Apple Watch 4 review: the best smartwatch improves

The biggest back story of Apple products in recent years has undoubtedly been the Apple Watch. Launched with great fanfare four years ago, the original version was trying to do far too little, and its software was confusing. Even worse, it was hard to know what was the origin of the Apple Watch for. No things stood out.

Then, Apple did what Apple often does: iterated, refined and corrected. But even though software and hardware improvements have been made to Series 2 and Series 3, the biggest improvements have been made to the Apple Watch solution. goal. This has gained clarity. It was for fitness and notifications. Finally, when it was ready, Apple added better connectivity.

Now, with the 4 series, Apple is reiterating. And most importantly, he learned to reiterate the material of the product and its purpose at the same time. The 4 series has finally achieved something like the initial goal of the Apple Watch. It's not quite a computer to do on your wrist, but it can be different for different people now.

With apologies to new iPhones, the Apple Series 4 Series watch was the most impressive thing announced by Apple last week. After using it last week or so, I think it's up to it.

For the first time since the first Apple Watch, the hardware has been completely redesigned, with new bodywork and new sizes. But this is not a major revision. These still look like the Apple watches you usually have: they have the same rounded corner diamond shape, the same glass that curves to match the body, and the same digital crown and the same layout to one button.

Before going too far, we should talk about price. This watch is not particularly cheap. The smallest and cheapest model comes with GPS and Wi-Fi and costs $ 399. But if you start upgrading the upgrades, you can quickly raise the price to something that seems exorbitant, especially if you are upgrading to Series 2 or Series 3. $ 10 a month or more of your carrier), and stainless steel models are $ 200 more (and only come with LTE). Add Apple Care, and you'll end up spending a lot – even if it's nothing more than the wild "Edition" prices of yesteryear. (Do not even put me on the Hermes model.)

The two new sizes are 40mm and 44mm, but they do not look much larger at the wrist than the old sizes. I used the 42mm 3 series and the 44mm size was only subtly larger, but it was also subtly finer. For me, it's pretty much the same, but I think the size trade-off for thinness is worth it. I suspect that the same will be true for people who prefer smaller size, but I recommend going to a store and try one before buying.

I am really pleased – and impressed – with Apple to have made the existing watchbands fully compatible with the new sizes. Even my old third party groups fit in perfectly in the new watch body.

Things look different when the screen turns on. The screen of the 4 series is incredibly good. Apple says this percentage is 30% higher, which is one of the features easy to ignore when you read it. But 30%, that's a lot, and you notice it right away.

It is always OLED, so the blacks are really black and blend into the glass of the watch. But if you choose a full-screen watch, you will see that the screen is also getting closer to the edges of the watch, including rounded corners.

The overall effect makes the square display of my 3 series very distorted in comparison – even though, until last week, it was arguably the best smartwatch screen on the market. As John Gruber writes, "Series 4 displays occupy so much more space than the new 40mm watch is larger than the previous 42mm models. small the watch has a larger screen than the old one great watch."

Beyond the size and the screen, there are some subtle exterior differences to consider regarding the hardware. The back of the watch is now ceramic instead of metal to allow a better wireless signal. If you launch the LTE model, the garish red dot of the digital crown has been replaced by a much more subtle red ring.

The microphone has been moved between the two buttons so that it is further away from the speaker to reduce the echo during calls. The speaker has been reinforced to provide more volume. It's really much stronger and I've heard no distortion during phone calls.

Last year, Apple Watch had some problems with LTE during the launch, although Apple solved the problem fairly quickly. This year, I had no major problems with LTE. In fact, many people with whom I called the newspaper just did not believe I was not on the phone. It sounds good and the loud speaker means you can hear it without holding the thing next to your ear.

But it takes the watch a minute (sometimes two) to turn on the LTE and connect. It's not drastically worse than what happens when you remove your phone from airplane mode, but on the watch, it's still a little less clear about what's going on and why when the data fails.

Inside, there is a faster S4 processor, a W3 chip (which is the W2 chip from Apple with support for Bluetooth 5.0) and an accelerometer and gyroscope capable of taking samples of your movements more often add the new drop detection feature). Apple's haptics are also tied to the digital crown, so when you spin it, you feel small pods that exactly match what's happening on the screen. It's completely useless but pretty.

Last but not least: the size of the battery is about the same. The battery life on the 4 Series is as good or better than the 3 Series watch. Apple boasts 18 hours of regular use or six hours of outdoor training. I have not done six hours of outdoor training (and I do not plan to do it), but my tests show that the battery life far exceeds Apple's claims.

I took the charger's watch on Saturday morning and I walked around Oakland for four hours while she was disconnected from my phone. I've used LTE for maps, some calls and GPS to track my "workout" outdoor walk. I was still at 50% at the end of the day and I did not reach 20% by the end of my Sunday (which also involved about an hour of GPS tracking and some LTE data).

The battery life is so good that I would like Apple to give me an option for an always active ambient screen, perhaps by turning off some radios. Alas, you must always turn your wrist to see the time.

watchOS 5 is a kind of handbag containing new features, which may seem dismissive, but I do not say it. It's a good sign that watchOS is ready to be loaded with features instead of being redesigned from the beginning. There is support for podcasts, Walkie Talkie mode, slightly improved notifications (and bundles!) And a bunch of fitness and health options.

But what people are probably going to pay more attention to is the new watches available on the Series 4 watches. They are designed to show the new rounded corner screen. Some are just flashy animations, while others are filled with new complications in spooky colors.

Among the new clocks, I am particularly attached to animations. Apple says the fire, water and steam animations have all been created with practical effects. As in: literally fire, steam and water were filmed with high speed cameras flowing over custom-welded installations. They have a beautiful look; the animations extend naturally to the rounded corners.

The watch that you will probably see most often in advertisements is called "computer graphics". It takes the form of a larger screen than the 4 series and fills it with eight complications. There is also a "modular" version that shows the digital time and six complications. Like many parts of watchOS 5, they also use new, more rounded fonts.

The computer graphics face is polarizing. I do not like it at all, even though I would not go so far as to call it a "design crime". There are just too many colors that make too many different types of jobs splashed into a screaming and a show -offy way. Too many Apple options are like that. Call me boring, but I prefer a more relaxed look of the watch. It makes me a little sad that Apple still does not allow third-party watches.

Even if you like new watches, you probably will not like what happens when you try to select a new complication. There are now "old" and "new" complications, totally different and incompatible. As new watches need new complications, third-party developers will need to update their apps (just like Apple). You can not add the Home app to new watches, but only to old ones. The most annoying aspect is that there is no way of knowing what complications are available on a given watch without scrolling and searching for the one you want.

In terms of formatting, the best new feature is the automatic training detection, which lets you know if you have started or stopped a workout and ask if this is the case. There are now options for yoga, hiking, setting a target pace and following your pace. You can also see your pace as you run and challenge someone for a weeklong exercise competition. (I have not tested these features in detail, I am still at the stage of achieving my exercise goals.)

The most interesting change may lie in the way Apple separates health characteristics more clearly from physical fitness issues. There are some new features in the watchOS 5 and 4 series that are designed to help you detect health problems, not just to encourage you to close those activity rings or run a marathon.

This is interesting because it more explicitly positions Apple Watch as a device that can help detect health problems. problems, making it a topic of interest for people who can not practice. Apple, as always, is very careful not to cross the line to make health claims about its new features. It is safe to say that the watch can detect things like irregular heartbeats, not that will.

watchOS 5 is able to detect a low heart rate in addition to the high heart rate. Later this year, Apple will add detection for irregular beats and provide notifications for them. The great novelty of the 4 series is that it can receive an electrocardiogram (ECG) using electrodes integrated in the back of the watch and the digital crown. He can then send a PDF of your results to your doctor. I could not test this because it is coming later this year. The FDA has granted the "de novo" classification to both irregular heartbeat and EKG features, and this distinction is important, as Angela Chen explains:

It's important to understand that the FDA has "erased" both applications, but it's not the same as "approving" them. According to Jon Speer, co-founder of Greenlight Guru, a company that manufactures quality management software for medical device manufacturers, the FDA is usually associated with a new project. The most advanced is the FDA approval, which applies only to Class III products or technologies that may pose a higher risk, but also more advantageous. (Think of implantable pacemakers.) Approval is the gold standard and companies need to do a lot of testing to receive this designation.

The Apple watch is in class II. For Class II and Class I, the FDA does not give its "approval", it simply gives permission.

Another novelty exclusive to the 4 Series is the detection of difficult falls thanks to a new 800 Hz accelerometer and gyroscope capable of measuring up to 32 G forces. The Watch should be able to tell you if you had a spill and ask if you want to call the emergency services. If you do not move a minute after the fall, you can do it automatically and send a message to your emergency contact. Apple automatically turns it on for users who say they are over 65, which also makes it an option for younger users.

I tried to trigger it without hurting myself and I could not do it, which, I suppose, is an advantage for the Watch. (My tests were far scientist I just threw myself on the couch.) Apple said that to build its fall detection algorithms, it used data from a study of 2,500 participants over several years and was working with assisted living centers and clinics of movement disorders.

So throwing himself in bed after a long day should not trigger him, but fall off a ladder or stumble on a sidewalk and beat his arms as he hits the ground. Again, Apple's health claims are not that the watch will detect these falls, but just that could.

Many people were very excited about Walkie Talkie mode, but after testing it, I do not think it's particularly convincing. Unlike Nextel's classic Push-to-Talk phones, the Apple Watch Walkie Talkie mode is essentially a FaceTime Audio call with a button you press to speak and beeps and visual indicators to tell you if it's is your turn.

When you send the first message, you must wait for a connection to be established, then simply tap the screen to speak. The connection remains active until a few minutes after the last person has finished speaking. It's great, but it does not feel as instant as a true PTT system. I also had connectivity issues with this, but this could be due to the daytime overhead of the operating system.

That said, it's fun to push the big yellow button with your nose when you talk. I highly recommended it. (If that becomes a thing, I want to make sure that I get the full credit for inventing the term "phone calls".)

Siri on watchOS 5 is still Siri. There is a new feature that simply allows you to lift your wrist and start taking instead of pressing a button or saying "Hey Siri," and it works really well. The Siri shortcuts you set up on your iPhone should also work from your watch. Siri still feels very unreliable, though.

Siri becomes particularly difficult when you have an uneven connection. Too often, when I wanted to ask a question, I would be greeted with a "hooked …" message followed by a "I'll tap you when I'm ready" message, followed by an endless wait during which I'd have forgotten everything what I needed for Siri.

One last little thing I must mention: you can also open links to web pages, which is fun. The items you clicked on are set to readability, so you do not have to worry about ads or incorrect layouts on your watch. Hooray for the web!

This year's Apple Watch is incredibly good. If you use it only for notifications and step counting, it's probably overkill, but it's able to handle more advanced features than any other smartwatch I've tested. Cartography, music, workouts, calls, texting, podcasts … Most things I could imagine, from a smartwatch, work better than ever. The only real disappointment is that I still do not feel like I can trust Siri to do anything I want, and it's more of an intermittent problem than a real killer.

If you look at this watch while keeping an eye on the health functions, I must admit that they are hard to test: new features can be very appealing to many people. Passive monitoring of heart problems and falls could literally be a lifeline, but they are not all available yet, and we had to go to third-party lab tests to make a call there.

For those looking to upgrade an existing Apple Watch, it is more difficult to answer the question than usual. Spending four to six hundred dollars for a bigger screen is a luxury I would not recommend to anyone, even if the screen is beautiful. Most of the best watchOS 5 features will also work on the latest Apple watches. Yes, there are exclusive watches on the Series 4, but it is also a stupidity to lose so much money.

What I can tell you, is this: the Apple Watch has earned its place as a successful watch. It is at least an order of magnitude higher than other smartwatches and fitness trackers. Almost everything it's designed to do, it works very well. It's not yet a general-purpose computer for your wrist, but fortunately Apple is no longer targeting that. It's about doing small things on the phone, like texting and listening to music, fitness and health monitoring.

Now that Apple has figured out what the Apple Watch is for, the 4 series just makes it better.

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