Apple Watch Series 5 -- Review, one month later

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited February 2020
It's been a month since Apple Watch Series 5 hit our wrists. So w're going to revisit our initial review after more than 30 days of daily use to see how the main features hold up -- including that always-on display, the integrated compass, and -- most crucially -- battery life.

Apple Watch Series 5
Apple Watch Series 5 Nike edition


With all this daily, real-world use, the single biggest feature of the Apple Watch Series 5 that we need to revisit, is the Always-On display.

As we said in our initial Apple Watch Series 5 review, the Always-On Retina display is a game-changer. It has made us physically interact with our watch less, yet rely on it more.






We are able to easily check in with our watch without having to actually do anything, other than making a simple glance. This one change is that significant, and it makes more of a difference, gives the Series 5 more of a benefit, than even the larger display we got with last year's Series 4.

At the same time, however, there is one way we wish the display was enhanced. That's to do with notifications.

When a notification comes in, be it a text, a calendar invite, or an important email, you still must interact with the watch to see it. Even though the display is always on, the notification doesn't come across the display until it is tapped or your wrist is raised.

Apple Watch Series 5 Always-On display
Apple Watch Series 5 Always-On display


We get why notifications don't come across as normal -- there'd be no way for the watch to know whether you had seen it or not.

There could be a middle ground, though, where a high-level or urgent notification could be shown. The Watch needn't show us the whole notification, it could do as the iPhone does now before Face ID authenticates us. It could just show us that there is a notification and, crucially, what type it is.

That way we'd be able to know it was a text or a calendar invitation. So with a glance, we could make an informed decision about whether fully raise our wrist to call up the entire notification, or to just let this one go.

Compass

At launch, we felt that the new inclusion of an integrated compass was a hard "meh" for us. We don't hike often, we reasoned, and when we do, we don't tend to rely on a compass of any sort.

The compass being used in the Maps app on Apple Watch Series 5
The compass being used in the Maps app on Apple Watch Series 5


However, the compass turned out to be quite useful for us.

We often find ourselves in different cities and rely on our Apple Watch Maps app for navigation. Sometimes that can be disorienting, and not only for us. Quite often in cities, iPhones will themselves get confused when you're surrounded by tall buildings and we've seen the map twisting around as it tries to get a signal.

If you've had that experience, you're still going to get it, but the compass stays steady. So when the map swivels and you think you've taken a wrong turn, the compass will still be pointing the way it was.

It still feels somewhat niche, but it was absolutely useful and more of a broad-appeal tool than we'd expected.

Battery life

If it's the Always-On display that we have to start with, it's the impact of that feature on battery life that we must end with. Headlines have filled the newsfeed for weeks with reports of possible issues with battery life on the Series 5.

Our real-world experience has been different, but chiefly because for this one element, we didn't stick to the Watch as provided.

At the time of getting a Series 5 to wear in daily use, we were in the midst of testing the watchOS 6.1 beta. To even transfer our data, we had to update our Series 5 to the beta as well.

Consequently we didn't use the public watchOS 6 on our Series 5, or any of the small interim updates, for even one day.

What this means, though, is that we've now had this month of testing with watchOS 6.1 and so we can say that the update is truly worth it. Whatever battery problems you may have experienced with watchOS 6, they're gone in 6.1.

During our use of watchOS 6.1, and specifically the Series 5, we experienced no issues at all with battery life.

We would consistently make it through the day with ease, on par with our Series 4.

Battery life has been great on the Apple Watch Series 5
Battery life has been great on the Apple Watch Series 5


For example, at time of writing, we've been using our Apple Watch Series 5 for six hours today and the battery life is showing as 90%.

So if battery life was causing you to hold out on Apple Watch Series 5, that will simply be a non-issue once watchOS 6.1 is publicly released soon.

No regrets

We took the plunge on Apple Watch Series 5, not knowing what a difference the Always-On display would make. We bought it wondering about battery life and wondering whether that Always-On feature is as much of a big deal as Apple claimed.

A month later, we know it is. We know, after continual real-world use, just exactly how it has impacted us -- and how frustrated we were after we tried to go back to our Series 4.

With a great display, solid battery life, and the enhancements of watchOS 6.1, the Apple Watch Series 5 is as great as ever.

Where to buy

Deals on Apple Watch 5 devices are in effect now, with savings of up to $50 off at popular retailers like Amazon and B&H Photo.

For a complete rundown of the latest offers, be sure to visit the AppleInsider Apple Watch Series 5 Price Guide.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Love my aw5. One very annoying thing, however, is that the always on feature doesn't help with something they specifically mentioned in the presentation (if there is a way to fix this perhaps a kind soul will tell me :smile: ). I find that when I am at the gym the most annoying on the old watch was that when you put on a timer or stopwatch the screen would o black before it was done. Ditto when working in the kitchen and hands are full of butter or whatever. With the 5 and os6 I thought this would end but it didn't. Instead of going black the screen goes out of focus so to catch a glimpse of the timer doesn't work. 
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 2 of 12
    I have the 40mm with GPS, and the battery life is frequently ~70% when I get home in the evening. Zero complaints about that.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    Is the current iOS for the Apple Watch 6.1 or 6.0.1?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    6.0.1
  • Reply 5 of 12
    I'll withhold my disdain for the AW5 until 6.1 comes out, then.  I'm on 6.0.1 right now and this thing has been a piece of junk compared to my AW3.  I went from a LTE AW3 42mm to LTE AW5 44mm and the battery life has been atrocious.  I get up at 5:45, shower then put on my watch.  I drive to work...having NEVER used the watch more than just having it on.  As I sit here at my desk, as is the case every day I have checked, I'm sitting at 82% battery life.  It's been 90 minutes of doing nothing and I have lost 18% of my battery.  If I try to actually use the LTE to stream music over the weekend the battery will be dead by 4pm.  My wifes GPS 40mm has the same issue, and she tries to sleep with it on.  When she does so it is in a red state when she wakes up and has to charge it while getting ready in the morning or it won't make it to work.  


    Hopefully whatever is going on will actually be fixed in 6.1 like everyone says.  The always on feature and anything else interesting about the AW5 is useless if the actual thing won't stay on or I'm nervous to use it for anything because I actually need it to tell time at the end of the day.  
  • Reply 6 of 12
    @Airnerd. Wondering if something isn’t wrong with your watch(es). I have a 44mm 5 LTE version. Put it on when I get up, usually around 5am. Throughout the day, I walk one dog 3 miles, one dog 2 miles, and bike anywhere from 3-11 miles. For each of those, I have music streaming from the watch (don’t carry my phone) and either outdoor walk or outdoor cycling workout app running. That’s 45 minutes first walk, 30 minutes second walk, and 15-55 minutes third walk. Throughout the day I stream music when taking dogs out for bathroom breaks or additional running in yard (50 and 60 pound working dogs with LOTS of energy). I almost always have 10% or more battery when going to bed around 9 pm. Never has the battery been below 5%. I have noticed sometimes my charge is only somewhere in the mid 80s or mid 90s when I grab watch off charger in the morning, but my charger sits on dog crate that dog gets in and out of occasionally at night. Not sure if he’s knocking it loose or the battery stops charging it intentionally like the iPhone does. I went from Watch 3 to Watch 5 as well, but I haven’t seen any battery degradation. I do close out the background apps on the watch at least once a day. Thus is all on 6.0.1, but has been the same since new.
    airnerd
  • Reply 7 of 12
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,086member
    paxman said:
    Love my aw5. One very annoying thing, however, is that the always on feature doesn't help with something they specifically mentioned in the presentation (if there is a way to fix this perhaps a kind soul will tell me :smile: ). I find that when I am at the gym the most annoying on the old watch was that when you put on a timer or stopwatch the screen would o black before it was done. Ditto when working in the kitchen and hands are full of butter or whatever. With the 5 and os6 I thought this would end but it didn't. Instead of going black the screen goes out of focus so to catch a glimpse of the timer doesn't work. 
    The deal is most apps shift to a more static version of their display UI when in always-on mode (which renders at 1 frame a second). Surprisingly the Stopwatch app doesn't render its time. Workouts does, eliminating the milliseconds and doing seconds-only. 
    edited October 2019
  • Reply 8 of 12
    6.1 available today.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    Lab4Us said:
    @Airnerd. Wondering if something isn’t wrong with your watch(es). I have a 44mm 5 LTE version. Put it on when I get up, usually around 5am. Throughout the day, I walk one dog 3 miles, one dog 2 miles, and bike anywhere from 3-11 miles. For each of those, I have music streaming from the watch (don’t carry my phone) and either outdoor walk or outdoor cycling workout app running. That’s 45 minutes first walk, 30 minutes second walk, and 15-55 minutes third walk. Throughout the day I stream music when taking dogs out for bathroom breaks or additional running in yard (50 and 60 pound working dogs with LOTS of energy). I almost always have 10% or more battery when going to bed around 9 pm. Never has the battery been below 5%. I have noticed sometimes my charge is only somewhere in the mid 80s or mid 90s when I grab watch off charger in the morning, but my charger sits on dog crate that dog gets in and out of occasionally at night. Not sure if he’s knocking it loose or the battery stops charging it intentionally like the iPhone does. I went from Watch 3 to Watch 5 as well, but I haven’t seen any battery degradation. I do close out the background apps on the watch at least once a day. Thus is all on 6.0.1, but has been the same since new.
    Perhaps.  I have done all the resets, even the health data reset to make sure it wasn't messing me up.  I don't hate the watch, just want it to work like I was expecting after the AW3.  6.1 is out so I'll load it tonight and see if it helps.  
  • Reply 10 of 12
    Lab4Us said:
    @Airnerd. Wondering if something isn’t wrong with your watch(es). I have a 44mm 5 LTE version. Put it on when I get up, usually around 5am. Throughout the day, I walk one dog 3 miles, one dog 2 miles, and bike anywhere from 3-11 miles. For each of those, I have music streaming from the watch (don’t carry my phone) and either outdoor walk or outdoor cycling workout app running. That’s 45 minutes first walk, 30 minutes second walk, and 15-55 minutes third walk. Throughout the day I stream music when taking dogs out for bathroom breaks or additional running in yard (50 and 60 pound working dogs with LOTS of energy). I almost always have 10% or more battery when going to bed around 9 pm. Never has the battery been below 5%. I have noticed sometimes my charge is only somewhere in the mid 80s or mid 90s when I grab watch off charger in the morning, but my charger sits on dog crate that dog gets in and out of occasionally at night. Not sure if he’s knocking it loose or the battery stops charging it intentionally like the iPhone does. I went from Watch 3 to Watch 5 as well, but I haven’t seen any battery degradation. I do close out the background apps on the watch at least once a day. Thus is all on 6.0.1, but has been the same since new.
    In case anyone ever sees this, upgrade to 6.1 if you have AW5 battery issues.  I did so last night and while I normally have 80-85% battery after less than 2 hours of wearing the watch I am still sitting here at 100% this morning.  Whatever change they made in 6.1 was a good one! 
    chasm
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Lol, and I upgraded and after four hours of wearing watch this morning and using it for nothing, down to 81%. Gremlins!
  • Reply 12 of 12
    Julie MotamediJulie Motamedi Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    It seems like these Apple watches are coming out every 6 months. As soon as I upgrade, a new one is out! Julie Motamedi
Sign In or Register to comment.