Early Apple Watch Series 3 reviews skew friendly, but with concerns about cost & glitches
Some of the first reviews of the LTE-equipped Apple Watch Series 3 emerged on Wednesday, giving the wearable praise in many respects, but also raising issues around limitations and early bugs.
Wired was one of the most positive outlets, claiming that the Series 3 was the first smartwatch that "felt like something more," an "awesome evolution of the iPod" when paired with Bluetooth headphones. The device is said to keep people connected while freeing them from their phones, avoiding unnecessary distractions at places like the gym.
The site did complain that the product's battery "remains the biggest limitation," and that watchOS still needs a simpler interface, as well as more and better apps.
"And, for the love of everything holy, Apple needs to make a Watch with a screen that's always on," it added.
One of the most negative reviews came from The Verge, which complained that LTE simply didn't work properly for them, since the Watch would try to connect to unknown Wi-Fi networks instead of cellular even after Apple sent out a replacement unit. The site also complained about problems like the reliability of Siri, and an absence of any built-in music or podcast streaming options. Apple Music is only set to arrive on the device in October.
CNET found that LTE worked well for tasks like calls, Siri, and messaging, and noted that music syncs more easily. It also commended the new watchfaces and fitness tracking options, and the fact that the product is about the same size as the Series 2 despite new connectivity. It did point out however that battery life "takes a major hit" when making calls or using GPS, and that 42-millimeter, LTE-equipped versions of the device are expensive, especially when factoring in monthly carrier and music streaming fees.
TechCrunch said that it was able to make it a full day on LTE only, and that the "phoneless freedom" the Series 3 offers might be worth a buy. It did caution that people should consider whether the costs of the LTE model will be worth it, and suggested that people with a Series 2 may have little reason to upgrade beyond cellular.
The New York Times suggested that "most people" can skip the cellular model, in part because of cost, but called the device a "well-designed, durable and easy-to-use fitness tracker for people who want analytics on their workouts and general health (R.I.P., Fitbit)." It claimed that features like Siri "work quickly and reliably," and remarked that it had over 40 percent battery left after a full day.
"The Apple Watch Series 3 is the first sign that wearable computers are maturing and may eventually become a staple in consumer electronics," the paper concluded.
Wired was one of the most positive outlets, claiming that the Series 3 was the first smartwatch that "felt like something more," an "awesome evolution of the iPod" when paired with Bluetooth headphones. The device is said to keep people connected while freeing them from their phones, avoiding unnecessary distractions at places like the gym.
The site did complain that the product's battery "remains the biggest limitation," and that watchOS still needs a simpler interface, as well as more and better apps.
"And, for the love of everything holy, Apple needs to make a Watch with a screen that's always on," it added.
One of the most negative reviews came from The Verge, which complained that LTE simply didn't work properly for them, since the Watch would try to connect to unknown Wi-Fi networks instead of cellular even after Apple sent out a replacement unit. The site also complained about problems like the reliability of Siri, and an absence of any built-in music or podcast streaming options. Apple Music is only set to arrive on the device in October.
CNET found that LTE worked well for tasks like calls, Siri, and messaging, and noted that music syncs more easily. It also commended the new watchfaces and fitness tracking options, and the fact that the product is about the same size as the Series 2 despite new connectivity. It did point out however that battery life "takes a major hit" when making calls or using GPS, and that 42-millimeter, LTE-equipped versions of the device are expensive, especially when factoring in monthly carrier and music streaming fees.
TechCrunch said that it was able to make it a full day on LTE only, and that the "phoneless freedom" the Series 3 offers might be worth a buy. It did caution that people should consider whether the costs of the LTE model will be worth it, and suggested that people with a Series 2 may have little reason to upgrade beyond cellular.
The New York Times suggested that "most people" can skip the cellular model, in part because of cost, but called the device a "well-designed, durable and easy-to-use fitness tracker for people who want analytics on their workouts and general health (R.I.P., Fitbit)." It claimed that features like Siri "work quickly and reliably," and remarked that it had over 40 percent battery left after a full day.
"The Apple Watch Series 3 is the first sign that wearable computers are maturing and may eventually become a staple in consumer electronics," the paper concluded.
Comments
Please can someone help me: if i choose the series 3 (non-LTE) version, how many GB are for storing music locally? is it the same as the series 2 (2GB) or more? I cannot find an answer anywhere on the internet and posted this many times on this forum with no answer found.
thank you
"And, for the love of everything holy, Apple needs to make a Watch with a screen that's always on," it added.
As soon as I read that, I know everything I need to know about the reviewer: As a runner I would love to have an Apple Watch with a screen that's always on. But I also know that, for Apple to do that would necessitate replacing the high end OLED screen with a crappy Garmin type screen.
Apple has quite obviously decided the high end OLED screen is the better choice and is not willing to accept the trade-offs a crappy always-on screen would entail.
... And besides: if the screen is on before I finish raising my wrist to look at it, what's the problem?
when the weather man tells us it's gonna rain and you see people walking around with umbrellas when it's cloudy, a logical assumption would be to conclude they are carrying umbrellas bc they are anticipating rain. I would not be doubting why they are carrying umbrellas.
There is no way to prove 100% why a stock moves (as i'm sure you are aware). So a reason (i.e.: bad review of a watch's key selling feature) is an actionable (buy/sell) catalyst for money managers. And a logical assumption would be to conclude the sharp drop in share price, coincidentally occurring within 1 minute of reports coming out, means the two are related.
This has been proven and is know in the industry bc they have algorithms in place scanning the internet for key words (i.e.: takeovers, mergers, product recalls, bad reviews, etc.) to trigger buy/sell of shares of stock...
The biggest limitation for me is how damn slow the watch is sometimes. Its very slow to respond, but I think thats because Apple clocked the CPU down so much it makes the watch sluggish.
I also don't always want the watch face on. The way Apple has it working is perfect. It knows when you raise your wrist to look at the watch and enables the screen. The watch can be very bright in dark places so this would be a situation where you wouldn't want it on all the time. I don't really see the advantage of having it on all the time. I also don't want others to glance at my wrist and see my notifications, and things like that. Its just all around a bad idea. Like you hinted...that kills the battery.
The watch is only so large so you can only put so big of a battery inside it unless you want this ridiculously thick watch just to accommodate a larger battery.
I am going to cancel my order of the black SS for now, and wait to see how this all pans out. In the meantime, the S0 is perfectly fine for my needs.
If you intend to keep your S0 model, then maybe you should not install watchOS 4, because that stops direct access to the music library (for browsing and selecting). Playing music from the iPhone (selected on the iPhone) remains possible, even on watchOS 4, with the 'Playing Now' app on the watch.
... The damned things are addictive!
(enjoy!)
I have an original series Apple Watch running OS4 (as of this morning). When I go to music in the Watch app on my phone (OS11) to add music (in this case a Playlist that was downloaded from Apple Music) it says that it will sync when the Watch is being charged. It's updating right now (or it says it is...). And, at the top it says:
"Music syncs when the Apple Watch is on its charger. Once its synced, music will be available on Apple Watch even when it's out of range of your iPhone.
And, when I go to "About", I can see the songs loading -- it's up to 3 right now.
So, no, even with Apple Music you can still download songs to both your iPhone and to your Apple Watch.
Still, it's rather retrograde of Apple to kill this important functionality.