Apple has a unique approach when it comes to upgrading their watch lineup. They know their customers appreciate familiarity, and so new iterations tend to feel a little like the previous model with some handy upgrades thrown in.
Total overhauls don’t really fit the rhythm that Apple have built up, so the Apple Watch 8 will instantly feel usable and familiar to existing users, and won’t throw anyone for a loop with unwanted or impractical features.
Safety has been a huge selling point for the Apple Watch of late. There have been news stories of people who have fallen or been in crashes, or even developed health problems that would have otherwise gone undetected without their Apple Watch and its monitoring capabilities.
The new Apple watch features crash detection as well as similar safety features found in the most modern iPhones, and comes with a number of improvements to its skin temperature sensors. These, paired with proprietary apps, can monitor users while they sleep and provide a number of insights into the wearer’s health.
To name a few, the Apple Watch 8 actually has built-in mechanisms for monitoring atrial fibrillation (that’s when the heart beats irregularly), as well as a blood oxygen and Sp02 reader. This suite of monitoring tools are great for tracking fitness metrics and goals, too.
The Apple Ultra or even a previous iteration such as the Apple Watch 7 are great alternatives thanks to Apple’s slow and steady approach to introducing new features, but the new Apple Watch 8 boasts the most modern collection of the company’s convenient and safety-minded features.
The new model, for example, has over 20% more screen area than the Apple Watch SE, and comes in Starlight, Silver, Product Red, or Midnight color arrangements. The watch is powered by WatchOS9, allowing users access to a number of apps and software that will be supported well into the future.
Wearers will have up to 16 hours of use between charges on normal mode, but can put the watch into low-power mode to squeeze 36 hours of use out of it if needed during travel, etc.
All told, the Apple Watch 8 takes the best of the previous model (and even Apple’s competing models) and adds a few conveniences to it, but nothing that’s meant to grab headlines or jump off the wrist. Most of the improvements this time around are either subtle quality of life improvements, or are safety-minded in nature.
