Strange Anomaly with AW4

[S.T.A.R.]

I just had some kind of strange anomaly with my AW4 GPS +Cellular 44mm. I was in front of my computer and glanced at my watch…it said 2:49. I looked at clock on the wall and it said approx 3:15. I looked at the time on the computer and it was in agreement with the clock on the wall.

So, I’m like what is going on. I look back at Apple Watch and it still says 2:49 (on “Modular” face) and I noticed the colon is not blinking. So I swipe to next watch face and it is correct with wall clock and computer. I go back to first watch face and it is still wrong. After a few swipes back and forth the first watch face corrects itself (with colon now blinking).

I don’t understand how this could happen. I was not using apps and all background refresh is on. That is totally unacceptable that a smart watch would give the wrong time. It could cost someone their job from being late. I hope this doesn’t happen again.

​

 

[Pez555]

Software

 

[S.T.A.R.]

Software

I know it's software. When I said, "I don’t understand how this could happen", I mean how could this glitchy of software get released. In essence, I paid over $500 for a watch that can't be trusted to accurately tell the time.

 

[tehStickMan]

You have a mini-computer running on your wrist, which syncs time from a bigger mini-computer (your phone), which syncs time from your carrier who may or may not screw up the time. So many points of failure. Plus, bugs happen.

 

[tl01]

I know it's software. When I said, "I don’t understand how this could happen", I mean how could this glitchy of software get released. In essence, I paid over $500 for a watch that can't be trusted to accurately tell the time.

These how could this happen questions...how could it be released dramatic questions always make me laugh! My watch tells time just fine. Maybe it needs to be restarted? I don’t know... but my mom has a fancy Rolex that went too quick by about 5 minutes an hour for a long time. How could it mess up the only thing it had to do... (unlike the Apple Watch that does a million other things at the same time... lol). And she paid way more for her Rolex and she didn’t even whine.

 

[Steve686]

Like you said OP.

It was an ANOMALY.

They do happen.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

When I said, "I don’t understand how this could happen", I mean how could this glitchy of software get released.

"OMG I encountered a bug (which didn't affect me because I had other clocks around me) Apple how could you let this happen!"

Modern software is incredibly complex. The watch runs on hundreds of thousands of lines of code, possibly millions, compiled into an orchestra of binary programs by another complex piece of software. Strange interactions and weirdness happen all the time, because human beings who write all this code are fallible, imperfect people. It's basically impossible to guarantee no bugs, no matter how much testing you do. It would take infinite time, you couldn't release any updates because you'd need to keep testing the old same code for glitches.

There's a reason space agencies use decades-old processors in probes and satellites, because these much less complex devices are so well understood today that they can be considered "bugless" by now. If there's still errata in there it is known, and thus can be avoided. But with processors with hundreds of millions of transistors stuff like "meltdown" and "spectre" happens, and software this bloated - it's beyond human ability to fix every possible issue in advance. For an example of that look at how many vulnerabilities (many of them serious/critical) there were just in Adobe Flash over the years. That's one single piece of software, which didn't even do anything really remarkable.

 

[S.T.A.R.]

...Yes I must be nuts expecting a watch to tell time. I guess when I buy a new car I should not expect to be able to drive it either...you know...being that the motor is incredibly complex.

 

[tehStickMan]

It's not a watch though. It's a 'smart wearable', colloquially known as 'smartwatch'.

 

[S.T.A.R.]

Does it ublicTabs.find('> .navTab'),
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$visitorInnerTabs = $visitorTabs.find('> .navTab'),
$visitorCounter = $('#VisitorExtraMenu_

 

[Tapiture]

Just enjoying the “you’re AppleWatching it wrong” replies on this thread