When it comes for smartwatches, it's Apple against the world. It's not that there aren't many other products to choose from - it's more that the company has simply completely dominated the space to such an extent that any other device is relegated to the realm of "Apple." Look at the alternatives. "
The company has been successful in space for the usual Apple reasons: premium hardware with deeply integrated software, third-party support, a large cross-device ecosystem and, of course, simplicity. Taken as a whole, the watch works right out of the box.
Five years after its launch, the line is quite mature. As such, it's not surprising, really, that recent updates are largely equivalent to refinements. As with most updates, the watch got a processor upgrade up to the A14 processor, which the company claims is 20% faster than the latest version.Perhaps the biggest hardware upgrade, however, is the addition of a blood oxygen sensor, an important element in the company's quest to offer the fullest possible picture of the wearer's health from the wrist.
I wrote quite a long piece on the watch last week after wearing it for a few days. As I said at the time, it was a weird kind of review, somewhere between practice and review. A week later, however, I feel more comfortable calling it a review, although not many of my initial impressions have changed much in the past few days. After all, a mature product largely means that most of the basics remain unchanged.
Series 6 certainly looks the part. The watch is difficult to distinguish from other recent models and, moreover, the new and significantly cheaper SE. The biggest visual change is the addition of new colors. In addition to the Gray and Gold standards, Apple has added new Blue and (Product) Red cases. The latter appears to be the most flashy of the pair. The company sent me a blue model, and honestly, it's a lot thinner than I expected. It's more of a deep blue hue, actually, which reads more like black most of the time.
It's hard to imagine the product undergoing some sort of radical rethinking of the device's design language at this point. We may see slight changes, including a larger screen area in the future, but overall, Apple is very committed to a form factor that has worked very well for it. I'll probably always prefer Samsung's rotating bezel as a quick way to interface with the OS, but the crown does the job well and scrolling through the menus also feels a bit faster this time around, perhaps because of that faster silicon.
The new Solo Loop bands had a little hitch out the gate. I've explained it a little more here, but I suspect much of the problem has been with the difficulty of selling a specific sized product during a strange period in history where in-person testing isn't really an option. In other words, just bad timing on that front.
Personally, I really like the braided pattern. I used it as my daily band. It's cool and melts so much better than the silicone model (frankly I've never been a huge fan of Apple's silicone bands). But I have to mention that Apple sent me a couple of different sizes, which made finding the right size much easier. I recognize it. Especially when the Braided Solo Loop costs quite an exorbitant $ 99. The silicone version is significantly cheaper at $ 49, but either way, you won't go cheap there. So you definitely want to make sure you get the right fit.
This is doubly important as the biggest novelty in the 6 Series - blood oxygen monitoring - hinges heavily on getting a good fit. The sensor uses a series of LEDs at the bottom of the watch to illuminate infrared and red light through the wearer's skin and into blood vessels. The color of the reflected light gives the watch an image of the oxygen levels in the blood. The whole operation takes about 15 seconds, but it only works if your fit is correct. Even with the correct Solo Loop, I found myself having to repeat it a couple of times when I started wearing the watch.
In addition to on-demand measurements, the watch will also take readings throughout the day and night, mapping these trends over time and incorporating them into sleep readings. The overall readings will give you a good picture of your numbers over time. Honestly though, I have a feeling this is really just the tip of the iceberg of future features.
For now, there's really no specific guidance - or context - given as to what the numbers mean. Mine are generally between 90-100%. The Mayo Clinic tells me that's okay, but of course there are many different factors and variations that can't be properly contextualized in a single paragraph or on a clock. And Apple certainly doesn't want to be accused of trying to diagnose a condition or offer specific medical guidance. This will be an increasingly difficult line for the company to walk as it becomes more serious about this type of healthcare tool.
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the combination of sleep monitoring in watchOS 7 and the on-board oximeter opens the door quite well for something like sleep apnea monitoring (again, more focused on irregularity alerts than on diagnosis). We've seen a small handful of companies like Withings tackle this problem, so it seems like a no-brainer for Apple, pending all regulatory requirements, et al. There are all kinds of other conditions that blood oxygen levels could potentially alert the wearer, if not actually diagnosed.
Sleep was probably the biggest addition with the latest version of watchOS. This was probably the biggest blind spot for the line, compared to the competition. At the moment, sleep tracking is, admittedly, still pretty straightforward. Like much of the rest of the onboard monitoring, it is mostly confronted with changes over time. Metrics include time in bed versus time you sleep, as well as incorporating heart rate data from regular sensor checks. More specific failures, including deep versus light versus REM sleep have not yet arrived, but they will undoubtedly come sooner or later.
The door is also wide open for Apple to really get the right awareness. The company has been incorporating an awareness reminder for some time now, but it's easy to imagine how adding various sensors like heart rate can really improve the image and find the company going all-in on meditation. et al. The company could partner with a big name in meditation or, more likely, break things off with their own offering. The upcoming offering of Fitness + could also play an important role in the growth of that category.
The other issue that sleep brings to the fore is battery life. I relied on the company to make leaps and bounds in the battery department - after all, a large part of sleep tracking is ensuring you have enough charge to get through the night. However, Apple only briefly touched on the battery a recent disassembly revealed some small improvements in battery capacity (perhaps due, in part, to the space freed up by the fall of Force Touch).
The company has also made some energy efficiency improvements, thanks to the new silicon. The official literature puts it in a "full day" ofbattery life, up to 18 hours. I found that I was able to spend a whole day with some juice in reserve. Okay, but the company still has some ground to catch up on that front, compared to, say, the Fitbit Sense, which is able to get nearly a paid week. I think at this point it's okay to keep wearables with higher battery life standards than, say, phones. More than once, I've found myself charging the device intermittently - 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there - to get enough juice before bed.
If you can save more time, you should be able to get up to 80% in an hour or 100% in an hour and a half, thanks to faster wireless charging. All in all, the company was able to significantly reduce the charging time, a definite plus now that you don't leave it alone overnight to charge. The latest version of watchOS will also let you know sooner if you don't have enough power to survive a whole night.
Other updates include the addition of the always-on altimeter, which, along with the brighter screen, doesn't seem to have had a major impact on the battery. I'll be honest, being stuck in the city for the past few months hasn't given me much reason to need real-time elevation stats. While the feature is a nice step forward to take the watch a little more seriously as an outdoor accessory in a realm that has been largely dominated by the likes of Garmin.
Of course, the company now has three watches on the market, including the Series 3, which keeps ticking, and the low-cost SE. The latter retains the 6 Series design, but ditches a number of key sensors, which honestly should be perfectly sufficient for many users - and $ 170 less than the 6's $ 399 starting price ($ 499 with mobile) .
Taken as a whole, the 6 Series is not a huge leap forward from the 5 Series and not really worth the upgrade for those who already own that recent vintage. But there are nice improvements throughout, augmented by good updates to watchOS that make the best-selling smartwatch much better, clearly setting the stage for the Apple Watches of the future.