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Series 6 is more like Series 5S

BasicGreatGuy said:
I guess we will have to wait and hope we see a picture or video somewhere showing some kind of alert for the user. If there isn’t one, the feature isn’t much use if it is actively monitoring in the background and doesn’t alert to a low reading.
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I thought maybe I could hold my breath to see if I could trigger something. :p
 
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Donnation said:
I hate to say this I really do, because I love the Apple Watch and I even really like the Series 6. But honestly, its really just a Series 5S and is the weakest update since the Series 0 was replaced by the Series 1.


- Battery life is exactly the same as the Series 5

- AOD is barely, and I mean just barely, a slight bit more readable outside

- The speed is negligible coming from the Series 5. Its milliseconds faster and really not noticeable

- The Blood Oxygen sensor is gimmicky at best. I'm sure it will improve, but I get different readings all over the place. Even with that, I'm not sure its anything more than something you'll use every once in a while just to see what it is. I don't know if this is what go force touch removed but it wasn't worth it.

-No improved durability or water resistance

-No charging brick and same price for the watch


I just don't think there is that killer feature or hardware improvement that makes this a true leap from last years watch. Its nice, don't get me wrong, but not really any different than the Series 5

After using mine for a couple of days I don't think I'll be keeping it. The Series 5 is the EXACT same watch minus the blood oxygen sensor, which to me hardly justfies keeping the watch. If you are coming from a Series 4 or later, it will be a nice upgrade.
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Simple return it and wait until next year.
 
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605E804D-1188-4900-B580-CBCFE53281F7.png

Screenshot as requested. Details of my setup are in a prior post (link below), been 21 hours now... I'll see how the next 21 hours go, but if I get 36+ hours I officially declare the S6 a winner.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/series-6-is-more-like-series-5s.2255534/post-28922606
 
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BasicGreatGuy said:
I guess we will have to wait and hope we see a picture or video somewhere showing some kind of alert for the user. If there isn’t one, the feature isn’t much use if it is actively monitoring in the background and doesn’t alert to a low reading.
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There isn’t one. I have series 6. My guess is that they won’t enable feature like that as the readings aren’t super reliable and can be heavily influenced by the position your arm is in. I think it’s a better feature to look at average readings and trends over time. I got a reading of 90 yesterday for example which would be pretty worrying if accurate. Today I got a 93 so quickly checked with my finger pulse oximetry sensor and it showed a reading of 97. People are expecting way too much of this feature.

As I said before the finger devices work by shining a light right through your finger. A wrist sensor can’t do that and simply can’t be as reliably.

Maybe worth people having a read of this

www.wired.co.uk

Why can't your fitness tracker tell you if you have coronavirus?

Your blood oxygen saturation levels can be a sign of coronavirus. But your wearables aren't capable of checking this to medical levels of accuracy
www.wired.co.uk www.wired.co.uk
 
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Donnation said:
I hate to say this I really do, because I love the Apple Watch and I even really like the Series 6. But honestly, its really just a Series 5S and is the weakest update since the Series 0 was replaced by the Series 1.


- Battery life is exactly the same as the Series 5

- AOD is barely, and I mean just barely, a slight bit more readable outside

- The speed is negligible coming from the Series 5. Its milliseconds faster and really not noticeable

- The Blood Oxygen sensor is gimmicky at best. I'm sure it will improve, but I get different readings all over the place. Even with that, I'm not sure its anything more than something you'll use every once in a while just to see what it is. I don't know if this is what go force touch removed but it wasn't worth it.

-No improved durability or water resistance

-No charging brick and same price for the watch


I just don't think there is that killer feature or hardware improvement that makes this a true leap from last years watch. Its nice, don't get me wrong, but not really any different than the Series 5

After using mine for a couple of days I don't think I'll be keeping it. The Series 5 is the EXACT same watch minus the blood oxygen sensor, which to me hardly justfies keeping the watch. If you are coming from a Series 4 or later, it will be a nice upgrade.
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Apple is making products that make nice incremental gains each year but are most appropriate for people upgrading on an every 2-4 year cycle, not yearly. If you upgrade yearly (and I like to most of the time) you have to stay realistic that the majority of the times the gains will be small. Apple isn't trying to punish anyone its just there is only so much you can do to improve technology over a single year.

I do believe that the 3 year cycle of body changes is coming next year, so I believe the Series 7 will at least LOOK a bit different, in the same way the Series 4 looked different when it came out.
 
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canyonblue737 said:
Apple is making products that make nice incremental gains each year but are most appropriate for people upgrading on an every 2-4 year cycle, not yearly. If you upgrade yearly (and I like to most of the time) you have to stay realistic that the majority of the times the gains will be small. Apple isn't trying to punish anyone its just there is only so much you can do to improve technology over a single year.

I do believe that the 3 year cycle of body changes in coming next year, so I believe the Series 7 will at least LOOK a bit different, in the same way the Series 4 looked different when it came out.
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Yeah, great points and I agree with you.
 
Also for me the blood oxygen sensor has been better than expected... I never have a reading fail as long as my arm is still and I was surprised to see that it took readings every 30 minutes all night long, I can imagine for people that have sleep apnea or other breathing issues this can be extremely useful. For me the readings were 96-100% all night which is about what I'd expect based on a finger pulse oximeter the family has. Is it critical for most? No, just like the vast majority of people never find an issue when they run the EKG nor get high or low heart rate alerts... UNTIL YOU DO. If suddenly you have afib, if suddenly you have low or high heart rates, or suddenly you see declining blood oxygen levels at night or otherwise that weren't expected your watch just helped you out in a big way. Is the S5->S6 upgrade worth it... well its clearly an incremental update and for most waiting another year or two is the wise move but the S6 is better, the new features have worth, and I love the fact each year this wrist device allows me to better monitor my health, including forcing me to consider my choices and see an impact when I do.
 
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wilberforce said:
One thing I am interested in, is the (claimed) ability to review notifications without first waking the display.

From Apple: "When their wrist is down, the user can also now access Notification Center and Control Center, tap on complications, and swipe to change faces without having to wake their watch screen."

How well does this feature work, is it worth upgrading S5 to S6?
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This is OS 7 feature. Try it on your S5.
 
There is a good reason they don’t make claims around what the SpO2 sensor can do - it’s because of articles like the Wired one (linked above), that give people a false impression of what the measurement is for.

As an example, saying the Apple Watch or other devices lacks precision (main point of article) is besides the point, precise or not, someone with a usual reading of 97-100 who drops to 90 consistently has a problem - no doubt about it. Whether the sensor has a precision of +/- 0.5 or +/- 2, doesn’t matter...

The article also gives people the impression that readings can’t be trusted because of movement... try moving while using a fingertip pulse oximeter - it basically doesn’t work unless it’s medical grade and taped to the finger. Apple Watch solves that issue using software.

Pulse oximetry has been proven to be a tool to detect silent hypoxia. Fair to say the measurement won’t be useful for most people (just like the ECG and fall detection), but if lives are saved by early detection of an issue then it’s worth it.
 
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bluegt said:
There is a good reason they don’t make claims around what the SpO2 sensor can do - it’s because of articles like the Wired one (linked above), that give people a false impression of what the measurement is for.

As an example, saying the Apple Watch or other devices lacks precision (main point of article) is besides the point, precise or not, someone with a usual reading of 97-100 who drops to 90 consistently has a problem - no doubt about it. Whether the sensor has a precision of +/- 0.5 or +/- 2, doesn’t matter...

The article also gives people the impression that readings can’t be trusted because of movement... try moving while using a fingertip pulse oximeter - it basically doesn’t work unless it’s medical grade and taped to the finger. Apple Watch solves that issue using software.

Pulse oximetry has been proven to be a tool to detect silent hypoxia. Fair to say the measurement won’t be useful for most people (just like the ECG and fall detection), but if lives are saved by early detection of an issue then it’s worth it.
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YES! Exactly... it doesn't matter if one minute it says 98% and the next it says 97 or 99%! It's the trends that matter... if every night I am between 96-100 and suddenly that changes to 88-92 you better believe I'm going to ask important questions about my health, and there are many breathing issues that can go unnoticed like sleep apnea that can be identified by something like this. Does it affect most people... of course not, but just like the EKG and other health tracking functions it doesn't seem very useful until it saves your life.
 
canyonblue737 said:
Apple is making products that make nice incremental gains each year but are most appropriate for people upgrading on an every 2-4 year cycle, not yearly. If you upgrade yearly (and I like to most of the time) you have to stay realistic that the majority of the times the gains will be small. Apple isn't trying to punish anyone its just there is only so much you can do to improve technology over a single year.

I do believe that the 3 year cycle of body changes is coming next year, so I believe the Series 7 will at least LOOK a bit different, in the same way the Series 4 looked different when it came out.
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree with you as I think that there will be some major changes next year to the Apple Watch. Possibly a larger screen or a body redesign, better battery life, FaceTime camera. Perhaps complete independence from the phone. I’m really looking forward to the series 7
 
canyonblue737 said:
YES! Exactly... it doesn't matter if one minute it says 98% and the next it says 97 or 99%! It's the trends that matter... if every night I am between 96-100 and suddenly that changes to 88-92 you better believe I'm going to ask important questions about my health, and there are many breathing issues that can go unnoticed like sleep apnea that can be identified by something like this. Does it affect most people... of course not, but just like the EKG and other health tracking functions it doesn't seem very useful until it saves your life.
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Yeah but you will get erroneous readings from time to time and it’s important these are seen for what they are. I got a 90% yesterday for example.
74a3790a1ed176e8d7bb9e9160280b82.jpg
 
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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thats not really true. Apple claimed 18 hours for series 4, 5 AND 6. sure the 5 & 6 use more power for some of the new features but they use LESS power for some things like the new CPU which helps balance things out. I’m finding battery life on my S6 to be comparable to slightly better than my S4 with all features turned on. I’ve heard the S5 had a more difficult time with battery life for the first few months until software updates improved things but I didn’t have the S5.
 
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 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.
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I understand the sentiment but we have to be fair. I have had an S4 since launch (2 years) and with two years there are significant jumps when you factor in the always on display (now even further improved), compass, u1 chip, faster processor, faster charging, entirely new optical HR and blood oxygen sensor package, 5ghz WiFi, and always on altimeter. It’s unrealistic to expect large technology improvements year over year after a product matures (the first few years of a brand new product category like Apple Watch will always show the biggest change) but to use your example of “3 years” that’s a series 3 to series 6 which is a titanic leap... massive speed improvement, bigger and bright screens with body changes, fall detection, ekg, sound detection and more PLUS all the other S4-S6 things i mentioned. Most Apple Watch users are wearing these 3+ years so when they upgrade our complaints of subtle improvements are laughable because for them it’s like getting a whole new product...
 
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We know all the features. It’s up to each individual to figure out if they think it’s worth shelling out. I didn’t last year but did this year... and I’m liking my new watch. I wouldn’t say that any of the nee features are ‘killer’ but there are enough ‘nice to have’ upgrades to satisfy me.
 
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