BEFORE You Buy: Apple Watch Series 6 & Apple Watch SE! By Andru Edwards

- I'm Andru Edwards, and you're watching Gear Live. (casual music) Today, Apple held its annual September event, and while there were no new iPhones in sight, we did get new Apple Watches, iPads, iPad Airs, and a couple of new services options as well. In this video, I tell you everything you need to know about Apple's new products announced today. What's going on, Tech Squad? Andru Edwards here. And as I mentioned, Apple announced several new products at this morning's Apple event. We've got upgrades to talk about as it pertains to the entry-level iPad and the iPad Air, as well as some new services and bundles that Apple has on the way.

But let's kick this off with the biggest news of the day: the Apple Watch Series 6. The new Apple Watch Series 6 is highlighted by several improvements that make it a worthy upgrade, in my opinion. First, there's the improved Always On display, which is now two and a half times brighter outdoors when your wrist is down, when compared to last year's Series 5. This will increase outdoor visibility in direct sunlight making the Always On display even better. Apple has also added a new blood oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch Series 6, making it an even better health device.

Blood oxygen saturation is a key measurement that contains info about your breathing and circulation. You'll see the blood oxygen sensor on the back of the Apple Watch comprised of four LED clusters incorporated into the redesigned back crystal sensor area. So now you can track your heart rate, your heart rhythm, and your blood oxygen levels all from the Apple Watch Series 6. At the center of it all is the new dual core S6 system on a chip, which is based on the A13 Bionic found in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. This makes the Apple Watch Series 6 20% faster than the Series 5 and more energy efficient.

That's what allows for the brighter Always On display as well as the Always On altimeter, which now tracks your elevation in real time. Speaking of power efficiency, the Apple Watch Series 6 should be good for about 18 hours on a full charge. And charge times have also been improved as well, so if you use your Apple Watch Series 6 for sleep tracking, you can place it on the charger when you wake up, while you're getting ready, and you can go from 0% to 80% in an hour, which is 40% faster than a Series 5. Of course, the Apple Watch Series 6 will ship with watchOS 7, which comes out tomorrow. And I did do a video looking at the top features in watchOS 7, which I'll link in the description down below in case you missed it.

Now, in addition to the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple also announced the cheaper Apple Watch SE today as well. The Apple Watch SE is a less expensive option for people who wanna get a new Apple Watch. When compared to the Series 3, the Apple Watch SE has the 30% larger display that's found on the Series 6. It also has the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and altimeter from the Series 6 as well. However, it does have the S5 chip from the Series 5, and it also does not have an Always On display, the blood oxygen sensor, or the electrocardiogram either.

The Apple Watch Series 6 is available in aluminum, stainless steel, and in the titanium Apple Watch edition, and unfortunately there is no ceramic option this year. However, this is the most colorful lineup in Apple Watch history with five aluminum colors, three stainless steel finishes, two titanium finishes, plus the extra space black stainless Hermes option. The Apple Watch SE, on the other hand, is only available in aluminum, and you can get it in silver, space gray, or gold. The Apple Watch Series 6 starts at 399 while the Apple Watch SE starts at 279. You can pre-order both right now and they'll be available this Friday.

Be sure to hit that Subscribe button, by the way, so you don't miss my coverage on those. In addition to the new Apple Watches, we have to talk about what Apple announced with the iPad Air. Now real quick, Apple did also update the entry level iPad. It's now the eighth generation, and it has the A12 Bionic Chip, giving it a nice speed bump for $329. But the bigger news, though, is that the iPad Air has been completely redesigned and it also has the new A14 processor before the iPhone gets it next month.

As you can see, the iPad Air picks up the same design language as the iPad Pro with a more minimal bezel around the liquid retina display. There's a new touch ID sensor embedded into the sleep/wake button on top of the Air, which means there's no face ID here, but that may actually be the more convenient option here on the tablet form factor. The iPad Air also drops the lightning port in exchange for USB-C and by extension gains support for the second generation Apple Pencil, as well as the iPad Magic Keyboard. These changes make the iPad Air look really similar to an iPad Pro. The Pro has the older A12Z processor, extra camera, LiDAR scanner, and the 120 hertz promotion display setting it apart for now.

Apple has also added a bunch of color to the iPad Air lineup. They start at $599 and will be available in sky blue, green, rose gold, space gray, and silver when they ship in October. Next up, let's talk about services. We've got a new service from Apple, as well as some nice looking bundles that will end up saving you some money. So first, Apple Fitness+.

Apple Fitness+ is a full fitness service that uses professional trainers, custom Apple Music playlists, and close integration with Apple Watch sensors to help you get more fit. As you use it, it offers recommendations based on previous Fitness+ workouts, in addition to workouts you've done in the workout app, and even workouts you've done in completely separate apps as long as they write to Apple Health. Things that match up will then be surfaced and suggested to you when you go into Fitness+. Also, if you do a lot of one specific type of workout, you'll be offered complimentary workouts as well for a more full focus on health. So for example, if you do a lot of yoga, Fitness+ will surface more yoga for you, but it will also surface some cardio so you can get to balance things out a little bit.

Now, all this is done on device for your privacy. Fitness+ will be available later this year for $9.99 per month, and there'll be a one month free trial for anyone who wants to give it a shot, but buyers of new Apple Watch hardware will get three months of Fitness+ with their purchase. Now, speaking of pricing, that brings me to the last announcement of the day: Apple One subscription bundles. Obviously, Apple has built its portfolio of subscription services, especially over the last few years. They now have Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, News+, Fitness+, and even iCloud storage plans.

What Apple One does is offers savings to users and families who use multiple services. So if you're an individual, you can get Music, TV, Arcade, and 50 gigabytes of iCloud storage for $14.95 per month, which is down from the $21 that it would cost you individually for the same services. Families bump up to 200 gigabytes of iCloud storage and can share Music, TV, and Arcade with up to six family members for $19.95, which is down from the $28 that that would typically cost you. Then there's the big one, Premier, which throws in Apple News+ and Fitness+ along with 2 terabytes of iCloud storage and all the other services I mentioned previously for a total of 29.95 per month, which is down from the $55 a month that they'd cost individually. Now I've gotta admit, I figured bundles were coming, but I thought you'd save 5 or maybe 10% at most, so this is cool to see.

Now, as an aside, you'll be able to buy extra iCloud storage in addition to your bundle, which I've been wanting for years as I inch ever so closer to my 2 terabyte storage limit as the days go by. I'll have more on all these products and services coming in future videos, so be sure you've subscribed, and later this week we'll be covering everything in full over on the Geared Up podcast. Geared Up is a show I do each week with Jon Rettinger, where we about the latest in tech, gadgets, and games along with our special guests. Just search for Geared Up in your favorite podcast player. Now let me know if you're picking up a new Apple Watch or iPad, or if you'll be subscribing to Fitness+, or Apple One down in the comments below, and I'll meet you there for further discussion.

Any questions on new hardware or services, drop them down there as well, and I'll address those too in a future video. Until next time, thank you so much for watching as always, guys. I appreciate your support. I'm Andru Edwards and I will catch you in the next video.

Source : Andru Edwards