Always On is not Always Appealing to me and it contributes to a major battery drain that is reminiscent of Series 0/1 days. Seriously, it’s bad. I loved my Series 4 Apple Watch and after 15 months of ownership, I broke it. It fell of a table onto a wood floor and shattered. That’s the beauty of Sapphire versus Gorilla Glass. Corning’s glass on the Aluminum models will scratch but not shatter whereas Sapphire on the stainless & titanium models is insanely scratch resistant but will shatter or crack if it comes in contact with an opposing hard object.
AppleCare+ stepped in and a full replacement was done which is great. Now I was looking at a Series 4 brand new in box and there were some Christmas sales on the Series 5 so I purchased a new Apple Watch. I am only hoping Series 6 doesn’t drop until Fall because that will be a true upgrade as the Series 5’s only improvement is the addition of an always-on screen.
Which is why this review will be pretty short….
The new watch is identical in every way. Speed, weight, experience. It’s all the same until 8PM when the watch reads 25% battery remaining. By 11PM, it’s dead. The series 4 watch in stainless steel at the largest mm size (44?) would last until 4-8AM the following day on those days where I am flying around the world and only needing a 30 minute charge to keep it going for another 6 hours. This watch, well to put it this way, I put it on an hour ago and I’m at 96% battery. By 5PM, it’s at 40% and it’s dead by bed time.
Another example, my girlfriend and I got out of bed at 7AM and by 2PM on Friday we were in the car going to Washington DC which is an 8 hour drive. By 6PM, I plugged my watch into the car charger as it had 30% battery left and I asked hers where she was (she has a smaller series 4) and she was at 60%. No cellular activated, I have a larger battery but my always on screen offers a slight convenience with a serious impact on battery life.
My opinion is that if you need a watch today and don’t care either way about the always on screen, then purchase a Series 4 or wait for a Series 6. The Series 5 offers one new feature and it seriously impacts the usability. If I actually worked out and used fitness tracking, GPS and Bluetooth audio to AirPods, I imagine this thing would die even faster.
It’s nice having a new watch but I miss the Series 4. I’ve had this watch on my wrist for 2 full months and am always amazed at how fast the battery drains.
