Next Generation of iPhone was a blast on Apple’s September event. But, the announcement of new Apple watch series 4 was arguably the most attractive one, especially because the Cupertino Company brings up bunch of new things on their latest edition of this flagship.
Not only on the inside, but the outside appearance of the watch is also redesigned in quite significant manner. Well, some people may not consider its new look as that significant. However, by comparing it to the predecessor, New Apple Watch Series 4 look is a big jump. Then, how about the inside? Let’s find out.
New Apple Watch Series 4 Review
Looking back to the first generation of Apple Watch, the product was rather had no clear direction. Even though this was considered as one of the upper class smartwatch pioneers, but the impression was not that good.
Indeed, the outlook was superior at that time. But when we see into the software, there’s a very complicated impression. Apple seemed to include too much things inside a small package.
So we don’t think the slogan “good things comes in a small package” was really relevant for this particular case.
However, as Apple always did, they develop the product and brought more improvements on the next generation. And they did it. Apple Watch announced after the first edition is more defined in term of specialization, which is clear that this device id for fitness and notification.
And now, with the new edition came out, what did the company try to bring? Here is our review of the new Apple Watch Series 4.
Design
The most significant and obvious upgrade on the New Apple Watch Series 4 is the new design. Some people even say that this is the first time Apple applies significant changes on the hardware, or shortly speaking: the design.
And we’re happy with the new thing they brought. In this new design, Apple updated the casing to be more subtly rounded corners, which makes it’s more emphasized on the nature of traditional wrist watch.
The watch body is turned to be thinner too with two available sizes; 20 mm and 44 mm. And just like the previous series, Apple offers some options of watch body materials.
You can choose either aluminum one with three colors options: silver, gold, and space grey, or the stainless steel material with silver, space black and new gold colors. While the rear casing, it’s made of ceramic material to provide better signal.
Moving to the strap, it’s good news that Apple makes the previous watch’s strap is compatible with this new watch. So, if you have spare straps from the previous Apple Watch Series 3, you still can use it for your new Apple Watch Series 4.
Frankly, it’s a bit disappointing here because as we stated in our Apple Watch Series 4 Prediction and expectation, we really hope that Apple will implement some kind of smartband on the new edition of Apple Watch.
On the top of watch face, this fourth edition of Apple Watch has 30% bigger screen than the previous series. GSM Arena explains further that this new screen is LTPO AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors and 448 x 368 pixels of resolution (~326 ppi density).
This screen is now getting narrower to the edge, following the trends that happens on smartphone world. The screen itself is using OLED, that will give truly black color. Therefore, it makes the boundary between screen and watch body is invincible.
New Digital Crown Design and Microphone Placement
On the side of the watch, you’ll still see Apple’s digital crown which now has been redesigned with new mechanism. The crown is smaller but Apple claims that this has 21% more parts than the crown used in previous edition.
The appearance of this crown has been redesigned too. It’s not completely red-colored on the top, but this color has been change into red ring shape on top of the crown.
Apple also brings up sensor on the digital crown that will support new feature called hard fall detection. With new haptic mechanism, this makes the digital crown is more responsive and accurate.
Between the two buttons, there is a microphone that’s apparently, has been re-positioned from the previous place. This placement of microphone is brilliant actually, as it’s more further away from the speaker.
So, it could minimize the voice distortion during the call. The speaker has been redefined too, providing louder sound and better voice.
Inside of Apple Watch Series 4
Under the hood, Apple brings faster 64-bit S4 processor for better performance. It also has W3 chip that support newest Bluetooth version 5 for better connectivity.
While on the sensory aspects, you can find accelerometer and gyroscope to continuously track your movement. On the power supply, there is no power capacity difference compared to the previous edition.
Quoting from Apple’s claim, this battery can last for about 18 hours for regular use. But when it tracks your outdoor workout, the battery lasts for about six hours.
Watch OS 5
Talking about operating system, this new Apple Watch Series 4 has Watch OS 5. This OS has been equipped with many new features such as Walkie talkie (sounds odd, but yeah… new Apple Watch has it), podcast support, several new fitness features, and new watch face design.
Specifically about the watch face, this appears to be different and unique compared to previous other watch face designs.
The new Watch Face is designed to emphasize the rounded-corner screen. So, the nature of Apple Watch 4 is strongly shown on the watch face design.
Health Fitness Features
Let’s start the discussion about new fitness feature on Apple Watch Series 4 with automatic workout detection. This feature detects whether you’ve started your workout, and stops tracking when you finish your work out, automatically.
Additionally, the watch now can also track Yoga, hiking, as well as tracking your pace and cadence. Another new feature that definitely brings ease to user is how Apple now tries to give clear separation line between fitness features and health features.
On the health feature, Apple Watch Series 4 still has heart rate monitor. And also, there is new feature that is very notable called electrocardiogram (EKG).
This feature involves electrodes that are placed on the digital crown and into the back of the Watch. With this feature, new Apple Watch is able to send health monitor report to your doctor in PDF format.
Exclusively, the company also brings what it’s called hard fall detection into the New Apple Watch Series 4. This feature employs 800Hz accelerometer and gyroscope which will measure up to 32 G-forces.
With this, the watch can detect if user falls, and will ask whether or not user needs to call emergency contact. If there is no response after 1 minutes of falling, the watch will call emergency contact automatically as well as sending the location information.
Surely, this feature will be very usable especially for the elder. While for younger user, it’s optional to turn this feature on or off.
New Apple Watch Series 4 Price and Availability
Apple Watch Series 4 was introduced on September 12th 2018 during Apple’s annual event, where the company announced some of their new products including the new iPhone. And this product has started to be available on store from September 21st 2018.
As for the price, this smartwatch price starts from 399 USD for the aluminum version with 40 mm size and featured GPS only. While for the more lavish option, the Hermes edition, will start selling from 1.499 USD. So, have you decided which one to afford?