Both nice to have features I’m sure. Do you have aluminium or stainless? If I get an S9, it’s almost the same aesthetically to my S5 and with that prospect, I might just keep what I have. I just can’t justify £699 and my budget is £549 max.
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What do you make of the AW 9 vs. the AW 7 or 8? Are you going to upgrade — and why?
- Thread starter Saturn007
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Both nice to have features I’m sure. Do you have aluminium or stainless? If I get an S9, it’s almost the same aesthetically to my S5 and with that prospect, I might just keep what I have. I just can’t justify £699 and my budget is £549 max.
I always get the aluminum. I can appreciate that the stainless is nicer, but I don't have anywhere to go where I would dress up.
I think the S5 is perfectly fine for another year as long as the battery is holding up. It can upgrade to watch OS 10, right?
Absolutely it can. AW 4 or newer! I’d still have my S5 SS if it wasn’t cursed.
I had it for a few months before dropping it on the hardwood floor…glass shattered! I found a place to replace the glass (with the x-ion glass) for $199. 2 weeks later…while playing golf….I hit a drive…let the driver drop down through my hands….and the head of the driver smashed my watch face. That S5 was cursed 😈.
Long story already long….I‘ve now got an S7 and holding on to it till at least the AW10. I’ve still got the S5 and it works perfectly (see photo)😂
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2000 nits makes a big difference. helps in sunlight and in swimming pool
Everybody should be upgrading I have apple stocks and I need sales to soar so please everyone do your part get them credit cards out and start shopping thanks 😊
I am upgrading my AW5 for the speed. Several Tesla functions like ”hey siri unlock my Tesla” are very slow. Also there is lag when starting or Pausing some workouts. This started happening with os 9 For me. I end up tapping or mis tapping multiple times because of the delay.
I have found the Tesla functions even with my Series 8 are slow so hoping it will be faster on the series 9. Takes a while to think about it or it won't do it.
That’s fair enough, I’ve always had the aluminium too. I do dress smart for work 5 days a week but for formal occasions I wouldn’t wear an AW anyway, it would be a mechanical dress Watch. I was hoping this year there would be less difference in performance, like the last 3 AW’s and I could finally get that stainless model. I’ll have the same dilemma next year too no doubt.
Hmm yeah good point, reminds me of my last wired headphone setup which was the Nano ipod with the FM radio, but it only worked with the wired headphones … too bad web streaming uses so much battery still, that’s my current radio listening method which I guess is how it has to be with wireless headphones for the foreseeable future.
Like your strong, definitive pronouncements here!
Could you explain your reasons? I'm guessing Series 6 makes the cut for you because the display increased in size with the 7. Any other reasons?
Couldn’t one make a case for upgrading the 7? Crash detection, brightness, temperature sensing…on the 8 and 9.
Suppose someone is coming from an SE 1st gen… and looking at 7, 8, and 9. Which one of them then, would you pick?
My S7 is laggy with my Ford EV as well.
At least it uses BlueTooth so that I can command her to start 20' before I get to her....
Yes, the design change would be the biggest point in upgrading. As a Series 8 user, I can say Series 7 and Series 8 are almost the same devices unless Apple brings more functionality for the Temperature sensor or updated gyro and acceloremeter. Also, I think Series 9 is an incremental update too. The changes in Series 9 are above my expectations but it is still incremental since everybody lowered their expectations. The brighter screen is a nice surprise for example.
If I came from SE 1st gen, I would choose any of them. SE is in par with Series 4 for me.
I have a Series 6 and am considering upgrading, mainly because my battery health is at 73%. The brighter screen and upgraded sensors are nice as well. I also liked the tapping fingers to tap the screen/respond gesture, but my wife just showed me that that's already an accessibility setting in older watches, which makes it really bizarre that they touted it for so long during the keynote as a Series 9 exclusive.
Series 9 from series 7 adds:
Ultra‘s action button is potentially intriguing to me. Will see after using it on the new iPhone.
So, I see a lot of nice changes that I’ll eventually get when a new model does some thing exciting enough to drive me to upgrade.
I‘d also likely upgrade more often if I bought the less expensive aluminum/gps models, and this might have been enough to entice me.
- S9 Chip. Nice, but not an upgrade driver for me.
- Double tap. ~90% (maybe) covered by accessibility feature to clear notifications, alarms, timers. Personally speaking.
- On device Siri. Could be really nice. I use Siri a lot. Unsure of impact, yet, but unlikely to be an upgrade driver.
- Brighter screen. Not a driver for me.
- 64GB. Nice, but I don’t use my existing 32GB. If I did, I’d definitely need more.
- Temp sensor. Don’t care unless they do something more useful with it for me.
- Crash detection. Not a priority - have on phone.
- Did I forget anything significant?
- 20% more accurate dictation (s9)
- New low power mode introduced on S8
- BT 5.3 was introduced with S8
- Updated UWB introduced with S9
Ultra‘s action button is potentially intriguing to me. Will see after using it on the new iPhone.
So, I see a lot of nice changes that I’ll eventually get when a new model does some thing exciting enough to drive me to upgrade.
I‘d also likely upgrade more often if I bought the less expensive aluminum/gps models, and this might have been enough to entice me.
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New low power mode introduced on S8
BT 5.3 was introduced with S8
Updated UWB introduced with S9
Thanks, in hindsight it was worth spelling that out as the chip is less important than what it enables for the user.
Also, it’s easy to just say, meh, faster cpu but what does that really mean in daily use? Faster as less latency is always good, but is it at all transformative?
I see Apple says it’s what allows on device Siri (which I already listed) but also up to 25% more accurate dictation. (Edited)
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It sounds to me like an improved version of the accessibility gesture control.
Good list!
I am trading in my S7 for the S9.
Still can't wrap my head around the Ultra 2 - it's the same price as an iPhone 15 !
With additional context sensitivity built it, among other differences, it seems. If it was the same feature then Apple wouldn’t be advertising it as new, it would be ready at launch, and wouldn’t be limited to the S9/U2.