If You Have Bad Eyes or a Bad Heart, This Is the Watch for You
When the original Apple Watch came out, most of the reviews drove me crazy. They were written by people who didn’t like it and didn’t seem to know what they would really want in a wearable. They couldn’t envision why anyone would want a smart watch. And they couldn’t articulate what they wanted in the next version.
Well, it’s now 2018, and by now many of us know exactly what we want in a wearable. And for me, a bigger screen was never on the list. It wasn’t even close to being on the list. It’s nice, but never in looking at my Series 3 did I think the screen was too small.
That’s because I don’t spend a lot of time looking at my Apple Watch screen. I read my notifications and then I either go about my day or I pull out my iPhone. Why do I need a bigger screen to see that my wife wants me to pick up some butter on the way home from work? And with Siri getting even more powerful, the screen is often irrelevant.
Ok, with that rant off my chest, I can say that my Series 4 Apple Watch is a great upgrade over my Series 3. But it’s all about the speed. The quickness with which apps open, Siri responds, or wireless transfers occur. It’s still not iPhone fast, but when you’re standing in the middle of a sidewalk and holding up your wrist, every millisecond counts.
The two new watch faces are pretty. But I never use them. Many of the complications that I want to use for some reason aren’t available on those new watch faces. My first thought was that developers need to update their apps to make them compatible. However, even Apple complications like Podcasts aren’t available. What’s the deal? Not being able to use my favorite shortcuts or see the price of Bitcoin is a dealbreaker for me. So, I’ve resorted to using the same old watch faces that I used on my Series 3. If it wasn’t for the overall feeling of speedier operation, I’d sell my Series 4 and go back to my old watch.
I never asked for a bigger screen, and I never asked for a bunch of heart rate monitor stuff. So those to me are worthless. And I wanted better complications a lot more than I wanted more complications.
So, what did I want from the next Apple Watch?
I’ve already written about what I want from watchOS 6 on my blog, but to recap, I want “live” complications, better music file management, and video playback capabilities.
As I mentioned above, I didn’t want more complications, I wanted better ones. If I could just get dynamic complications for the small slots, I’d be satisfied to wait for all the other things. The stocks complication is an excellent example of what I want more of. It’s not just a shortcut to Stocks, it shows me the last price on my favorite stock. Why can’t other “shortcut” complications also show you where you are in a song or podcast? Why can’t heart complication show you your last heart rate? Why can’t Music or Now Playing give you an album cover for whatever is playing? Almost every “shortcut” could be much more useful by offering up either helpful info or delightful imagery.
Everyone seems to be raving about how great the Series 4 is because it has a big screen. I can’t help but wonder if these people even use an Apple Watch on a regular basis. Because thus far, the size of the screen hasn’t been what has been holding the watch back from getting even more useful.
That’s because I don’t spend a lot of time looking at my Apple Watch screen. I read my notifications and then I either go about my day or I pull out my iPhone. Why do I need a bigger screen to see that my wife wants me to pick up some butter on the way home from work? And with Siri getting even more powerful, the screen is often irrelevant.
Ok, with that rant off my chest, I can say that my Series 4 Apple Watch is a great upgrade over my Series 3. But it’s all about the speed. The quickness with which apps open, Siri responds, or wireless transfers occur. It’s still not iPhone fast, but when you’re standing in the middle of a sidewalk and holding up your wrist, every millisecond counts.
The two new watch faces are pretty. But I never use them. Many of the complications that I want to use for some reason aren’t available on those new watch faces. My first thought was that developers need to update their apps to make them compatible. However, even Apple complications like Podcasts aren’t available. What’s the deal? Not being able to use my favorite shortcuts or see the price of Bitcoin is a dealbreaker for me. So, I’ve resorted to using the same old watch faces that I used on my Series 3. If it wasn’t for the overall feeling of speedier operation, I’d sell my Series 4 and go back to my old watch.
I never asked for a bigger screen, and I never asked for a bunch of heart rate monitor stuff. So those to me are worthless. And I wanted better complications a lot more than I wanted more complications.
So, what did I want from the next Apple Watch?
- Camera—Now that my Apple Watches are cellular, I find myself leaving my iPhone behind whenever I exercise or don’t want to be distracted. There have been a few times where I reached for my non-existent iPhone because a really great photo opportunity presented itself. Some kind of watch camera would be really handy.
- Blood Sugar Monitoring—I work out regularly and watch what I eat. Heart monitoring is the last thing I desire in my watch. If Apple wants to offer something to appeal to the fitness buffs besides seasoned citizens or out-of-shape people, blood sugar levels would be awesome. All the health buffs trying to maintain top levels of fitness would be all over this. They’d even jump from Android to get it. It would be that big.
- 128 GB Storage—As phones get bigger, they become less convenient to use as music players. I’ve been harping on this since 2015, but I want to be able to use my Apple Watch as an iPod Nano. That means loading my entire music library on it. And 4GB of usable music space just isn’t going to cut it. I do a lot of business travel and can’t stream music on the airplane. I’d love to be able to turn of my iPhone and just use my watch.
I’ve already written about what I want from watchOS 6 on my blog, but to recap, I want “live” complications, better music file management, and video playback capabilities.
As I mentioned above, I didn’t want more complications, I wanted better ones. If I could just get dynamic complications for the small slots, I’d be satisfied to wait for all the other things. The stocks complication is an excellent example of what I want more of. It’s not just a shortcut to Stocks, it shows me the last price on my favorite stock. Why can’t other “shortcut” complications also show you where you are in a song or podcast? Why can’t heart complication show you your last heart rate? Why can’t Music or Now Playing give you an album cover for whatever is playing? Almost every “shortcut” could be much more useful by offering up either helpful info or delightful imagery.
Everyone seems to be raving about how great the Series 4 is because it has a big screen. I can’t help but wonder if these people even use an Apple Watch on a regular basis. Because thus far, the size of the screen hasn’t been what has been holding the watch back from getting even more useful.
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