• Hardware
  • Wearables / Apple Watch / iWatch ?

Hey Gang,

Haven't posted in a while - had a lot of personal stuff going on, but haven't forgotten about you all. I'll have a more general "state of my eyes" thread shortly, but...

I've been fitness tracking (NEEEEED to lose weight) for a while. A few years ago I had a Microsoft Band 2, which I loved and had no problems looking at, but MS got out of that game. Then I used a Gear Fit, and then a Gear Fit 2. But having switched to an Apple phone (I currently use an iPhone 7+ and will soon upgrade to an iPhone 8+, with the Techarmor Matte from Skinomi) the Gear Fit was just not cutting it. So I switched to Apple Watch.

At first, the display was really so-so for me. And even now I'm not convinced it's great, but it's usable as... a watch, and a step counter. For the 5 seconds I look at it, it is perfectly fine.

But it's a first-gen watch. And it's getting old/slow/bad. So I'm going to upgrade.

And here's where the issues kick in. Currently, Apple sells two watches. The Series 3 and the Series 5. The 3 ought to be pretty similar to the 1 - same casing, same screen (I guess?) but faster chip and better sensors. And cellular. And on-board storage for music. So, kinda neat.

But the Series 5 is MUCH thinner, and ostensibly a better watch. That said, it has an "always on" screen. I'm not thrilled by this idea, since it reeks of the newest iPhones (which are tolerable to me for only short intervals), but maybe it isn't so bad?

I'm going to go to an AT&T store and play with them both, compared to my Series 1, just to see how they look (like, if the 5 gives me instant headaches, then that's one question answered) but do any of you have any experience here? Own either device?

(The Series 4, which is no longer sold new, has the same screen (ostensibly) as the Series 5, but not "always on" so might have been a safer middle ground...)

Before anyone asks, the biggest reason I'm looking into a 5 is that the speaker and sensors are much better - it has an EKG/ElectroGalvanic heart monitor instead of the optical one (although the optical one is probably fine), and better sensors and waterproofing, etc. etc.

Thanks in advance!

  • KM likes this.

Did a quick google and found an apple thread comparing the screen on the Series 5 to the X, strain-wise. So, probably tolerable but for extended use I'd want to stick with the 3, it seems. Which is too bad, the 4/5 have much sexier sensors. But perhaps the 6, when it comes out, will have a more 11-ish screen. I mean, it's unclear if the 5 could be made better through a skinomi filter. I really just don't know enough about it, and it's a pricey toy to be unsure about.

I'm looking for a fitness band, too. It seems some of them use a transflective display, which in theory could be very usable.

    KM I own Garmin Tactix with sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel display. The display hurts my eyes in seconds when lights are on.

    11 days later

    So I'm definitely finding that the Apple Watch Series 3 induces more eyestrain for me than the Series 1 did. The displays have the same resolution but the Series 3 is noticeably brighter. I am going to try intentionally making it dimmer to see if that helps. Apparently they introduced the brighter backlight in Series 2. It's still usable for short periods, but definitely makes my eyes immediately more tired after using it even just to send a quick text or check my email.

    dev