It’s that time of year again and the latest and greatest Apple gadgets are now in the wild. Among these is the newest Apple Watch, the Series 5, now with the much requested “always-on” display and a number of new apps, watch faces and features.

However, beyond the new display feature (which is a big deal) and a newly added compass, the Series 5 is virtually indistinguishable in looks, capability, and performance from last year’s model. It is a solid update but in my opinion not quite enough to justify an upgrade if you already own a Series 4.

Thankfully, the same operating system (watchOS 6) that comes in the new Series 5 is available as a free install and is compatible with Apple Watch models as early as Series 1. This software update significantly enhances the feature set of previous generations and basically makes those watches like new again.

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