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japtor
Oct 28, 2005
For anyone waiting on sport loop knockoffs, hopefully they'll be coming en masse soon. If you look on AliExpress they started popping up in some listings with the regular nylon bands. A few days ago it looked like none of them were actually available, but when I looked today I saw black, white, and another color.

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japtor
Oct 28, 2005
I imagine Casetify would be the main competition, the custom link is on the bottom (or through a phone app it looks like).

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
Speaking of cheap knockoffs, sport loops are available. I’ve never tried a real one to compare, but from mine and other people posting about theirs, the main issue seems to be that the band on the 42mm is narrow. I’m guessing they just use a single width for both 38 and 42 to save costs. The little end piece is supposedly a bit fatter on the knockoffs too. Fabric wise someone mentioned the real ones are nicer, but the ones I’ve gotten seem fine on their own at least. I ordered two and on one the Velcro isn’t aligned against the end so the last little bit is kinda flappy.

Edit: and looking at the two laid out just now, they’re completely different lengths by over an inch :v:

japtor fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Dec 14, 2017

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

mattfl posted:

Dunno if anyone cares but I got this cool little watch band case for xmas and it's perfect for Apple watch bands



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CVUODS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also I received my knockoff nylon sport loop and holy cow these things are awesome. Very soft and comfortable you can barely tell the watch is there.

This is the brand I got -> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077VKCD7K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I should probably figure out a better way of organizing bands at some point. I don’t have that much but I have enough that it’s just a small pile of bands right now.

About the knockoff nylon loops, I have two and one real one. If you got 42mm, hows the width? On the fakes (from mine and reading about others') there’s a decent gap as seen in the lug where it loops through, it seems like they’re using 38mm strap for both sizes maybe, whereas the real one is nearly flush. The only other noticeable difference is the end piece, it’s a good bit fatter on the fakes.

But yeah other than those two details they’re great. I’ll probably get more fakes whenever they get closer to the real thing.

enojy posted:

Yea, it's cool -- the 42mm bands are plenty big. I eyeballed mine next to the S/M and M/L sport bands, and the holes fall between those two. Doesn't look like a woman's band at all. Dunno about the 38mm bands, though.
Found some more pics here, yeah seems like it should be fine. One of the commenters mentioned the buckle being painted and chipping, but also mentions good customer service with replacing them at least.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/7ii9y3/coach_rexy_leather_band_in_goldenrod_male/

The Coach "Beasts" thing seems to be part of their women’s stuff...but whatever, I’m down with a dinosaur jazzing up an otherwise boring looking strap. It’ll be an inside joke with my rock climbing friends.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Sexual Aluminum posted:

Does the apple watch need a screen protector? I'm paranoid the screen is going to scratch.

If so, can anyone recommend one? Amazon reviews are hit and miss.
In most people’s everyday lives, should be fine.

The caveat is if you have particular work or recreational environments that might put it at risk. Like I go to a rock climbing gym regularly and have found out the walls can scratch sapphire and DLC coatings :downs:. When I climb now I use a case thing with sufficient lip around the screen (mostly cause I’ve cracked a screen due to impact too :suicide:) but no screen protector. I have a few minor scrathes that I don’t really notice or care about.

In any case figure out if you might want one in the first place, then just scour online shops and read reviews for a while. There’s a billion cheap options out there (...albeit nothing really matched what I was looking for).

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Just lol if you pay $50 for a sport loop.

Amazon knockoffs all day. Get all of the colors.
Did they get the width right yet? I got one early on and they seemed to be using the 38mm width straps for both sizes. Still works fine, but is noticeably thinner for the 42mm ones.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

cowofwar posted:

Why do I need to start a workout when the watch has an accelerometer and GPS and knows when I am running? Seems ridiculous to have to tell it that I am running when the same goddamn app can report to me later that I was running during that time yet didn't record heart rate data because I didn't tell it I was running during that time.
Partially cause it's dumb, but mostly cause afaik HR and GPS eat battery life and don't run continuously as a result. I do think HR should just be auto switched to continuous recording given enough accelerometer action though. I think it gives exercise ring credit if you're moving enough, but seems kinda useless cause it also disables the HR reading during those times. I'd guess cause single samples are slow and/or unreliable when not steady?...which would be even more reason to switch to continuous reading :downs:.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
I vaguely recall people saying good things about them. As for others, I think a lot will be predicated on what price range you're looking at. Bunch of cheap knockoffs on the lower end (and I'd guess all from the same sources), then a bunch of random third parties like Monowear, then a bunch of custom/handmade ones on Etsy, to the fancier commercial stuff like Coach and Hermes and what not. Just image searching for Apple Watch bands brings up a bunch of random stuff too.

There's also the option of getting DIY lugs and whatever watch band you want if none of those options float your boat.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Also, are there any third-party chargers, or should I just drop the cash on an Apple one?

And I guess, are there any good charging solutions for in the car? Or just plop it on the charger and toss it in my center console?
There’s officially licensed (ie MFi) ones but I think they’re all pricey like that Belkin one mentioned above.

As far as car charging, uh I guess get the shortest cable available. I guess for basic plug in cable maybe this thing would work, just looks like a little padded case to wrap the cable around and cover the watch.

There’s also portable charging cases (...which still need an official cable) like this thing, or other portable battery things with integrated charging pucks, looks like they’re MFi and around $40.

If you have a Series 3, they can work with some Qi chargers...but I don’t know what specific spec(s) you need for it to work or if it’s a moving target like if they expanded or contracted compatibility since the original OS that came with it.

Edit: one more suggestion as far as home chargers/stands, there’s a bunch that integrate multiple USB ports too so you can use that as your watch base and charge phone/tablet/etc off of as well, like this one. It’s nice cause you wind the cable up inside, not a huge deal but just one less cable to deal with.

japtor fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Apr 9, 2018

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
I assume something about whether the S4 bands are the same as S0-3. If so, yes.

Apple posted:

You can match this band with any Apple Watch Series 4 case of the same size. It also works with all previous versions of Apple Watch, including Apple Watch Series 3. The 40mm band works with the 38mm case; the 44mm band works with the 42mm case.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Electric Bugaloo posted:

Because one is gold and the other is black. Makes sense to me.

also I feel kind of iffy sometimes doing outdoorsy or sporty and lots of laboratory-specific stuff with my watch, even though it’s arguably supposed to be able to take a lot of abuse and serve as a fitness tracker during physical activity. If I had the means to have a second “beater” watch and a nice shiny one for wearing more formally I’d totally do it, though I know it’s a bit excessive. Also I like the gold and black equally.
I've broken like...four watches while rock climbing. I've used a bumper case thing since the first or second but occasionally forget, and out of those occasional times are when I've broken them, although at least the last one is just a cracked screen and still works. Unless I get it wet then the touchscreen is a bit unusable.

So anyway having one beater one isn't a bad idea if you know it's going to get trashed. I have AppleCare+ still on this last one so will get it replaced towards the end and keep it around as a workout watch with stupid fat case on it. I still have my busted space black original, $250 to replace but god knows what I'd get back. I remember people getting S2s a while back while some still got S0s. At that price I might as well wait for S3s to get cleared out or just save up to put it towards a S4.

Tab8715 posted:

How much of a difference is there? I assume the aluminum just scratches easily?
Yeah, or at least more easily, along with the glass screen. Stainless is probably the easiest to scratch but is the only one where you can just buff out stuff if you wish. Space black is pretty much scratch proof...although I've done it (along with the sapphire). Looks nicer than the gray aluminum, it's like a black with some subtle metallic depth to it if that makes any sense, rather than just like a straight gloss black finish.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

enojy posted:

Does watchOS 5 do anything worth mentioning for anything older than the brand new watches? This is the update that allows homemade/custom watch faces, right?
Notification grouping is probably the most noticeable basic thing.

I can’t tell if you’re joking about homemade faces, but it’s been possible to make your own watch faces as apps and sideload them. The problem is that you can’t do normal watch face stuff like complications, and no notification/control center cause it’s just an app. watchOS 5 does have one particular change that would make them more usable though, cause you can access notification/control center from any app if you pause for a bit at the edge of the screen before swiping.

Froist posted:

Yeah, the Nike version has all the standard watchfaces plus some exclusive to the Nike edition, that regular watches can never download. I wish the Apple Store employee that I asked this exact question to last year knew this, but by the time I’d opened my regular one it wasn’t worth returning it just for some watchfaces.

Edit: plus the band which you can now buy separately I think.
The Nike ones also have an extra color usable on the other regular Apple faces! I forget if there’s any more colors but the one I’m thinking of is their neon yellow "volt" color.

Small White Dragon posted:

Sending text messages with Siri on the watch is weird. After showing me the message it has transcribed, there's a "Don't Send" button but no "Send" button? :confused:
I think it basically works as a default action so you don’t have to do anything afterwards, just minimizing explicit steps. Like it’ll automatically send after however many seconds, with the "don’t send" button there if dictation hosed up.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Electric Bugaloo posted:

There’s also the photos/live photos face that lets you upload your own images or gifs/live photos and use complications. There are lots of face repositories and tutorials for making them from stuff other than live photos available online.

Also- how different is Volt from the ”flash” color that’s available on the standard versions?
Course the customization on the photo one is a bit...sparse to say the least.

How long has Flash been there? I remember when I got mine (granted it's a while now cause it's S2) the color options seemed more limited. Anyway looked on the phone and it looks pretty drat close, Volt seems to have a slight hint of green relative to Flash which seems more like a straight yellow.

Dugong posted:

Vapour watchface aesthetics :2bong:
For anyone that hasn't seen it, all the fancy new faces were created and filmed rather than just done on a computer:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/apple-motion-watch-faces-behind-the-scenes

Guess that shouldn't be too surprising since that's how they did the butterfly and jellyfish ones before too.

japtor fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Sep 21, 2018

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

RoboCop 3 posted:

Still, how hard can it be to just add notes as a watch app? Is taking notes randomly throughout the day not a very common scenario for others? I guess I’m just old, and my memory is terrible. :(
I'd use it cause there's some notes here and there where I scribble down some info and would like to just check on the watch at a glance. I was particularly hoping for it when they put checklists into notes so I could just use it as a quick shopping or to do list.

I think Reminders might not have been an app on the watch back when I thought this. Trying it now it doesn't look like you can add reminders with a button, force pressing within a list just shows "Show Completed". I'm sure you can do it through Siri but I'm not sure how to word the query when you want to add a reminder to a particular list? Also might be problematic cause I have emoji in my list titles to make them prettier :shobon:

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
^^ :wtc: does the analog clock infograph one have it?

nerox posted:

I'm going to the beach next week, there is no issue with taking my overly expensive watch into the ocean is there? (Series 4)
As mentioned should be fine. I guess the caveats I can think of would be the thing mentioned about some bands/materials not liking (salt) water, use the water lock thing to spit water out afterwards, and just rinse it in clean water when you get the chance.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Hamelekim posted:

Ordered the Space Black Milanese Loop from apple for when my series 4 watch arrives mid October. I'm switching from android and the apple watch seems more user friendly than my current moto 360 2.

The only thing I will miss is the always on display for checking the time, but I have found it incredibly useful for notifications since I usually have my phone on mute not to disturb other people.

Having to wait for basically a month to get my new watch kind of sucks though. Have previous apple watch releases been this popular?
I remember the first watch came out in April...while space black didn't ship until like June/July. That's a bit of an exception of course.

I don't remember the others but about a month isn't too bad for an Apple launch, and going by the past it has a decent chance of shipping sooner.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
I think in the TV app on iPhone there’s a sports section where you can define your teams, if you’ve never done that maybe it just auto populates based on location or something? Maybe go in there and manually select...nothing I guess.

Anyway I ordered a 44mm Nike one with black sport loop last night (:toot: B&H no tax), anyone happen to be getting a white Nike sport loop one and want to swap bands?

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Boris Galerkin posted:

The only thing annoying about it coming from the sport band is that it's one piece. I'm not used to having to slip my hands through the loop but yeah it is really comfortable. For people with sport loops for years now how does it hold up to washing/smell?
I’ve had the white one for almost a year now, haven't worn it exclusively but wear it often enough I think. The only washing I’ve done is just uh, regular hand or bar soap and water after workouts I guess. It’s held up fine for the most part, only thing I’ve noticed is a slight discoloration where the velcro hook and loop attaches to the band. Considering it’s the white one it’s held up better than I expected.

Pants Donkey posted:

When in deep sleep you’re effectively paralyzed so, even if you’re very still, the body is making small muscle movements here and there while awake.

The question is if the watch can pick up on that, and the answer is kinda sorta. I like to lounge in my bed after waking up, and it is common for autosleep to mark it as sleeping. But unless you need 100% accurate tracking for health reasons, it’s still a decent way to see how much sleep you’re getting each night.
I’m guessing the watch could pick up on that (accelerometers/gyros are pretty dang sensitive), more a matter of how the various apps themselves decide to interpret the data, and/or if Apple cleans up the data/filters out the motion "noise" before passing it on to the apps in the first place.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:

Is it worth waiting for the Series 4 to go on sale?
Earliest would be around Christmas probably if you want to wait. Otherwise depending on your state's sales tax could save a bit by ordering from somewhere that you don't get taxed on (ordered from B&H in my case).

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Dick Nipples posted:

Before genius time, unpair and re-pair time.
Before un-pair and re-pair time is reboot both devices time.

I had the watch and phone (S2 and iPhone SE) not sync up some time last week, like no notifications came through and when looking at messages I guess all the contact data was gone too cause it only showed phone numbers. Rebooting worked for me but I've heard it not working for others so :iiam:, but whatever the case seems like a new bug with watchOS 5 and/or iOS 12.

Dick Nipples posted:

I think that the band box was separate mainly to facilitate swaps. When I picked up my S4, the person ahead of me was swapping the default black sport loop to a bright pink/orange one.
I'm hoping to do that when mine comes but considering I didn't buy from Apple I'm guessing it won't be an option :(

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Boris Galerkin posted:

This picture isn't mine but …



What the gently caress is going on there? That's 121 hours or roughly four hours of exercise every single day in October. Who has time to exercise four hours every single day other than professional athletes?

I feel like I would just give up without even trying cause it's for all intents and purposes impossible.
Mine just says "reach your daily Move goal 25 times". I'd guess that's a bug. Or maybe the person has some ridiculous goals and based it on that? :iiam:

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
Maybe you’re a sleepwalker :raise:

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

eames posted:

Sizing question: I’m looking to buy my first Apple Watch and am pretty close to ordering a 40mm stainless blind because I really dislike the look of large watches, smart or not. My wrist is 180mm. Did anybody order the smaller one blind and actually hate it?

Looking at the Apple Store iOS app’s “actual size” picture the 40mm looks “a bit too small” and the 44mm looks “way too large”.
The watches look a bit bigger in app iirc, cause they’re displayed flat vs being rounded and dropping off at the sides in reality. I don’t remember my wrist and don’t have a string/tape measure handy, but I remember 38 and 42mm both looking ok way back. I went with the 42 cause the band widths were wider and looked better to me.

Zwille posted:

Neat, looks rounder, too.
Yeah the bigger corner radius was the biggest tweak to the appearance. Kinda reminds me of the iOS 6-7 icon silhouette change from rounded square to squircle.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

LODGE NORTH posted:

There was a post on Reddit awhile ago how the old bands aren't flush with the S4, but work all the same. Might just be that.
Yeah I remember a pic of the sport loop, I think one of the S4 ones on an older watch showed more plastic of the lug sticking out. Basically looked like it would follow the radius of the S4 which is slightly different.

I also read complaints about the new Milanese loops being lighter or something but complaints weren’t specific in detail beyond just saying it felt cheaper.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Pants Donkey posted:

Not to mention Tap to Wake.

And I guess if you're REALLY compromised hand-wise, you can always call Siri.
Nose to wake :colbert:

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Froist posted:

The worse designed scenario is the one I came across:
  • Put watch in "water mode" from Control Center as I'm about to go swimming
  • Start swimming
  • Watch detects movement and says "Do you want to start a swim workout?"
  • Can't press "Yes" because it's in water mode

Come on, just put two and two together!
How about just starting a swim workout when you’re about to go swimming? (It locks the watch as part of doing swim workouts)

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

smackfu posted:

I should have said, the problem I have with lock invoking the water mode is that when you unlock it then it plays that stupid noise and stops my music.
Probably won’t help if it doesn’t auto resume the music but you can stop the beeping by facepalming the watch.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Waltzing Along posted:

You read it wrong. I'm not using apple pay, I'm using the starbucks app. Getting the bar code thing on the screen isn't the problem, it's that as soon as I tried to scan it the screen went out. This happened 5 times in a row and I finally said F it and used the phone screen.
Depends on the wrist movement, like if you had to turn your wrist away it might have been interpreted as similar to the motion of turning the watch away normally, and the angles may be dependent on the original activation angle/motion. And depending how it activated (tapped, or by motion) the timeout might be different depending on settings.

Starbucks shows up in the Wallet app so that might be another option to try out? I don't use it much so can't say for sure it's for the same use you were using. Annoyingly the Apple Pay shortcut only brings up Apple Pay stuff, vs showing everything in Wallet (as it does on the iPhone).

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
I swap between two watches (S2 and 3, keep the S2 with a case for rock climbing gym) and the drain seemed abnormally bad for the watch I wasn't wearing...like faster than when I'm actually wearing it. I just put the S2 in power reserve mode now, although it takes long enough to start back up I guess I might as well shut it down.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Raffles posted:

Are there any good milanese loop knockoffs? A lot on Amazon seem to be too cheap to be any good. I'd happily pay in the $30-50 range for something decent, but everything seems to be around $15 range (which is fine by me if there actually are any good)
I’m not sure but the straight knockoffs (with the same design as Apple's) don't seem to be common anymore on Amazon. Plenty of copies of other bands but not the Milanese for whatever reason.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Deadguy2322 posted:

Go to AliExpress, buy from a seller offering ePacket shipping. Plenty of Milanese loops on there these days.
Same thing going on there...I think. Looks like most of the listings just crop out showing the watch connection parts completely. Most of the ones that do show it are using different designs like the ones all over Amazon now.

(Talking about knockoffs of Apple's specific design here, not just Milanese loops for Apple Watch in general)

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

zelah posted:

I have a real one and a knockoff one. Real one is slightly softer on the outside edges, but that’s not something your wrist would touch while wearing it so no real difference in comfort
How about the reflective threads?

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

There's a Hockey Tracker app for playing hockey, and I guess the 4 series has problems with calling 911 when people hit the boards hard or get knocked over and they can't really hear/feel the notification it gives (I don't have a 4) :lol:
I thought it only auto calls 911 after no movement for some period?

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Pants Donkey posted:

Conducting a poll: which is the best case color?

Aluminum only, since we know gold is the best for stainless steel.
Space black is the best for stainless :colbert:

I’m semi indifferent to the aluminum ones but have been getting the (also space?) gray ones.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Jose Oquendo posted:

I have the MLB At Bat complication turned on. I'll have to keep an eye on It later today and see how often/fast it updates.

As the Watch becomes less dependent on the iPhone to function, I would imagine this issue would slowly go away.
I think there’s something new with watchOS 6 complications but I couldn’t figure out what exactly. Whatever the case you probably won’t be seeing any changes with third party apps until after release.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

TraderStav posted:

Any updates on being able to disable always on screen and get infinity hours of battery life?

I can't imagine going to 18 hours of advertised life after going two days with my launch day s2
Apple Watches have all been advertised as having 18 hours of life iirc...so I imagine it might be the same as the rest as far as actual usage battery life.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Yeah, it's gonna add like 5 minutes extra and the internet is going to rage. I can't wait.
I'm looking forward to someone on the MacRumors forums complaining about always on screen Mickey not animating until they turn their wrist.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
Yeah I'm curious how they're handling notifications, or if there'll be an option for that. There's been times where I've felt them come in while the watch was within view and I couldn't tilt or tap, so I'd have a use for that.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

jink posted:

Haven’t had a single issue other than speaker getting muffled but watch stays on silent mode so no prob.
Had that happen on my original (...which didn’t have the water ejection and technically only had some water resistance) and been paranoid since. I’m on silent all the time too but use it for phone calls occasionally.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Cozmosis posted:

Upgrading from a Series 1 to a S5 aluminum. Excited to see what an actually responsive Watch is like. Have been waiting for an always on display. 44mm in Alaskan blue. The bands are still egregiously overpriced but glad to see Apple getting a little more consumer friendly with band choice and cost when speccing our a watch.
Yeah that takes a little sting out of the price. Normally I’d wait for another retailer (for no tax) or some sales, but getting a band I want helped justify an impulse buy. And Apple Card 3% back and maybe Ratuken (formerly Ebates) 2% if that goes through and wasn’t just referring to Apple Pay cash back.

I’m sure I’ll be annoyed when S6 is a bigger upgrade but eh, going from S3 to S5 is still solid I figure. Wanted the S4 to begin with, and an always on screen forever. And can replace my slow rear end S2 beater watch with the S3.

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japtor
Oct 28, 2005

withak posted:

I got a decent Milanese loop knockoff from amazon but the product page doesn't exist any more. I think that knockoff brands are generally fly-by-night operations so you just have to play roulette.
And they’re probably all from the same manufacturer churning out all the knockoffs to begin with so not sure it matters all that much.

SeANMcBAY posted:

Those cases that make your watch look like a gshock are pretty cool. I'm gonna consider one of those when I start hiking again.
Not sure about cool but I have one on my older watch that I use for climbing...I went through a few watches/AppleCare replacements before I gave in to just putting a case on.

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