Amazing price.
Have one. But do not like having to recharge it often. Regret buying it. My phone is more useful.
Not really. If these have been warehoused a long time, the battery health may be impacted.
These come with the 1 year Apple warranty which means that they are most likely eligible for the Apple Care plans.
Yep, as I posted in a topic for S9(?) Apple Watch, I think the Apple warranty covers the battery 100% if it falls below … 80% battery health during the warranty period? Please check Apple site to confirm. (To check Battery Health, click Settings on the Watch, then Battery, Battery Health.) On a new Watch, never activated, it can take a week or two for the WatchOS to start determining Battery Health based on use and some charge cycles.
For NOS like this is, the battery is probably very low and will need 2-3 hours charging before turning on to activate/connect with an iPhone.
I’ve not had a Watch go below like 85% and that was after 2-3 years of daily use as my only Watch. I traded in my first Watch, a S6 Wifi model, after 3 years, still had more than 80% battery health.
I am genuinely curious why you and others like Apple watches. I understand some like them and would appreciate a civil answer sans snark. I have in fact gifted them to half a dozen family members and purchased them for self.
But on serious reassessment, find them unattractive, poor in duration of charge, and not a substitute for a smart phone and other specialized devices that do some of the specialized functions such as SpO2 tracking and logging with alarm if needed, continuously without attention far better.
First smart watch I tried was the Pebble with my Google Nexus 4 or 5. Really liked it, but it didn’t do very much. Returned it.
Tried a Samsung smart watch from Costco, and it did more, but I quickly figured out that Samsung replaced several of the core Google Android Wear apps with their own, that only worked well with a Samsung phone. (By that time I was sporting a Nexus 5.) Ended up about the only thing I could use regularly was the bezel to advance or rewind music. Meh. Returned it.
When I got an iPhone for work and let my Nexus 5 retire, I started paying more attention to the Apple ecosystem, and devices. Already had an Apple TV. 3 years later, I had a Mac Mini, Macbook Air, AirTags, etc. After watching the Apple Watch mature from a “new and barely finished” device to something with growing support, I tried it. I quickly found out that it’s not just a smart device, but a smaller computer with a few dozen apps. Timers, alarms, health monitoring and recording my medications (feeds data into the iOS Health app), getting messages, answering messages, getting notifications from work apps (Outlook, Webex), MFA and password recall (Okta worked for a while, then abandoned; 1Password fully supports the Watch including getting MFA tokens), recording workouts for later analysis, opening my garage door (MyQ), adjusting lights (Google Home, Homekit, and Feit apps), controlling the Apple TV (Remote app), yada yada yada. It took less than 30 days to figure out that the Watch had enormous potential as an extension of the iPhone (which could be anywhere in the house or car), and easier to access and use.
The Apple Watch 6 was good, but with the 7(?) and later, charging is faster, and the screen uses more of the face. Availability of straps and protective covers/bumpers, at affordable prices, further convinced me.
Compared with other watches like the Pebble, the Watch does need to go on a charger for a few minutes a day (e.g. while showering) to top off, as opposed to every few days. You can mitigate this by turning off the “always on” display, limiting apps 24/7 data refresh, location services, etc. Some Watch faces use more power, even older ones if you have complications that refresh every time you lift your wrist. Take those all off and access the data only when you need it (Smart Stack, or running the app), and the battery life probably extends.
You mentioned health logging, I wear a Watch while I sleep, and in last two WatchOS updates they’ve improved some of the data collection a lot, e.g. phases of my sleep and how long. In latest OS, they measure some vitals while I sleep, and when i was convalescing post-op, the data confirmed that I ran a slight fever for a day, and my heart rate and breathing deviated from the norm a little as well. All this is actually useful to me.
I don’t know … the ability to open & close my garage door when I go out to jog, and open it again when I return, is just cool. So easy.
HTH.
EDIT BTW the S9 and newer support double tap of thumb and finger to snooze alarms, stop timers, scroll the Smart Stack, other uses. Took me a while to get used to it but now do it all the time.
Also @andthentherewerenone reminded me that unlike many other smart “wearables” the Watch requires no subscription! As expensive as these things get, the “pay us every month to use the thing you bought from us “ model is a grift IMHO.
I’m still rocking the same S7 that I received as a gift a couple of years ago. At the time, it was replacing a FitBit Versa 2 that I had used for years, before becoming more and more disenchanted with the direction that they had gone.
My experience may be similar to some of what @davidbspalding has shared - It’s not really a valid “replacement” for a phone, but it is a uniquely balanced combination of functions that can still serve many people well; sort of a “Jack of All Trades - Master of None” situation…
There are better health trackers out there, whether you need O2, or more minute details about heart health, or more intense exercise options (scuba, or mountaineering are good examples where I leave the watch at home). But for the average person, you may not need all of the features within a FitBit, or you may dislike the ongoing subscriptions for Oura rings. For me, the basic workout tools, heart monitoring, and basics are covered enough… And they’re improving with updates, rather than declining.
A phone may do better at many communication functions, but there are also some conveniences to being able to just see a call or text without having to pull out the larger device from a pocket or a bag. I wouldn’t recommend trying to text much on a watch, but it is fine for simple replies. And similarly, it may not be as fully featured for smart home functions, but it is very nice to be able to activate scenes with lighting, or sprinklers, or get notifications about my cameras and doorbell just from the wrist. The immediacy is very cool. The tech nerd in me loves this.
As to the battery life - This is my #1 complaint, and my worst gripe about the experience. While the other functions are “good enough” for most of what I want to do, this is indeed one of the points where I will happily suggest that almost no one should pay full price for these, and I will acknowledge that the experience is very compromised. The Luddite in me hates this.
But all told, I could use several more function-specific devices to achieve a better overall picture, or list of functions (many of which would bother me due to subscriptions to unlock the best performance, concerns with privacy of data with parent companies, or subpar integration with other platforms)… But the ecosystem for the Apple Watch is still top-notch. If one can accept the battery life, and lesser performance as a fitness tracker, this is a good candidate as a companion to a phone; Not a full replacement. At least that is how I have seen the device.
Appreciate the good reply. Since my phone is almost always on me or inches away, it seems to be harder for me to justify. I am not wedded to the apply ecosystem (my workplace diehard applephiles all converted to Windows and android and literally control 300 PCs, 20+ servers, and track two out of state backup systems using Android phones). But I can see the utility of having a garage door opener on wrist and how it serves your life style. Thank you.
A balanced mixed review is here - also by someone who primarily is in the Apple ecosystem.
Like the author, I wish the watch looked better. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My child has a series of Apple watches I gifted. Daily changes out and often uses this in professional setting.
Thank you. I think it is superb and probably reigns supreme as a fitness tracker. I am retiring gradually and expect to use it more that way. It may become indispensable if I learn to and force myself to take care of myself more.
If you’re in your silver years, as I am, you may appreciate some of the functions the Apple Watch offers. Things like heart arrhythmia detection , fall detection, car collision detection, and other features designed for older folks… Does anyone remember those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up“ ads? Yyyyep.
I’m definitely with you on the always having my phone near me, particularly during the workday. I have an iPhone 13 mini that I carry with me with shopping because my work iPhone 14+ is just too big.But the Watch has made me able to leave my phone in my home office or my bedroom and still perform many functions: answering texts ( yes you can do this with the microphone dictation ), Getting notifications, even answering calls. I answered a phone call two days ago with just my watch and an AirPod and the phone wasn’t even on the same floor. Today I got a notification from Google home that my rear security camera detected a person on my patio. And on and on. You can even look at photographs and I’ll have to check this but I think I can view my Google home cameras from my watch.
We didn’t mention Apple Pay. I tried android pay about 10 years ago and was disappointed. But in the last two years, I found that I can pay for Coffee , groceries just about anything with the Watch just as I would with the phone. Believe me the first few times you pay for something just by double tapping a button on your watch and tapping it to the point of sale terminal, you’ll feel so spoiled. Also at my age being able to open up Google Keep or Reminders for a shopping list or to do list right on the watch and read them off is a real benefit.
Apple adds a lot of fitness improvements year over year. Your can record swim workouts (it can auto detect swimming, running, even fitness walks). Records your jog or outdoor walk performance without the phone nearby.
As I and @andthentherewerenone said, Jack of many trades.
I can see using it for health monitoring and exercise encouragement.
Not for payments. I do not even do that with a phone. Call me paranoid. But Steve Balmer, former CEO of Microsoft also discouraged it saying phone technology is more crackable than PCs/Macs and is not safe enough. Not everything to me has to be convergence technology. I would rather have layers of security and prefer not to have beacons or even bluetooth on most of the time. Location is off unless using Maps.
Btw notifications are super easy to manage, barely an inconvenience.
And yes the face IS like a pico nano Mac screen, but for a reason. I wear the smaller model to fit under shirt cuffs, but sometimes annoyed at the petite screen. You become accustomed to it.
One problem you won’t have like Google’s ecosystem: regularly abandoned apps and abilities. I’m so sick of Google retiring something I just finally mastered.
Certainly agree that abandoned apps or deprecated features (SpO2 even if forced by patent infringement lawsuit) are disheartening. My concern is not with notifications but rather intrusive tracking by beacons. While it can be turned off, I rather it not even exist as I see it solely there for marketers. It also has been abused with some people I know who were shocked their business only acquaintances retrieved phone and location data without their approval. I gave him info on how to turn it off. But it should have been default off and require active two step authentication to turn on for selective encounters.
Not sure what specifically you’re referring to but some of these permissions have to be explicitly approved in iOS. Applee denies tracking by default, many social media fought and died on that hill.
Ballmer’s a doofus. “Developers, developers, developers, developers.” 
His concerns on security are not unwarranted. There are about 3600 major breaches per year and banking and transactions are key targets. Several leading payment systems have had a lot of fraudulent charges.
Even NOAA is attacked 3000 times per day to try to crack as a backdoor.
I’m familiar with infosec, perhaps more than Ballmer. What this has to do with th Apple Watch, I don’t know.
We’ve told you lots. You can make your own decision. Good luck.
I get CISA and Homeland security feeds though I am not in IT thank you. Our IT dept does include me in security infrastructure decisions.
Beacons on are not something I want to even exist. Yes, they can be turned off. The person I advised had his on and was unaware. Apple Pay is more secure in that the card numbers and CSC code are not transmitted so that much is good. But ideally I want 2FA for all electronic transactions. I am fine with a little “inconvenience” and I do want notifications for every transaction (which I did set up). I never pay for gas or restaurant food with a credit card having had a hotel breach years ago was bad enough. Case load for breaches typically are 200+ per investigator and they are swamped.