Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The Apple Watch takes its big leap forwards yet , and finally experience like it deliver on the promise and potential we ’ve see over the last few years . We still want sleep trailing and usance watch faces , though .
Best Prices Today: Apple Watch Series 4 (GPS only)
Not to be outgo by Amazon ’s Prime Day sale , Best Buy is offering significant discounts on the Apple Watch Series 4 : Save $ 50 on both the40 mm modelandthe 44 millimetre model .
for certain , Apple Watch is a Brobdingnagian succeeder , outsell all contender , but there are still a lot of fence - sitters not indisputable if it ’s really a worthwhile plus to their Apple ecosystem . And not everyone is a watch someone .
If this sounds like you , it ’s time to get off the fence . The improvement in Series 4 — a bigger showing , fast CPU , and good sensors — make Apple Watch downright delightful to use , elevating it from “ peachy gadget for Apple fans ” to “ gotta - have - it accession to your iPhone . ”
The Series 4 is slightly larger than Series 0-3, but rounder corners makes them feel the same size. Plus, it’s thinner, and all your old bands still work.
The $ 399 start price is disappointingly eminent , but this is the Apple Watch that finally feels like it delivers on the promise Apple has been building toward for the last four year .
Apple Watch History
This Apple Watch has since been replaced with a Modern model , and you could find link to all our Apple Watch brush up below . Do note that we ’re expecting to seeApple Watch Series 10 , Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3rd generation , runningwatchOS 11 , launch in September 2024 at the company’sGlowtime event(seehow to watch the September event ) . If you ’re in the marketplace for a new Apple Watch , see ourApple Watch buying usher , round - up of thebest Apple Watch deals , and advice on whether you shouldbuy Apple Watch now or wait . You might also be concerned in what othernew Apple productsare coming this year , and when is thenext Apple result .
The new display: 30% bigger is 100% better
The most immediately noticeable difference in the Apple Watch Series 4 is the new display . It crowd out toward the edge , shrinking bezel and rounding off corners to match the curvature of the suit . Whether you choose the big or the small watch , you get more than 30 percent more display area than the prior Apple Watches .
The Series 4 is slimly declamatory than Series 0 - 3 , but rounder corners make them feel the same size . Plus , it ’s thinner , and all your old bands still work .
But that 30 - plus percent have ahugedifference in usability . For one , it means that thesmallsize Apple Watch has a showing just a flyspeck bit larger than the oldlargeWatch . Those with little wrist joint , like me , will appreciate the ability to take the smaller size without sacrificing legibility . Whether you pick the lowly or expectant mannikin , everything appears large and more soar - in . Maps display more point . If you get a link to a web page in Messages , you may actually read it on the watch . You may notwantto , but it ’s not the drill in futility it is on Series 0 - 3 Watches . Every tap fair game feels larger and easier to hit . Every facet of the interface is easier to understand .
If you size down from the old 42mm to the new 40mm, you get a more comfortable watch without losing screen size.
This seems obvious , of course . Bigger is big . But it ’s hard to revalue just how much it improves serviceableness until you try it out yourself . I have thin articulatio radiocarpea and supplant my old large 42 mm watch with the raw small 40 mm Series 4 . It front and feels estimable on my wrist , I did n’t give up an ounce of screen surface area , and still every part of the interface feel easier to fake .
If you size down from the old 42 mm to the newfangled 40 mm , you get a more well-situated watch without losing cover sizing .
The new Infograph watch face is busy and colorful , mayhap too much so , but I ca n’t stop using it .
The new Infograph watch face is busy and colorful, maybe too much so, but I can’t stop using it.
Infograph Modular takes the existing Modular scout face ( one of the most popular ) and supplant the great center complicatedness with a new high - information layout . Not many apps brook it yet , but those that do can put a lot more detail in there .
The new display enhance the overall looking at of the Apple Watch , too . Rather than mixing a video display that has sharp street corner with a curved - street corner watch aspect , the corner of the display now exactly match the curve of the cause . This evens out the bezel all the agency around , which is far more refined . It ’s the iPhone X feeling on your wrist .
Better sensors for a better you
Series 4 mark the first model where Apple has seriously upgrade the array of sensing element that make so many of the Watch ’s features study . The accelerometer and gyroscope are more sensitive , with more dynamical range — it can discover violence up to 32 g , double the 16 one thousand of earlier vigil , and move data is try out up to 8 times faster .
That computer hardware is used for all form of poppycock in Apple Watch , from sit / stand detection to counting step or swim CVA , and in my first week with the watch all of these activities seemed to be tracked just a minuscule bit good . Any bodily process that relies on measure motion was maybe a small moment more unfluctuating and predictable , with less moment - to - second discrepancy .
Most of the improvements to natural action tracking derive in watchOS 5 , but the Series 4 ironware wee it more dependable and battery - efficient .
Most of the improvements to activity tracking come in watchOS 5, but the Series 4 hardware makes it more reliable and battery-efficient.
More significantly , the new motion / gyro sensors add the new ability for the Series 4 to detect accidental gloam . If you take a bad spill and do n’t move properly out , a warning will pop out up . you’re able to quick call emergency services if you need service , say you ’re ok , or tell your Watch that you did n’t come after all . If you do n’t do anything for about a instant , the Watch will start out a 15 - second countdown while tapdance you on the radiocarpal joint . When time is up , it will mechanically meet emergency services and text your emergency contacts with your location .
It ’s a cool feature that seems plainly purport at senior ; in fact , it is only enabled by default for those maturate 65 or older . Everyone else has to go into the scene to enable it . I spent five minute toss myself on the solid ground in various ways and could n’t get it to trigger . It ’s hard to fake a fall that looks , to these sensitive sensors , like a real fall , but I do n’t remember faux positives are going to be a freehanded problem here .
I was n’t capable to trigger the fall detection with a fake spill . It ’s hard to fake a fall that feels like a real one .
I wasn’t able to trigger the fall detection with a fake tumble. It’s hard to fake a fall that feels like a real one.
Still , accidental autumn spotting going to be a hit feature film among its intended audience . Some fourth-year is work to take a spill and their Apple Watch is give out to give notice their children , saving them a lot of terrible time spent on the floor . Then they ’re going to differentiate all their friends about it down at the water supply aerobics class . The next week , one-half of the class is going to have an Apple Watch on their wrists .
There ’s a new optic marrow rate sensor that is more sensitive and vim effective , too . WatchOS 5 adds the ability to notice abnormally low inwardness charge per unit to the exist high meat charge per unit warning , and with a software update after this yr , will warn of irregular heart pace as well .
sole to Series 4 , however , is a young electric meat sensing element than can do a single - transmission channel electrocardiogram ( ECG ) . Just execute the app , hold up your finger on the digital crown for about 30 second base , and you get an ECG chart you may share with your doctor as a PDF , along with an psychoanalysis of whether your nub activity is normal or not .
The ECG feature will be U.S.-only at first, and will be added in a software update this fall.
The ECG feature will be U.S.-only at first , and will be add together in a computer software update this fall .
Apple made a fortune of noise about how this feature of speech has FDA clearance , but that is different than FDA favourable reception for medical equipment . The FDAgranted it clearancein the Class II class , which it describes thusly :
Electrocardiograph software for over - the - counter use . An electrocardiograph software equipment for over - the - retort use creates , psychoanalyze , and expose electrocardiograph data , and can supply data for identifying cardiac arrhythmias . This twist is not intend to provide a diagnosing .
The new S4 silicon-in-package is so much faster that it’ll change the way you use your Apple Watch.
It ’s not meant to fill in for a real medical ECG , it ’s not approve for people under 22 years of years , and it wo n’t necessarily find heart problem . But for some , it will channelise out a possible problem that leads them to a doctor for a real test . In some example , that will amount nothing . In others , it will lead to a diagnosis that will save someone ’s life .
Unfortunately , it ’s not yet testable . The ECG feature is wave out afterward this year in a software program update , and only to U.S. exploiter . Apple will have to receive the proper medical equipment clearance before it can be enabled in other land . The company has given no timetable for this except to say they ’re make for on it .
The S4 SIP: Finally fast and fluid
For all the quips about the Apple Watch being a mini iPhone on your wrist , it has never mat like using one . Even unsubdivided apps would take a while to launch . Sometimes it was hard to get a swipe or a spigot to record . Scrolling would sometimes be smooth , sometimes stutter terribly . Most users did n’t turn over these to be dealbreakers because compromised performance is vulgar to most smartwatches , and because you just by nature interact with a lookout in shorter , uncomplicated way . We just do n’t hold them to the same standards .
As good as Apple Watch performance has been compared to other smartwatches , these little fits and starts have affected the way we perceive the Apple Watch : It was a machine for watch on crucial telling , getting some “ at a glance ” info on your watch face , and set off “ set and draw a blank ” activities like music play list or exercise tracking . It ’s mean to give you fast or track an action with minimum actual interaction , right ?
Then along came the Series 3 , bringing a serious speed boost over the Series 2 . With reactivity and app loading meliorate so much , it started to feel like the Apple Watch was something you were meant tointeractwith , not just passively press information at you . The Series 4 feels like a similar saltation over the Series 3 .
The second-generation optical heart rate sensor is clustered in the center of the ceramic back, with electrodes for the ECG surrounding it.
The new S4 silicon - in - packet is so much quicker that it ’ll change the way of life you use your Apple Watch .
Apple say the new dual - gist 64 - minute processor in the S4 Silicon - in - Package ( SIP ) is up to twice as fast as the S3 , and it ’s loose to believe . Everything is just larder liquid and responsive . Taps and swipes register instantly . Tap a tortuousness and the affiliate app just springs right opened . Even notoriously slow - launch apps likePokémon Gopop open so quickly you ’ll think something must have gone wrong .
It has whole change the way I use my Apple Watch . Apps I would n’t have get to with before are suddenly part of my even daily use . Even on a Series 3 , some apps take a few seconds to stretch , and I wo n’t chafe with them . That sounds like an impossibly high standard , but if I ca n’t launch a Watch app faster than I can pull my iPhone out of my pocket , I ’ll just use the phone to get a full - featured app experience . Series 4 earn everything so instant and responsive that I find myself uncoerced to apply apps I never would have considered before .
With the mic moved to the right side of the Watch, and a much louder speaker, making brief calls on your Apple Watch could become a habit.
In many ways , it feels as though watchOS was too forward - look , and has been waiting around for hardware tight enough to run it the way it was meant to be experienced . With the Series 4 , that computer hardware seems to finally be here .
Battery life: All day and then some
The Apple Watch has always been a “ kick it every solar day ” machine . So when I say that the battery life-time on the Series 4 is excellent , it ’s in the context of other gadget that arrogate full - day battery life . Apple articulate the shelling should last you up to 18 hr , but in practice , I got alotmore .
I lease my 40 mm Series 4 ( Wi - Fi + GPS ) off the courser at 9 a.m. on Saturday and wore it until it died , even keeping it on as I slept , though I did n’t run a sleep - tracking app . It finally keep out off around 5 pm on Sunday , 32 hour by and by .
The second - generation ocular heart rate sensor is clustered in the center of the ceramic back , with electrode for the ECG circumvent it .
Over that time I tracked a couple hour - retentive exercise at the gym while listening to medicine ( cyclosis from my iPhone , using the Watch to cut tracks and adjust volume ) . I checked dozens of telling . I made several speech sound Call . I asked Siri a few questions , and checked the atmospheric condition a lot . I localize some timer while wangle dinner party . If anything , I used it more than I typically do because I was hear out Modern apps . later on in the week , I repeated the mental testing with the same resultant role .
Yes , dog out-of-door fitness activeness and cyclosis medicine from your Watch to your AirPods will scarper down the battery faster , as will cellular information access on cellular - equip models . But my 32 - hour stretch iswaybeyond Apple ’s 18 - hr hope . And I ’ve been using the minor size — the larger Watches usually typically last a little longer .
I do n’t know what sorcery Apple ’s doing here , but I like it . The Series 4 iswayfaster than the Series 3 , but it ’s slender and has a smaller battery , and yet it still survive just as retentive , perhaps even longer . Bravo !
That ’s not to say that multi - day shelling lifespan is n’t high-pitched on my wishlist for the future of Apple Watch . I still long for an Apple Watch with the battery life of theFitbit Ionic .
Minor changes and missing features
There are a few minor changes to the Series 4 worth advert . The most noticeable difference , at a glance , is the slightly updated shape of the case . Each of the two sizes have grown 2 mm improbable , so the small poser has bump up from 38 mm to 40 millimeter and the large from 42 mm to 44 mm . You wo n’t notice a pregnant difference on your wrist joint , in part because the corners are now more rounded and the watch is slightly thinner , shave off the special heaviness added to the Series 2 and Series 3 and get back to the trim visibility of the Series 0 . Existing watch bands still work , too : the 38 millimetre band burst on the new 40 mm and the 42 millimetre bands fit out on the new 44 mm .
If you ’re into atomic number 79 , you ’ll be glad to see a new amber - colored stainless blade fashion model . ( The Series 3 only offered the Au vividness on Al vigil . ) And the cellular models are no longer adorned with a bighearted red dot on the digital cap — there ’s a subtle red ring , instead . you may thank the electric pad postulate for the ECG for that .
The digital diadem now has haptic response , too . There ’s a gentle , subtle “ tick ” feeling as you scroll with it , give it the touch of little click . It always puts a minuscule smiling on my side ; just the form of petite point I did n’t know I wanted until I had it .
For that matter , all of the haptics finger good , signaling potential improvements to the Taptic Engine . For example , I ’ve always cognize the tactile signal for unlock my Mac with my Apple Watch as a trivial treble - wrist - strike . Tik - Tik . With the Series 4 , it the two pat feel distinctly different and mime the spirit of a ringlet unlocking . Ca - clack .
With the mic moved to the right side of the Watch , and a much gaudy speaker , work brief calls on your Apple Watch could become a habit .
The speaker is alotlouder than on earlier Apple Watch models , and the mike has move to the other side of the casing . This , along with better noise cancelling , have made making headphone calls from your carpus a tangible possibleness . I made three phone call of various distance and the people on the other end could n’t tell I was blab on my Apple Watch at all until I differentiate them . The speaker is now loud enough that you may hear it without holding your wrist up to your spike .
While do phone call is not a raw feature , the Series 4 necessitate it from a gimmick I ’ll never really use to a licitly useful feature . If I have a very short phone call to make , I ’d have no takings making it from my wrist .
For all that the Series 4 and watchOS 5 tot up to Apple Watch , there are still a few features declare oneself by competing products that we still do n’t have . I guess you get right enough enough battery life to allow for build - in sleep trailing , for deterrent example . Apps likeAutoSleepdo a unspoiled job , but I need an integrated solution , preferably one that puts the watch into a special super - low - top executive quietus dog state .
I ’d also bonk to see an option to burn a little of that extra battery life with always - on watch faces . It ’s a shame that this attractive hardware just turns into a clean , black slate when you ’re not using it . WatchOS 6 should give every watch face an optional always - on modal value that eliminates complication , colors , and excess animation in favor of simple designs that seem upright but do n’t cause the OLED display to use much power .
Just about everyone wants third - party watch faces , too . Apple obviously does n’t desire to open up the floodgates to a clump of slimy or trademark - infringing stuff and nonsense , but surely some thoughtfully - constrained tools could get developers expend a set of templates and features along with limited custom artwork and animations to make new lookout faces that fill Apple ’s standard ?
The Apple Watch we’ve been waiting for
If you ’ve been look for a freehanded improvement to the Apple Watch to add one to your wrist , now is the time . No individual new feature is groundbreaking by itself , but the merge experience feels like a night - and - day betterment over previous Apple Watches . If you have a Series 2 or earlier , you ’re going to sense like you ’re raise from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone XS . If you have a Series 3 , it ’s going to be harder to free a $ 399 + leverage less than a year later . With all the novel features in watchOS 5 and the satisfying performance of the Series 3 hardware , you’re able to probably await another year .
Going back to any anterior Apple Watch after using the Series 4 feel like tying my shoe string together . Why does everything take a 2d or two to respond ? Why is the screen so cramped ? What go on to the littletickfeeling when I scroll the pate ? Is that app still loading or did it stop dead ?
It seems a slight trite to say that the Series 4 is just the same Apple Watch with a bigger display , expert detector , and a faster central processing unit , but that ’s precisely what it is , and it’sfantastic . Every other Apple Watch felt full of hope , but serial 4 feels like hope fulfilled .
