Are current watches good? I genuinely don't know and am interested. I hadn't gotten one because I was an early iPhone adopter (Gen 1), but haven't been willing to be an early adopter since then. But I would like a watch, if they are good now.
I'm sure the later ones are also great, but as of Apple Watch 4, they are quite compelling depending on what your needs are. From a fitness / voice assistant button on the wrist, getting notifications without pulling your phone out standpoint the Series 4 and later are all fantastic.
I find them exceptional for a somewhat narrow range of activities (I love going on a run or hike navigating by my Apple Watch while streaming whatever music I want in the world to my AirPods - no phone, nothing to carry), and only slightly useful for a broad range of other things (notifications, weather, etc - conveniences).
What I love best with my Apple Watch is that I can respond to Duo/Okta/BankId directly from my watch and don't have to look for my phone or pull it out of my pocket.
Yep. They've been great since v7 or so. My S0 watch was... something. Apps took forever to load. Battery life sucked. The UI was still clearly highly experimental. Now even complex apps like OmniFocus launch instantly, and I charge my Ultra every other day. In short, it's a mature product now and works like it's supposed to, without qualifications like "...eventually".
I think Apple was smart to focus on Fitness and Health monitoring because that's about the only thing I've found immensely useful with my watch.
Apart from that, yesterday I just played Pickleball with a guy who used his apple watch to keep score. It was a little odd at times but seemed like a cool use.
