Apple Watch Series 6 Review - Blood Oxygen Sensor Worth Upgrading? By Hands-On Tech

Coming up on hands on tech, I am going to be showing you. The new Apple Watch Series 6. Hands on tech is brought to you from twits LastPass studios using the same password everywhere is a security nightmare. Waiting to happen. LastPass easily creates unique passwords for every site visit, lastpass. com twit.

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Today we are talking about the Apple Watch Series six. This is the latest and greatest Apple Watch from apple of course, and it provides a few new features over the series. Five, but not a lot has changed with this model. If you are rocking a series, five, even a series, four or series three, you may not find that you need to make this upgrade because it's um. Well, I don't want to say underwhelming, certainly some fun new stuff, but overall there aren't a lot of changes, and it continues to be interesting.

How apple provides a new Apple Watch every year and the things that it does to make sure that there are new things for you to try out and new reasons to get an Apple Watch that starts with finishes. We've got two new finishes for the Apple Watch Series: six, including a blue finish, which is quite pretty and a product red finish, so apple says that the Apple Watch Series 6, is the most colorful collection. Yet, thanks to those new colors, along with the new blue aluminum and product red aluminum, come two new stainless models, including a graphite color. That apple calls a gray black hue, with a striking high shine finish and the yellow gold color. So no rose gold this time around sad, but a classic, yellow gold color in stainless steel.

There is also an Apple Watch edition in natural and space black titanium. So you can get the standard space, black titanium or the natural titanium colors, which is more akin to a graphite pencil. But let's talk about what happens inside the Apple Watch Series six, because that is where things have gotten newer. Of course, first comes a faster s6 sip that stands for system in package, so that's a whole new chip that is kind of like everything built into one. They take one little package.

That's got a bunch of different processors and things inside it. Stick that into the Apple Watch, and that is running. This Apple Watch with the series six you've also got an always-on altimeter, as opposed to the altimeters that are in the current models of Apple Watch. That only work when you are doing certain uh, workouts and exercises, and things like that. So apple says that with this power, efficient, barometric altimeter, meaning it uses the pressure in the air to determine how high or low you are elevation wise.

Along with GPS and Wi-Fi signals, it can provide a little of information about how high or low you are and use that information to kind of inform. How that is affecting your workouts and give you some information about like how much you've climbed in a day other than that you of course can expect battery improvements. This Apple Watch will stay on longer, and I have noticed that myself that I had actually shut off the always on display with my series 5 Apple Watch, but with this new series 6 model I've actually been keeping it on a lot longer because of the better battery life and, in some cases, haven't really needed to charge overnight. The big thing, though, the big change, the big addition with this model is something that had been rumored for a long time, and that is the blood oxygen sensor. So the Apple Watch Series 6 takes what the Apple Watch could already do and adds oxygen, saturation, otherwise known as spo2.

This is the percentage of oxygen that is actually in your red blood cells as your red blood cells. Carry that oxygen to the rest of your body and can kind of give you an impression of your cardiovascular, health and, in some ways, also help with early detection of issues like COVID-19. So the way that this blood oxygen sensor works is using four clusters of green red and infrared LEDs, as well as photodiodes that are on the back of the Apple Watch. This measures, the light- that's reflected back from blood, so you can kind of think of it. Like this.

You light up the blood you see how red it is and the redder it is, the more oxygen it has in it, the less red, the less oxygen so using these different LEDs and the photodiodes it's kind of taking constant pictures of the redness of your blood and using that information to give you a readout- and this is uh designed to measure blood oxygen levels between 70 and 100. So if you have low blood oxygen for whatever reason, it's not going to be able to help you with that or won't provide accurate measurements. But these measurements can be taken on demand with the blood oxygen app when a person is sitting still and simply breathing, but it will also do background measurements of your blood o2 or your oxygen saturation when you are inactive, including while you're asleep. So, yes, if you wear your Apple Watch, while you're asleep, it can also measure your blood oxygen, which is helpful for folks who have sleep apnea. This is a device that apple is kind of touting as a wellness device, as opposed to a health management device due to the fact that until it gets FDA clearance and some other types of of of clearances and approvals, it can only market it as a wellness device, as opposed to an actual health device.

Uh. The always-on display is also been improved. It's 2.5 times brighter than the series 5, and I've noticed that too, when you are outdoors or in bright sunlight, it could be kind of hard to see the screen of the series 5 when it was in always on mode. The series 6 is a lot brighter, even in those modes, so that all-day battery life because of the new system in a package as well as uh, the changes to uh the brightness of the always-on display kind of those are some of the improvements that make this a better Apple Watch than the current model and, of course, the blood oxygen sensor. That's built in the other thing that has me excited at least, is the u1 chip and ultra-wide band antennas.

So this is a feature that is not yet important, but soon will be from apple because this is going to be used as a way for folks to uh to to to find devices that may be placed around the home to be able to unlock cars. There are all sorts of technology that is not yet available, but Apple has slowly started to add the u1 chip. It started with the iPhone 11 Pro and is being added now to its other devices, including the new Apple Watch, and we may soon see those uh that technology being used in a fascinating way, so kind of future proofing of the device and soon that will be something that we can take advantage of. This episode of hands on tech is brought to you by it pro TV, if you're interested in an I?t career but aren't sure where to start it pro TV. Is your one: stop shop they're the best online its education platform to learn about it in every field and October is cybersecurity awareness month and IG prov has hundreds of hours of cybersecurity training go to it pro dot TV, slash, twit and use code, twit 30 to receive 30 off all consumer subscriptions? That's it pro dot TV, slash, twit and use code, twit 30 for an additional 30 off for the lifetime of your active subscription.

It pro TV build or expand your it career and enjoy the journey. As far as pricing Apple Watch Series 6, just the GPS model starts at 399 399 and the series six with cellular starts at 4.99. So, yes, you will be paying a 100 premium for having the cellular antenna built into it. Uh these apple watches have been available since September 18th and continue to be available, as well as the Apple Watch or maze model, the Apple Watch, Nike model and the new Apple Watch bands, including one that I have on my wrist, which is the woven nylon band that I very much like it is a fitted Apple Watch band. Actually I think this is called the braided solo loop and this braided solo loop is a fitted model that you actually get your proper sizing and then order that size, and it doesn't have any clasps or anything like that.

It just slides over your wrist, so kind of unique way of wearing an Apple Watch, but is especially helpful when you were doing blood oxygen sensor, measurements and heart rate measurements and ECG measurements. So is this an Apple Watch that you need to get to upgrade to? Well, I think there are some very specific uh cases where it's a need to have as opposed to a want to have. If you are rocking a very old Apple Watch, Apple Watch, series, 0 series, 1 or series 2, the upgrade to the series 6 is going to blow you away. It's going to be a fast, incredible watch that is going to do more than you have with your current model. Absolutely if you're rocking a series 3, four or five, it's not a necessary upgrade uh.

If you want it, and can afford it, then get it of course. But it's not something. That's going to sort of be a realization for you that, oh, my goodness, I needed to have this um. I'm upgrading from a series 5 to a series.6 have not noticed much of a change outside that brighter, always on display and, of course, the ability to track your blood oxygen, and that folks is one way that you may want to use. This device is, if you are looking for a way to regularly track your blood oxygen saturation, then the Apple Watch Series 6 can be that device.

That's always on and available to do that, both while you're asleep, while you're inactive and on demand using the blood oxygen sensor app. But outside that, I don't know that it's worth the upgrade from one of the newer apple watches, the older apple watches, do a fine job of giving you everything that you could want from an Apple Watch. Besides those very few features so folks. I hope that that rundown of the Apple Watch Series 6 gave you a little of insight into what this new model provides. If you have questions, thoughts, etc.

, go ahead and send those way, I am at Micah sergeant on pretty much all the social media networks and, of course, check out. My other shows hands on iOS as well as iOS, today, tech news, weekly, etc. , where I am also talking about these products pretty regularly. So we do appreciate you tuning in and of course, don't forget to if you're not subscribed to this to the show YouTube. com hands on tech and twit TV hot, thanks.

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Source : Hands-On Tech