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

There's a playback screen that's always accessible with play/pause, for/backward and volume. Works for anything that's playing on the phone. There's also an app for (Apple) Music but I use Spotify (which still lacks an app and the idiots over there pretty much shut down a great fan app that was scheduled for release in February) so I can't tell you what features are available there.

oh damn it doesn't support spotify? thats all i got, I deleted all the music on my phone for more space (16gb model) and now just use spotify for all my music needs
 
oh damn it doesn't support spotify? thats all i got, I deleted all the music on my phone for more space (16gb model) and now just use spotify for all my music needs

You can still control it with the Now Playing app which functions just like the Now Playing card in your phone's Control Center. That means it'll work for anything: music app, Spotify, YouTube, anything playing audio. There's just no Spotify app so you won't be able to choose what to play on the Watch
 

Shearie

Member
While I like Theater Mode and that they fixed the bug that would log stand hours even if you weren't standing, there's 1 annoying change they made in watchOS 3.2 to the Dock that I don't like. Here's the feedback I sent Apple about it:

I don't like the change made to which app is shown last in the Dock in watchOS 3.2. Before the update, if you opened any app, went back to the watch face app, and then pressed the Dock button, it would always show the same Dock app where it was left off as. After the update, if you open any app, go back to the watch app, and press the Dock button, it now always shows the previously opened app. The reason this change after the update is bad, since the app shown in the Dock gets changed so easily, it wastes a lot of time always scrolling back to the Dock app you wanted it to be set at. I think the best solution is to have the Dock's last position preserved no matter what app you go into, and it's position is only changed if you change it from within the Dock.

Does anyone else feel the same way as me?

Edit: I just realized how redundant the writing in my feedback is. Could have polished it up a bit.
 
You know it hit me just before the update that using the home screen to launch apps in the old school way is actually faster than using the Dock.
Granted I only have 3 non-stock Apps and my Home Screen is tightly organised but it's definitely quicker than launching the dock and scrolling across it.

Seems that'll be even more pronounced with the above change...
 

Vuze

Member
You know it hit me just before the update that using the home screen to launch apps in the old school way is actually faster than using the Dock.
Granted I only have 3 non-stock Apps and my Home Screen is tightly organised but it's definitely quicker than launching the dock and scrolling across it.

Seems that'll be even more pronounced with the above change...
I dunno, I guess you have too many apps in the dock then? I agree it's not anywhere near perfect but for me it's certainly faster as I only have 3 or 4 docked apps.
The change is annoying indeed though.
 
I've been lurking for a bit, and finally purchased a series 2 sports late February. Everything was great until yesterday, when it just died. It wouldn't power up, no matter what I had done. Had a Apple genius appointment and they are shipping it away to be fixed/replaced.

My wrist feels naked...
 
I've been lurking for a bit, and finally purchased a series 2 sports late February. Everything was great until yesterday, when it just died. It wouldn't power up, no matter what I had done. Had a Apple genius appointment and they are shipping it away to be fixed/replaced.

My wrist feels naked...

You really do get used to having an Apple Watch. It's not a necessity at all, but once you have it you need it
 
Thinking of diving in. I love the look of the new blue/gold model but it looks like buckles don't match the gold on the leather straps? oh man that might drive me craze-balls.

or maybe i'll just get all white.....

HM
 

Aiii

So not worth it
I have to say, Chinese Ebay sellers are way ahead of Apple on the color scheming side of things...
screenshot2017-03-31ashykb.png


This seems like a no-brainer, but all they have is the default black/yellow Nike+ one and a plain black and plain light grey one.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
You can just search for whatever band you like on Ebay and sort by cost + shipping to have lowest first. They all use the same main supplier so it doesn't really matter from who you buy.

Quality can differ from band to band, but at this cost you can buy at least a dozen before you even reach the same cost as the official ones, so who cares :D
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
God dammit, fuck the woven nylon band. I got a Series 1 on Monday evening, and found a good deal on a woven band. When I tried to put the watch on this morning, the stiffness of the band made it move from my wrist and the watch fell and shattered. Coooool.
 
God dammit, fuck the woven nylon band. I got a Series 1 on Monday evening, and found a good deal on a woven band. When I tried to put the watch on this morning, the stiffness of the band made it move from my wrist and the watch fell and shattered. Coooool.
Yikes. Anyone use a small case on their watch?
 
I couldn't ever get myself to put a case on a watch, it's insanity, I've never seen a case on watches with 100x more

I've banged my watch a few times pretty hard up against a surface and never had a scratch
How fucked up is it? Can you replace the screen on apple watches like u can for phones? Im guessing no since theyre pretty niche
 

Zero Hero

Member
I bought the 42mm Stainless Steel case with the Milanese Loop a couple of weeks ago from an Apple store. I was skeptical about the band, but after an hour of wearing it, all those worries went away.

I've smacked the watch faces at least two time where I could have sworn it was done and there wasn't a scratch. The toughness and being waterproof makes it worth the money.

They only annoying thing so far is that it dinged at 5:45AM one morning to show me my Stand statistics.
 
That was my thought too. I was going to get a shock case for when I go cycling, but it's totally fucking destroyed. It's very disappointing.

Apple repair cost is the same as buying a new one lol.

Sorry about your luck with the watch, I suppose I've been lucky because I workout in it and don't ever try to baby it
 

hirokazu

Member
God dammit, fuck the woven nylon band. I got a Series 1 on Monday evening, and found a good deal on a woven band. When I tried to put the watch on this morning, the stiffness of the band made it move from my wrist and the watch fell and shattered. Coooool.
Wow, that really sucks. Was this the official band, or a third party one?
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I'm mad about the death of the modern buckle and force touch. :(
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Word of warning: Do not buy the new Pollen Woven strap sight unseen. The colors in real life do not match the rich fluorescent sheen that their promo photos promise at all. Colors just look faded, and frankly, pretty crappy. I got one off of the web store without seeing it first, and have already filed a return.

I'm mad about the death of the modern buckle and force touch. :(
What do you mean? They still sell modern buckle straps, and force touch still works.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
What do you mean? They still sell modern buckle straps, and force touch still works.
Nah they're both on their way out. They sell two colors of the modern buckle currently, and it's dropped every time they update new bands. It really looks like they're phasing it out. The brown one that I have has been unlisted for a looooong time now. Like the better part of a year I think. And force touch has absolutely been de/emphasized with each os update. :,(
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
And force touch has absolutely been de/emphasized with each os update. :,(
Maybe de-empasized, but there's no way they can phase it out. Too much of the functionality relies on it.

Speaking if, I really wish there was an option to switch the functionality of the main watch face force touch and side button press - so that yo can go into docked apps list by force touch, and edit watch face by side button.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I mean, they went so far as to remove force touch from the music app and add a little "..." button to get to the hear/add menu. It previously was just a force touch to bring up those options. It's very strange to me. It's quite rare I want to airplay/change the music source. Quite rare. The only reason I see for moving the heart/management options out of force touch (which is more convenient) is because nobody knew it was there.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
I mean, they went so far as to remove force touch from the music app and add a little "..." button to get to the hear/add menu. It previously was just a force touch to bring up those options. It's very strange to me. It's quite rare I want to airplay/change the music source. Quite rare. The only reason I see for moving the heart/management options out of force touch (which is more convenient) is because nobody knew it was there.
Is this in the newest beta only? I have watchOS3.2 and the force touch menu selections are all over the place in the music app.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Well, they didn't remove it from the music app. But in my opinion and usage have found myself never using it. Since whenever it changed. Probably os2. Realistically on my watch I only skip forward and backward and heart/add to library with the touchscreen. I always make the initial selection with Siri. So its strange to me they removed the two most frequently used force touch actions from the now playing screen and replaced them with the menu key.

Anyway, lets take a look.

So here is the first screen of the music app.
Am I crazy? The force touch just brings up two options that are already available to you. True, its possible to scroll one line past the source selector at the top on a 38mm but its strangely redundant to me.

Now to where my real issue is.
Now playing. Lots of functionality here so its probably messy either way.

So add to library is actually it's own button, but why have add to library above hearting something? Thats jumping the gun! I'm not ready to move in with a song just because I liked it once. But I do want to heart it to contribute to the recommendation AI. Force touch>big heart button is much easier to do while riding a bike than this new menu from the "..." button seen in the third picture.

The app is weird. All four of those options on the force touch screen are like, just so sooooo useless. Doubly Especially if you're trying to use their streaming service to discover new music.
 

hirokazu

Member
Nah they're both on their way out. They sell two colors of the modern buckle currently, and it's dropped every time they update new bands. It really looks like they're phasing it out. The brown one that I have has been unlisted for a looooong time now. Like the better part of a year I think. And force touch has absolutely been de/emphasized with each os update. :,(
Force Touch is still very much part of the OS to me. I think one problem is there's no cue for which screen can be Force Touched. It's not really intuitive in that sense, you really have to experiment and see what happens.

I think they should change it so Force Touch doesn't have function as a big button on the entire screen. Have it respond differently based on what is being touched, like on iPhone. Not sure if all the tap targets are big enough for it though.

Overall, I think the watchOS UI still needs lots of refinement. I guess UX design is really hard on a small device.
 

Vuze

Member
Anyone in Europe got a good weather app that has a nice complication and good amount of forecast? The stock one is just way too barebones on the Watch unless I'm missing something. Tried Weather Underground since it was featured on Watchaware today and it's pretty much what I wanted but was super unreliable and rather finicky (constantly switching stations/locations despite turning off auto-relocate and Watch app didn't boot to begin with).
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Force Touch is still very much part of the OS to me. I think one problem is there's no cue for which screen can be Force Touched. It's not really intuitive in that sense, you really have to experiment and see what happens.

I think they should change it so Force Touch doesn't have function as a big button on the entire screen. Have it respond differently based on what is being touched, like on iPhone. Not sure if all the tap targets are big enough for it though.

Overall, I think the watchOS UI still needs lots of refinement. I guess UX design is really hard on a small device.
Yeah, I've thought about it more and I guess its not so much that force touch isn't there.. It's just that outside of a few key interactions the watch gets really, really clunky. Especially on the small one. The outer surface of watchOS is very slick and invisible. Texting, Notifs, Weather, Siri -those are the only parts that are great. Which is fine. I guess.

I should note I'm taking into account the fitness stuff, just the OS. I guess its coming up on two years we've had this stupid thing.
 

hamchan

Member
Got one of these yesterday and I'm liking it. I just wish there was an easy podcast solution so I can take my watch out for a jog without having to bring my phone.
 

Vuze

Member
Anyone have recommendations for a leather band? Not looking for Apple pricing btw
Check if https://www.clockworksynergy.com got anything you dig. My brother got one of their leather bands and it's really nice and fair priced. I bought a pair of adapters from then to use an old band I had around and they are also good quality, look great (Space grey) and fit excellent - unlike some wobbly third party adapters I've experienced. CS is also quick to respond and very polite (had an issue with tracking which was quickly resolved). Can really recommend their store and products.
 
Anyone in Europe got a good weather app that has a nice complication and good amount of forecast? The stock one is just way too barebones on the Watch unless I'm missing something. Tried Weather Underground since it was featured on Watchaware today and it's pretty much what I wanted but was super unreliable and rather finicky (constantly switching stations/locations despite turning off auto-relocate and Watch app didn't boot to begin with).

Just want to say stay away from Dark Sky, the complication has been broken for a loooong time :(
 
Anyone in Europe got a good weather app that has a nice complication and good amount of forecast? The stock one is just way too barebones on the Watch unless I'm missing something. Tried Weather Underground since it was featured on Watchaware today and it's pretty much what I wanted but was super unreliable and rather finicky (constantly switching stations/locations despite turning off auto-relocate and Watch app didn't boot to begin with).

Is Carrot Weather available in Europe? I'm in the U.S. and it's not free, but it has been pretty rock solid. The complication is pretty awesome and give you a good amount of customization options.
 

Vuze

Member
Is Carrot Weather available in Europe? I'm in the U.S. and it's not free, but it has been pretty rock solid. The complication is pretty awesome and give you a good amount of customization options.
Yeah it is but I found mixed impressions about it. It's on my list though, might pick it up on sale (I don't know how stringent Apple is regarding refunds, I've bought and refunded some apps in the last weeks/months, so I don't want to over do it).
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Hmm I don't experience many problems with the dark sky complication. Hmm, I might check out this carrot weather you guys are talking about.
 
I give a giant recommendation for Carrot weather. I love it. I happily pay the $2.50 a year for better complications and breaking weather notifications.
 

Juno

LIAR and a FELON
Hello Apple Watch ⌚️ Community

I've been thinking of investing in a Smart Watch for a while now, though every watch I've owned I've stopped wearing after about 6 months... but feel a Smart Watch could really turn the tide and make me commit!

I can get a new Series 1 Sports Watch at a pretty good price (£215) which I was thinking would be less of a risk than investing in a Series 2 (around £370).

Is this worth it, or will I be so far behind in terms of OS and support? If so I can just wait and invest in a Series 2. Though I noticed someone mentioned the latest OS makes a Series 1 watch much more stable.

My only requirements are stuff like the pedometer, getting notifications for messages and controlling music as I'm now commuting to work, so spend about 3 hours in transit a day.

I've read the last few pages and someone said there's limited support for Spotify, which is frustrating as I've just gone back to it after feeling underwhelmed using Apple Music for a year.
 

Vuze

Member
You got to differentiate between Gen 1 (2015 model) and Series 1 (2016 model). Series 2 was released alongside Series 1 and features stand alone GPS, better water proofing and a higher max screen brightness. All watches currently support the latest firmware.

Support for Spotify is indeed limited right now (which is completely Spotifys fault as a user was about to release a fully functional app which they shut down weeks before release) but you can still skip/go back through a playlist/album, control volume and play/pause.
 
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