OK so I’m considering getting an Apple Watch. please read. currently I have a £20 watch. I really like it. I only wear it when I go out, so rarely. I hate having to take off my rucksack, put it down, open it and etc just to see what time it is when waiting for someone to pick me up. however, the only reason I want a Apple Watch is because I’m tired of having to do the above to read a text message if my cab or family lift is going to be late. so aside from the time? I just want to be able to read messages. I want to spend as little as poss. A first gen is about 50 quid in grade A, and I want the Nike sports band. 4th gen are about £140 which I can afford, but is there any reason based on my use case why I should spend that much? Thanks from your general tech phobe. BTW I have a iPhone 11 Pro Max hence why I want an Apple Watch. Don’t want another brand thx m8 gr8.
I've got a series 3 small size (stupid generational name) for many years. It works well for time, read and quick response to messages. Also works well for Siri, for example quickly add reminders, set timers. I also use it for walking navigation. I've had a Pebble before it. The best thing about the change was comfort. But I do miss always-on display. Because you'd have to do wrist flip to make it show. It works 98% but that 2% is quite annoying. 4th gen adds bigger display, makes the watch nicer to read stuff. 5th gen adds always-on display, in my mind feels like a worthy upgrade. £140 for 4th gen is worth it for the bigger screen.
Why an Apple watch? with such low use case it is probably quite over specced, why not something simpler that has battery life in the region of weeks? Edit - just saw you have an iphone, so in someways it makes sense.
Well, pebble I had was able to display some notifications, depend on the app. So for the use case, doesn’t have to be an watch.
Yup I use an Amazfit GTR thing, lasts for ~6 weeks gives all the messages etc on its OLED screen and gets me up each morning, works well, was only ~100quid new and looks like a normal watch. Obviously if I use its GPS that would tank but my phone has better GPS. Not sure how well non Apple stuff work with Apple. Had mine a couple of years battery is getting bad on it, so wanted to go to all singing and dancing high spec jobby but the battery life on things like the Apple or Samsung is poor, so I'll probably pick up another cheapo, low spec jobby as I'm not someone to remove watch every night.
I'm waiting to get some notifications so I can show you some screenshots of what it looks like and how much you can actually read...! I would highly recommend getting a new one, if you can. As in, brand new, not second-hand or refurbished. Unless you want to do some very tricky and fiddly repairs, Apple charge upwards of £85 to replace the battery. I've had a 1st gen Watch SE (cellular, model A2356) for over two years; when new it would just about last two days, but now it will make it until about 4pm on the second day before I have to put it into low-power mode. So it's not terrible for a device in daily use, but it's definitely degraded. I mainly got it for the fitness features, and I've been pretty damn impressed with Apple Fitness (as in, the subscription service which requires an Apple Watch). Even if you're not using that, the built-in fitness tracking is still pretty damn good. Without cellular you can still leave your phone at home and record a run, cycle, walk, etc. These days it's main uses for me are notifications (which I'm actively trying to reduce anyway); quick things with Siri, like adding stuff to various lists, setting reminders, appointments, etc.; and contactless payments. I rarely leave the house without my phone, but there have been a couple of times I've left without my wallet and I've still been able to pay for a week's shopping using my watch. Contactless payments also don't require a cellular or WiFi connection AFAIU.
Yeah that’s more than enough tbh. I just want to know if it’s important or mum in a pickle over something daft. not bought one yet but will. I’m not worried about the charge lasting that long. my use case is literally put watch on, go down to the lobby in the building, call cab, go outside and wait whilst checking the time, get in cab or family lift once they arrive, get over to mums and remove it. Repeat in reverse two weeks later lol. what I want it for even more is winter. They can’t pull up to mums house so I go wait at the pub. And it’s freezing and damp. To check a text saying they are 5 mins away means removing gloves put bag down get phone out etc. A real bum pain tbh.
Pretty much any 20-30quid smart band will do what you want, only if you want something more advanced on the band/watch like calling/paying/storing music etc do you really need to pay more, most low end hardware has weeks of life because it doesn't need to do that other stuff.
Aye that was what I have done for now. I got this one for £29. As long as it can display the first line of a text? that is more than what I need tbh. I would have gone Apple, but they have gone from £50 or so to £85. And then I need to add on the Nike band. Sod that.
Well that nearly ended up thrown at the wall. Tried in vain to read the tiny manual (ffs do they think everyone has a space telescope?!?) and found a QR code. Scanned it, installed the app..... Five times. Just stopped on the loading screen. In the end found a totally different app and had it all running in about a minute. Time and lift to on are working lovely now, will see what happens when I get a noti.
The watch itself is a ID250L. The software it takes you to is called Veryfitpro. But it doesn't go past the intro screen. In the end out of desperation I downloaded "Veryfit" and it picked it up straight away.
Stoked with that. Asked a pal to send a text.... nothing. Uh oh. Realised you have to enable it all. Phew. Like how the text is nice and small so you can read all of it without having to even touch the watch. Will be ace in the cold weather when I am wearing gloves.
OK so I am going to do some modding lol. This is the strap I want. Mainly because I hate rubber straps. Sweaty, heat rash, nasty. Took a look at it. The loop end part is easy, as mine uses pins. So I just need to cut that end off. I am not sure of the other end, but I reckon worse comes to worse I can cut the end off, fold it over and stitch it. Measured the watch with the verniers, comes out at 19mm pins. Only cost me £13 for all of it, hoping I can get it to work.
Yeah I much prefer the fabric "sports strap" for the Apple Watch... Gets grimy af if you don't clean it every now and then though!
Started work on the band last night. Cut off the end, then folded it over a tooth pick and clamped it. Stitched it, then added superglue and used activator. It's very strong ! I then realised it was not going to work, as the band is too thick. So, I got these. I will work the small side until it fits with a file, then that ought to do it.
