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Apple Watch Series 1&2 |OT| Better, Wetter

Animator

Member
So guys just picked up and paired my s2 to the 7+. Neither the watch nor the activity app is updating with step count or anything and I am also not gettng any notifications on the watch. Any idea whats going on?
 

The_Dama

Member
questions about OG AW

1. When I scroll down on the wheel, it scrolls up on the watch. any way to reverse it?

2. when i open up an email (or any other notification), is there a way for it to auto scroll whiteout using the wheel?
 

SuperPac

Member
So guys just picked up and paired my s2 to the 7+. Neither the watch nor the activity app is updating with step count or anything and I am also not gettng any notifications on the watch. Any idea whats going on?

I would say try turning it off and on again. Also make sure that your notifications settings are mirroring your iPhone. When you use iMessage on your phone to message someone does it go through? I've not had that kind of problem with the watch so I'm not sure.

questions about OG AW

1. When I scroll down on the wheel, it scrolls up on the watch. any way to reverse it?

2. when i open up an email (or any other notification), is there a way for it to auto scroll whiteout using the wheel?

1. No.

2. You can use your finger to scroll it if you don't want to use the crown, but no it does not auto-scroll any notification.
 

Animator

Member
I would say try turning it off and on again. Also make sure that your notifications settings are mirroring your iPhone. When you use iMessage on your phone to message someone does it go through? I've not had that kind of problem with the watch so I'm not sure.


It was a weird one where turning the phone/watch off and on didn't fix but putting the watch on airplane mode and then turning that off fixed it.
 

Anion

Member
Just sold my series 0 for $240 on ebay with my special leather band. I might go iWatchless until the Nike series come out...hopefully it gets pushed earlier lol
 
Picked up the new Navy/Tahoe Blue nylon band this past weekend for my S0 Watch. Since I'm skipping this gen I thought I'd try to make the Watch feel a bit more wearable on a daily basis, as the Sport band really sticks out.

Overall I'm very happy with the nylon band. I have a couple issues with it, like the connectors being black which makes my silver aluminum Watch look more gadgety, and the nylon band is a stiffer material than I was expecting, but the band definitely makes the Watch more fashionable.
 
I've been going to the tennis court by myself to practice my swings and have had my Bluetooth headphones on and connected to my phone. The phone is too heavy on the pocket so I leave it on the floor. Kinda sucks that it loses connection when I'm running around. I'm vaguely interested in the watch just so I can have music on my wrist at all times but I'm confused as to why there's no spotify app
 

kaitoe

Member
questions about OG AW

1. When I scroll down on the wheel, it scrolls up on the watch. any way to reverse it?

I had a hard time adjusting at first, but I found it helped if I thought of it as an extension of the screen. If I drag my finger down on the screen, i scroll up and vice versa. Likewise on the wheel.
 
For those who moved from a stainless steel S0 to a stainless steel S2: do you find the side button a lot louder? Like a very different feel and it's much more audible
 

Aiii

So not worth it
I had an lg g watch r for a while, and now have an Apple Watch (first gen, SS)

Haptics: Apple Watch has nice, quiet haptics - android wear by contrast was more like a usual vibration and that could be quite noisy in quiet situations. On Apple Watch in silent mode is great at providing discreet notifications. On the other hand, it is really disapppointing that Apple Watch doesn't allow more customisation of the haptics. You can tap out a custom vibration pattern for notifications on iPhone, yet you can't carry that over to the watch. It would be such an obvious improvement being able to tell who is sending you a message or calling you. Especially frustrating because android wear lets you do that, and it's great.

Telling the time: quite a useful thing for a Watch to be able to do. But here Apple Watch falls down by not having the option of an always-on mode. Android wear always-on is a godsend. I often glance at my watch without making large wrist movements and Apple Watch is annoying when I can't check the time by doing this. I don't need onboard GPS so let me choose to use the battery life for something I'd find really useful.

Watch faces: hands down (sorry) android wear wins here. There are a couple of usable Apple Watch faces, but I hate being restricted to just a handful of presets, along with limited customisation of complications. Using an app like Facer on Android wear you can easily create a completely custom Watch face and custom complications in any locations you want.

Complications : complications on Apple Watch are much better now than they used to be, with third party support. But they are still quite limited by not being directly interactable - they all display some info and jump to an app (except the stopwatch complication on the chronograph face). With custom faces on android wear you can easily have buttons that do things right there, rather than jumping off to an app - e.g. Stopwatch, timer, toggle weather display. With a little work you could set up a face that did most things you wanted to do without ever having to leave the Watch face.


Key things I really hope Apple Watch adds soon to make it that much more usable for me would be
- custom haptics
- always on mode.
- custom watch faces (third party or make your own), including complication locations
- interactable complications

You make some decent points that I would have made as well.

After a few days with the Apple Watch I have to say it is overall a much better experience to me then Android Wear. Android Wear has yet to get the user-interface right (and I've been running the Developer Preview of Android Wear 2.0). It's definitely snappier (and that's using the original Watch), both the navigation and things like Siri work quicker and respond better than Android Wear does right now.

I definitely miss custom watchfaces, but I find it less troublesome than I thought, mostly because the options you have for watchfaces and the complications give it enough personalisation to be useful in any case. I don't mind the complications themselves not being directly interactible, since they immediately load you into the app in question and that's pretty seemless there isn't that much difference between doing stuff directly on the watchface. I imagine with the dual core Watches that's gonna be even more seamless all around.

As for the screen, the Apple Watch has a gorgeous display. It really is a shame that they didn't use AMOLED and allow always on, but I've gotten used to flicking my wrist when I want to look at the watch and when it's on the use of color and the saturation and blacks are just perfect. Android Wear, especially 2.0, is just a dull interface using blacks, and dark blue along with other timid colors. WatchOS is full of colors, design elements like transparency, gradients and animations (I love it when I get an e-mail and flick on the screen so the gmail icon shows up, minimizes and moves to the upper right to bring in a preview of the mail I just got, for instance). It just makes the watch more fun to interact with. Wear will buzz (no gentle tap, esp. the Huawei Watch which just has the nastiest and loudest vibration motor) and the notification will be there. I dunno, I'm a UID guy by profession and subtle animations will always be more my thing than straight forward pop-ups. Another thing is finally having an Ambient Sensor (both the LG G Watch R and Huawei Watch don't have one) makes the watch way better to see in the sun, both those devices, even at their brightest, were impossible to make out in sunlight. The Apple Watch does much better. It also is much better viewed at an angle compared to those two devices.

Where the Apple Watch really outclasses Android Wear is in the fitness department. Where Wear relies fully on 3rd party and only has a half-assed Google Fit implementation, the Apple Watch just comes packed with everything I need out of a fitness tracker. I love that it checks my heart rate throughout the day. I love that I can start a workout and it will track not only my heartrate, pace, but also checks the weather and humidity. The Activity and Health App are great, being able to check where I've been, how fast I walk each km, what my heart rate was throughout the workout is just fun. And while all this is doable on Wear through third party apps, a Wearable should come with functions like this out of the box. Google Fit out of the box pretty much tracks only basic things like how many steps you've walked and the distance (though for walking, it won't use GPS and do an estimate). Without the fitness functions, it's just a notification box. Which is okay, but not great. The Apple Watch definitely makes you want to move more and makes it more fun to reach your personal goals. (Also great for making me take my hourly breaks when I'm at work, once I start programming I often forget to move for hours).

The Apple Watch isn't perfect yet, by any means, battery life is just not there. Between 18 and 20 hours a day just isn't enough, Android Wear gets you 32 to 48 hours on most devices. Wear gives you the always-on screen, too, but doesn't do heart rate checks, so I'm not sure what the impact is there. Another thing that I would enjoy is a more watch-like watch, so with a circular display. While the Apple Watch certainly isn't ugly, it does look too much like a device and not enough like an accessory like regular watches do. I definitely liked my circular Android Wear watches more, though the Huawei Watch is too bulky. All in all, I don't mind the Apple Watch looks at all, but I do hope we get a more inspired design in the future.

Either way, the Apple Watch is way ahead of Android Wear at this point as far as OS and capabilities go, it'll be interesting to see where third parties take Wear with the 2.0 update and the stand-alone apps, but it'll be a while until they catch up to where Apple is right now.

(While writing this I managed to abbreviate both Android Wear and Apple Watch to AW more than once, this made things very confusing. That can't have been a coincidence by the folks over at Google.)
 
I just learned that turning the crown on the Series 2 will gradually turn the screen on. Not sure if it's useful but it is kind of neat.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
It is, huh? I stand corrected, then, I just assumed it wasn't due to the display turning off. Well then I don't understand why there is no always-on display, makes it even weirder.

Yep. If it was LCD I'd have written it off as 'oh well' but there really isn't a reason not to IMO.
 
I got my series 2 yesterday and took it for a swim. I have to say that I was pretty impressed. It tracked laps, time, calories... I kept track of my laps in my head to make sure it was accurate and it was spot on. Very happy with the upgrade.
 

japtor

Member
I've been going to the tennis court by myself to practice my swings and have had my Bluetooth headphones on and connected to my phone. The phone is too heavy on the pocket so I leave it on the floor. Kinda sucks that it loses connection when I'm running around. I'm vaguely interested in the watch just so I can have music on my wrist at all times but I'm confused as to why there's no spotify app
Is it just a loose pocket, if so have you tried a sport/running phone holder of some sort? There's a few types but basically all just keep the phone tight so it doesn't move around and isn't as noticeable.

As for Spotify (and podcasts for that matter) I'd guess it's an issue of data management, limited space, and limited transfer speed. Or for streaming I imagine it all comes down to battery life.
Yep. If it was LCD I'd have written it off as 'oh well' but there really isn't a reason not to IMO.
Yeah I wish they'd do it too, but I'm guess they're too paranoid about battery life still. They do use a smaller battery, but still, they've pushed it pretty well to the point of having decent life left on most days that I'd trade for a dim clock display of some sort.
Any good 'normal' leather bands? Not like the weird bumpy apple one, or the classic apple one with a huge buckle
Huh, the classic one is pretty normal, are you thinking of the modern one? Otherwise there's a bunch on Etsy or just whatever standard 22-24mm (I think) band you can find and third party Apple Watch attachments.
 
Is it just a loose pocket, if so have you tried a sport/running phone holder of some sort? There's a few types but basically all just keep the phone tight so it doesn't move around and isn't as noticeable.

As for Spotify (and podcasts for that matter) I'd guess it's an issue of data management, limited space, and limited transfer speed. Or for streaming I imagine it all comes down to battery life.

Phone is too heavy, makes my pants sag. Plus the pockets are where all the tennis balls are ;)
 
Any good 'normal' leather bands? Not like the weird bumpy apple one, or the classic apple one with a huge buckle

I got this one from Amazon for 20 bucks. I like it so far.

zJ9BK4G.jpg
 

Zutroy

Member
Finally got the money from the sale of my old phone so went to buy a series 2.

Closest collection from Apple store was 28th October and 3-5 weeks delivery, but it looks like Curry's has just got their shipment in and there's stock available for next day delivery or store collection if anyone else is looking for one in the UK.
 

mrkgoo

Member
I kind of like the watch display turning off.

I just don't like the idea of a bright display always on on my person. Like if I'm walking in the dark, and there's an obvious bright light on my wrist.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
That is why there is setting where you can chose.

Not that the display would need to be bright, ambient sensor and what not.
 
At about 40 hours since I took my series 2 off the charger. I haven't done much on it except the normal checking the time or activity, controlling music while in the shower, and occasional text replies, and am still at 20%.
Thinking about just charging this every 2 days now instead of each night. Maybe tomorrow I will try and abuse it and see how low I can get it.
 

Jeffrey

Member
a bit off topic, but im looking at buying a used 1st gen off swappa to play around. the 38" is often 30-40 dollars cheaper, is it 'readable' and usable just fine or is the screen size a legit issue?
 
a bit off topic, but im looking at buying a used 1st gen off swappa to play around. the 38" is often 30-40 dollars cheaper, is it 'readable' and usable just fine or is the screen size a legit issue?

I would hope it is readable at 38". :)

But I have a 38mm series 2 myself, and don't find any issue with being able to read it.
 
Yeah it really sucks that Apple is not allowing third party app access to storage on the phone. I have to guess it's an issue with battery life for data transfer rather than storage (1GB is a lot of podcasts or Zombies,Run! Missions) I'm fairly disappointed that strava is so slow in updating its Watch app. I'm still having to run with my phone right now.
 

Moreche

Member
Is it true that the only way to turn off GPS is put the watch in aeroplane mode?
I want the waterproof and bigger battery but I've zero interest in GPS.
 

SuperPac

Member
Is it true that the only way to turn off GPS is put the watch in aeroplane mode?
I want the waterproof and bigger battery but I've zero interest in GPS.

I've read that GPS on the watch isn't used unless it's out of range of the phone or you put it in Airplane mode. So there's no hit on battery life. Keep in mind the Apple Watch is still "all day battery life" - you are, regardless of battery size, likely to need to charge it every night. I have a Series 2 and usually end the day around 50%.
 
I think it's kind of lame Apple threw waterproof only for Series 2. Hope they correct this nonsense next year. I don't need GPS as I bring my phone everywhere.

I used my Series 0 in the hot tub and the shower without any issue and I've heard of plenty of people using it while swimming for whatever that's worth.
 
I used my Series 0 in the hot tub and the shower without any issue and I've heard of plenty of people using it while swimming for whatever that's worth.

Good to know. I have Series 0 as WatchOS3 is plenty speedy with it. Feels like next year might be the right time to upgrade for me. This year, I'm watching my money on the watch. New 4k tv, new ps4 pro...can't afford an upgrade this year without ticking off the wife.
 

Quonny

Member
Got my S2 this morning. Just did my first workout with it. Wanted to try the elliptical because a lot of the fitness bands have two major issues with elliptical: they don't count steps (when you are stepping) and the HR monitor has issues because your wrist is constantly bending.

Well, the Apple Watch did both. Counted each step as a step and was super accurate with my HR. Took about 30 seconds to catch up to what my HR actually was, but when it did, it was accurate against both the machine and my wife's Garmin.

Also, holy crap the gold is sexy. It looks soooo good against the black bezel.
 
Well I'm pretty disappointed. Just went out for my first run with my new series 2 on a loop I've done before. The loop is 2.43 miles (calculated via Garmin watch). The Watch calculated me as clocking 1.85 miles - my 8:27 pace turned into 11:04 according to Apple. The weird thing is that reviewing the map in the Activity app, it's spot on.
 
Is there Haptic feedback for intervals? I ordered the Nike watch an am switching from Garmin. Anyone heard about an actual specific release date?
 
Yup.

The lack of third party support for gps is making me contemplate returning my S2 for a S1, I just don't wanna go through set up again but oh well an extra $100 will be worth it.

Developers haven't had a lot of time to implement GPS into their apps. If that's something you think you'll want in the future I'd hold on to the S2.
 
I have a third party watch band review for you all:

I ordered the stainless steel top4cus milanese loop band. It's fine.

I ordered a different brand in black, this one by penom. It's terrible. It feels awful on the skin and is stiff and terrible.

So, I don't know if it is because it is black, but avoid the penom brand and get a top4cus. At least, that's my thoughts.
 
Weird. Mine shut off sometime between leaving home and getting to the restaurant. I was wearing a tighter cuffed sweater, so maybe it was hitting the button or something? I am lost as to what happened.
 

sruckus

Member
I have a third party watch band review for you all:

I ordered the stainless steel top4cus milanese loop band. It's fine.

I ordered a different brand in black, this one by penom. It's terrible. It feels awful on the skin and is stiff and terrible.

So, I don't know if it is because it is black, but avoid the penom brand and get a top4cus. At least, that's my thoughts.

The Moko/moku one on amazon seems good. I didn't get the black, but the regular gray Milanese looks good and is comfortable for me. I bought their sport bands too.
 

hirokazu

Member
Okay, I got mine yesterday and my sister, who got hers last week, tried to add me to Activity sharing. I accept and there's just a spinning wheel next to her name on the add screen. We've tried deleting each other and re-adding, trying different people initiating the sharing. None of it works.

I don't know anyone else with an Apple Watch to see if it works with other people, but seriously, how the fuck do you mess up something as simple as adding friends to your fitness app? Oh right, they decided to tie it to iCloud for some reason and it just doesn't work.

Is anyone still at "Processing Order" ?
If there's an Apple Store nearby, you should keep an eye out for stock at http://www.istocknow.com/live/

The order I had for delivery had an ETA of 12/10 - 25/10. Every day, I checked the Apple Store for stock but the model I wanted was always not available. Then on Wednesday, it changed to Available for Pickup on 02/11. Not really useful, since that's later than my order.

But yesterday, it suddenly changed to Available for Pickup Today. Beats waiting another 2-3 weeks.
 
Okay, I got mine yesterday and my sister, who got hers last week, tried to add me to Activity sharing. I accept and there's just a spinning wheel next to her name on the add screen. We've tried deleting each other and re-adding, trying different people initiating the sharing. None of it works.

I don't know anyone else with an Apple Watch to see if it works with other people, but seriously, how the fuck do you mess up something as simple as adding friends to your fitness app? Oh right, they decided to tie it to iCloud for some reason and it just doesn't work..

Worked for me okay. How long have you tried just letting it spin there?
 
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