I’ve put my Apple Watch back in the drawer, with changes around home working now I’m just not motivated to use it. It’s actually making me feel worse using it these days to be honest. I’m definitely moving to a mindset of it being a negative for me at least to track everything instead of just being human and let it be. I know I need to move more so I track a habit of getting out for a 30 minute walk around the block. I find that I tend to go through all of the health data too much if I wear one and it makes me feel more anxious. Anyone else dumped their Apple Watch to take a step back to a quieter tech life?

I’ve been using my Apple Watch very rarely outside of going for walks these days and one of the things I’m asking myself is - should I use a third party fitness app for my walks instead?

I find the built in workouts app to be just fine for my use and reading the privacy policy on apps like Strava where your data is sold I don’t see why anyone would use a third party.

Am I missing something here? Why do you use a third party app?

When you switch up to iOS 14 you’ll notice that the watch app has lost it’s old unpair option so when I decided to take a break from using it I had to dig around a little.

It’s now within the erase settings as follows.

Once you entered your password you’ll see the following.

With a new software release we usually lose a few models and with watchOS 7 we lose support for the series 2. watchOS 7 supports the 3, 4 and 5 models only.

Since using the series 5 somethings happened I wasn’t expecting - a much better experience with third party apps.

I’d tried to use third party apps on and off in the past but sync or performance always turned me off. Using the series 5 has me excited to use them on my wrist again as they perform really well. As you can see above my watch face (Meridian) is pretty simple and I’m using

• Activity
• Date
• Things
• Streaks

As I build a new system for myself I’m trying to keep a few apps core to the way I manage my goals and tasks.

I’m only at the beginning and I’ll be posting how I’m using them all soon once I’ve created a framework and it’s settled down.

I’ve had a full day with a fully charged Apple Watch Series 5 with the following

• Always on display
• 3 workouts lasting a total of 35 minutes
• Occasional check of task list or setting a timer

At the end of the day I’m on 34%, in comparison to my Series 2 where I’d be on about 50%. So we’re looking at 15-20% less with the always on display, which to me doesn’t seem too bad.

I’ll be charging overnight as I don’t go as far as sleep tracking. This means that as long as I end the day with 15-20% I’m good. Obviously haven’t tested a long day out somewhere yet but I’m hopeful it’ll get me through it ok.

What are your experiences?

I’ve decided to try to take control of my weight and thought I’d dig out my Apple Watch series 2 to give this whole rings things a good go. I’ve owned one since the original but in the last year I’ve all but stopped using it.

When put my series 2 back on a week ago I started to get on a run of walk and ring completion streaks and started to enjoy it but the series 2 was getting slow to use. The workout app was slow to start often missing the beginning of my walk and I’d get lag everywhere in the UI.

I decided to trade my series 2 back to Apple (£60) and use a little work discount to upgrade to the Nike Series 5 in silver. I paired it with my original black sports band, 5 years old and looks as good as new.

I love the black/silver looks and some of the new faces look great.

I’ve been using it for a day and I have to say that moving from a series 2 is a massive jump up. The hardware is more refined, that bigger screen is amazing and the speed improvement is huge. Having worn a mechanical watch or digital for a while I’m also appreciating the always on display. Something I’m still getting used to having and still find I’m raising my wrist like I still have the series 2.

I’m glad I went aluminium too, having briefly owned a stainless steel series 4 the lower weight makes it feel more like a sports watch.

I might write something up on my activity progress but first impressions are great so far.

I wear my Apple Watch quite rarely these days but when I do I’m reminded how slow the series 2 is in 2020. On playing around with settings I’ve discovered a couple of settings that appear to have sped it up a bit.

Reducing transparency and motion seem to have sped up the general UI issues I was experiencing.

I feel like I’ve used the G-SHOCK enough now to get a feel for the differences I’ve experienced compared to using my Apple Watch and wanted to share a few thoughts on using both.

Comfort

For me the resin bands on any of the Casio models offer really great comfort. I’ve tried all sorts of bands on the Apple Watch but just couldn’t find one to match it. My default remains the sports band and when I wear an Apple Watch I’m on the original black band I had years ago with my original model. Now of course this is personal preference but I find the no fuss resin bands of the Casio more comfortable. One thing I would say though is the G-SHOCK band is thicker than your average Casio so does take a bit more to adjust to.

Price

Easy one here, Casio is £80 and Apple Watch whilst still cheaper for a series 3 is £299. You do get a lot more tech though so hard to compare here. You have to have a good think about what you’re looking to track.

Activity tracking

The Casio is nothing more than a step counter, no HR (Heart Rate) sensor but does have an accelerometer so does a great job of tracking how much you’ve moved throughout the day. When you’re walking you don’t set a workout going you simply go, I do set a timer but that’s for me to track my regular walking route. It’s not going to tell you anything other than steps and time. The Apple Watch is much more in-depth and if you’re ok with a lot of data and all day HR checking then the Casio cannot compete in this arena. You do of course get a tonne of battery life on the Casio (2 years) and although I don’t workout this way there are options for setting specific saved timers. I can’t comment on this as I walk for my exercise.

Smarts

Nothing on the Casio apart from the app and Bluetooth to connect. No notifications or apps built in, it’s a watch with simple step tracking. I like this about it, I forget I’m wearing it and can sync data to the app whenever I want to (although it does it on it’s own a few times a day). Of course you can pair the notifications of the Apple Watch down to nothing also if you want to but I still find I get distracted by anything on the Apple Watch.

Which should you get?

G-SHOCK is a massive watch brand and has a cult following, if you’re into G-SHOCK then this is probably the one to get. I also think it’s a good choice if you want to start to track how active you are and don’t want to put much data into the world about it, like the now Google owned Fitbit.

For me it was about simplifying my setup and tracking less, just seeing if I’d hit 10,000 steps is all I need.

Don’t get me wrong the Apple Watch is a great bit of kit but for me personally it opened up a world of information that I couldn’t track anymore (more on this in a separate post coming soon…). For most people though it’ll be a great choice, especially a series 3, the activity ring system is world class and a great motivator once you get streaks going.

Ultimately though it may come down to price and for £80 you can’t beat the G-SHOCK.

Now I’ve been getting back into traditional watches I feel like I can weigh in a bit here and give my own opinion. Articles like this one seems to delight in the fact that they are losing some sort of smart watch war but they aren’t even in it.

Traditional Swiss watch makers, like Swatch and Tissot, are losing the smartwatch wars. Apple Watch is delivering a better product through deeper retail channels and appealing to younger consumers who increasingly want digital wristwear. The window for Swiss watch brands to make an impact in smartwatches is closing. Time may be running out for Swatch, Tissot, TAG Heuer, and others.

If you've even used a traditional watch for more than a few days and appreciate it’s simplicity, design and history then you’ll realise that the smart brands will never be in the smart watch game and stick to their roots.

For me now I’ve gotten to appreciate a more distraction free traditional watch I find I don’t want to go back to wearing an Apple Watch. Yes I can pair down notifications but for me it just looks like a screen on your wrist, the design isn’t actually that great.

Part of the appeal of a traditional watch (for me) is the design and history. The Apple Watch sat in my wrist with just a square screen and nothing on it just looks a bit rubbish.

As someone getting back into watches I tend to have a little look around at what people are wearing and when I see the "younger" crowd I'm seeing either nothing or a Casio, mostly F91w's. I don't think I personally know anyone under the age of 40 with an Apple Watch.

I'm not saying it isn't popular or course but I think this article misses the point. Traditional watch people will stay traditional watch people, appreciating the design and history of a brand or having a sentimental connection to a particular watch they own.

The way I see Apple Watch these days is purely as a fitness tracker that can supplement a traditional watch. I'd love a redesign but that's a story for another day.

I’ve got a complicated relationship with my Apple Watch, very much love/hate at the moment. On using it a little bit yesterday I’ve come to the conclusion that the Series 2 is a do not buy in 2020. 6 months ago I would have said it was ok but with the last couple of watchOS updates it does seem like the Series 2 has been ignored and performance has gotten worse. It’s almost at the point of being unusable.

In terms of screen and sensors all’s good but in day to day use it’s bad. It can take 10-15 seconds to load the settings app and more than that to start a simple workout. I find myself constantly frustrated using it and often make mistakes because of lag in the interface.

If you’re set on getting an Apple Watch then don’t get anything less than a series 3. It seems now that the series 3 is the bottom end of where Apple now tests it’s software.

I’ve tried and tried but I’ve come to the conclusion that Apple Reminders doesn’t work on the Series 2 Apple Watch.

I’ve restarted my watch and even factory reset but no matter what I do the data on the Apple Watch never syncs.

Here’s what it looks like on my iPhone.

I hardly use my Apple Watch these days so it’s not a deal breaker to me using the app but if I do start using it again I’ll need to get this sorted.

Working at home it’s easy to forget to move and get some exercise in so moving into new habits (not resolutions) I was looking at a way to track this.

The native health app can show steps but it’s fairly basic - that’s where Pedometer ++ comes in.

It offers a really nice visual guide into how much you’re actually moving and helps you motivate yourself with awards.

I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks and with the complication on my Apple Watch it’s a stark reminder of how little I’ve moved sometimes.

I’m going to be adding this to my daily routine going forward, trying to get to 10,000 steps to help me get moving again.

Like a lot of people that work at home I want to get more active and remember to get away from my desk so I’m starting to plan to use the Apple Watch for it’s primary intended use - a health and fitness tracker. One area that’s overly busy to me is the workout metrics, that is the screen that it shows when you’re working out (walking in my case).

The good news is that you can change this pretty easily.

Within the Watch app on your iPhone make sure you tap on ‘My Watch’ from the tabs along the bottom. Then tap on ‘Workout view’ and select ‘Single Metric’.

I’ve broken a screen or two in my time with Apple Watch from a fall but overall I’m still impressed with how durable the Apple Watch is. My daily Apple Watch is a Nike Series 2 that has been worn every day since June 2017.

This being the Nike model means it’s the lower end model without the sapphire display, it’s also in a space grey finish so the darker one. I’ve reverted back to using the black sport band that came with my original Apple Watch, which given how old it is looks brand new.

This particular watch has been worn at the beach, in the pool, shower and my daily wear.

You can see some light scratching here to the top edge of the screen.

On the right hand side you can see some scratching on the coating above the Digital Crown.

Left hand side of the watch is as good as new.

Back remains as good as new.

Overall for this age of watch worn daily I think it’s held up really well. I’m out of Apple Care now I’m hoping it keeps ticking…

BTW all of these images were taken on the iPhone 11 Pro, wow they are great for these indoors tech shots.

I’m a couple of days in with my series 2 on the latest watchOS and it’s settled down after a shaky start. Battery seems to have taken a hit but performance isn’t any better or worse.

I’d hold off updating to the latest watchOS version on the series 2 for now.

Mine was stuck in this boot loop for 45 minutes after the update and after holding down several buttons finally managed to get it out and working.

Performance is also less than ideal and it seems like it’s taken a backwards step on older watch hardware.

I’d hold off if you’re happy with your current watchOS version.

I’ve been wearing my mechanical watch a lot more lately but this week went back to the Apple Watch to see if I’ve missed it.

What I’ve discovered is the health features of the Apple Watch have lost all of their meaning having gotten used to a traditional watch again. I dip in between a Casio Quartz Digital and vintage Seiko Automatic and obviously none of these have any sort of tracking. I’ve set myself some fitness goals and after using the Apple Watch this week I’ve realised that having rings has made no difference. I used to like tracking and try to stick to streaks but I’m just not motivated by them anymore. I’m not sure if I’ll use these to try to help me get to my weight target or just ignore them completely and put my Apple Watch in a drawer.

The area I have been missing though is on the productivity and practical front. It’s been good to see my calendar on my wrist, it took a little anxiety away for me as I didn’t know when my next appointment was. On the practical front being able to quickly see the time lit up has been nice. The Seiko is old school and can’t be seen in the dark and the Casio backlight isn’t amazing but works. The Apple Watch has been great on these two fronts. These areas also have me looking over at the series 5 given how slow the series 2 has become in day to day use with the calendar and to do apps.

I need to now think about if I want to be constantly connected to my iPhone or not. Do the activity benefits need to act as a motivator to keep using it or not.

Lots to think about as I continue on my new journey with Apple Watch.

I’m dipping back into the Apple Watch after taking a break but on wearing the Series 2 for a week I’ve come to the conclusion it’s still ok as a fitness tracker but frustrating as a productivity device.

What I mean here is that if you’re looking at using it for tracking your calendar and reminders it’s pretty much unusable. In my experience on watchOS 6 the Reminders app is a buggy slow mess. In the screenshot above I’m showing you what it looks like for the first 30 seconds or so before any data loads and when it does it’s not in sync with the app on your iPhone. It’s strange that it shows items as overdue that you have already completed. The performance of the Calendar app isn’t much better but it does at least show you the correct data. When I used third party apps such as omnifocus to test that was slow to sync so often items were showing as incomplete even though I had ticked them off on my iPhone.

The only useful productivity item on the series 2 is having complications on the face showing you your next appointment.

As a fitness device though the series 2 is still a great device but if you want something to cover everything an Apple Watch should then skip to the series 3 or 4 if you want to save some money and use an older model.

At the moment I’m using the Apple Watch sporadically whilst I figure out where it fits in my life but have been playing around with settings to test battery life. I’m on a Nike Series 2 and to be fair aside from some lag here and there it’s still a great Apple Watch. The battery lasts longer than the Series 5 I had for a brief period and not needing an always on display I’m sticking to this one when I do use it.

Here’s a few tips that I wanted to share to get the best battery life out of your Apple Watch.

Use cinema mode

This is activated by swiping up on the watch then hitting the icon marked above. I use it if I leave my watch on to sleep but also in the day if I’m out and about on a long family day out for instance. It’ll turn off the screen and only be enabled when you tap it.

Turn off background refresh on apps you don't use

Within the watch app on your iPhone you can go into Background App Refresh settings and turn off all of the apps that you don’t need to be making updates in the background.

Shorter screen on time

Under wake screen settings make sure you have 15 seconds for the on tap settings, the shortest setting.

Turn the brightness to the minimum

Even on it’s lowest setting the screen is fine to my eyes and will save you a little battery throughout the day.

Pair down Notifications

It won’t have a massive impact but on showing notifications you care about is something else that you can do to help. This also helps to avoid too many distractions, I only have notifications for messages and calls.

After trying one on in store I really liked the colour but it was out of stock for weeks. On a whim I checked the store app and there it was. Really liking this colour.

As with the other sports loops if you’ve tried them they are really comfortable and my favourite watch band out there.

These are available in store and online at the moment.

I’ve been going back to reading forums lately and came across this amazing thread I wanted to share.

Over at MacRumors there’s this thread where people are posting their bands and also looking back comparing everything Apple have released.

I find it fascinating but also makes me realise that I haven’t actually bought that many 😀

No excuses not to get this one, all you need to do is any workout for 30 minutes today to get a badge in activity. I got the 2018 one so need to remember to get out and do my 30 minutes walk today.

watchOS 5.2 came out last night and if you’re in the UK it’s now on…watchOS 5.2 came out last night and if you’re in the UK it’s now on par with the health features of the software released back in October in the US. It’ll be interesting to see if sales improve here because I imagine maybe some people were waiting for the new functionality to be released before making a purchase.

For a just over 400MB update I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it updated. Maybe took 10 mins, now sure what Apple did but I hope they are all that quick going forward.

About 50% of the time I take a walk I get this in my activity app.

Anyone else?

Apple have released new bands today along with the AirPods. I’m liking the new colours. Here’s some but there have been refreshes across the entire line.

I picked up the series 4 Apple Watch at the end of September 2018 and now at a few weeks before 6 months with it I wanted to share my longer term testing thoughts.

I picked up the silver aluminium model, 44mm. I was going to treat myself with a stainless steel version but couldn’t justify spending almost double the price. It’s frustrating that Apple force cellular on the stainless now adding to the overall price. To change things up though I went for silver rather than my traditional space grey.

Durability

One thing to bear in mind here is that I’m on my second one due to warranty replacement. The issues I had was around heart rate tracking on a workout, it just couldn’t keep it locked. My new one is probably 3 months so not going to be a full view of the durability over the whole time period. Mine has held up well, shows no signs of wear on the body and the screen is scratch free. With the addition of a ceramic back it is also scratch free. I’ve had the original watch and series 2 and they both showed scratches on the back and the screen. In theory the screen is the same glass but in my experience it has held up better.

New screen size

The immediate thing you notice when trying on your new series 4. If you’re coming from a 42mm I didn’t notice any difference to the way it felt on my wrist but I did notice the increase in screen size in use. You quickly get used to it however and it’s not large enough to force an upgrade from a 42mm series 2 or 3 in my opinion. The new watch faces are ok but I haven’t really settled on them. It also makes the older ones worse, the rounded complications on the bottom don’t sit well with me and I end up having less data than on my series 2. I’m hoping we get a better range of options soon.

Speed

Wow, it’s a fast watch. Massive upgrade from my series 2, which felt laggy almost every time I used it. Having skipped series 3 it was the main reason I upgraded. There’s no lag in anything I’m doing even after 6 months of watchOS. I’m not seeing any need to upgrade this year based on the performance of the processor in the series 4.

Bands

The only new band I have is the white one that came with it. The good news though all of my old 42mm still work so it’s not been an expensive six months for me in terms of picking new ones up.

Is it worth upgrading?

From an original or series 2, yes. From a series 3 then no. I wouldn’t upgrade for the slightly bigger screen but I would for the performance gain, that’s if like me you use your watch every day.

If you are considering an upgrade or even a new purchase then get into a store and try both sizes. I went 44mm so that older bands wouldn’t go to waste and I think the size looks fine on me but with the old 38mm becoming 40mm maybe that would suit you best.

You might also want to shop around a bit as there may now be deals given we are around 6 months from an update and series 5 potentially. (And don’t forget you can trade in your old one directly with Apple).

I’ve only really just gotten into creating my own watch faces and wanted to share how I’m doing it.

1. Head into photos and pick the image you want to use
2. Tap the share sheet icon
3. Tap create watch face
4. Tap which of the two watch faces you want to use

1. Tap add

I’ve created a few different ones that I’m switching in and out of. At the moment you can only add a couple of complications but hopefully in the future we’ll see more options.

With 2018 coming to a close I thought I’d reflect back on some of the Apple products that have been released this year, I’m starting with the Apple Watch.

As you know I’ve worn an Apple Watch since the beginning and although I’ve not fully embraced the fitness aspects I wouldn’t be without it. I enjoy it for tracking my walks (a new thing for me), replying to quick notifications and the design itself.

The series 4 was a purchase for me this year, coming from a series 2 I really appreciated the faster performance. Looking back on it now though if I still had the series 2 I’d probably hold off another year. The bigger screen is nice but not a game changer and some of the new health features aren’t available in the UK. I don’t regret the purchase (I went for the cheapest model I could) but if I advised someone today I’d tell them to wait it out until the new health features were available.

This is especially true if you want a stainless steel model. That’s what I wanted but Apple decided to only offer this model with cellular, something I have no interest in. The issue for me is that’s it’s almost double the price of an non cellular aluminium model. So I couldn’t justify the extra cost and went for the only model available to me, the 44mm aluminium in silver.

When I look back at the benefits I’ve had from the series 4 I’d say it’s an OK year for Apple Watch. Not blown me away but an ok update. If you have anything other than a series 0 or original Apple Watch hold off upgrading this year.

Durability isn’t great so I’d avoid getting the official Apple leather loop.

I’ve been using the series 4 since the last week of September so wanted to put down some thoughts on my experience and if I’m glad I updated.

My model is the 44mm base one without cellular. I’m liking the silver over the space grey this time around but still look at the stainless steel with some envy. For me I wasn’t paying another £300 for the finish, I was never going to be using the cellular connection. The picture above is my most used setup, platinum Nike sports band, which I think looks great with the silver.

In day to day use it’s the performance that’s won me over with the series 4. I wouldn’t say I’m noticing a big difference in the screen size but I always come back to how much more responsive the interface is. For example in doing a workout on my series 2 I’d quite often have to tap multiple times to get a workout going. Now I just tap and it gets going straight away.

In terms of charging and battery performance I’m seeing no improvements over the series 2. Battery had never been a problem since I moved from the original Apple Watch up to the series 2.

Based on my use I’d say that if you’re on a series 2 or older then an upgrade would be worth it. If you’re on a series 3 then I’d stay put and wait another year.

If you’ve picked up an updated Apple Watch this time around you’ll want to unpair your old one.

1. Watch app
2. Tap on your watch
3. Tap 'i'
4. Tap unpair

I’ve been using the series 4 since launch so feel I’ve had enough time to write up some thoughts on using it compared to the series 2 it replaces. I went for the 44mm in silver, it’s the aluminium non cellular version.

Luckily all my 42mm bands fit fine so I’m good on that front. So coming from an existing watch you’ll be ok band wise.

I also picked up Apple Care + because I smashed my series 0 and it came in handy back then saving me a load of cash to buy a new one. Quick note on this, I had to call Apple to sort mine out as there was a bug for some people that bought the series 4 + Apple Care on day one. Mine showed that I hadn’t purchased it even though I had the order receipt. A quick call to Apple sorted this out.

I almost got stainless steel this time around but couldn’t stomach the extra money, especially when I had no intention of using cellular. With the creep up in Apple prices over the last few years I wanted to spend as little as I could to upgrade.

Size

Coming from a 42mm I naturally went for the 44mm. This is because I wanted the biggest screen available and also to make sure my bands fitted. On my wrist I feel it’s looks fine, in use it doesn’t feel any different to the 42mm.

The screen is just stunning on the series 4. The extra real estate makes tapping so much easier. I didn’t feel the series 2 was cramped until I tried this new one and couldn’t go back. I actually find myself using apps on my watch more than I ever have in the past. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I could play a game or view images but in day to day use it’s a lot easier on my (ageing) eyes!

As with most reviewers I’d love to see an always on low power display mode to show me the time.

Watch faces

There are a couple more watch faces to choose from, both provide a good amount of complications but I find myself still wanting more. Already spoke about at length on various blogs including this one by Marco Arment they are actually quite hard to read. I’ve found myself settling on modular so I can see the time quickly. I really do feel that it’s time to open up the ecosystem to third party watch faces.

The one above in particular looks amazing but when you use it day to day it’s hard to quickly see the time and it blows your eye balls out when you check the time in the middle of the night, make sure you use the black options for the dials.

Performance

Wow, it’s how the Apple Watch should have been all along. Technology has caught up with expectations. No more lag when tapping to start a workout or switching watch faces. It just does everything when you want it to. I’ve experienced no lag in anything I’m doing. I can’t vouch for series 3 but coming from a series 2 it’s such a big leap for me.

As with the screen it makes the Series 4 a joy to use and I find myself using more apps.

Should you upgrade?

You rarely have to update every year, especially a watch but for the series 4 I’m making an exception. If you have some spare cash or can sell your existing watch it’s a no brainier to update to a series 4. The screen and performance improvements alone makes the Apple Watch experience more enjoyable, therefore a must buy for fans of the watchOS.

Tip: if you’re looking to get one for Christmas, order now. They are always pushed to back end of November.

As promised by Apple all of my old 42mm series 2 bands fit my new series 4.

After getting my series 4 the first thing that started to bug me (just a little) was Siri going off unintended. Turns out I moved my arm up and raise to wake went off, here’s how to turn it off.

On your Apple Watch go to Settings, then General, then SIRI.

As you can in the screenshot you can simply swipe to turn off ‘Raise To Speak’.

Not long arrived but thought I’d post a few images.

[gallery ids=“807,808,809,810,811,812,813” type=“rectangular”]

Expect lots of updates on iOS 12 and watchOS 5 this week on the blog. I’ve just started to test apps that use the Siri watch face so I’ll be reporting in on how they are performing and some of my favourites.

As I’ve already shared I really wanted to update my series 2. Ordering for me was surprisingly smooth but I did notice a new screen.

This happened for a couple of minutes and the store came online for me around 8:02am.

Here’s my order for this year. Don’t see any other Apple products in my future this year so feeling pretty good about spending less this year.

At the moment it shows delivery for 21st, I went for home delivery rather than in store pickup.

Can’t wait.

My series 2 is getting slow now so I’m definitely in the market for a series 4, now to decide which one.

If like me you live in the UK and are not on EE or Vodafone then you only really have two choices. Space grey or silver aluminium. You can get these in either the Apple or Nike variants. Be aware that the Nike edition launches later than the Apple one so if you want it on day one then get an Apple one.

I’ll either be picking up silver with white strap or black with loop.

Since moving to Apple services for Reminders and Calendar I’ve been trying out the SIRI watch face. To my surprise it’s starting to stick. I tend to change my watch face daily but since using this one it’s been the only face I’ve used.

I like that it just gives me a feed of what I need to know when I need to know it.

I’ve customised the complications to show me the date on the left and current temperature on the top right.

Are you using it yet?

I’ve had mixed experiences with third party watch bands for my Apple Watch and therefore kept with Apple ones. After browsing leather cases on Instagram (as you do!) I spotted a nice leather band for Apple Watch. On inspection it was by Nomad. I did a quick search on Amazon and saw the modern strap was reduced in price so thought I’d give it a test.

The packaging and presentation was everything I’d expect from a high end brand. Well packaged and a good use of cardboard. The only thing I’d mention is that the strap is quite tightly secured so you end up marking it getting it out. This isn’t a problem, remember leather will pick up marks very easily.

First impressions was the lightness of the band and the quality of the build.

You can see the workmanship in the product, it’s all very precisely cut and any stitching is clean and straight.

The lugs used are well designed and give the watch a little more bulk.

On first use it’s stiff, this is leather though. It’ll soften up and after a few days of use it had already started to do this.

After a week of use I ultimately decided that as good as this strap is leather isn’t for me. I find that it didn’t give my skin any breathing room and became a bit sticky, especially when used in exercise.

I’d gotten used to my leather loop (which is thinner and more flexible) or a sports loop.

So if you’re into leather bands then this is a strap that should be top of your list offering great value for money and quality. If like me you’re on the fence about leather straps then looks elsewhere.

Link to Amazon listing

So I’d say that this image is officially what the next Apple Watch is going to look like. 9to5 managed to get hold of some marketing material and have started to share the contents. I certainly wouldn’t want to be inside Apple right now…

Anyway what do I think?

Hardware

First off it looks like the current band mechanism stays, this is good. I’ve not invested as heavily as some but still have a few bands that I really like to use.

It’s hard to tell without side by side with the real thing but from the images I’d say it looks both thinner and wider than the existing model. It’ll be interesting to see if it stays 42mm, it’s hard to tell. It definitely has smaller bezels. If it doesn’t stay 42mm, it’s going to need additional bands so I’m guessing it stays at 42mm.

The red on the Digital Crown signifies it’s the cellular version, gone is the red dot (woohoo). For me personally I hope that they have this model non cellular as it’s not really taken off in the UK and is still limited to one carrier.

The side button looks to be more recessed. I’m thinking it’s haptic feedback based rather than mechanical.

It’s gold, not the edition version though. It looks like they have created a gold stainless steel model, makes sense if they are doing a gold iPhone X.

Software

That’s not a watchOS 5 beta watch face. I’m running the beta and it looks like we are getting some new faces to match the new screen size. It looks ace. I’ve been wanting a new face to enable a lot more complications so can’t wait to try it out. Looking at the image we have a lot of new weather data, which looks to match what’s available in the weather app on iOS 12.

We look to be getting 9 complications in this image, it’s a welcome addition to watchOS.

If this image is to be believed and I think it is then I’m so glad I held off on a series 3 as this is going to be a big update from my series 2.

What do you think?

I’ve always heard good things about Nomad so decided to finally pick up one of their modern straps.

I’ll have a review in a couple of weeks once I’ve figured out if I like it or not.

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Here’s the Amazon Link

I’ll be upgrading my 2 year old Apple Watch this year I think. Aside from overall slowness I needed to restart it a few times over the last week due to weather complication issues. Note, this is on watchOS 5 so odds are there will be debug code running that will contribute to the slowness.

How’s your startup time?

With the keynote only weeks away I’m starting to think about what I need to budget for. I’m trying very hard to use my devices at least until their Apple Care runs out, I’ve not been that successful in this as you know if you follow me. The one device I have had for a while is my series 2 Apple Watch. I’m running watchOS 5 and the performance isn’t great. I’m constantly tapping twice on things as it’s becoming unresponsive.

This got me thinking about what I’d like to see in a new Apple Watch.

Design?

Generally I’m happy with the design, a round face would be nice but it’s never going to happen. The only thing for me is to make it a little thinner.

Sleep Tracking

Yes, I know I can do this from a third party but I want it built into the watch. Apple is lagging behind in this aspect with other manufacturers doing sleep tracking as standard. It’s the one glaring disadvantage of the Apple Watch.

Keep the strap design

I’ve bought too many straps, please don’t change this yet!

I honestly can’t think of anything else I’d like to see. I’ve been wearing one since it launched and it’s fitted into my life very well, I definitely wouldn’t be without one now.

What do you want to see?

As part of watchOS 5 we get a new feature that can stop us from forgetting to end our workouts. If your watch detects you have have stopped moving it’ll ask you if you have finished a workout. Sounds great but in reality I’ve found it annoying. I quite often set an outdoor work if we go on a family day out somewhere. These walks quite often involve stopping to have a drink or look at something. I found that the workout app would ask me way too often.

There’s good news, you can disable this feature.

Go to the watch app, then workout, then disable ‘end workout reminder’.

I’ve always bought the official Apple Watch bands but recently I decided to try out some third party ones to see if I’ve been missing out. I decided to focus on one style, my favourite sport loop. I’ve loved this band since it came out and have a couple of official Apple ones.

I went onto Amazon and started to go through reviews and purchased a few to see which manufacturers were the best.

In my opinion there is a clear winner - Chok Idea. They are comfortable, the same width as the official Apple band and offer a selection of colours.

I picked up several that matched some of my favourite Nike ones that aren’t available anymore.

The colours I went for were midnight fog, black and white, flash and khaki.

Links:

• Midnight Fog
• Flash
• Black/White
• Khaki

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This usually means they are getting ready to release new colours. Makes sense with us only weeks away from a new iPhone announcement.

I’ve been having several issues on watchOS 4, the most annoying being weather not displaying and losing connectivity to my iPhone. It’s gone to Apple for servicing once already so I thought what the heck I’ll install the dev beta.

My initial impressions are good. It hasn’t lost sync and the weather app is working well so far.

I’m noticing a few little tweaks that I’m enjoying in watchOS 5. Timers now rememberers your last few so that you can simply tap on them rather than set a new custom time. Another welcome change is a more detailed weather app. Inheriting some of the changes from iOS in that it now shows wind and air quality.

Performance on my series 2 also feels improved. It’s great to see the same iOS performance ethos coming over to the watch.

I picked up the leather loop in 2015 and have worn it probably 25% of the time since then. On using it last week I noticed the band has separated from the lug on one side. I raised it with Apple and was told it is only covered for 1 year. This got me thinking that for the money, which was over £100 at the time it should have lasted longer. In my experience with traditional leather straps they last the lifetime of the watch in my use case. I feel that Apple should extend the warranty on their higher end bands. What do you think?

There’s two native apps missing here, something to measure Nutrition and something to sleep track.

I’m hoping we get native sleep tracking in watchOS 5 at WWDC. There are a slew of sleep tracking apps out there but I’ve found none of them to work as I’d expect. Sleep++ is the most accurate that I’ve tested but I’d like the security of an Apple solution.

Apple should trust us to manage the battery and give us native sleep tracking. It’s an area Fitbit has over the Apple Watch currently, once they’ve offered it as standard they will be pretty much on par.

Please Apple give us native sleep tracking.

I’ve been asking for third party watch faces on watchOS for the last few years and have come to the conclusion we won’t get them - ever.

Apple work closely with brands such as Nike and Disney to create new ones but hasn’t as of yet opened it up wider. Based on this and the lack of focus on allowing developers to build their own I’m sticking my neck out and stating we won’t ever get them.

Apple are very precious about their brand values, I just don’t see them allowing any developer to create something that could potentially tarnish the Apple Watch brand.

The only way I see this happening is with strict controls on reviewing everything. I just don’t see Apple having the staff to do this on top of the already difficult to manage App Store.

I might be being pessimistic here but as with a refresh of Reminders on iOS Apple have disappointed me too much when it comes to my hopes for each WWDC announcement.

I hope I’m proven to be wrong.