After a slow couple of years on the Apple Watch front, today’s “Awe Dropping” event announcing the new iPhone models actually included a renewed focus on Apple’s ubiquitous wearable.
As expected, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 11 smartwatch, along with a new Apple Watch Ultra 3, and an Apple Watch SE 3. And while the designs mostly look the same, there was some worthwhile news when it came to features and battery life—and in case of the SE 3, quite a lot of other upgrades across the board. Apple has even added yet another potentially life-saving feature to the mix, bringing passive blood pressure notifications to the Apple Watch.
Here are all the biggest updates worth discussing.
Apple Watch Series 11 gets 5G and new medical features
The Apple Watch Series 11 looks and seemingly works quite similarly to the outgoing model, with a few feature upgrades. The glass on the front is now twice as scratch resistant. The Series 11 also features 5G, for faster connectivity and download for music, podcasts, and apps. Battery life is improved, with up to 24 hours of usage between charges.
Credit: Apple
New health features
The Series 11 also has two interesting health features. First is a new Blood Pressure Monitoring system that provides a notification when chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, is detected in the user. The notifications use data from the heart rate sensor to analyze how the blood vessels repot to the beats of the heart. An algorithm passively works int he background reviewing data over 30 day periods, and notifies the user if it notices a patter of hypertension. This is not an active blood pressure monitor, like you’d get from a medical device. Instead, it’s data-analysis over a long period of time. Apple says that the training data came from multiple studies with over 100,000 participants. The feature is pending regulatory approval, but Apple says it will ship to more than 150 countries in the coming month.
Credit: Apple
Sleep Score is another potentially useful fitness metric. The feature takes in multiple data points, like sleep duration, bedtime consistency, how often you wake up, and how much time you spend in each sleep stage, so you can understand (and hopefully improve) the quality of your sleep.
Pricing
The Apple Watch Series 11 starts at $399 for the 42mm version, and $429 for the 46mm version. Cellular connectivity will cost you $100 more. There’s a new lineup of colors this time around: Jet Black, Silver, Rose Gold, and Space Gray. Pre-orders start today, and the device will start to ship Sept. 19.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 goes longer and harder
The Apple Watch Ultra wasn’t upgraded at all last year, leaving lots of room for improvement. The new model comes with a slightly larger screen but the same profile: Apple managed to reduce the bezels so they can fit it a larger screen in the same body. It’s also getting a screen upgrade from the Series 10 and bringing in features from the Series 10, that the Ultra missed out on last year. The screen now uses LPTO3 OLED display with ultra-fast refresh rate, enabling Always-on watch face display that can show the second hand. Apple is also adding a new Waypoint watch face that can help users navigate using a live compass, which is also updated by the second.
Credit: Apple
The OLED display optimizes each pixel to emit more might at wider angles, making it easier to read when your watch is resting on the table.
The Ultra 3 has the same 5G modem, but goes one step further with Satellite connectivity. So you’ll be able to send messages, or contact Emergency SOS to contact emergency services. There’s also a massive boost in battery life, as the Ultra 3 can now go up to 42 hours without charge.
Pricing
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 starts at $799 for the 49mm model. Pre-orders start today, and it’s going to be available on Sept, 19. It comes in two colors: Natural Titanium and Black Titanium.
The SE 3 gets always-on display and a lot more
Credit: Apple
The SE 3 might be the sleeper hit of the entire lineup. The new entry-level Apple Watch now features a S10 chip and an always-on display, a first for the SE series. The Cellular version also gets 5G, and both models will gets the new sleep quality and temperature sensing features (but not blood pressure monitoring). It also gets the Ion-X glass that’s reportedly twice as resistant as before, and support for double-tap and wrist flick gestures. According to Apple, it will also charge up to two times faster than the previous model.
Pricing
The Apple Watch SE starts at $249 for a 40mm model and is available for preorder today, with deliveries starting on Friday, Sept, 19.
Original Source: https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-watch-news-awe-dropping-event?utm_medium=RSS
Original Source: https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-watch-news-awe-dropping-event?utm_medium=RSS
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