Apple Watch Series 6 vs. Apple Watch SE: Hands-on first impressions By CNET

The Apple Watch Series, 6 and the Apple Watch SE have arrived now, let's dive right in and take a look at everything. Apple's two new smartwatches have to offer to hopefully help you decide, which one is right for you. If you're looking for a full review, this is not it. I just got this apple watches a couple of hours ago, and I'm taking a look at them for the very first time right alongside you, so that full review is going to come later now, let's just start with. What's in the box, here are the bands which I'll look at later- and here is the core of the new Apple Watch Series 6. Here it is product red, there's, the new sensors, the infrared sensors, which I will get to later and even the digital crown is red, as you can see, but it's got black in the center.

All right, I'm going to set this aside and keep going with the Apple Watch. Se they do seem to come in a similar package. This is the first time that apple is not including that charging brick in the box and the series 6 has the same thing. So I've cleaned things up a little so that we can really focus on the watches themselves, and I have them side by side. I'm not noticing any differences in terms of width in terms of weight.

They look a lot like what we've been seeing in the Apple Watch since the series 4, and you do get that larger screen with the set hat uh larger screen at less than the series three, the only difference outside the color, which, by the way, the red and the blue only come for the series. Six is that sensor on the back that infrared and red sensor that is going to enable the new blood oxygen feature on the Apple Watch, and I'm going to get to that later, because another big change that apple announced for the Apple Watch was the new band. So here I have the new solo loop in black, and I just wanted to point out. I can see it says 40 millimeters, for the Apple Watch, but then this is a size 4. I have no idea what that means: you're going to have to measure your wrist, so I'm just going to put it on the series 6 first to see what it feels like and there you go.

It looks pretty sharp, so I'm going to try this on my wrist just to kind of get a sense of it. So there you have it. It looks nice. It actually looks pretty sharp without the clasp or without it interlacing on the bottom and it is feels comfortable, but it does feel a little snug. So maybe I actually needed that size.

Five. I didn't get to decide this one um. It feels similar to the silicon vans, the sports bands that we're used to, but if it is stretchy which is kind of weird it's stretchy, and I would worry that this is going to stretch out over time over use just pulling it off your wrist. Putting back on your wrist, I think apple is also making it easier for children now that they have the new family set up, which allows you to configure a second Apple Watch on the same device, a parent device. I will report back to see if I notice any stretching and how it feels throughout the day, because it's kind of just early to tell now I'm going to go ahead and set up these watches on my phone, and you know what just so that I can keep them straight.

I'm actually going to put the red watch bands on the series six and the solo loop on the SE, and look at that. This is new uh. Now you have the option to set it up for a family member as well, so I'm just going to set it up for myself, though, but this is where you would click on if you're doing it for a kid or an elderly parent. Okay. Now it's getting interesting, here's something else to note this is new the new blood oxygen app, so I'm being asked if I want to enable- and yes I'm going to enable and welcome to my Apple Watch- I am all set up now.

Let's do the same with the s e, so pretty much the same setup with the Apple Watch, SE, except obviously minus the blood oxygen prompt. So now that I've set up the two watches now we can really start looking at the differences and that's one of them. You just saw that the raised awake, this one is raised awake and this one is always on, and one of the differences for the series six is that the always on part of the screen, if that makes any sense, is actually a lot brighter than before. So when this is in sleep mode, it still looks like it's on, and this is going to be especially helpful in broad daylight. So I will show you when I do move outside, but it's just really cool that even when it's off, I can still see it very clearly.

I don't know how it's going to affect the battery life, so we're going to check the battery life right now, 76 on the SE and 73 on the series six. So it's already starting off at a little of a disadvantage. I'm just really curious to test it out to see if I see any glaring differences, and now I want to show you another new feature on the interface that actually affects both. So I'm just going to show you on the series 6 over here, and it's the new watch faces. Let's take a look at all.

Those new watch faces that they showed us. Here's the chronograph. I believe this one is new as well. Here's the ability to create your own emoji right on the watch and there oh I'd, actually transferred my mini from the iPhones, so kid can do it without having iPhones. So now that I have set it up, and I like the way it looks, I'm going to see there you go, I can create a watch face there.

You go. Oh, that's cool! It doesn't track your face. Obviously, but it does interact. She looks semi-amused at what I'm saying, and I'm going to do the same for this one, because well trying to keep it as equal as possible. Two me's on the apple watches, sweet and now, let's get to the big, defining feature of the series 6, which is the blood oxygen app now with me here I have a pulse oximeter, which is the traditional way in which you would measure this on the tip of your finger I'll get to that later.

I just first want to run you through how it works, because I'm curious I haven't seen that start. It's supposed to only take 15 seconds, so bear with me, oh and there it is its 95, so your blood oxygen levels should be above 90, and I'll be honest. Most days I get between 98 and 99. I know this because of this little device, so this is lower than I'm used to now, I'm going to test it with my pulse oximeter over here to see if it matches up now. This is interesting.

It says 98 on the pulse oximeter, and this is more in line with what I'm used to getting. So I'm actually going to try this I'm going to put the iPhone to the side. I'm actually going to tighten this and try this one more time. Okay, that's more like it! I was not talking this time through the whole thing, so I did get a more similar reading on both devices, so take it with a grain of salt apple. Never intended this to replace this, at least not, yet it's just a wellness device to give you more information about what's going on in your body, and it may play an important role in sleep tracking, but we'll get to that, and the other distinguishing health feature that I wanted to point out about.

The series 6 is the fact that it is now the only Apple Watch, at least that apple sells, that offers that ECG or electrocardiogram app. What you will, however, get on both devices is that fall detection feature introduced in the series 4, because that s e does have this advanced motion. Sensors, the best place to show you this next feature on the Apple Watch is the elevator, so bear with me the series 6 and apparently also the Apple Watch, SC, which I just discovered. They both have an always-on altimeter, which tells you elevation in real time. Okay, do not judge me right now, but I'm using my tripod as a selfie stick to shoot.

The Apple Watch today also not the best shooting conditions. As you can see, my hair is kind of going nuts with the wind and also the sun is directly behind me. Probably casting a dark shadow on my face, but that is what's going to help us test out the screen. Brightness here is the series. Six in broad daylight still looks pretty bright, and even as it times out, I can still distinguish what's on the screen.

This is gonna, be key if you're out for a run and want a quick glance at your stats. Now, let's see the Apple Watch, SE, so not quite as clear also you do have to raise to wake and let's see them side by side now this might be a logistical nightmare, but let's try it out yeah. You can really appreciate the brightness of the series six now that we have them side by side. It is the end of a very long day of testing out the apple watches, and no I'm not about to play you a song I'm here, because everybody in my house is asleep, and this was the only space where I could shoot this video. So I just wanted to give you my final thoughts.

First off, I do owe you a battery check and, as you can see, the Apple Watch Series six, it's just it's not doing so well, but it's been a completely unfair competition because it is the flagship device. I've been using it a lot more for video and photography and just keeping that screen on a lot. So I'm going to have to go back and redo this battery test, one more time under normal circumstances and get back to you. There are things you can do to improve battery life like take off that always on display. You obviously can't do that on the SE and this one actually charges faster, so it charges in an hour and a half to 100 percent versus two hours, and that's going to be important when it comes to sleep tracking, because you do need at least a 30 charge to be able to track a full night's sleep which I'm not going to get tonight.

So that's the other thing that I'm going to have to get back to you on. So apparently, sleep tracking is going to look similar in that it tracks the duration of sleep and goes through your bedtime routine. But I think this is where we're going to see that spo2 features shine in the series 6, because it is going to take continuous measurements of your blood oxygen levels during the night, and this to me is more valuable than that single reed, which I showed you before, because you can start to see trends over time. Also, significant dips in oxygen levels at night could signal more serious sleep conditions like sleep, apnea or asthma, and I think that's going to be the true value in this sensor and, lastly, the processor s6 chip versus s5 chip and, to be honest, they're both really fast. I didn't notice a huge difference, at least not yet again, I haven't been using it as I normally would.

But it's just it's hard to test this out. I was actually impressed at how fast the race to wake is on the Apple Watch. Se, it was one of those things that I was kind of hesitant about going back to the raised weight because I'm spoiled with the always on display- and I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would, because it is a lot faster than what I remember it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me, especially if it's your first Apple Watch, because you don't know what you're missing- and this is kind of the theme throughout this video, the Apple Watch. Se is probably your best bet if you're buying into the Apple Watch for the very first time, because it gives you everything you need, and it's a great watch. I personally would probably pick the series six, but only because I'm a health nut and I would have major photo about not having that extra sensor and the information about my blood oxygen levels.

While I sleep I just I like to know more about what's going on in my body, but to be honest, most people probably not going to need that. Again, though, this is just my first impressions, I've only had the apple watches for a day, so I am going to continue working on that full review to publish later on and answer all the questions that I couldn't answer in this video so keep checking back on CNET. In the meantime, let me know which one you would choose and if you have any other questions that I should look into during my full review until then see you next time, I am doing a review, I'm not doing it! I'm not doing it. I like because it's red and red is my favorite color.

Source : CNET