“This year’s iteration of the Apple Watch can be your trainer, doctor, guardian, and now, live-in nurse!” iFixit writes. “How’d Apple fit all these personalities into one watch? Let’s find out why everyone is falling so hard for this watch—with a teardown!”
“While these black squares may look outwardly similar, X-rays from our experts at Creative Electron reveal radically different insides,” iFixit writes. “Seen from the side, the Series 4 is noticeably slimmer than the Series 3 (by 0.7 mm)… The 44 mm model’s display now covers 977 sq mm, compared to 740 sq mm on the 42 mm Series 3. Meanwhile, the 40 mm model spans 759 sq mm, versus 563 sq mm on its 38 mm predecessor.”
“The original Apple Watch was revolutionary upon its release, but the yearly updates have been mostly minor—until now. Where the first Watch was awkwardly layered together and used too much glue, the Series 4 feels much more thoughtfully laid out,” iFixit writes. “Apple pundit John Gruber has compared this to the leap in design brought by the iPhone 4, and we might even go a bit further and call it an iPhone 5: a device that knows its priorities, and wants to look as elegant inside as out.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The internal design is indicative of Apple’s thinking regarding the product; all over the place originally, now focused and tidy.
Going from a series 2 to the 4 (space gray +GPS 44mm) i picked up last night, this is astounding. The thing I noticed immediately is it only took 10 minutes to setup completely, whereas the series 2 takes about an hour. It is killer fast, way to go Apple.
“compared to 740 sq mm on the 42 mm Series 3. Meanwhile, the 40 mm model spans 759 sq mm”
Shoulda stated the obvious, the 40mm Series 4 has a larger usable screen than the 42mm Series 3.
I’m still sporting a stainless steel Series “0” that I got right off the bat. Like everything else before it Apple has released, everyone in my little town would kind of jokingly roll their eyes at me for being first. I remember the iPad was just an oversized iPhone to them, and the watch was “Well but what does it really do that you NEED?” And like always I’d say, “You’ll have one of your own within a couple of years…” Which, of course, is always true and always happens and then they have their “aha” moment. I can’t wait for the next paradigm shift so I can have that wonderful early adopter experience again. That all said, I was kinda bummed I couldn’t update this original one more time. Good thing my birthday is coming up in the next couple of months. The update wasn’t quite enough to make me be a day one adopter, but it looks awfully compelling enough to finally pass down this first gen gem to one of my kids.