Speaker 1: Apple Watch gets some amazing new features when it comes
Speaker 1: to health, fitness, and communication.
Speaker 2: What's going on. I'm Rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm back from the big Apple event up in
Speaker 1: Coopertino where we got to go hands on with the
Speaker 1: new iPhones and the new Apple Watches. And let me
Speaker 1: tell you, the iPhone's getting all the attention, but the
Speaker 1: Apple Watch is making some pretty amazing leaps. With what
Speaker 1: this thing can do and with the evolution that it
Speaker 1: continues to see, this is seriously the best health and
Speaker 1: fitness tracker there is by far. It's also an amazing
Speaker 1: companion to the iPhone. I love the way it handles notifications.
Speaker 2: It's just so nice.
Speaker 1: And I love my Fitbit Versa as well. I think
Speaker 1: that's a nice second. And I love the fact that.
Speaker 2: It can do sleep.
Speaker 1: But the way the Apple Watch works with apps and notifications,
Speaker 1: and one thing I really like about it is that
Speaker 1: when I raise my wrist to look at the screen,
Speaker 1: it always lights up onlike my Fitbit Versa, which sometimes
Speaker 1: does not, and that is kind of crazy. The one
Speaker 1: thing I don't like about the Apple Watch there's no
Speaker 1: support for Spotify to me. And twenty eight I don't
Speaker 1: understand why that's still happening, but I sort of understand
Speaker 1: Apple music.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I get it all right.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what's new in the Apple Watch
Speaker 1: series for now. The big headline is that the devices
Speaker 1: are now two millimeters bigger, so they come in a
Speaker 1: forty and forty four millimeters size versus the old thirty
Speaker 1: eight and forty two millimeters from before.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: When I put this thing on my wrist, the screen
Speaker 1: is noticeably bigger. Yes, for sure, you can definitely tell
Speaker 1: the screen is bigger, but the devices themselves are not
Speaker 1: noticeably bigger or bulkier. So the screen, the way they
Speaker 1: made it bigger is it has a lot more real
Speaker 1: estate because they pushed the screen all the way out
Speaker 1: to the edges. So if you look at your Apple
Speaker 1: Watch now, and this is no secret, there's kind of
Speaker 1: like a big bezel between where the screen actually ends
Speaker 1: and where the edge of the device is, But since
Speaker 1: it's all black, you kind of don't really notice it
Speaker 1: unless it's fully lit up. But this screen now is
Speaker 1: thirty percent bigger, and you can definitely tell. They have
Speaker 1: these new watch faces that have like a ton of
Speaker 1: information on them.
Speaker 2: Kind of overload.
Speaker 1: It actually surprises me a little bit because Apple is
Speaker 1: all about simplicity.
Speaker 2: Other new improvements, the microphone is better.
Speaker 1: They've moved it as far away from the speaker as possible,
Speaker 1: so calls are less echoey and clearer.
Speaker 2: I never really had a problem with that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess maybe they weren't as loud as
Speaker 1: I wanted, But the microphone has been improved. The speaker
Speaker 1: is also louder, so that's a good thing if you
Speaker 1: thought that you couldn't really hear people. They made the
Speaker 1: back black ceramic and sapphire crystal now, so the back
Speaker 1: of the Apple Watch is now much upgraded with those
Speaker 1: new materials. Now here's one thing I'm not sure that
Speaker 1: I like. Radio waves can now pass through the front
Speaker 1: and the back of the device. It used to be
Speaker 1: only the screen that the cellular connection would be able
Speaker 1: to pass through.
Speaker 2: So I was actually always.
Speaker 1: Concerned about the Apple Watch because of the whole cellular
Speaker 1: thing on my wrist all day, and I didn't really
Speaker 1: know that the waves didn't pass through the back of
Speaker 1: the watch.
Speaker 2: Well, now that they do.
Speaker 1: I'm not a fan of that because guess what, now
Speaker 1: you have this radiation producing device sitting on your wrist
Speaker 1: all day and the radiation can go through the front
Speaker 1: and the back.
Speaker 2: So I'm not a fan.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously we're not really sure about all the
Speaker 1: long term effects of it stuff. But when you have
Speaker 1: something sitting on your arm all day long, basically the
Speaker 1: entire day, that's you know, radiating waves, it's kind of weird.
Speaker 1: As opposed to your phone, which, of course you know
Speaker 1: your phone is doing the same thing, but it comes
Speaker 1: and goes. You're not keeping it in your pocket the
Speaker 1: entire day, unlike a watch, which is literally sitting there
Speaker 1: like as close as possible to your arm.
Speaker 2: All right, I digress.
Speaker 1: The digital crown is now haptic, so when you scroll
Speaker 1: through things on the screen, you can feel a little
Speaker 1: response through the digital crown.
Speaker 2: And one thing to know that I think.
Speaker 1: Some people will like the old bands that you have
Speaker 1: from your old Apple watches will work with the new
Speaker 1: Apple watches. So that's nice if you have a collection
Speaker 1: or a band that you like, or you spend a
Speaker 1: bunch of money on so they still snap in. When
Speaker 1: it comes to watch faces, there are several new ones,
Speaker 1: the ones with all the new complications I told you about,
Speaker 1: plus they have these fun like you know, only Apple
Speaker 1: would have the vapor, the liquid, metal, the fire, and
Speaker 1: the water watch faces and these all.
Speaker 2: React, which is really neat the breathe.
Speaker 1: App that's now available as a watch face as well.
Speaker 1: So the Breathe app you would get a notification from,
Speaker 1: and of course I would always dismiss it and you say,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it later, and I never did. So
Speaker 1: I think Apple knew that they probably noticed a lot
Speaker 1: of people dismissing that notification to breathe and then never breathing.
Speaker 1: So now it's available as a watchface. So every time
Speaker 1: you look at your watch, you're reminded to relax and
Speaker 1: take a breath for a moment like this. Ah all right,
Speaker 1: So now for the really interesting stuff that Apple has
Speaker 1: added in when it comes to health. So there's three
Speaker 1: important features when it comes to your heart. So the
Speaker 1: first one is notification if your heart rate appears too low.
Speaker 1: I do believe that that's been in previous versions of
Speaker 1: the Apple Watch.
Speaker 2: But here's the two new ones.
Speaker 1: It can detect irregular rhythms, So a regular heart rhythm
Speaker 1: which could suggest atrial fibrillation.
Speaker 2: Say that five times fast.
Speaker 1: So in Watch OS five Apple Watch will kind of
Speaker 1: just analyze your heart rhythm in the background, and it
Speaker 1: will send you a notification if it notices an irregular
Speaker 1: heart rhythm if it's detected, and it can also alert
Speaker 1: you if the heart rate exceeds or falls below a
Speaker 1: specific threshold.
Speaker 2: Now just think about that for a second.
Speaker 1: This device that you have sitting on your wrist all
Speaker 1: day long is analyzing your heart in the background.
Speaker 2: I mean, that is just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: The other thing you can do now is take an ECG,
Speaker 1: so you can take an electro cardiogram right from your wrist.
Speaker 1: There's a new ECG app which takes advantage of these
Speaker 1: new electrodes built into the digital crown, so you actually
Speaker 1: hold your finger on the digital crown for thirty seconds
Speaker 1: and it will take that ECG. There's also the new
Speaker 1: electrical heart rate sensor in the back crystal.
Speaker 2: So that also helps with this as well.
Speaker 1: That is amazing as well, and this has been given
Speaker 1: clearance from the FDA. Apple calls it a de novo classification,
Speaker 1: so whatever that means. But that's big because now this
Speaker 1: is really a device that is a health device. American
Speaker 1: Heart Association was up on stage at the Apple event
Speaker 1: to talk about it, and this is big This is
Speaker 1: big time for a lot of people in the US
Speaker 1: that may have heart problems or may not even know
Speaker 1: they have a heart problem, and all these features can
Speaker 1: work together to keep people healthy.
Speaker 2: The other major feature that it has is fall detection.
Speaker 1: So I know, well, everyone's referencing I've fallen and I
Speaker 1: can't get up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's basically what this is.
Speaker 1: So if you fallow, the Apple Watch will notice, and
Speaker 1: it will send you a notification. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what the notification says, but basically it's something to the
Speaker 1: effect of.
Speaker 2: Are you okay.
Speaker 1: If you don't respond to that notification in sixty seconds,
Speaker 1: well then it activates the SOS feature, which dials nine
Speaker 1: one one and also sends a text with your location
Speaker 1: to the emergency contacts that you set up in the
Speaker 1: health app. Again, this is game changing. This is such
Speaker 1: an important feature on the Apple Watch. Uses the device's
Speaker 1: accelerometer and gyroscope to identify when a hard fall occurs.
Speaker 1: So this is not just for any fall. People are saying, well,
Speaker 1: what if I just slip or whatever. No, No, Apple
Speaker 1: is smarter to say, you know, we're not going to
Speaker 1: just send help or call nine one one if you
Speaker 1: just happen to have a little fall or tripped and there's.
Speaker 2: No big deal.
Speaker 1: But in real emergency cases, this thing could save lives.
Speaker 1: But in reality, we have to see how this is
Speaker 1: going to work in everyday life, because everyone's thinking about
Speaker 1: the elderly. But there can be more implications like a car.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is something that can be expanded in
Speaker 1: the future. So any sort of abnormality that the Apple
Speaker 1: Watch experiences while it's on your wrist, the algorithms can
Speaker 1: definitely figure out what is going on and also maybe
Speaker 1: decide if you need help.
Speaker 2: So we'll have to see what happens with that one.
Speaker 2: But I think that's a really cool feature all right.
Speaker 1: Now, when it comes to battery life, no real improvements there.
Speaker 1: Apple was clear to say that battery life has not changed,
Speaker 1: hasn't gotten worse with all these new features.
Speaker 2: They still rate it at about eighteen hours.
Speaker 1: And I find with my Apple Watch that the battery
Speaker 1: life really depends on how much you do that day.
Speaker 1: So if you're using a lot of GPS or you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of exercising, your battery life will definitely be less.
Speaker 2: But if you don't do as much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can go a lot longer, but I think
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we're still at the
Speaker 1: point where you have to charge your Apple Watch every
Speaker 1: single night, and that is probably why Apple didn't mention
Speaker 1: anything about sleep tracking.
Speaker 2: I think that the company.
Speaker 1: Wants to do this, but they are just not there
Speaker 1: yet because they need a battery that lasts a couple
Speaker 1: of days before they can say, hey, let's keep this
Speaker 1: thing on all night, not having it charge all night
Speaker 1: while you're sleeping.
Speaker 2: So one band I like that.
Speaker 1: They showed off a band that you put on your watch,
Speaker 1: not a rock band, is called the Nike Sport Loop.
Speaker 2: This now has.
Speaker 1: Reflective yarn kind of woven into it for nighttime visibility,
Speaker 1: and it's really cool. I'll put a link to a
Speaker 1: picture of it that I took so you can see
Speaker 1: how it works in the show notes. But basically, when
Speaker 1: light hits this band on the Apple Watch, it lights.
Speaker 2: Up and it's really cool.
Speaker 1: It's very reflective and I love that because if you're
Speaker 1: running at night, you need everything you can to help
Speaker 1: car see you.
Speaker 2: So that's really cool.
Speaker 1: And watch OS five right around the corner that's launching
Speaker 1: on September seventeenth, which is.
Speaker 2: Monday, September seventeenth.
Speaker 1: That's going to bring that walky talkie feature, which is
Speaker 1: kind of like Next Tell back in the day, where
Speaker 1: you can tap and talk to someone through their Apple Watch.
Speaker 1: And I read a thing about it on the Verge
Speaker 1: who got a demo of it, and they were not too.
Speaker 2: Hot on it.
Speaker 1: But I think that maybe Apple has kind of evolved
Speaker 1: this thing a little bit.
Speaker 2: More by the time the launch comes.
Speaker 1: So I can't wait to try that one out because
Speaker 1: I think that could be really useful in a lot
Speaker 1: of circumstances where instead of sending a quick text to
Speaker 1: someone or calling them, you can just you know, if
Speaker 1: you're at the grocery store and you got to say, hey,
Speaker 1: do you want to you know, non fat or two
Speaker 1: percent milk, and that could be something that you go
Speaker 1: walkie talkie instead of having to wait for a response
Speaker 1: on the text and all that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 1: the watches are available Friday, September twenty first, and with
Speaker 1: all these new features comes a new higher price tag.
Speaker 1: The Series four Apple Watch now starts at three hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety nine dollars, and if you want the Series
Speaker 1: four with cellular, you're looking at four hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: nine dollars, so five hundred dollars for the cellular version,
Speaker 1: which you know, of course you have to pay ten
Speaker 1: dollars a month extra for that as well on your
Speaker 1: cellular plan. Series three now takes a price drop to
Speaker 1: two seventy nine, so that's kind of nice if you
Speaker 1: still if you don't really need all the new features
Speaker 1: on the Series four, you can grab the Series three
Speaker 1: for two hundred and seventy nine dollars. Still a really
Speaker 1: good watch, especially with that built in GPS, and it's
Speaker 1: very fast.
Speaker 2: I think even after a year.
Speaker 1: I know the old Apple watches have kind of slowed down,
Speaker 1: but I think the Series three is still just fast enough.
Speaker 1: All Right, there you have it. A quick look at
Speaker 1: the Apple Watch. Than suries for Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you want links to some of my TV coverage
Speaker 1: from up there at the Apple event, you can go
Speaker 1: to my website or check the show notes.
Speaker 2: It's richon tech dot tv. I'm Rich Dmiro. Thanks so
Speaker 2: much for listening. I'll talk to you real soon.