Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Apple Watch Series 8

Apple (MacRumors):

With all-day 18-hour battery life, Apple Watch Series 8 builds on best-in-class health and safety features like the ECG app and fall detection by introducing temperature-sensing capabilities, retrospective ovulation estimates, Crash Detection, and international roaming.

[…]

When Apple Watch detects a severe car crash, the device will check in with the user and dial emergency services if they are unresponsive after a 10-second countdown. Emergency responders will receive the user’s device location, which is also shared with the user’s emergency contacts.

[…]

To keep users connected for even longer, a new Low Power Mode can extend battery life to reach up to 36 hours for Apple Watch Series 8 with iPhone present. This new mode temporarily disables or limits select sensors and features, including the Always-On Retina display, workout autostart, heart health notifications, and more.

Previously:

Update (2022-10-14): Hartley Charlton:

The S8 chip in the Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra, and second-generation Apple Watch SE features the same CPU as the S6 and S7 chips, according to identifier codes.

Tim Hardwick:

A growing number of user reports online suggest the microphone on some new Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra models can become persistently unresponsive after an unspecified amount of time, causing apps that rely on the mic to throw up errors and stop working.

Josh Centers:

One big advantage of the pricier Apple Watch over the SE is the full QWERTY keyboard for responding to messages. It was originally introduced with the Series 7 and is much easier than trying to dictate or use the Scribble feature to enter text.

[…]

Even switching between an Apple Watch Series 4 and the Series 8, the difference isn’t remarkable. The screen is slightly bigger and brighter, the screen always remains on (at the cost of battery life), and there are more apps, like Blood Oxygen and Compass. But wearing a watch four generations ahead didn’t fill me with gadget lust.

[…]

The Apple Watch has long been our favorite smartwatch, and that continues with the Series 8. If you use an iPhone, the Apple Watch is the only smartwatch worth considering. Nothing else comes close in features or integration.

Joe Rossignol:

We’ve rounded up both written and video reviews of the Series 8 and new SE below.

2 Comments RSS · Twitter

*sigh* I had really hoped the rumors were true of glucose metering in the Series 8. Now I’m reading that may not happen until Series 10 or 11.

"With all-day 18-hour battery life..." I'm not sure I'd trust a timekeeping device from a company that thinks a day is 18 hours long.

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