Something horrible happened a little after the new Apple Watch Series 9 came out.
My watch, an almost three-year-old Series 6, would make a weird sound whenever I touched
the screen.
It felt loose right up until the moment when I could pull it off entirely.
The screens come off. How'd that happen?
It is weird. I'm not sure if it's the battery expanding or if all that COVID hand-washing soap ate
away the adhesive, but I can't use my Apple Watch anymore.
Hmm. That does bring up an interesting question.
Should I fix my three-year-old Series 6 Apple Watch, or is the Series 9 compelling enough
for me to buy a new one?
One thing I've been curious about since starting this job is the longevity of Apple products.
It's why I refrained from upgrading to the 2nd Gen AirPods Pro despite them being so
much better. It's why I'm back to using this iPhone 12 mini every day, and it's why I kept using
the Apple Watch Series 6 until now. There have been many upgrades to the Apple Watch in the past three years, but none of
them have really moved the needle for me, except for the bigger screen maybe.
There were a few periods where my batteries below 90% capacity state would leave me stranded
at the end of the day, but somehow that would fix itself after an OS update.
So even three years later, while my life would improve with the battery replacement, I could
live without one. But we're getting close.
I can't, however, live with the screen coming off. So I booked a battery replacement appointment at the Apple Store in hopes that they would
simply fix the battery and screen in one go. I mean, half the work is done, right?
Well, I did make an appointment for a battery replacement.
We don't do any repairs on the watch. It's pretty old.
We would replace it. Hmm. And it's going to take a few days as well.
But what about getting a new Apple Watch Series 9 instead?
There are improvements here. The new S9 chip, which you should know is the first actual CPU upgrade in years.
A new gesture interaction method called DoubleTap.
An ultra-wideband upgrade and new for 2024, a deactivated blood oxygen sensor, only for
Americans. Ah, yes. That story.
Basically last year, the U.S. International Trade Commission, ITC, ruled that Apple violated
two blood oxygen sensor patents owned by Masimo, a health technology company that also owns
Bowers and Wilkins for some reason. Anyway, Apple is appealing this ruling, but they have been denied the request that the
import ban be lifted for the duration of the appeal.
Not even Joe Biden was willing to veto the ruling. So that's why Apple has deactivated the sensor, and it could take upwards of a year for this
to get fully resolved. That would have been a point for my old Series 6, which was the first to introduce the feature.
But for the fact that here in Canada, the blood oxygen sensor is still functional on
new watches. Well, sort of. I skimmed over some studies to see how well the Apple Watch compares to conventional pulse
oximeters, which read from the tip of your finger, which is a more accurate place to measure.
Hmm, unsuccessful. Well, while the Apple Watch can provide accurate readings, it can also provide scary low readings
in healthy individuals too. It's why Apple's website has the fine print that says,
The blood oxygen app is for wellness purposes only, and not for medical use.
It's why Masimo's CEO is amusingly saying that users are better off without it.
And it's why I don't care. Speaking of the tip of your finger, simply by pinching it twice with your thumb, you
can do simple actions with your Apple Watch using double tap.
Be it answering your phone, scrolling through your widgets, controlling music, and dealing
with messages. It's very low res, only able to activate one thing depending on your state.
Only for a few false positives, it does work quite well.
But despite wearing this watch for months, I have yet to be in a situation where my hands
are full and it helps. Though I will say if I was a jogger, which I am not, double tapping to skip a song while
jogging would be really convenient. Oh, they'll be aware that's not the default setting.
The upgraded ultra-wideband chip will help you precision find your iPhone should you
misplace it. But because it's only supported on the U2 chip, only users of an iPhone 15 and newer
can take advantage of it. I think one of the biggest reasons why you'd want to get a Series 9 is because of the chip
upgrade. It's noticeably faster than my Series 6, doing just about everything.
Apple tends to support devices with significant chip jumps the longest, though at this point
software support clearly outlives the battery and adhesive anyway.
To reduce their carbon emissions calculations with the Series 9, Apple no longer sells any
leather watch bands. Instead, we get the fine woven magnetic link band.
It is indeed fine, but I'm really going to miss Apple's take on leather.
Luckily, if you do want a leather watch band, consider this video's sponsor, Bandwork.
Oh, I got an email from Apple.
Four days late. We need to hear from you.
Our technicians have completed a diagnostic repair of your product.
I don't like the sound of this. Well, it turns out that according to Apple's technicians, my Apple watch has a damage slash
dent slash gouge on the display. No, the adhesive came off.
This means that my $100 battery replacement has been categorized as a $400 other damage,
which is the same price as a new Series 8 at openbox.ca.
And because I'm dealing with the bureaucratic nature of big, I have a large powerful corporation,
I cannot appeal. I can, however, ask questions.
Here's one. Should we reform the ITC court so that Apple can only ask questions about their patent
infringement ruling?
I don't know if you noticed, but I'm actually wearing the first Mac Address merch on LTTstore.com.
It's the Steve Turtleneck, and it comes in tall sizes.
Apple's reticence to repair my watch comes from the fact that they don't repair anything,
only replace. And that's so strange to me. Watch repair has been a part of timekeeping for centuries, and yet the largest company
in the world can engineer a watch that they would feel confident repairing.
Apple made a big deal that this watch with the woven band is completely carbon neutral.
And that's great. But I mean, repairing a watch emits way less emissions than replacing one.
Hi, I'm here to pick up a repair.
Since the Genius Bar is useless, I'm going to go to an independent repair shop.
I wasn't expecting this to become a repairability gripe video, but alas, it's taken almost
two weeks for Apple to support me. Another repair shop will fix my Apple watch in a few hours, despite Apple's onerous
restrictions on parts and access to manuals.
It's good to have the old watch back, and for almost $75 as well.
Now, I do have to admit, it wasn't the cleanest repair. I did have to remove some excess adhesive from the digital crown, and I have to accept
that water resistance isn't guaranteed. But like, after three years, it clearly didn't hold up from the factory either.
The battery, however, is performing quite well. Though I think the Series 9 is a little better.
This in spite of the fact I was using the smaller model. I do, however, much prefer the larger size of my older Apple watch, even if the thicker
bezels means this old screen is only marginally bigger than the smaller Series 9.
I'm also missing out on the on-screen keyboard.
The decision between fixing this old Apple watch and replacing it with a $400 new one,
for me, is easy. Fix it.
The battery is a consumable, like car tires, and Apple watches get five years of software
updates now, so everyone can expect one battery replacement in their watch's lifespan.
Except maybe Apple.
After five years, the new Apple watch might look more compelling when this model is no
longer supported, and this replaced battery is no longer holding a charge.
But until then, I'm going to keep using this, because it's great.
Thanks for not replacing this Mac Address. If you want to watch another video we did on the Apple watch, you can watch the one
where I used this one, which is a cellular model, as my only mobile device for a week.
The result was surprising, and I'm curious in the comments below how long you've been
using your Apple watches for, and if you've replaced the battery.