Whie I was on a trip to Ottawa, I found a 45mm Apple Watch Series 7 for $200CAD ($140USD) on Facebook Marketplace. I decided to snab that because at that point my Series 3 was begging to be replaced. It had nothing physically wrong with it, it's still in almost perfect condition despite being dropped off a roof, (accidentially) almost set on fire, banged against numerous concrete walls and taken into pools with skeevy amounts of chlorine and a saltwater pool at one point. It was just getting really slow, and with it being 3.5 years outside of official software support, I figured I might as well stop postponing an upgrade like I have been doing for the past 3 years ("I'll upgrade next year", I said 3 years ago) and get the Series 7.
To give you an idea on how long I've had the Series 3, I had that since I converted to iOS from Android in 2022. People were still raving that the iPhone SE (1st generation) was still fully supported on iOS 15 at that point. It's probably the longest I've kept a tech item without replacing it. But anyways, as for the Series 7, I made the purchase in the Apple Store in the Rideau Mall (Optimal place to buy it ngl). The band that the seller gave me it with was genuinely the most disgusting thing I've ever held. Did I try it on anyways with that band? Hell yeah I did!!! (I ate grass when I was 5 so my immune system is probably used to it at this point, not to mention I never got COVID)
Luckily for me, I was in an Apple Store at that point. So I decided to brace my (Apple) wallet and buy the Blue/Orange Nike Sport Band that Apple released alongside the Apple Watch Series 9 in 2023. I've wanted that band for the longest time, but I knew I was going to be upgrading at some point, and when I did upgrade, it was going to be a 45mm watch. $59+GST (13%) well spent. Not to mention, the watch is blue so it matches the watch. I didn't know what I was missing being stuck on a sub-decade old Apple Watch. watchOS 9 came out with a bunch of new features right when the Series 3 was dropped for support from Apple so it was missing some of the cool features that have come out since 2022. That thing didn't even have widgets. I can only explain it like being on an iPhone 5 in 2019. iOS 11, 12 and 13 completely changed how iOS looks and works, and you're stuck on a phone that suddently feels so much more ancient.
The larger screen makes a huge difference. I could cover the screen of my Series 3 with my thumb, and the bezels always reminded me of the 2008-2017 MacBook Air's. Sure, the bezels are uniform, but they should've been so much thinner. With a 45mm display, I can actually use the watch for more than the occasional dim flashlight and workout tracking.
Keep your eyes out for the review I'll post on YouTube within the next few weeks.
