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LONG gone are the days when a wristwatch was for just telling the time.
I’ve been testing the Apple Watch Series 8 for just under a week – there’s never been better proof that it’s time to smarten up your wrist.
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From the outside, the Apple Watch Series 8 doesn’t look much different from last year’s model.
It’s got the same round-edged design with a big square face and a slim body – a stark contrast to this year’s “pro” Apple Watch Ultra model.
There are some new virtual watch faces to try out, and you can still customise it with lots of straps and colour options.
But most of the good new stuff is invisible.
It might look fragile from the outside, but it’s WR50 water-resistant, IP6X dust resistant, and has a toughened aluminium body (no titanium this year, sadly).
Hidden in the body are temperature sensors (one wrist facing and one room-facing), which introduce some very clever features. More on those later.
Apple is promising an 18-hour battery life, and up to 36 hours with a new Low Power Mode.
Battery life is tricky because your mileage may vary.
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But I didn’t even come close to running out down. I’ve been wearing it from about 8am through to 6am then sticking it back on charge.
That includes a full day of usage, notifications, an Always-On screen, Siri requests, a daily workout and more.
And I usually end up with about 20-30% left when I go to put it on charge.
If you’re a fitness fanatic, it’s great.
There’s a heart rate monitor, loads of workout types (including weightlifting and yoga), and new “run routes” that let you compete with yourself. The latter is “coming soon”.
I’ve got an Apple Fitness+ subscription, which means I can follow along with workouts hosted by professional trainers.
It’s £9.99/$9.99 a month, which is much cheaper than a real trainer (although Fitness+ is naturally less personalised). But you also get a three-month free trial with a Series 8 purchase.
The fitness stuff is great – and it can really transform your life.
Being motivated by closing your rings (Move, Exercise, Stand) – and even competing with pals – is a great way to game-ify the process of fitness.
iTime!
But where the Apple Watch can really ramp up its value is its increasingly broad array of health tricks.
It’s no joke: the Apple Watch can save your life. Priceless, surely?
There’s a single-lead ECG that can help detect A-Fib, a dangerous heart rhythm defect.
You’ve got a Blood Oxygen sensor that could give you the warning sign you need to go to the doctor.
And you can set up Fall Notifications that can contact emergency services if you have a bad fall and become unresponsive.
A similar system is in place for the new Car Crash Detection feature.
It does what it says in the tin (though thankfully, I didn’t get the opportunity to test this) by monitoring for a severe car crash.
If you’re unresponsive for 10 seconds, your location is shared automatically with emergency responders and your own chosen contacts.
The new temperature sensors also enable some new mid-sleep features.
Sleep read-outs have been overhauled to give a detailed picture of when you’re in deep, core and REM sleep – as well as signalling times when you were awake.
It’s much more in-depth than on previous Watch models, which is great.
But the nighttime body temperature can also help the Watch track a woman’s ovulation.
It can use temperature to determine when you likely ovulated, as well as to make predictions for when a period is likely to begin.
It’s a great feature that can give women a much better picture of their menstrual health.
Watch for it
The Apple Watch price doesn’t really change much each year. You’re looking at £419/$399 today.
But somehow, it manages to become exponentially more valuable as time goes on.
The Apple Watch Series 8 can now warn of – or even stave off – death, danger and disease from myriad causes.
There’s hardly another gadget like it in the world.
It’s gone so far beyond simple timekeeping that it’s hardly even fair to call it a watch.
It’s so useful and potentially life-saving, I’m scared to take it off!
The question is no longer about whether you can afford one, but can you afford not to?
And Apple seems to be supporting its watches with software updates for a long time, so it won’t become useless after a couple of years.
The Series 8 is a spectacular gadget with loads of great features.
But you can always try the new Series SE if you want to save a bit of cash – it’s around £150/$150 less.
The Sun says: The Apple Watch Series 8 is one of the most formidable gadgets on the planet and the perfect iPhone accessory.
All prices in this article were correct at the time of writing, but may have since changed.
Always do your own research before making any purchase.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
