The Apple Watch just went from being a geeky gadget to something we’d recommend to absolutely anyone…
APPLE'S latest smartwatch is now available to buy around the world – but is it any good?
I’ve spent a week with the new Apple Watch Series 4, and I’m convinced that for the first time ever, it’s more exciting than the iPhone.
The Apple Watch launched in 2015 to fairly middling reception.
People moaned about the battery life, said it looked stupid, and even questioned why it needed to exist.
Fast-forward three years and the Apple Watch is now not only the best selling smartwatch in the world…but the best-selling watch.
The Apple Watch 4 is the latest version, and I think it’s the most important model since the first edition.
The Apple Watch 4 is the first proper re-design of the watch.
Apple has extended the display by a few millimetres in length and width, and shrunken its depth.
This means you end up with a display that’s 32% to 35% bigger (depending on which size you get), but with a watch that’s volumetrically smaller.
The new svelte design isn’t just about looks, of course.
The screen’s added real estate meant Apple was able to cram more stuff onto it.
Text is larger and virtual buttons appear bigger, which is great news for everyone.
There’s also an exclusive new Infograph watch face, which has a record eight complications.
Complications is a term borrowed from proper watches, and basically means any additional feature beyond simply telling the time.
You can customise these complications yourself. I’ve got one set to tell me when the sun rises, and another to highlight current UV levels. I’m a pale guy, okay?
The Infograph face may look a little cluttered for you, so it’s handy that all the original watch faces are still available to use too.
Apple has also tweaked the Digital Crown on the side of the device to offer haptic feedback.
That’s a fancy phrase that basically means you “feel” the dial when you turn it, rather than it gliding around smoothly. It’s a sort of vibratory click to let you know how fast you’re turning the dial, and it’s surprisingly useful.
Although the Apple Watch 4 is bigger, we should note that all your old straps will still work with the new model.
Apple has kept the best bits of the watch, and then made improvements, and I’m mighty impressed.
It looks good, folks.
Apple’s latest smartwatch is fitted with a new S4 dual-core processor and GPU.
It promises to be twice as fast, which is hard to measure in practice.
What I can say, however, is that navigating around the watch was smooth and fluid, and apps launched quickly enough for me not to notice anything awry.
There’s also a new W3 wireless chip and Bluetooth 5.0 support, which means general connectivity across the device is improved. This was most notable during set-up – it shaved a few minutes off the overall syncing time.
The standard watch costs £399, but you can pay £499 for a cellular-enabled LTE version.
This lets you do a bunch of stuff even when you’re away from your phone, like making phone calls, streaming music, and even playing Apple Podcasts (a first for the Apple Watch).
Apple has boosted the speaker loudness by 50%, too.
This is very noticeable and makes hands-free calling much easier. It’s also good for chatting to Siri too, if you’re into the whole speaking-to-your-wrist-in-public thing.
The Apple Watch 4 gains loads of new features simply by virtue of running Apple’s latest watchOS 5 software.
There are loads of genuinely useful features bundled into the update, but my favourite is the Walkie-Talkie app.
It does what it says on the tin, really. Once you’re connected to your mate, you can simply tap the on-screen button and chat away to them, just like a regular walkie-talkie.
This worked great for summoning cups of tea from the kitchen (assuming you have a loving and forgiving partner).
For the less lazy, you’ll probably enjoy automatic workout detection, which should really have been available back in 2015.
Since the original model launched, runners have had to manually log their activity – while rival devices, like Nokia’s Withings watches, understand that you’ve started exercising, and would track it.
Now Apple has caught up, and will automatically detect when you’re doing a bunch of different activities, walking and running included.
Apple has also added two new work-out modes for mindful types: yoga and hiking.
You’ve always been able to share your activity with friends, but it’s now also possible to run competitions with them too. Just make sure you only pick sloth-like pals so you feel like a winner every time.
The last cool watchOS 5 feature I want to mention is Siri.
Siri isn’t new to the watch, but it’s been improved. Now you can simply raise your wrist and start speaking to your watch, and Siri will respond – because she understands you want to chat with her.
I haven’t had her launch accidentally yet – so far so good.
Where Apple is really winning is on health, however.
The Apple Watch 4 has an electrical heart sensor that lets you take an electrocardiogram (ECG). It’s not available in the UK yet, but it will be – eventually.
This can help you detect if you’ve got any issues with your heart rhythm, which can be a warning sign for serious illnesses.
It’ll even produce a proper PDF for you, which you can take to your doctor. That’ll be easier than waving your wrist at her aggressively next time you’re at the GP.
The heart rate sensor has been retained, too. However it can now ping you with a notification when it detects you’ve got a suddenly lowered heart rate.
If your heart rate is below a specified threshold for 10 minutes, it’ll notify you – and once again, you can go complain to the doc.
Probably the coolest new heart rate feature is fall detection.
Apple captured 250,000 days worth of data from 2,500 people to build up a profile of what falling looks like.
Now your Apple Watch can use the built-in accelerometer and gyroscope to detect when you’ve tripped over, and will create a pop-up on your watch.
You’ll be able to use this pop-up to initiate a call to the emergency services, or dismiss it completely.
If the Apple Watch detects that you’ve remained motionless for a whole minute, it’ll place an emergency call automatically – and a message with your location gets sent straight to your phone’s emergency contacts.
This feature is turned off by default, unless you’re over the age of 65.
It’s almost certain to save a life eventually, which is admittedly more useful than the Walkie-Talkie app now that I think about it…
This is the first time the Apple Watch hasn’t felt, to me, like a gadget for enthusiasts – but a must-have piece of kit that could eventually rival the iPhone for importance.
Smartphones, or something similar, will always be necessary – we need big interfaces to consume lots of information.
But the Apple Watch is permanently attached to you, which means it can look after you in ways the iPhone never could.
I truly believe that the Apple Watch will revolutionise health care.
This is a consumer device that can track your heart rate, perform ECGs at home, and even call emergency services when you fall over. And this is only the beginning.
As it improves, the Apple Watch will almost certainly find more ways to save your life, and suddenly the £399 price tag doesn’t seem so high any more.
It also looks great and tells the time, so we can’t really complain.
★★★★★
What do you think of the Apple Watch Series 4? Let us know in the comments!
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