Blue Apple Watch Series 6: Buy or Pass?! By DailyTekk

Hey it's Chris, and today we're talking about the Apple Watch Series.6. I've talked about it a lot lately, but I haven't done a full review, which is what I'm going to do today now you guys are lucky because I have not just one but two Apple Watch Series sixes here to describe for you guys to check out. Let's just start by saying that the Apple Watch Series 6 it's the best smartwatch on the market, you can't buy a better smartwatch which is kind of weird, because since it's new you might think well, it must have a bunch of new features. You know, there's Huawei, there's Samsung, there's Fitbit, there are other options. So what does the series 6 have that everything else doesn't well, that's actually kind of not the point. This is the best Apple Watch and Apple Watch has been the best smartwatch for like three or four generations hands down now.

Let's just get something out of the way right off the bat. If you owned a series, 5 or series 4, you probably don't need to upgrade to the series 6 there's not that much new. That would compel you to pull out the wallet and hit buy. On the other hand, though, if you're new, to smartwatches or to the Apple Watch or if it's been a while, since you bought one I'm talking about three or four years, then yes, this series six is definitely worth considering. I mean this thing starts at 399 and what it doesn't give you in new features it kind of makes up for with a variety of new and improved colors.

So on my left here, I've got a Nike Apple Watch on the right. I've got the new blue aluminum color. These are both LTE models, and they're very functionally similar. So if you're going to be upgrading, you're really talking about fit and finish and personal style, with a couple extra features that a lot of people probably aren't going to care about, like the blood oxygen monitoring. Now I haven't tested the red, but I will say this: blue color.

It's really subtle. It's like getting down to business rather than playful blue. Furthermore, it actually is a very dark blue. The light really has to catch it just right, for you even notice that it's blue from a distance, but I will say I do like that you can get blue in so many apple products. This year you can get the blue iPhone, you can get the blue iPad Air, and you can get the blue Apple Watch they're all like different shades of blue, but still colors.

Now, if you have or have seen an Apple Watch Series 5, it's going to be really hard for you to tell visually what the difference is between a series 6 and a series 5 just based on the looks. The only way you're really going to be able to tell is, if you flip it over, and you see some extra sensors here that you just wouldn't have seen on the series. Five, that's really it I mean it is ever so slightly thinner, but you will never notice it. One thing I will say is: if you're thinking about which casing you should get do think about how hard you're going to be on the Apple Watch. I'm not a huge fan of those really bulky Apple Watch cases I don't like those at all, but I see a surprising amount of people wearing them and no offense, if you like those, obviously, but the stainless steel models with the sapphire glass, that's much harder than what you get on the aluminum versions, the cheaper versions that could be worth upgrading to, especially if this is something that you are going to keep for three or four or five years.

I was really hard on my series 5 somehow I don't know if it was when I was working out or if I hit a doorknob or something, but I put a pretty big scratch up in the top near the 12, and it bothered me every time I looked at it, and that was because I didn't have that extra strong sapphire glass, and I guess one other thing that I'll just point out that I've talked about before in previous Apple Watch. Videos are been careful about the special models that are more expensive. There was a year that I bought the ceramic Apple Watch and when it came time to upgrade apple, wouldn't take it back, they didn't want it. They said it was ready for recycling, so I couldn't even trade it in that more expensive model towards my next one. So, there are caveats, probably with everything now, the new sensors on the bottom are for the blood oxygen monitoring, which is a new feature this year.

What's fascinating about it is that sometimes it works oftentimes, but also sometimes it doesn't, because you have to get the positioning just right on your wrist in order for it to work but apple's not really billing it as a health feature per se. If you pay close attention, they're billing it as a wellness feature, and they're, not even seeking FDA approval for it, so it's not going to be able to make any kind of diagnosis or anything like that. Nevertheless, it's cool that I can do this on my wrist, so I'm going to hit start and show you what this looks like you got to keep your arm really still they say. Keeping it flat on a table is helpful and look there, you go unsuccessful measurement, I mean you guys saw I'm just sitting here and not moving. So let's try it again.

I think it helps if you position it further up your wrist or your arm than you would normally wear it. Okay, yeah! So let me reposition it. I'm going to move it up a little and try this one more time there we go and a perfect reading. I get 100 on my blood oxygen score. Is it a score whatever it is 100? So here's what I'll say about the blood oxygen monitoring? It's cool uh, some other smartwatches, do it.

You can do it with the Fitbit, but is it life-changing in this iteration? At the moment? It's not going to change your life. One thing you may actually care about is that the battery charges a little faster as I've been using it. I could say. Maybe it feels like it's about 20 faster again, not life altering, but if you want to use the new sleep tracking feature in watch OS 7, which is like the key feature of watch OS 7. That might actually make a difference to you.

So you're not getting battery anxiety, as you just charge a little before bed, wear it to bed and need to use it again in the morning otherwise yeah. I think you should expect like a day and a half of battery life with normal usage. Of course, if you're going to be doing anything extra like activity tracking, using that GPS a lot for directions or something, then that's going to run your battery down a little faster. That being said, one of the main upgrades on the series six is that the always-on display is a little brighter and that's what you're seeing right now, that's what it looks like when it's not fully lit. If you tap it, it's going to become fully bright and readable, which is awesome because the LED screen is just as great as it always has been all right.

Here's the difference for you! Here's a good illustration of the ambient versus the full power screen modes, so this is obviously much brighter, but this is apparently better than last year, but if you want to save some battery life, one thing you can do is turn that feature off. If you do that, you can actually stretch the battery out for quite a bit longer, although that's not something I'm going to mess with, because I like having it on all the time. That being said, Apple is saying how much brighter this ambient display is versus the series 5, and I haven't noticed that much of a difference in daily use. Just practically I haven't been like wow, that's so much easier to read, I mean I'm sure it is, but it just hasn't been super noticeable. So again not a reason to upgrade in and of itself, I'm actually starting to think that apple needs to come out with the new version like every other year.

You know they don't always come out with the new iPad Pro every year, and maybe that needs to happen here with the watch. The changes just aren't monumental or earth-shattering, and I think things would feel more natural as a progression of apple watches, if apple saved a big event for a bigger feature because watch OS 7 works with the series 5. So really, what are you upgrading for? Maybe a blue color, maybe a red color. You know these are small things and even though there's a new processor, it's so snappy already, it's not like anything, feels slow, so upgrading for the processor, just because it's series, six, not a series, five that doesn't really make sense either I mean just being honest. I think a lot of people are gonna, love and want and get the SE, because it's more or less everything that people want in a smartwatch for a much cheaper price.

Now I've been mentioning the Apple Watch, SC, here's a list of things that you're missing. If you get a SE instead of the latest and greatest, the SE, is going to miss out on the ECG, the blood, oxygen monitoring and also the always-on display. But let's be honest, I wouldn't really describe those things as core to the Apple Watch. Experience they're just nice to haves. That said, I'm just going to say this.

I know it's going to rub some people the wrong way, but I do like having some personalization, so this color, for instance the blue. I like that, because its different Apple Watch has become so popular. Furthermore, I see so many when I'm out around town, especially the Nike versions, man, it seems like there's so many people wearing a Nike band that it's nice to have a little of personalization, whether it's the band or whether it's the actual casing that sets it apart from everybody else. So honestly, a lot of people just like to upgrade, but do you need to upgrade this year? If you have a four or a five? Maybe all you need to do is go out and grab a new band, and it will feel new enough for you, because the experience is pretty similar across the lineup right now. You know some people are out just looking for a refurbished four or five and getting a good deal and that's not the worst idea in the world.

So that being said, let's talk a little about watchOS, 7 and apps, because that's a huge part of the Apple Watch experience if it's been a little while, since you checked out the app store and seen what's available for the Apple Watch outside just weather and fitness and health stuff, it's a good time to check back in or if you're, just getting into the Apple Watch. For the first time go check out. Some of my app videos for the Apple Watch that'll be a great starting spot to get you off on the right foot a lot of apps. I've actually come to particularly rely on my Apple Watch, especially at night like after the work day's over, let's say after 5 or 5 30. What I like to do, and I'm going to make a whole separate video about this- is use.

My LTE Apple Watch paired with a Kindle to get some reading done, but to kind of disconnect a little. A lot of people were like having an Apple Watch with LTE. That's not disconnecting! Well, it's disconnecting a bit and for me enough so with the Kindle. I can read without getting distracted, there's no Twitter, Instagram, web surfing or videos just the reading, but with my Apple Watch they make a good combo, because I can still text. I can still make a phone call or get a phone call, I'm probably not going to be reaching out to people as much, but I just want to be in the loop.

If something happens that I need to know about. One thing: that's cool though, when it comes to fitness, is that there's a lot of new workout types, so that has only improved, and personally I've been doing a lot of the indoor walks on the treadmill and also the elliptical. It's been working great, and I'm so glad that I can get those tracked and on the other hand it does have a feature that detects if you're going on a walk front. So it says it looks like you're on a walk. Would you like to record this exercise and that has been more hit or miss for me than it seems like it almost used to be? I'm sure that's not actually the case, but I wish that worked.100 of the time, because I don't always remember to start that workout, but yet I want all my activity properly recorded. You know not just the steps, but I wanted to know.

No. This is a workout. This is an exercise, and it works like 50 of the time. So there are things that can still be improved. The sleep tracking I made a whole different video on, so you can go check that out for my full thoughts.

Needless to say, it's something that I, like the experience of, like the actual wearing of the watch to bed, to see how much sleep I'm getting that's great. What I don't like are the bedtime reminders, because I don't need a nanny telling me what to do and just having to deal with charge is a little now. Wear it charge. Just you know, like the charging. Skill is a little crazy.

Waco seven has some new watch faces, which is cool every year. It seems like apple's coming out with new watch faces. The thing is, I still can't find one watch face. That's my watch face and I want that. I want to have one watch face that just has everything that I need, but what I do, and I think what everyone ends up doing is having activity based watch faces.

So for fitness you got one maybe for work or music. You have one. I know some people set one up for when they're, cooking or whatever, and I don't like that. I want one screen that is just my go-to thing and without having to swipe around. Furthermore, I have a separate one for a work week and separate one for the weekend.

You know, or even better I mean we have Siri on here, and we have a Siri watch face that changes contextually still one of my favorites been around for a while, but why can't we have watch faces that turn on or off or show up or don't at different times of the day, contextually based on an activity for instance. That would make these a little more interesting. I will tell you this, though the new handwashing function. I turned that off. Furthermore, I actually didn't like it.

Furthermore, I gave it a try. Furthermore, I gave it a go, but at the end of the day, it just kind of bugged me. One thing: that's going to be absolutely huge, though, for the Apple Watch in general is going to be that new fitness plus subscription from apple, which is basically gonna, treat the Apple Watch like a peloton. What I mean by that is, instead of a peloton with a subscription for all the class and content. You're going to have the Apple Watch as your hardware, and then you can have the classes and subscription content built around the Apple Watch instead of a bike or a treadmill.

So for a lot of people who are considering a Fitbit or Samsung or something else that fitness plus subscription is going to be a huge differentiator. Definitely- and I actually do think that that's going to be very compelling for a lot of people. I'm excited to try it out myself, I'm also personally, very interested in the family setup. So in other words, I can buy as a parent. Let's say an Apple Watch for a kid or for a senior parent set it up for them and have it connected to my phone so that we can remain in touch so that they can, for lack of a better word, be tracked, but without getting them addicted to a smartphone you're too early.

In the case of a kid or without somebody really having to mess with a smartphone in the case of an elderly adult when it comes to health stuff too, you have to consider that apple is going to store your information privately and securely, which I don't think I would feel as comfortable having that information with any other tech company. To be honest, so what's the verdict? Is this a great watch? Yes, obviously, would I ever consider something from Samsung or Huawei or any other manufacturer Fitbit? Even no personally, I wouldn't, I'm so deep into the Apple ecosystem. I, like the integration with HomeKit, there's a great app on here that lets me control all my smart home accessories. I like being able to control my air pods with my Apple Watch, I like being able to control my home pod with the Apple Watch remind me in an hour to check tracking on new Sony camera done. Furthermore, I love setting reminders on here.

That is my to-do list, and it keeps me on track on all the different devices that I have, whether it's my Mac iPad, iPhone Apple Watch, it's a productivity tool for me. In many ways the amount of accessories in terms of bands is ridiculous. Nobody else comes close. So is the Apple Watch Series 6 an amazing thing that you should buy yeah, I think so. If you don't have a series, five or maybe even a four, but if you want that extra personalization, if you like a few extra bells and whistles, then the Apple Watch Series six is really, really nice.

Alright, thanks for watching today, guys don't forget, you can check out at daily tech spell daily teak on Instagram and Twitter also make sure you subscribe to the after party. That's the podcast. It comes out every Friday. Every week we talk about some behind the scenes. Things here at daily tech, as well as get into what's new in the world of apple.

It's a good time. I'd love to hang out with you there, but I'll catch. You guys in the next video later.

Source : DailyTekk