ClayKavalier
Banned
Sounds good. I use Siri to send texts while I'm driving and using my Watch would be really convenient but the original is so damn slow I always end up just using my phone.
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Apple Watch Series 1&2 |OT| Better, Wetter
- Thread starter SuperPac
- Start date
Sounds good. I use Siri to send texts while I'm driving and using my Watch would be really convenient but the original is so damn slow I always end up just using my phone.
Jugendstil
Member
Holy crap! I woke up this morning and checked Target's website on a whim and one by my house had a 42mm Series 2 Space Grey in stock, so I swung by the store and picked it up. No waiting a month for my order from Apple!
I'm going to swim with it this afternoon, I'll post impressions of the swim workout for those interested.
I'm going to swim with it this afternoon, I'll post impressions of the swim workout for those interested.
nhlducks35
Member
I got the gold one and returned my SG one. The gold one looks very beautiful and contrasts nicely with the black face and band
ibitegirls
Member
THANK YOU!!! I found one at local Target -- one 42mm Series 2 Space Gray! Only one that was in stock... LOL
DeadlyVirus
Member
Still trying to decide between going with Space Gray or Silver.
Silver seems like a solid all-arounder with most bands but I also like (and have) black watches.
Help GAF!
Silver seems like a solid all-arounder with most bands but I also like (and have) black watches.
Help GAF!
ibitegirls
Member
Both work well, and you can't go wrong with either. I chose space gray because it matches my hair... LOL
nhlducks35
Member
1 thing I like about the silver and gold is that they contrast nicely with the black screen, while the SG blends in. It depends on what you like
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Must hold out for 10nm processors. Must hold out for 10nm processors.
I'm hoping we get another refresh next fall with a 10nm processor that offers a second substantial jump in performance and a thinner form factor. I think by next fall and with watchOS 4, Apple will have much more of an established identity for its wearable line.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
I can check store availability now for series 2 Apple Watch, that's something at least
The Last Wizard
Member
You sob, I've got a 30th estimate too and haven't gotten bumped up
Which watch did you pick? I choose the 42 gold s2.
The watch doesn't need a thinner profile. It is thin enough. My mechanical watches are thicker. Shrink the components, sure. But fill that space with battery.
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
Bruce Springsteen
Member
My seiko watch is also thicker, thickness definitely isn't an issue with this device
jts
...hate me...
The space gray caught my attention faster and was my first choice but then realized the same as you and went with silver, no ragrets. Goes well with every band color, colorful or not.
Slurpy2k20
Member
Loved it. They are going all-in on it being the ultimate fitness tracker.
I hope they won't neglect the more convenience-oriented features of the device though.
The One Who Knocks
Member
One thing I really enjoy about this ad, and Apple ads in general, is the diversity of people which they tend to have on display in their ads, be it people with disabilities, people of different races and genders, or people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. It looks like they're committing pretty heavily on the idea of it being a fitness tracker, which makes sense given how Fitbits seem to be growing in popularity.
Solideliquid
Member
You sob, I've got a 30th estimate too and haven't gotten bumped up
Which watch did you pick? I choose the 42 gold s2.
Me too, same model, same shipping date. No changes. Oh well. 12 days. We will survive.
Hidden One
Member
Anyone else who has an OG Apple Watch haptic feedback feels really low even with prominent on?
Slurpy2k20
Member
Yep. Apple has been doing this for a while, whether be it's marketing, retail hiring, etc.
And yes, there's a good chance this watch will eat away at sales of other fitness trackers. It's a smart pivot since this is the obvious use case. I'm sure they'll keep improving all other aspects, but I think this is the smartest way to market it for now, as their "health" product.
I had the issue with my OG Apple Watch and I'm wondering if it's improved on series 2.
I owned a Microsoft Band 2 also and the haptic feedback on this was fantastic, I really wish Apple had copied the design of it.
Jugendstil
Member
Alright, I just got back from the pool and testing the swim workout. Overall, I had kind of mixed results. First things first, the watch IS waterproof, so no nasty surprises there.
The interface is great and the watch works well in the pool. It also recognized all the standard strokes without any issues.
In terms of swimming laps, I'm still trying to figure out how it determines a new lap. In swimming I've always been taught a lap counts as two lengths of the pool, from one end to other, then back again to the wall you started on. Similar to running on a track - it counts as a lap when you make a full circuit and reach your starting point again. During the workout, I would check the lap count and sometimes it seemed like it had jumped ahead to the next lap, almost like it was counting a single length as a lap. I've used other fitness trackers that do this, so as long you're aware of that's how it counts, it's fine, but I could see it being confusing in the middle of a long workout with varying sets. Right now I use a manual lap tracker on my old watch to help keep count, and I was hoping the Apple Watch could replace that but I have to do more testing to figure out exactly how it works.
The other problem I had is that the watch only counts laps where you do strokes with your arms. In hindsight, it's obvious it would do this because it's on your wrist and uses the accelerometer to judge your motion, but there are plenty swimming drills where you only use your legs. For example, in my current workout I use a kickboard to focus on practicing my dolphin kick. Because I wasn't moving my arms, the watch didn't count the lap or calories burned. It's odd because it's not like my arms were totally frozen, they still turn with my body when I turned around in the lane, so you'd think it'd at least count the lap if not the calories. Again, it comes down to learning more about how the watch determines a lap.
Overall I'm a little disappointed but fitness trackers have always had problems figuring out how to do swimming, so I'm not surprised that the Apple Watch has some of the same issues. My workout today was a short one that was just to test the watch. Tomorrow I'm going to do the full workout I always do, and I'll see how it goes with that.
The interface is great and the watch works well in the pool. It also recognized all the standard strokes without any issues.
In terms of swimming laps, I'm still trying to figure out how it determines a new lap. In swimming I've always been taught a lap counts as two lengths of the pool, from one end to other, then back again to the wall you started on. Similar to running on a track - it counts as a lap when you make a full circuit and reach your starting point again. During the workout, I would check the lap count and sometimes it seemed like it had jumped ahead to the next lap, almost like it was counting a single length as a lap. I've used other fitness trackers that do this, so as long you're aware of that's how it counts, it's fine, but I could see it being confusing in the middle of a long workout with varying sets. Right now I use a manual lap tracker on my old watch to help keep count, and I was hoping the Apple Watch could replace that but I have to do more testing to figure out exactly how it works.
The other problem I had is that the watch only counts laps where you do strokes with your arms. In hindsight, it's obvious it would do this because it's on your wrist and uses the accelerometer to judge your motion, but there are plenty swimming drills where you only use your legs. For example, in my current workout I use a kickboard to focus on practicing my dolphin kick. Because I wasn't moving my arms, the watch didn't count the lap or calories burned. It's odd because it's not like my arms were totally frozen, they still turn with my body when I turned around in the lane, so you'd think it'd at least count the lap if not the calories. Again, it comes down to learning more about how the watch determines a lap.
Overall I'm a little disappointed but fitness trackers have always had problems figuring out how to do swimming, so I'm not surprised that the Apple Watch has some of the same issues. My workout today was a short one that was just to test the watch. Tomorrow I'm going to do the full workout I always do, and I'll see how it goes with that.
brianmcdoogle
Member
I'm still confused about exercise. I went for a brisk walk on Friday for 20 minutes and had an average heart rate of 127 BPM. Today, I was on a stationary bike for 10 minutes (just to test it out to see if it was still working) and had an average BPM of 129. Yet, NONE of that 20 minute walk counted as exercise while all ten minutes of the stationary bike did. I got "move" credits for both the walk and the bike, so I'm still not getting what counts as "exercise".
Can someone explain it to me?
Also, I still can't get my hand covering the watch to toggle the mute. Am I supposed to cup around the watch? place my hand flat on it? Is there a trick to it?
Can someone explain it to me?
Also, I still can't get my hand covering the watch to toggle the mute. Am I supposed to cup around the watch? place my hand flat on it? Is there a trick to it?
Alright, I just got back from the pool and testing the swim workout. Overall, I had kind of mixed results. First things first, the watch IS waterproof, so no nasty surprises there.
The interface is great and the watch works well in the pool. It also recognized all the standard strokes without any issues.
In terms of swimming laps, I'm still trying to figure out how it determines a new lap. In swimming I've always been taught a lap counts as two lengths of the pool, from one end to other, then back again to the wall you started on. Similar to running on a track - it counts as a lap when you make a full circuit and reach your starting point again. During the workout, I would check the lap count and sometimes it seemed like it had jumped ahead to the next lap, almost like it was counting a single length as a lap. I've used other fitness trackers that do this, so as long you're aware of that's how it counts, it's fine, but I could see it being confusing in the middle of a long workout with varying sets. Right now I use a manual lap tracker on my old watch to help keep count, and I was hoping the Apple Watch could replace that but I have to do more testing to figure out exactly how it works.
The other problem I had is that the watch only counts laps where you do strokes with your arms. In hindsight, it's obvious it would do this because it's on your wrist and uses the accelerometer to judge your motion, but there are plenty swimming drills where you only use your legs. For example, in my current workout I use a kickboard to focus on practicing my dolphin kick. Because I wasn't moving my arms, the watch didn't count the lap or calories burned. It's odd because it's not like my arms were totally frozen, they still turn with my body when I turned around in the lane, so you'd think it'd at least count the lap if not the calories. Again, it comes down to learning more about how the watch determines a lap.
Overall I'm a little disappointed but fitness trackers have always had problems figuring out how to do swimming, so I'm not surprised that the Apple Watch has some of the same issues. My workout today was a short one that was just to test the watch. Tomorrow I'm going to do the full workout I always do, and I'll see how it goes with that.
Have you set the pool length? I think it would count a lap everytime you swam a "pool length", so I think you could double the pool length and have that count as a lap.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523
Zeyphersan
Banned
Exercise has always been a tough one for me to figure out too. It is possible to get exercise credit when not in a dedicated workout but it's always been hit or miss. I think it's when your heartrate is above standard for a certain length of time but I've never confirmed that. This support page might help: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204517
For turning the screen off I use my entire palm, covering the whole face of the watch.
eyeball_kid
Member
The Apple Watch definitely has blind spots based on its sensors. In your legs-only swim workout example, there's no way to track your leg movements when you're in the water.
But then again, Apple doesn't even offer workouts for basic stuff like push-ups and sit-ups. They're going slower than I'd like at adding new types.
Jugendstil
Member
Yup, I tried that. It's a 20 yard pool, and I tried setting it to both 20 and 40 yards. Setting it to 40 seemed to confuse it even more because I'm doing a turn at the halfway point of what the watch thinks is a single lap. But like I said, I have to experiment with it more and figure out what works best.
Yeah. In my experience swimming in particular is kind of tricky for any fitness tracker, so it's not just an Apple thing. It sounds basic but thing I really care most about is keeping an accurate count of laps and distance. I don't care that much about the more in-depth info about my stroke or calories burned. Hopefully now that Apple is really trying to push the watch as a fitness tracker, they'll be better about updates for that set of features. Hopefully...
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
I think you are supposed to start an exercise on the watch before you start exercising. This increases the heart rate monitoring and logs the event.
brianmcdoogle
Member
I did for both, open ended "outdoor walk" and "indoor bike". Only difference was the duration, with the walk being twice as long, and the minor BPM.
Zeyphersan
Banned
You started a workout and it still didn't give you the exercise credit?
brianmcdoogle
Member
Yup.
I started a workout with the criteria "Outdoor Walk, open goal" and went for a 20 minute walk with an average BPM of 127. None of that counted as exercise. Today, I started a workout with the criteria "Indoor Cycle, open goal" and went for just 10 minutes with an average BPM of 129 and I got a full 10 minutes of exercise time counted.
So, the outdoor walk workout didn't count as exercise and only counted for the move goal, while the indoor cycle workout counted for both (and gave me less credit for my move goal than the outdoor walk).
Zeyphersan
Banned
I wonder if your accelerometer/heartrate sensor isn't working
brianmcdoogle
Member
Well, it worked for the cycling, and I can see my heart rate just fine if I open the heart rate app. As for the accelerometer, it does seem to be counting my steps ok, and stuff like raise to wake work as well.
I guess the best I can gleam from searching on the web is that my pace might not have been fast enough for it to count as exercise despite the duration and average bpm? But, no one knew for sure and I couldn't find any documentation that laid out something like "you need to average 15 minutes a mile or 3.5 miles per hour" or anything.
The_Inquisitor
Member
If anything it should honestly be heart rate that sets whether it counts as exercise.
ClayKavalier
Banned
Replaced my original Watch with a Series 1 today, can confirm that the speed difference feels night and day.
It still really feels like a first-gen product though. Now we're at the point where the original Watch actually works as it should. Hopefully next year is an actual redesign, it's been a long time now the Watch came out. Really all I want is a thinner form factor, and a minor redesign to the shape would be nice.
There's no way to individually tweak the colors of complications in the multicolor Modular face, is there? I don't like how the date, the dot at the top, and the music icon are all red, I'd really like to change the Music one to a green or blue.
It still really feels like a first-gen product though. Now we're at the point where the original Watch actually works as it should. Hopefully next year is an actual redesign, it's been a long time now the Watch came out. Really all I want is a thinner form factor, and a minor redesign to the shape would be nice.
There's no way to individually tweak the colors of complications in the multicolor Modular face, is there? I don't like how the date, the dot at the top, and the music icon are all red, I'd really like to change the Music one to a green or blue.
Gruber's (Daring Fireball) review had this:
Just the steel one there, but it sounds like it should be stronger and cleaner in general.
It's not to toggle mute if that's what you're thinking. It's basically just a quick action to silence and ignore a current thing, like if someone calls and it's ringing or to immediately turn off the screen.
But anyway to do that, yeah just mash the face with your palm.
I've just been walking in to work from the station for the last few weeks (series 0 Apple Watch) and it's tracking and reporting 30 mins of exercise - not telling it anything about workouts etc. I do walk fairly briskly though
Broken Hope
Member
My watch also had no issue recording my walk to work this morning, I didn't manually start a workout either.
For me it will be.
Don't give a shit about GPS and I for damn sure don't want notifications underwater.
awesome features for other people though
What are you going to use it for?
If you're dead-set on running without your phone or taking it swimming, you only have one choice. If not, I'd think the series 1 is a right fit.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
The biggest everyday noticeable improvement of Series 2 over Series 1 for someone who doesn't care about the built in GPS, is the screen. If you are outside a lot, and want the screen to look really nice and visible, S2 has the noticeable advantage. S2 also has the ceramic back, which looks nicer and won't scratch if you lay the watch on the desk. S1 has plastic back.
S1 however has the advantage of being slightly thinner, which is actually visible in person (I've compared them both). I will say this though, the S2 extra thickness is most allocated to the black glass of the screen, which is now thicker and more visibly curved. I thought that actually looked kind of cool, and made the watch look more like well, a watch, and less like a shrunk down iphone.
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
Yea.
modernlifeisANDY
Member
So I know we are still really early in terms of the device being out there, but does anyone have any further info re: podcasts on the Watch without being tethered to a phone? Someone mentioned Pocket Casts and Overcast working on support, but I can't find that info on any of their sites.
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