New Apple Watches: Which Is Best For You?
September 16, 2020At this year’s event, Apple launched, not one, but two watches meant to appeal to a wider audience. They are the Series 6, and Watch SE. The former features a new dual core processor derived from iPhone 11’s A13 Bionic chip(20% faster than Series 5), integrated into a package that offers next-generation level of support. The latter, is a mishmash of the new and old.
These new watches will be sold alongside the aging Apple Watch Series 3, which is about 3 years old, now. The good news is that, each is priced differently with the Series 6 costing the most, followed by the SE and the Series 3. But which is best for you? Well, here’s what you need to know about these watches:
Apple Watch Series 6 ($399 for GPS version), ($499 for GPS+Cellular version)
It’s the most powerful Watch Apple has ever made. It features an always-on display that is 2.5 times brighter than before (when wrist is down). Notifications, changing watch faces and complications can be accessed without waking the screen. But the main standout feature is its ability to measure blood oxygen levels of the wearer. It can do this on demand, or periodically measure the metric.
Oxygen saturation, or SpO2, represents the percentage of oxygen being carried by red blood cells from the lungs to the rest of the body, and indicates how well this oxygenated blood is being delivered throughout the body. The data that the watch measures, can then be used to indicate the wearer’s overall fitness and wellness.
The blood oxygen sensor uses four clusters of green, red, and infrared LEDs, along with the four photodiodes on the back crystal to measure the blood oxygen levels between 70 % to 100%. This data will be saved within the health app, along with the rest of your fitness statistics.
There’s also the U1 chip and ultra wideband antennas, which offer better wireless location support for features like digital car keys. The watch only needs 1.5 hours to fully charge and lasts a full 18-hours on said charge. The improved barometric altimeter allows for an always-on altimeter, that provides continuous measurement of elevation.
Overall the watch comes with a wide range of colors and bands to match including the new solo loops. And for the first time, the watch comes in red, as part of its (PRODUCT) RED initiative. The Series 6 runs on WatchOS7, which offers more complications, watch faces and data tracking abilities.
Apple Watch SE ($279 for GPS version), ($329 for GPS + Cellular)
The SE designation is usually used to signify a more ‘affordable’ model. And that seems to be the case here. It’s Apple’s mix and match approach. So, the SE has the Series 5’s chip but the Series 6’s display, accelerometer, gyroscope, and always-on altimeter. It also gets fall detection, Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, and Noise app.
Besides this, Apple Watch SE features the latest speaker and microphone, which are optimized for better sound quality for phone calls, Siri, and Walkie-Talkie, and Bluetooth 5.0. The presence of the SE effectively makes the Apple Watch Series 3 the most affordable watch that Cupertino makes at the moment.
However, the SE is effectively 2 times faster than the Series 3, due to it having the Series 5’s chip. Visit the Apple store for more information.
