NEW Delhi, NOv 16 :
When Apple first introduced the Apple Watch way back in 2015, it wowed, but was also a major disappointment for some consumers the world over. This was a rare instance when an Apple product had polarising opinions across the board. At the time, people did not know what to exactly do with it. It had great features but woeful battery life — the potential was there for developers to add their own apps in a new product category, but the Watch was pitifully slow. The design of the first-generation Apple Watch was the only aspect which people were unanimously fond of. However, with the rest of it, people did not know what to make of it. Even though it drew a lot of flak, it did extremely well with a whopping 4.2 million units being sold in the second quarter of the year it was released.
Fast forward to 2018 — four generations later — the Watch is no longer just an accessory; but for those who own it, it’s an integral part of their daily wear. And it all actually changed with the Series 3 which propelled the Watch to be the #1 selling smartwatch in the world with analysts estimating sales of over 46 million by early 2018. This number has surely grown with more users entering the Apple ecosystem and adopting each and everything Apple dishes out. The Apple Watch is no longer just a smartwatch — it’s a fitness tracker, a device you can use to make and receive calls independent of an iPhone, you can send messages directly, you can use it to shop, you can stream music, order food and the more people use it, the more essential it gets in your daily life. But Apple hasn’t stopped here.
Being an essential device and being marketed as a one-go hand-in-hand solution. Being a wearable, Apple has understood where the Watch’s importance lies — health. The Apple Watch came with an optical heart rate sensor that provided people with enough knowledge if they needed to seek medical attention. This paved the way for the Watch’s future.
At the 2018 iPhone XS event, Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 4 and this time around it not only made a simple appearance but by far, stole the entire show! The Apple Watch was the coolest product that was announced at the event and if those of you who have been putting off purchasing the Apple Watch for whatever reason, Apple has now shown that this is the smartwatch that you don’t only want, but highly needed.
No longer is the Apple Watch just a smartphone accessory — it is a wearable with advanced health sensors found in no other wearable till date. As with every product upgrade, Apple improved on its cosmetics as well as giving it a larger display and a slimmer case, while also bumping up the internal specs — faster processor power and advanced sensors. With Apple also including various health features in the Watch, they are one step closer to making it as “indispensable” as your smartphone.
Like the previous generation, Apple has introduced a GPS version and a GPS + Cellular version. The bad news is that this year’s models are a lot more expensive than the earlier Series 3. Last year, the Apple Watch Series 3 started at Rs 32,380 for the 38mm version and this year, the starting price of the 40mm variant is Rs 40,900. The price goes up by another Rs 8,000 if you’re opting for an LTE version — at Rs 49,900. So, these new Apple Watches don’t come cheap. However, this review would probably change your mind, unless you are extremely budget conscious.
Design, Build
Over the past few years, virtually nothing has changed with the Apple Watch, at least design-wise. It got a little slimmer and in the previous edition, it got a bit thicker. At first glance at the new Apple Watch Series 4, you can tell instantly that the design has been altered — and massively while keeping the same design language in place. For those of you who haven’t used an Apple Watch before, the redesign may not be too different; but for those of are upgrading, you will instantly notice the glaring difference. For starters, the display is a lot bigger! 30 per cent larger to be precise. While there were rumours floating around that it would be bezel-less, this isn’t the case. However, it is well-rounded, giving it a look of an edge-to-edge design, while still maintaining the same footprint as before.
The body has been shrunk down as well, making it slimmer than the previous generations and with it being lightweight, wearing it for extended periods of time is non-noticeable. In fact, most of the time while using it I failed to realise that I had such an expensive smartwatch on my wrist. The device being thinner than the last two generations make it feel very fresh and exciting.
The Digital Crown has been updated as well and this time around there isn’t that red dot that indicated it was an LTE model, but rather a minimalistic red circle to denote the same — but the Crown is upgraded too. The GPS-only models feature a barely noticeable black ring and they maintain the overall design that was found on the Apple Watch Series 3 GPS-only version. The Digital Crown now comes with a haptic feedback and by default, this feature is turned on. However, if you don’t fancy it, you can turn it off too. While using this Watch for over a month, the haptics emitted from the Digital Crown is a welcome touch. This is especially prevalent when you’re scrolling through the most recent apps or music list. While controlling the volume of music, the haptic response adds a nice touch, giving you the impression that that you have complete control over it.
The Apple Watch Series 4 retains the side button below the Digital Crown and this time around, Apple has improved on the design by making it flush with the side of the chassis. The functionality of this button is the same as with previous generations, but now it’s more visually appealing. The side button is used to access all your recent apps or for activating an emergency SOS. In countries, where it is accepted, it can also be used to access Apple Pay; however, on our humble shores, this payment option is yet to be rolled out. Additionally, this button is also used to power off the device, but I never ever used it.
