JOIN USApple Watch Series 6 review: Best smart wearable money can buy
Apple, earlier in the month, released the new Watch Series 6 in India. It is available with prices starting at Rs 40,900 on Apple Store online and at authorised retail chains across the country.
I have been using it for a week and here are my thoughts on Apple’s latest and most powerful smart wearable yet.
Design, build quality, and display
There is no significant difference between Series 5 and Series 6 in terms of exterior outlook. The latter sports a visually pleasing curved rectangular lozenge design language with Digital Crown (with haptic feedback), a Mic (2nd gen), and the Side Button on the right. On the opposite side, it has a 2nd gen speaker.
In total, Apple is offering 11 colours across three variants -- Aluminium, Stainless Steel and Titanium.
This year, Apple is bringing four new shades, two in Aluminium -- (PRODUCT) Red and Blue, while the premium Stainless Steel encased models come in Graphite and Gold finishes.
Also, Apple has introduced Solo Loop bands. It has a minimalistic design with no clasps or buckles. It comes in nine sizes and consumers can choose the size for their wrists on the Apple Store with simple steps.
Our review unit is Graphite Stainless Steel (44mm) model with a high-shine finish and it looks gorgeous in sunlight. The retail package comes with Milanese Loop, a fully magnetic stainless steel mesh strap. It is sturdy and exudes a premium hand feel.
If you have a thing for the yellow metal, you should check out the gold version. It is quite a looker and I have come to understand, Apple had to invent an entirely new coating process to match its natural colour.
Unlike the Aluminium models, which come with the Ion-X glass display, the stainless Steel/Titanium models come with a sturdier sapphire crystal screen. The latter is said to be more resistant to scratches and other damages. Also, it can survive underwater pressure up to 50 meters depth.
I am very clumsy when walking around the house and despite being in the same place for more than I decade, I continue to knock my toes to the furniture on daily basis. It's the same fate for my hands too. During the testing period, I had a minor scare. I accidentally brushed my wrist to a rusting metal mesh, while pulling out some gardening tools in my garage. And I am happy to note that there are no scratches on the Watch Series 6 so far.
The new Apple Watch comes in two sizes -- 44mm (368x448p) and 42mm (324x394p). Both come with LTPO (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) OLED Always-On Retina display with a peak brightness of 1000 nits.
One of the big upgrades we see in the new Watch is that its display is 2.5 times brighter than its predecessor. I did not face any pressing issues while viewing messages or any information such as time and weather details on the compact screen even under direct sunlight. With watchOS 7, users get more watch faces and customisation options than ever before.
Some of the new watch faces include Chronograph Pro, which comes with a detailed and ultraprecise tachymeter to calculate speed based on time traveled over a fixed distance, the Photos face offers colour filters, and the bold X-Large face now has an option to add a rich complication.
You can also add memoji face as the watch face and finally, Google Maps is back on Apple Watch. Finally, you can now do seamless navigation between the iPhone and the Watch while traveling to a place.
Below the crystal back of the Watch Series 6, Apple has incorporated four clusters of green, red and infrared LEDs and in addition to four photodiodes used to measure SpO2 (blood oxygen) levels through the Blood Oxygen app.
Furthermore, It has an optical heart sensor to monitor the heart rate and irregular heart rhythm and an electrical heart sensor that enables the ECG app to check for Atrial Fibrillation (Afib).
Internal hardware and performance
Apple Watch Series 6 comes with iPhone 11’s A13 Bionic-based 64-bit class dual-core S6 System-in-Package(SiP) and is said to be 20% faster than the Watch Series 5. It has a W3 Wireless chip with 5GHz Wi-Fi support and this means better connectivity to the home internet router and faster notification.
Also, Watch Series 6 houses a U1 chip and Ultra-Wideband (UWB) antennas. This will enable the device to have precise directional and spatial awareness so that it can connect with compatible objects such as make smart cars open doors or start an engine without having to use a physical key.
Like the predecessor, It comes with several potential life-saving features such as the Irregular Heart Rhythm notifications, ECG to detect Afib, and Fall Detection with SOS emergency call.
With the addition of a SpO2 sensor for blood oxygen levels and an always-on altimeter, the new Apple Watch is now a complete package for fitness and health-conscious consumers.
During the on-demand Blood-Oxygen tracking, the Watch asks the user to place the hand on a flat surface. Also, we should make sure the strap is tightly wrapped around the wrists for error-free reading. I worked on me pretty fine and just to be sure, I tried this on my wife too, Watch Series 6 got the same results.
However, what impresses me the most is the smart user-interface and intelligence of the Apple Watch. It is like operating an iPhone on the wrist and is simple to understand even for rookie users.
Whenever it notices the watch does not have sufficient (minimum 30%) battery power to last the entire night for sleep tracking, it suggests me to charge the Watch just one hour before the Wind Down kicks-in.
By the way, the Watch Series 6 comes with a fast-charging feature and it can power up from zero to 80% in 60 minutes and to 100% in about 90 minutes in total. This is 33% faster than its predecessor. With a full charge, Apple's smart wearable (44mm model) easily lasts two days and with smart tracking, as mentioned above, it will always notify you in the right interval time to charge up the Watch.
Once it is sufficiently charged, I can head to the bed wearing the Watch. Once the Wind Down is triggered, both the Watch and the companion iPhone block all messenger apps and social media apps so that I can sleep without any disturbance until the pre-set morning alarm rings.
Sleep tracking is pretty rudimentary. Based on my body movements, it can track how much time I spent on the bed and how much hours I really slept. This is more than enough to know my pattern and I can improve my habit to make sure I get a minimum of 8 hours of shut-eye.
Also, if I fail to complete the daily activity goals (move, exercise, and stand), it intuitively calculates time and notifies me to do some walking to complete the tasks for the day. Also, with the new watchOS 7, Apple has introduced a hand wash feature. Once you give permission to the Watch app on the phone to track your movement, it will automatically alert you to wash the hand whenever you come back from a journey even for a short distance outside the house. Apple Watch uses motion sensors, microphones, and on-device machine learning to automatically detect handwashing motions and sounds. It then initiates a 20-second countdown timer, and if the user finishes early, they will be prompted to keep washing.
It worked extraordinarily well every single time I returned home from a grocery store, which is just a few 100 meters away. This is a really thoughtful feature to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Dear readers, make sure you have the face masks every time you venture out and also maintain social distance. The vaccine for Coronavirus is expected to arrive only in early 2021 and so until then, it is imperative to keep up clean personal hygiene (don't stop, continue this even after the arrival of the cure for Covid-19).
Furthermore, with the watchOS 7 and powerful heart rate and custom-built motion algorithms, Apple Watch Series 6 (and select older models) can track four new workout types--Core Training, Dance, Functional Strength Training, and Cooldown.
"To correctly capture calorie exertion for Dance, Apple Watch uses advanced sensor fusion, combining data from the heart rate sensor and inputs from the accelerometer and gyroscope, that account for the unique challenges of measuring different body-to-arm motions typical with dance. This workout type was validated and tested with four of the most popular dance styles for exercise: Bollywood, cardio dance, hip-hop, and Latin", Apple said.
Also, watchOS 7 brings more comprehensive hearing health data with headphone audio notifications. Users can now understand how loudly they are listening to media through their headphones using their iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple Watch, and when these levels may impact hearing over time.
Users can get complete healthcare biometric information on average heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen level, track menstrual cycle on the Apple Health app on their iPhone. Yes, everything mentioned here is stored on the device and doesn't get moved anywhere else without your permission. Apple has the best track record for user data privacy in the industry.
Must read | Apple watchOS 7: Key features you should know
Final thoughts
With the addition of a SpO2 sensor and always-on altimeter, Apple has made sure, users don't miss out on any health and fitness tracking features in the Watch Series 6.
Yes, it is an iterative upgrade over the predecessor Watch Series 5 (review), but truth to be told, the Watch Series 6 is miles ahead of rival brands. Apple has done a great job of software and hardware optimization to deliver the best smartwatch user-experience, health monitoring, and fitness tracking, so much so that, you won't miss the personal gym trainer.
Samsung's TizenOS-powered Galaxy Watches and Google's WearOS-based smart wearables have a lot of catching up to do.
Pros
Heart Rate monitor, Irregular Rhythm Notifications, ECG, and Fall Detection features continue to be the gold standard in the industry
SpO2 and always-on altimeter are good value addition
Really great smart user-interface to improve personal hygiene, improve fitness with Activity app, insightful data on noise and sleep pattern
Excellent build quality
Cons
Apple Watches are not compatible with Android phones
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