VoiceOver Performance on Apple Watch Series

By Bo, 22 September, 2017

Forum
watchOS and Apple Watch Apps

Hi,

I'm running with the original Apple Watch, Series 0 I suppose it is. Right off the bat I found VoiceOver to be somewhat sluggish at times, even just reading the time. As of Watch OS 4, it seems pretty slow to respond. I know that even the Series 1 has an upgraded processor, as has every series since.

My general question is, what have other people's experiences been with the newer series Apple Watch and VoiceOver responsiveness?

Thanks,

Options

Comments

By That Blind Canuck on Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 22:59

Well, I bought a Series 1 last year and at the moment, I find it somewhat snappy. Well, when swiping, it responds well enough, no major lag but then again, I haven't installed Watch OS 4 yet. Even after seeing last week's keynote, I don't find the need to upgrade to a Series 3, going to wait another year or two. I am hoping that once I put Watch OS 4, the watch will still run smoothly as it does now.

By Travis Roth on Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 22:59

I just got a Series 3 (WiFi model) today so I've not done that much other than set it up. I have had the original Apple watch since it was released. The original was never fast and I've experienced more lag over the OS releases. My most annoying was at times it would ignore my taps such as making me enter my PIN twice, or not responding when the Workout app was running. My initial impression of Series 3 is the performance is much better as one would expect. It wakes up more quickly and so far responds to my taps the first time. As Apple mentioned Siri also speaks though VoiceOver users already got feedback so I am not sure you would notice a huge change. Other than on my original model it was difficult to get Siri to do anything at all especially in WatchOS 3, it did improve slightly in WatchOS 4.
So yes I believe you will notice an improvement. If it is worth the cost depends on your personal use case, and so forth, that story has not changed. Hope this helps.

By Bo on Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 22:59

Thanks both Blinken and Travis. It's good to know that even Series 1 improved on it. Of course, I'd be leaning toward the series 3 stainless steel model, since I believe it still uses the sapphire crystal. My original is the same, and held up through my clumbsiness exceedingly well.

With that said, I probably doomed my original to a horrible horrible industrial accident over this coming weekend.