From Series 5 to Series 6 is a huge jump. Details inside.

[bluegt]

Be careful with battery life increase, when you compare a brand new device with a one year old device.
My S5 has been replaced after 11 months, and I have noticed the new one has a better battery life.
Batteries degrade slowly but certainly. After one year, you don't have the same capacity.

Battery can be seen in Settings > Battery > Battery Health.

My S5 was still at 98% after a year... I don't think a year old watch will have a significantly degraded battery...

 

[rbart]

With 98%, you have lost some capacity (and apple indicator is very optimistic, when you have an iPhone with a 85% battery, it's almost dead).
I have compared my one year old S5 with a brand new S5 (same setup), the new one is better. At the end of the day, I have more battery remaining.

 

[eagleglen]

I was running both WatchOS 6, and then WatchOS 7 as soon as it came out for my Series 5, and yes, it was noticeably faster with UI transitions mainly, and that was a huge help. But, Just Press Record still remained laggier than I’d like. And the point of that app is to simply tap the button and you‘re recording, so when you get lag and you can’t tell for a second... or two... or three... if it worked or not, it gets annoying fast. I’m so happy to say that all aspects of the app are instantaneous again on my S6. I’m not a paid shill or anything, it’s just one of the main reasons I got the Apple Watch in the first place. I suppose to be fair I’ll compare it to Dark Sky, which is a hybrid stock/non-stock app at this point? Yes, it loaded faster too. Much faster. Stock Stocks app was also much faster.

And I browse the web on my watch mostly via MiniWiki, and cursory searches for front page news when pulling out my phone just won’t do.

Honestly though I didn’t use it as much as I’d always wanted to since it was so painfully slow. I’ll definitely be using it more now, as Siri now responds like some kind of wonderful mechanical woman with alacrity, and she (and Safari) seems snappier.

Great descriptions. I use an app called Drafts and it has a complication that now works beautifully on my series 6. I too had the beta on my s5, and this is indeed a much more natural interaction, now that it’s faster.

I also very much appreciate the ability to tap a complication without waking the Watch up first. I hardly see that mentioned, but it’s a great addition feature for those that use the Watch extensively. Any reduction in taps and time, is worthwhile.

 

[rbart]

...

I also very much appreciate the ability to tap a complication without waking the Watch up first. I hardly see that mentioned, but it’s a great addition feature for those that use the Watch extensively. Any reduction in taps and time, is worthwhile.

It's not a Series 6 feature, but a watchOS7 feature.

 

[Monkswhiskers]

Battery can be seen in Settings > Battery > Battery Health.

My S5 was still at 98% after a year... I don't think a year old watch will have a significantly degraded battery...

Hmm interesting, my S4 is 92% after 14months (applecare+ replacement) should I be concerned?

 

[The Game 161]

My issue with my series 5 was only battery related...so no better than last years model then?

 

[deeddawg]

My issue with my series 5 was only battery related...so no better than last years model then?

I'm seeing S6 battery life on par with what I had on S5.

Considering the specification is unchanged, there shouldn't be any expectation of a difference.

I think it's pretty clear that Apple's intention is that it is charged each day.

 

[bluegt]

Hmm interesting, my S4 is 92% after 14months (applecare+ replacement) should I be concerned?

Remaining life has a lot to do with charging behaviour. E.g., allowing a battery to fully discharge / charge up to 100% can have detrimental effects. Also, storing a watch at 100% can also have detrimental effects...

The new optimized charging feature avoids the watch being at 100% for too long so that will help everyone with battery health.

 

[AJ44]

S0-S2-S3-S4-S5-S6

I’ve been through all of them, S5 to S6 I’ve noticed barely any difference with the internals, the least of any generation upgrade by far. I’m happy with my upgrade though to get SBTI and Product Red.

 

[drew0020]

S0-S2-S3-S4-S5-S6

I’ve been through all of them, S5 to S6 I’ve noticed barely any difference with the internals, the least of any generation upgrade by far. I’m happy with my upgrade though to get SBTI and Product Red.

I agree that the difference between the S5 and S6 is minute, I think the S4 and S5 were exactly the same.

 

[chanerz]

Well my wife bought the S6 for my bday. I really like it compare to my S5. Now my wife has my S5.

 

[iSheep5S]

My S5 and S6 are pretty much the same age and the S6 has a better battery, enough to be noticeable.

 

[rpramanik]

I’m going from a S0 to S6.

hoping to notice a few differences.

me too.. awaiting delivery eagerly.
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Well my wife bought the S6 for my bday. I really like it compare to my S5. Now my wife has my S5.

Likely what she wanted out of your bday

 

[edhchoe]

I agree that the difference between the S5 and S6 is minute, I think the S4 and S5 were exactly the same.

Aod

 

[russell_314]

I don’t understand why people are beating this guy up for posting his experiences with his new watch. He’s not being critical of people that aren’t upgrading or forcing anyone to upgrade. This is exactly what the forms are supposed to be about.

I’ll be upgrading from my S4 to a S6 soon. The only decision I have to make is stainless steel and leather or black aluminum and sport band. I could get the stainless model for when I’m not at work and keep wearing my aluminum S4 for work

 

[LFC2020]

I’ll be upgrading from my S4 to a S6 soon. The only decision I have to make is stainless steel and leather or black aluminum and sport band. I could get the stainless model for when I’m not at work and keep wearing my aluminum S4 for work

Blue aluminum all day every day 😍😜

Honestly can’t go wrong with either choice, if I was upgrading from a series 4, I’d get the cheaper model since their isn’t a big difference between the s4-s6, then next year go all out on the series 7 redesign
💃🕺👀⌚️

 

[drew0020]

Aod

Good call. I meant to say from a performance stand point. Sorry about that!

 

[mrwilly25]

Upgraded from S4 to S6, due to connecting to 5 ghz WiFi, transferring music took half the time it would normally take my S4

 

[perezr10]

I don’t understand why people are beating this guy up for posting his experiences with his new watch.

I think when he said “browsing the web was so much faster“ on the Series 6, he lost all credibility with the crowd. After that whopper, it wasn’t going to go well for him.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I don’t understand why people are beating this guy up for posting his experiences with his new watch. He’s not being critical of people that aren’t upgrading or forcing anyone to upgrade. This is exactly what the forms are supposed to be about.

Probably because the post was written with a confrontational tone. Their use of language suggesting people were ‘unimaginative’ and ‘liars’ if they didn’t agree with him, doesn’t exactly set a positive mood....

 

[sdz]

I like the quicker charging from S5 to S6.
Now you can really enjoy the bed time feature.

In the morning I can charge my watch s6 from 33% to 67% within half an hour of time. Ideal for showering, get dressed, drink coffee...

in general s5 should not upgrade IMHO. Too little to expensive.

 

[AJ44]

I agree that the difference between the S5 and S6 is minute, I think the S4 and S5 were exactly the same.

I think the improvements from S0 to S3 were so large we don’t notice near as much the changes in the models since. To me S0 was the proof of concept, S2 the prototype and S3 the dream realized, the improvements were that large. I still rock my S3 Ceramic occasionally and it’s still pretty fast on the latest Watch OS.

 

[Mattstrete]

I don’t understand why people are beating this guy up for posting his experiences with his new watch. He’s not being critical of people that aren’t upgrading or forcing anyone to upgrade. This is exactly what the forms are supposed to be about.

I’ll be upgrading from my S4 to a S6 soon. The only decision I have to make is stainless steel and leather or black aluminum and sport band. I could get the stainless model for when I’m not at work and keep wearing my aluminum S4 for work

I thought I'd chime [excuse the pun] in with my experience: I have just upgraded from a space grey aluminium S4 to a silver stainless steel S6 and am very happy with the change. I would be happy to elaborate should you be interested in my thoughts.

 

[russell_314]

I think when he said “browsing the web was so much faster“ on the Series 6, he lost all credibility with the crowd. After that whopper, it wasn’t going to go well for him.

Well since I don't own an S6 yet I can't really comment about the speed of web browsing. I have my phone with me everywhere so I don't really use my watch for that.

 

[russell_314]

Probably because the post was written with a confrontational tone. Their use of language suggesting people were ‘unimaginative’ and ‘liars’ if they didn’t agree with him, doesn’t exactly set a positive mood....

True but I think one would have to focus on that spefic negitive part rather than the mostly positive post. This is a tech forum though so some people will do that I guess.