Pulled the trigger on the Apple Watch Series 5

Right after the Apple Event announcing a slew of new Apple products yesterday. I pulled the trigger and impulsively bought the new Apple Watch Series 5. It was purely on impulse.

I absolutely do not need a new watch. My series 3 is working just fine. Sure, there are visible scratch marks on the watch face, but it just shows how much I adore using this watch. I use it almost all the time, especially during my workout sessions. So it is a given that at some point, scratches are going to appear. And I have no regrets about that. But now I am having regrets clicking on the ‘buy’ button on the Apple Store right after the event last night.

I bought the aluminium 44mm version that comes with a new strap color. The dual tone strap is pretty neat which will definitely add flair to the overall look when I wear them.

Looking back on why I want this watch (as opposed to needing it) badly is this particular feature that they added on the new models that made me sold on buying it instantly, and that is the always on feature.

On previous models, the watch face will go black and blank when you are not interacting or looking at the watch. To wake the watch, you will need some finesse in flicking your wrist up as you gaze on the watch face to wake the watch and to show you the time.

The new series 5 watches is always on, allowing you to see the watch face and tell the time with just a glance. No more flicking the wrist to see the time or just about any other information you need out of the smartwatch. The screen is always on, but to conserve battery, it is dimmed and the screen refreshes at a lower frequency. Flicking the wrist wakes the watch fully so that you can further interact with it.

This singular feature, always-on watch face, is I think the sole reason why I pulled the trigger in getting the new Apple Watch. Aside from that, the new watches are extremely similar to the series 4, which will be discontinued when the new ones are launched on the 20th September 2019. They will still sell the series 3, with price cuts of course.

I am currently using the series 3 watch, and while the upgrades are substantial, from series 3 to series 5, for my personal use case, the argument is still not that compelling to make the upgrade. My current watch still works perfect fine. Battery life is still great. Fitness trackers are still working as intended, helping me track my fitness activity and other kinds of activities like sleep. The Autosleep app is telling me that I have sleep debt. That is expected because I stayed late to watch the Apple event, which started from 1AM Singapore time and ended just before 3AM