On Tuesday the 15th of September Apple announced two new smart watches, the Series 6 and the SE. These became available on the Friday the 18th. On Monday my Series 6 came and I’ve been testing it out since.
I’ve often mentioned about how the Apple Watch is one of my favourite Apple devices, so I was very excited to be getting a new one, My series 6 was replacing my Series 4 so things like the Always on display were also new to me, first let’s look at what’s new on the Series 6.
Blood Oxygen Monitoring
One of the main new features of the S6 was that it can take Blood oxygen measurements, to do this there is a new app on the watch called “Blood Oxygen”. It has a similar feel to the ECG app and is very simple to use. To take the measurement you need to keep your wrist flat, it suggests you keep your arm rested on the table. When you’re ready you press start and 15 seconds later it will tell you your results. The first few times I was using the app I kept getting levels of 92%-95%. I did think this was strange as most people have levels of 95% to 100%. I then later discovered that I wasn’t getting accurate measurements because my wrist strap was not tight enough. After that was getting between 97% to 100% every time.
Behind the scenes work
Inside the series 6 is a new S6 Chip powering the whole thing along. Apple say that this is a new Dual-Processor chip based on the A13 Bionic. [1] The S6 also features a new U1 chip. The same that was introduced on the iPhone 11. This chip can help you locate your lost Apple devices even when they don’t have any power, it’s also the chip that would be used for the rumoured Apple AirTags.
How’s Battery life?
When I got up on Tuesday, I took my watch off and wasn’t going to let it back on charge again till it was flat, so how did it do? Well by the time I finished work at 20:30 it was on 79%, So in 12 hours I had lost just over 20% not bad. After work I went and did a 5K run which with the Always on display was fantastic for seeing my pace and distance. (Series 5 and above also has a dedicated sensor for detecting your current elevation so it is a lot more accurate.) Afterwards it was time relax and bed.
In WatchOS7 Apple introduced new sleep tracking features so I was expecting battery life to be a major new feature in the S6. When I woke up the next day, I had 26% left so I obviously couldn’t make it through another day without charging it. iFixit did a teardown of the S6 and found that 40mm does have a 8.5% in battery size since the S5 however there is likely not much difference due to the brighter Always on display and the Blood oxygen features. They also confirmed that 3D touch features had been removed and that there was a slightly bigger Taptic engine. [2]
New Wrist straps
Apple released several new wrist straps with the new release of watches. When purchasing my new watch, I had to get one of the new ones. I bought one of the new Solo straps and used the print off tool to get my size. In the end I got the Deep Navy Solo loop in Size 5. This band is made of a new material and is a lot stretchier then the other wrist straps. Getting it on your arm is a quite tricky as you have to stretch it on. When it’s on though it feels snug on the wrist but when you’re running it kept moving about a little so it’s not for me when working out, but this could be because I prefer to have it tight on my wrist.
I could always swap it for a different size but any smaller would be too hard to get on my wrist and any bigger would make it move about in the day to day life.
Summary
- When using the Blood oxygen measurement tool, you need to make sure you have your wrist strap tight enough and keep still when taking readings to get accurate results.
- Disappointing that you still need to charge the Apple watch every day really but from 0% it does only take around 1.5 hours to hit 100% so you could easily start it when you’re watching TV in the morning for example.
- Really love the bright always on display especially when working out. It’s a shame it doesn’t work for other apps then Workout, but I prefer Workout anyway.
- If you have a S4 I think it’s worth the upgrade for the always on display but if you have a S5 it’s worth just waiting for another year.
Later this year Apple will be releasing a new subscription service called Fitness + which is made for the Apple Watch. I’ll be doing a review on it when it comes.
Thanks for reading
Kyle Wilkinson
Kyle Wilkinson Blog – The Podcast
Episode 2 – iOS 14, WatchOS 7 & BigSur Is available now, Listen here:
Apple Podcasts (iTunes)
Soundcloud
Kyle Wilkinson Online
References
[1] Quoted from Apple Newsroom https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2020/09/apple-watch-series-6-delivers-breakthrough-wellness-and-fitness-capabilities/
[2] iFixit full teardown article available here: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Watch+Series+6+Teardown/136694
All images shown on this blog post are taken from the official Apple News room site, www.apple.com/newsroom
Comments