Apple’s highly anticipated ‘Far Out’ event took place in the early hours of this morning, showcasing the highly anticipated iPhone 14, and arguably more excitingly, a new range of Apple Watches.
As expected, Apple has made a further move into the health wearables market with their new smart watches, encroaching on the territory of Garmin and FitBit, whilst also remaining an ideal option for the everyday user.
Apple Watch Series 8
The Apple Watch Series 8 is the classic offering of the new series, sporting an Always-On Retina display with a crack-resistant front crystal front. As previously mentioned, the new watch has become much more health focused. Alongside the ECG app and fall detection, the new Watch 8 now features Crash Detection, which will notify authorities in the event of a car accident via it’s Emergency SOS, using sensors that track 3,000 times a second for impacts as great as 256Gs.
Emergency SOS provides a quick and easy way to contact emergency services in the event of an accident or other incident, and will use location services to help them get to you swiftly.
The Watch Series 8 also introduces new temperature sensing capabilities and “advanced cycle tracking” that notify women of retrospective ovulation estimates.
Temperature is read via a temperature sensor on the back of the watch face, whilst reducing outside temperature bias. During sleep, the sensor reads wrist temperature every five seconds, and can measure changes of 0.1-degree Celsius. Changes are tracked via the health app, and users will be notified of deviations and abnormalities.
Battery life sits at 18 hours, which is ideal for daily use, but falls short when pitted against health and adventure watches.
Apple Watch Ultra
Speaking of health and adventure watches, Apple has launched the Watch Ultra, a much larger and more rugged frame, and several features catering to the explorer within.
The new adventure wearable, which was tipped originally to be called the Apple Watch Pro, sports a 49mm titanium frame, a completely flat screen protected by sapphire glass, the highest brightness of any apple watch, right side protected buttons and a left side programmable button that are all designed to be used whilst wearing gloves.
The Watch Ultra has three-built-in microphones that allow for clear communication in even the most loud and windy environments, whilst the speaker is louder than ever too, with the ability to sound a siren that hit’s 86-decibels, and can be heard just over 180 meters away (600ft) depending on the terrain.
Night mode turns the screen to a monochrome red and black for ideal night viewing that won’t cause your eyes to adjust and make viewing in the dark harder, whilst low power mode brings the battery up to 60 hours on a single charge. Normal battery life sits at 36 hours.
Apple Watch SE
Catering to those looking to get into the wearable aspect of the Apple ecosystem for less, Apple have launched a new and improved Watch SE, sporting faster performance and new features.
Just as the Watch 8 does, the new SE sports the S8 chip, resulting in performance that is 20-percent faster than the original model. It also supports the new Crash Detection features, has an improved accelerometer and gyroscope, and retains the same functionality as the original SE.
Apple’s Watch SE has been a popular option for parents wanting to maintain communication with their young children without having to invest in an iPhone. Apple’s Family Setup feature allows SE watches to be setup using a parent’s iPhone, whilst also acting as an independent device.
The Apple Watch SE is now the company’s true entry level device, with the cheaper Apple Watch Series 3 now being discontinued.
Pricing and Availability
The entire new range of Apple Watches will be available from Friday, the 16th of September, with pre-orders available from today. Pricing can be found below.
- Apple Watch Series 8
- 41mm GPS model – $629
- 41mm cellular model – $789
- 45mm GPS model – $679
- 45mm cellular model – $839
- Apple Watch Ultra
- 49mm – $1,299
- Apple Watch SE (Pricing below is for standard models, Braided Solo Loop models will cost an additional $80)
- 40mm GPS model – $399
- 40mm cellular model – $479
- 44mm GPS model – $449
- 44mm cellular model – $529
