental improvements but they’re still decent. I now went from a 5 to a 6.
  • I’ve found the pulse ox to be fairly accurate and in line with my fda approved finger model. I’ve had a couple off readings out of tons over a day (much while sleeping) that were spot on. My O2 usually ranges from 95–100 and That’s what is happening
  • The speed improvement is - as other reviewers have noticed- definitely noticeable. 20% is usually the “perception point” for people where speed is noticeable. I DEFINITELY feel the boost. And S4/5 were fast. Not needed but appreciated as the watch feels instant in all aspects now. Finally.
  • note the S4/5 processor was 2x (200 percent) faster than the S3 processor. A huge jump. The S6 processor is 20 percent over the S4/S5. Practically this means it’s 240 percent faster than a series 3. Which is still fast. The leap is definitely noticeable and welcome.
  • I agree the 2.5x brighter “off” mode on the AOD ... I don’t see it most of the time. Definitely only in bright sun It’s noticeable.
  • The charging is definitely faster which is a huge help when you wear it all day. It saves 20 min off at least on a zero to full charge
  • The 5ghz wifi is MUCHHHHH faster than the old 2.4ghz ones. I was able to fill my new watch vastly faster than the old models, which used to drive me nuts trying to get music, podcasts etc on it
  • The always on altimeter is neat for hiking
  • Apple gave me almost half my money back in a tradein

  • Soooooo no. No one needs the S6. But as the “new” flagship watch it’s clearly a significant upgrade, if not really a major one. It’s much more of an upgrade over the S5 than the S5 was to the S4. No one “needs” it... but I’m happy
 
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I think a lot of the perceived speed boost is due to the much faster animations in watch OS7. I’ve moved from a series 4 (running the beta) to a series 6 and I wouldn’t say the difference was even noticeable. My series 4 with watch OS7 was blindingly quick anyway so I’m not really complaining
 
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bluegt said:
🤷‍♂️ I have all of these on and only have 60% battery left after the Apple advertised 18 hours (using the new S6). Has anyone tried to do a semi-scientific approach to see how much benefit is possible with everything off?
Click to expand...
If you have 60% battery with everything on after 18 hrs of use, you are getting excellent battery life.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
If you have 60% battery with everything on after 18 hrs of use, you are getting excellent battery life.
Click to expand...

I’m also running 8 complications on the watch face, AOD is enabled... I’ll see how the rest of the week goes but so far the battery life is noticeably better than my S5.

I’m looking forward to the tear down to see if they are using a larger battery or new battery management chip (might be the base since the charging speed is much faster now too).
 
bluegt said:
I’m also running 8 complications on the watch face, AOD is enabled... I’ll see how the rest of the week goes but so far the battery life is noticeably better than my S5.

I’m looking forward to the tear down to see if they are using a larger battery or new battery management chip (might be the base since the charging speed is much faster now too).
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Have you charged from 0 - 100 (or close to) with your new watch? If so, what were your results?
 
Yeah, I received the watch Friday afternoon and did the setup. Late Friday evening I did my first full charge to 100%.

Day 1: Friday Evening -> Saturday Evening (charged up to 100% when it died)
Day 2: Saturday Evening -> Now

Model: S6 44mm GPS
Watch Face: Infograph with 8 Complications
Screen Brightness: 2/3
Non-Default Settings: Handwashing On (AOD, heart rate, SpO2 and all the other usual stuff is on)

Day 1 - First Full Cycle
Workouts/Streaming: 70min Workout
Battery Life/Time: 0% Remaining after 21.6 hours = 4.6% per hour
Notes: 1 ECG measurement + a few non-background SpO2 measurements

Day 2
Workouts / Streaming: 70min + 35m Workout
Battery Life/Time: 0% Remaining after 40.1 hours = 2.5% per hour
Notes: 1 ECG measurement + a few non-background SpO2 measurements

A lot of people have said it takes a few days for a new watch (or new OS install) to stabilize. Maybe that is what happened in Day 2.
 
Last edited:
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I just put my 44mm Series 6 on the charger at 27% remaining after just under 20 hours. I normally put the watch in theater mode before I go to bed but last night I didn’t. That lost me a few %.

This is significantly under what was normal for my Series 5 where I would get about 36 hours before charging at just under 20% remaining.

It is too early to make judgments though. New watch so it might still be performing background tasks and I’m likely using it more often because it’s new. Also watchOS 7 might be having an impact. And I have all of the blood oxygen features turned on and used it manually several times in the last day.

Normally I wait a week or so with a new watch or software update before becoming concerned about battery life. It has always improved after a bit of time though the Series 5 was definitely a decrease over the Series 4.
 
bluegt said:
Yeah, I received the watch Friday afternoon and did the setup. Late Friday evening I did my first full charge to 100%.

Day 1: Friday Evening -> Saturday Evening (charged up to 100% when it died)
Day 2: Saturday Evening -> Now

Model: S6 44mm GPS
Watch Face: Infograph with 8 Complications
Non-Default Settings: Handwashing On (AOD, heart rate, SpO2 and all the other usual stuff is on)

Day 1 - First Full Cycle
Workouts/Streaming: 75min Workout
Battery Life/Time: 0% Remaining after 21.6 hours = 4.6% per hour
Notes: 1 ECG measurement

Day 2
Workouts / Streaming: None
Battery Life/Time: 58% Remaining after 19.0 hours = 2.2% per hour
Notes: 1 ECG measurement

A lot of people have said it takes a few days for a new watch (or new OS install) to stabilize. Maybe that is what happened in Day 2.
Click to expand...

Can you post a screenshot of your usage in the Apple Watch app?
 
jdb8167 said:
I just put my 44mm Series 6 on the charger at 27% remaining after just under 20 hours. I normally put the watch in theater mode before I go to bed but last night I didn’t. That lost me a few %.

This is significantly under what was normal for my Series 5 where I would get about 36 hours before charging at just under 20% remaining.

It is too early to make judgments though. New watch so it might still be performing background tasks and I’m likely using it more often because it’s new. Also watchOS 7 might be having an impact. And I have all of the blood oxygen features turned on and used it manually several times in the last day.

Normally I wait a week or so with a new watch or software update before becoming concerned about battery life. It has always improved after a bit of time though the Series 5 was definitely a decrease over the Series 4.
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The series 5 and series 6 are only rated for 18hrs use. Anything you get above that is icing on the proverbial cake. From what you posted, you have no need to be concerned. If anything, you should be happy.
 
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BasicGreatGuy said:
The series 5 and series 6 are only rated for 18hrs use. Anything you get above that is icing on the proverbial cake. From what you posted, you have no need to be concerned. If anything, you should be happy.
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I have no reason to blame Apple since I’m getting the rated battery life but that isn’t the whole story. I’m used to getting well over a day without any struggle. I’d hate for that to change. (With the Series 4 I got well over 2 days.)

So no, I won’t be happy if I get less than 24 hours before the watch needs to be charged. One other thing to consider is that running a battery to zero too often can seriously affect battery life.
 
jdb8167 said:
I have no reason to blame Apple since I’m getting the rated battery life but that isn’t the whole story. I’m used to getting well over a day without any struggle. I’d hate for that to change. (With the Series 4 I got well over 2 days.)

So no, I won’t be happy if I get less than 24 hours before the watch needs to be charged. One other thing to consider is that running a battery to zero too often can seriously affect battery life.
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The latter is true. As to the former, you can’t rightfully expect the new watch to get equal to or better than your series 4. That would be like expecting the series 5 to get as much as the series 3.

The series 6 is going to use more battery than the series 4 and the same for the series 5 to series 3.

You will have to turn some features off, if you want to meet your expectations.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
The latter is true. As to the former, you can’t rightfully expect the new watch to get equal to or better than your series 4. That would be like expecting the series 5 to get as much as the series 3.

The series 6 is going to use more battery than the series 4 and the same for the series 5 to series 3.

You will have to turn some features off, if you want to meet your expectations.
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Yes, that is what I hope to avoid. If I can get close to 30 hours with the battery just under 20% I’ll be satisfied.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
Since you have the series 6, can you tell me at what intervals the SPO2 readings are taken in the background and whether or not you have the ability to change the intervals?
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During sleep it looks like every 30 minutes. Other times seem more varied. I don’t see any way to adjust the intervals.
 
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