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I think this is a completely underrated use for the watch, if I had children this is exactly what I would do. It gets rid of the distractions of the cell phone but allows you to keep in contact with them when needed.
Nowadays with Screen Time enabled it helps with the "going on Youtube at 10pm" problem. I prefer for them to have phones as (1) they get my wife's or my hand-me-downs and (2) it's easier to text back.

But I get your point.
 
No device will keep you working out if you are not motivated to do so.

No, it won’t keep you ‘motivated’, but it will at least show you the results _if_ you’ve made any progress, which should instill motivation. That’s really the whole point of the fitness portion of the Apple Watch.
 
Just returned my series 5 watch


The two features that I got the watch for are half baked. Music app Doesn’t sync my likes or dislikes which I use for sorting through new music. It doesn’t sync back to iTunes smart playlist that I then look at and delete songs.

Podcast syncing is a mass with non Apple podcast app.

too expensive for what it offers.
 
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iPhone 8 and Watch S2 here. After a second year of "meh" phones, I've decided my best value is jumping from an S2 42mm alum GPS to an S5 44mm alum GPS+LTE. The list is extensive:

- I have a vestibular (balance) disorder and the fall detection could save my life if I fall down the stairs or something similar while alone.
- Updated Bluetooth 5.0 will only improve my ability to keep the phone out of hand.
- Improved display will hopefully cure some of my annoyances when driving at night.
- Drastically improved processing will likely remove the lag I experience from intensively using my S2 with added apps.
- Relocated microphone will hopefully improve calls.
- A miscellany of small things that are "good to haves". I also expect the Watch app store to draw in more watch apps.

I bought another Caseology case and film-based screen protectors. They worked extremely well on my S2.

Compared to the phones... yeah, the 11 is faster than my 8... but no Touch ID, I would avoid all but the smallest size model and lose all the fancy lens and photo capabilities. It just wasn't there for me yet. I hear that Touch ID through screen is coming in the next year or two. I'll wait for that model and see if we get something that impresses me. Until then, my 8 is doing just fine, fits in my pocket, plays the silly games I want it to, has the biometric security I prefer, etc.

EDIT: For those first timers... my current S2 is used for....

- iMessage and calls when away from phone
- Controlling my DENON home theater receiver (and thus whole house audio zones) via AirPlay
- Business Skype messages when away from PC
- Timers, alarms, quick-glance weather.
- Locating my misplaced iPhone.
- Calendar events and scheduling alerts (more professional than pulling out the phone in a meeting)
- Remote control of my vehicle, including remote start.
(and surely more things I'm not thinking of)
 
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In real world use, the sapphire screen is much more durable than ion glass and aluminum. The majority of scratch complaints come from aluminum watch users. I have owned SS watches since S0 and never a scratch and I don’t baby my watches. Also, if one has the disposable income they get what pleases them without a second thought no matter what it is.
I’m by no means rich but would never buy the aluminum version. I want a watch that looks and feels like a watch.
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I disabled the breathe alerts a long time ago. Even forgot they existed.
Same here!
 
I had my Series 0 watch for over 4 years and used it daily for multiple things. Cost was about 30 cents per day or 9 dollars per month. A handy luxury away from work, but very useful in my work life. Overall much better value than what I spend for many other things so I upgraded to S5 when I got a bonus. My wife is happy with my old S0.
 
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iPhone 8 and Watch S2 here. After a second year of "meh" phones, I've decided my best value is jumping from an S2 42mm alum GPS to an S5 44mm alum GPS+LTE. The list is extensive:

- I have a vestibular (balance) disorder and the fall detection could save my life if I fall down the stairs or something similar while alone.
- Updated Bluetooth 5.0 will only improve my ability to keep the phone out of hand.
- Improved display will hopefully cure some of my annoyances when driving at night.
- Drastically improved processing will likely remove the lag I experience from intensively using my S2 with added apps.
- Relocated microphone will hopefully improve calls.
- A miscellany of small things that are "good to haves". I also expect the Watch app store to draw in more watch apps.

Follow up after a few days of usage:

- The AOD is less irritating when driving at night. Instead of the display "popping on" having it slowly light up or unblur is way, way less distracting.

- The processor differences between my S2 and this S5 are like night and day. No more input lag, display lag, etc. Snappy and instantaneous.

- The watch battery life has stabilized after some tweaking (read: disabling) to certain services... like noise monitoring, EKG/heart monitoring, background app refresh list...

- The screen protector and Caseology Nero case are working flawlessly and it seems like they're a natural part of the watch.

So far, no regrets at all. Still unsure what the LTE services are doing for me since they're kinda gimped from a regular smart device (can't get or send independent SMS, for example), and since I used NumberSync on my AT&T account, I don't understand how I'm getting phone call benefits or app data benefits... but I assume that will become apparent when I stray from home more often. I'm rarely without my phone, however. Not sure if I should be training myself to leave it behind or not.
 
iPhone 8 and Watch S2 here. After a second year of "meh" phones, I've decided my best value is jumping from an S2 42mm alum GPS to an S5 44mm alum GPS+LTE. The list is extensive:

- I have a vestibular (balance) disorder and the fall detection could save my life if I fall down the stairs or something similar while alone.
- Updated Bluetooth 5.0 will only improve my ability to keep the phone out of hand.
- Improved display will hopefully cure some of my annoyances when driving at night.
- Drastically improved processing will likely remove the lag I experience from intensively using my S2 with added apps.
- Relocated microphone will hopefully improve calls.
- A miscellany of small things that are "good to haves". I also expect the Watch app store to draw in more watch apps.

I bought another Caseology case and film-based screen protectors. They worked extremely well on my S2.

Compared to the phones... yeah, the 11 is faster than my 8... but no Touch ID, I would avoid all but the smallest size model and lose all the fancy lens and photo capabilities. It just wasn't there for me yet. I hear that Touch ID through screen is coming in the next year or two. I'll wait for that model and see if we get something that impresses me. Until then, my 8 is doing just fine, fits in my pocket, plays the silly games I want it to, has the biometric security I prefer, etc.

EDIT: For those first timers... my current S2 is used for....

- iMessage and calls when away from phone
- Controlling my DENON home theater receiver (and thus whole house audio zones) via AirPlay
- Business Skype messages when away from PC
- Timers, alarms, quick-glance weather.
- Locating my misplaced iPhone.
- Calendar events and scheduling alerts (more professional than pulling out the phone in a meeting)
- Remote control of my vehicle, including remote start.
(and surely more things I'm not thinking of)

I find myself kinda in a similar situation. I don’t really feel compelled to upgrade my 8+ at the moment, and my series 2 still suffices for what I do with it. I might get a series 5 (the myriad of new features since has me tempted, from EKG to noise measuring to the new form factor) and relegate my series 2 to overnight sleep tracking (since its resale value is practically shot at this point), but I also want to wait to see how my series 2 performs on watchOS 6 first.
 
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... and relegate my series 2 to overnight sleep tracking (since its resale value is practically shot at this point) ...

If it's of any help, AT&T quoted me $45 buy-back for the S2 in good condition. I'm not sure what to do with it otherwise... everyone I know with an iPhone has a watch already. I don't think you can pair two watches to one phone, right? I'd have to dig up an old iPhone to continue using it, I think. :rolleyes:
 
If it's of any help, AT&T quoted me $45 buy-back for the S2 in good condition. I'm not sure what to do with it otherwise... everyone I know with an iPhone has a watch already. I don't think you can pair two watches to one phone, right? I'd have to dig up an old iPhone to continue using it, I think. :rolleyes:
You can have two watches paired to one phone, though you have to switch between them

Swappa.com is a decent resale outlet. Or try MacMeAnOffer.com if you prefer a wholesaler.
 
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The sapphire crystal Apple uses is not true sapphire is weaker than normal sapphire and scratches at almost the same resistance as the ionX glass used in the aluminum version.
It's also much more fragile than normal watch glass, probably partly because it's eggshell thin. It has to be so thin so that the graphics appear to be on the surface rather than behind a glass layer. Unfortunately, the result is that a surprisingly light tap against a hard surface will break it.
 
I struggled with this for a while. I think apple priced the watch too high but people are buying them so you know the price will just continue going up. I honestly don't see the value in the heart rate monitor because you can get much cheaper devices that can do that for far less. My neighbor loves his watch but I am not seeing the value at this point.
I think people forget that part of the price paid for an Apple product is for the excellent customer service and the liberal return policy.
 
It's also much more fragile than normal watch glass, probably partly because it's eggshell thin. It has to be so thin so that the graphics appear to be on the surface rather than behind a glass layer. Unfortunately, the result is that a surprisingly light tap against a hard surface will break it.

In terms of damage/scratchability - I had a S0 sport (so ION-X) for 2 years, I completely smashed it once and when I came to retiring it the screen was pretty badly beaten up.

I replaced it with a Series 3 SS - the space black version. After another 2 years, it still looks pristine. It's been dropped, whacked against a glass sink, and doesn't get babied at all (I don't feel the need to).

Lab tests may show there's not much difference - but anecdotally, in real world usage, there's no comparison really.

Also remember that a lot of the light scratching people report is probably in the oleophobic coating - which eventually wears off anyhow.
 
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You can have two watches paired to one phone, though you have to switch between them

Swappa.com is a decent resale outlet. Or try MacMeAnOffer.com if you prefer a wholesaler.
You can have more than two watches at a time paired to your phone. I have three. The switch automatically when you put them on.
 
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I got it mainly for the health and fitness reasons. But now I’m kind of wondering why I spent this amount of money just to get notifications on my wrist and something that keeps track of my heart rate.

it’s worth it if it keeps me working out and more fit. But how long will that keep working after the novelty wears off?

Am I missing something?

Depends on what you're after. For me, the Watch is practically a secret weapon. I never need to dig for my phone to get notifications, and I can customize those notifications with considerable granularity in the Watch app. I have the weather at a glance. I have public transportation options at a glance. I have timers I use at least ten times a day. I have Apple Pay without needing to dig for my phone. I get all sorts of work notifications, including taps to tell me when meetings are over so I never have to look at my wrist before then. I could go on and on, and all that is in addition to fitness.

Plus, I love the way it looks, the bands, etc.
 
Depends on what you're after. For me, the Watch is practically a secret weapon. I never need to dig for my phone to get notifications, and I can customize those notifications with considerable granularity in the Watch app. I have the weather at a glance. I have public transportation options at a glance. I have timers I use at least ten times a day. I have Apple Pay without needing to dig for my phone. I get all sorts of work notifications, including taps to tell me when meetings are over so I never have to look at my wrist before then. I could go on and on, and all that is in addition to fitness.

Yes to all of that. It's hard to describe to people who don't have a watch and are skeptical. Heck I felt the same way before I had one. "But I can do all that with my phone!" Yes, but you don't have to when you have the watch.
 
You can have more than two watches at a time paired to your phone. I have three. The switch automatically when you put them on.
I have always bought 2-3 watches every year so I don't have to worry about battery life. I like wearing a watch 24/7 so having more then one allows me to do that.

This year, I bought my series 4 watches in April so I am skipping the "series 5" and I'll upgrade next year.
 
If it's of any help, AT&T quoted me $45 buy-back for the S2 in good condition. I'm not sure what to do with it otherwise... everyone I know with an iPhone has a watch already. I don't think you can pair two watches to one phone, right? I'd have to dig up an old iPhone to continue using it, I think. :rolleyes:

Well, I ended up following your advice and got a 44 mm Nike sports watch (which I wear for work and outside). Will be hanging on to my older watch for exercise and when doing more risky activities and I don’t want to risk damaging my newer watch.

The performance difference is insane.

And hanging on to my 8+ for another year. Funny story - I ended up having to restore my iPhone and iPad Pro because I suddenly just couldn’t recall my passcode for the death of me and ended up being locked out of them. While I lost a day’s worth of WhatsApp chat logs (love those nightly iCloud backups), my devices seem much speedier and smoother now.

Weird, but at least there’s a silver lining here.
 
If the intended purpose was simply to monitor heart rate and receive notifications, get an AW3.
Otherwise, a Garmin watch should also do the trick. The benefit of an AW3 is built-in music at only $199.
 
I got it mainly for the health and fitness reasons. But now I’m kind of wondering why I spent this amount of money just to get notifications on my wrist and something that keeps track of my heart rate.

it’s worth it if it keeps me working out and more fit. But how long will that keep working after the novelty wears off?

Am I missing something?

As somebody who's had an Apple Watch on their wrist since the day it released it can seem like that but I feel like the simplest features are what make Apple Watch so good. I was wearing series 0 up until I got the series 5 about a week ago.


Fitness and health tracking are great. A lot of people use them solely because of those features. I feel like the culmination of Health, basic info and notifications are the core of Apple Watch or any smartwatch.

I feel like overall the best feature of Apple Watch that Apple would never advertise is less phone usage. Being able to keep my phone out of my hand for the basic info I tend to be looking for most of the time on my wrist and not have to have my phone held in front of my face even out of boredom or without effort going from a notification or checking weather to suddenly scrolling on my email or facebook.

I kind of lost that as my Series 0 started to wear out but I've found that again now on the Series 5. My Series 0 was on my wrist for over 4 years and I calculated that down to about 31 cents a day it cost me to wear it. Wearing my Series 5 if I have it for the same time period it'll cost me about 37 cents a day to wear.

I spend more per day on Netflix than I do in having an Apple Watch.

That's in the end up to you to justify though. Is it really a $450+ investment that's improving your life and enough different than what your phone can do for you or not.
 
I got it mainly for the health and fitness reasons. But now I’m kind of wondering why I spent this amount of money just to get notifications on my wrist and something that keeps track of my heart rate.

it’s worth it if it keeps me working out and more fit. But how long will that keep working after the novelty wears off?

Am I missing something?

Of all the posts that make me do a face palm, this one takes the cake. Asking strangers to justify his purchase, SMH.
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Im still using my series 3, it still works great.

I got a S3 and returned it, it's trash compared to S4/5, there's a reason it's 1/2 price of the more premium models and why buy a 2 year old model device, makes no sense.
 
I got a S3 and returned it, it's trash compared to S4/5, there's a reason it's 1/2 price of the more premium models and why buy a 2 year old model device, makes no sense.

You mean, that same two year old model Apple Watch that does almost all the same things as the S4/S5 does at half the price? Yeah, I mean, who would buy a Series 3 Apple Watch. Makes no sense, right? As if Apple doesn’t have a demographic that wants a cheaper/entry-level Apple Watch with the Series 3. How strange.
 
I got a S3 and returned it, it's trash compared to S4/5, there's a reason it's 1/2 price of the more premium models and why buy a 2 year old model device, makes no sense.
Strange comment. The S3 does much of what the S4/5 does and for most people that’s probably enough. If the battery had been better on my S2 then I wouldn’t have upgraded it yet. For what it did it certainly wasn’t trash compared to my S5.
 
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