The new Apple Watch has (truly) put health at the heart of things
The design and battery life aren’t particularly impressive, but we were won over by the vital signs monitoring and the indicator on the prosthesis
Key points
Wearing the latest Apple Watch – the Series 12, to be precise – the first impression isn’t exactly thrilling. For those familiar with the Cupertino watch range, the feeling of having worn the same thing on your wrist for years now is very real. After all, this Watch features the case first introduced with the Series 10 – slim and comfortable – in two sizes: 42 and 46 millimetres. If you place it next to the Series 11, it’s really hard to tell them apart. In fact, judging purely by their appearance, the bezels even seem slightly thicker. Of course, it’s difficult to come up with a new design for a watch every year. And Apple hasn’t even tried.
The rest, however, is a wealth of innovations that make this watch a very interesting piece of kit. Particularly given how Apple is seeking, step by step, to make it the nerve centre for health monitoring. But let’s take it one step at a time.
The materials and colours are new. The Series 12 sees the return of ceramic, in pearl white and midnight blue, with prices exceeding a thousand euros. Meanwhile, the aluminium models feature Ceramic Shield 2 glass, which, according to the Cupertino-based company, is 60 per cent more durable than the previous generation’s Ion-X.
Health at the heart of it all
The real change lies beneath the case, and it is a change that says a great deal about the direction the product is taking. The Apple Watch is less and less a wrist-worn computer and increasingly, as we’ve said, a health monitoring tool. The new Health Sensing System combines redesigned optical and electrical sensors with larger and even more efficient green LEDs. The practical result is that your heart rate is measured every five seconds throughout the day, whereas up to the Series 11, background monitoring took place at intervals of several minutes.
Heart rate variability, the most commonly used indicator for assessing stress and recovery, is also measured more frequently, and is now broken down into two metrics, one of which is dedicated to night-time recovery. Apple claims that this is the most accurate heart rate sensor available on a wearable device. It is a biased claim, but published comparisons with professional heart rate monitors show minimal discrepancies. A remarkable achievement for a device that simply sits on the wrist.
