“Apple’s watchOS 3 marks the company’s third attempt to provide a satisfying user experience for a wrist-based screen,” Michael deAgonia writes for Computerworld. “This version, which was unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June and released on Tuesday, addresses long-standing issues that have marred the Apple Watch experience since the wearable arrived last year — including slow app launch times (especially third-party apps), obsolete Complications data, odd interface choices and inaccurate heart rate data for certain workouts.”
“Those issues in watchOS 1 and 2 didn’t stop Apple from becoming second only to Rolex in worldwide sales ,” deAgonia writes. “But watchOS 3 should make current users much happier — there are noticeable across-the-board speed improvements, new fitness profiles, a new SOS emergency notification and response system, and a revised interface that feels more aligned with what’s found on Apple’s other devices.”
“In particular, watchOS 3 has more emphasis on fitness and activities, something Cook and others repeatedly highlighted at the event. That, and numerous other changes, should have been in place from the star,” deAgonia writes. “For Apple Watch users, the third time is the charm.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, all throughout this Apple Watch saga, from the moment it hit our wrists and never left 16+ months ago on April 24, 2015, we haven’t been able to shake the thought that IOSWH (If Only Steve Were Here), the Apple Watch would have been sent back to the drawing board a few more times before its initial release.
After all, that’s what Steve did best: Use a product, see it from the users’ eyes (not the engineers’, not the designers’ – although he was intimately aware of both viewpoints), but from the users’ eyes only and make it work best for them. Steve would have handed the original Apple Watch “Series 0” and watchOS back to Kevin Lynch & Co. with notes about what worked and what didn’t. What was convoluted and what wasn’t. What was useful and what was superfluous. That’s what he did with the iMac, and the iPod, and the iPhone, and the iPad, and all of the products released under his watch. Steve’s track record was unmatched; so many, many home runs and so few mishits.
But, okay, it is what it is and, unfortunately, Steve’s not here. So, we early adopters had to serve (gladly) as guinea pigs for a year. In that time we got to use Apple Watch and we have 16+ months of activity, workout, health, and other data that no later adopters will ever have.
In that time, in the order of importance, here’s what we found we do with our Apple Watches:
1. Time
2. Temperature (Dark Sky)
3. Fitness
4. Alarms
5. Weather forecast (Dark Sky)
6. Sports scores
7. Apple Pay
8. Stock prices
9. Timers
10. Turn-by-turn navigation
11. Quick texts (mainly replies, Siri works remarkably well for dictation)
12. Quick news via 3rd party news apps
13. Music while running/working out
14. Apple TV Remote
15. Basic email (reading, deleting, marking unread)By adopting on Day One, we got to see the evolution from watchOS 1.0 to watch OS 2 and, now, to watchOS 3. What a massive evolution it’s been: Just upgrading our Apple Watch Series 0 hardware to watchOS 3 was like getting whole new Apple Watches! We can’t wait for “late October” to get our new Apple S2-powered Apple Watch Nike+ units!
SEE ALSO:
John Gruber on Apple Watch Series 2 and WatchOS 3 – September 14, 2016
CNET reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘The smooth wrist companion it was always meant to be’ – September 14, 2016
WSJ reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘Apple Watch finds its purpose in life’ – September 14, 2016
The Verge reviews Apple Watch Series 2: There’s something effortlessly cool about it – September 14, 2016
Apple Watch Series 2: Apple refocuses its smartwatch – September 12, 2016
> third attempt to provide a satisfying user experience…
And watchOS 4 will be even more satisfying. It’s called “progress.” The copycats fail, because they MUST try to match Apple’s cumulative progress in one derivative leap.
watchOS 3 is an amazing improvement. Now that the engineers have a better understanding as to just how good even the original watch’s hardware is, I expect further improvements.
All the fashion stuff was such BS. I now call on all defenders of the approach to kowtow and repent. The super-lame model who used African women as her backdrop (or was it Apple who used a model and poor African women as a backdrop?) was a sad joke. The presence at Fashion Week and magazine shoots? Please. Look at the watch. It is not elegant. It is functional, a little fat and a little ugly. Guess how many gold watches they sold? Not enough, that’s how many. It’s not on sale any more.
Now that they’ve come back to reality we can all move on with the fitness and ho-hum daily use case that is the true value of Watch.
More than anything Watch has been the biggest factor concerning me about Apple lately. This serious misunderstanding suggests to me a team not entirely comfortable with the territory they are traveling. Which is probably why the Car project has rashes and restarted at least twice now, perhaps more.
It’s fun to say, “Should’ve been there from the start.”
And it’s always rude.
Even though I think it is a mistake for Apple to make this product and if I were to buy one I expect to be parking it next to my Newton 1000 it several years…The turn to turn navigation is worth it to me. Motorcycle GPS’s are wonderful. They are. They are also about the price of the watch. Bulky so they are completely water proof and a pain to store. With the watch I can have navigation and weather on my wrist. My helmet’s bluetooth system can pair to that. So when the watch says turn I can look to see what exactly it wants me to do (instead of buying a box mount for my phone). My phone can stay safely in my top box.
Reminders didn’t make the cut, MDN? For me, being able to tell my watch “Remind me to do such and such on X date at X time” is the killer feature. Maybe you’re not as forgetful as I am.
The last thing I wanted was another watch. I have a beautiful gold one that I’ve worn for years. Well I bought an iWatch, the original one, and just upgraded to OS3. WOW! At 83 years of age, I have some health issues and this has been wonderful. It gets me on my feet every hour, gets me walking. I now walk a mile every day. It tracks my BP and Pulse so I am on top of my health issues. I love the idea of the panic button. All in all, it has been a very pleasant surprise and worth every dollar.
The Workout app acts as if you pressed the “End X” button if you switch away and back between it and Runtastic Pro. They worked fine together through watchOS 2.2 but now they don’t.😕