The first Apple Watch was indispensable. Nothing’s changed
It’s no secret I’m an Apple Watch fanboy. I said so in my review of the firstgeneration Apple Watch back in 2015. And, in 2018 I called Apple Watch Series 3 “indispensable,” saying that “no analog watch will ever come close.”
Before I tell you how much I love the latest Apple Watch, here’s a bit of background: I like analog wristwatches. Before I got my first Apple Watch, I enjoyed wearing different timepieces for different occasions, and collected more than a dozen of them over the years. I just didn’t think I’d be happy having to wear the same timepiece every day.
I was very wrong. I have not worn a mechanical watch since I got my first Apple Watch in 2015.
Five years and four Apple
Watches later, I still feel like a dork talking into my wrist in public—on a phone call or dictating an iMessage—but
it’s so much fun (and so cool), I don’t care anymore.
While there was nothing wrong with my Series 4 Apple Watch, the Series 5 had several features I found enticing. First and foremost is the Always-On Retina display, which resolves one of my pet peeves — having to wiggle my wrist or tap the watch face in order to see the time or other information (and there’s a lot of other info available). Glancing at my wrist and seeing
the watch face without touching it or waving my hand around to wake it was a revelation.
Second, and almost as important, is that even with an Always-On Retina display, Series 5’s battery lasts longer. I often found my Series 4 Apple Watch running low on juice by late afternoon or early evening. My Series 5, on the other hand, usually has 30 percent or 40 percent when it goes on the charger at bedtime.
Mine’s an Apple Watch Series 5 with GPS + Cellular ($499), so I pay an additional $10 a month (to T-Mobile) for its data plan. But, it’s worth it to me to be able to leave my iPhone at home when I walk the dog, hike or do almost anything.
And since the Series 5 is water-resistant to 50 meters, I don’t have to worry about it when I shower or swim.
Two more things I love about my Apple Watch that are exclusive to Series 5:
One is using the watch as a remote shutter control for my iPhone camera. The watch displays a preview so I can trigger the shutter remotely from up to 30 feet away.
And two is the new (in watchOS 6) Noise app, which alerts me when ambient noise reaches 90 decibels. I didn’t realize how much or how often I needed ear protection; having a watch that monitors ambient noise and warns me if it’s too loud is priceless.