Apple Watch Series 9 review

Trade in Apple Watch Series 9

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The Apple Watch Series 9 introduces quality of life improvements such as the Double Tap feature and a brighter display, making it a worthwhile upgrade for some users. However, if you already own an Apple Watch Series 7 or a newer model, there may not be significant reasons to make the switch.

Since its initial launch in 2015, the Apple Watch has undergone significant transformations and improvements, making it a highly capable and versatile product. When considering these updates, it’s essential to take a long-term perspective, as year-over-year comparisons may not yield as exciting differences.

In terms of design, the Apple Watch Series 9 retains the same look as the previous three generations, while incorporating the health sensors from the Series 8. However, the Series 9 distinguishes itself with an updated CPU, allowing it to offer enhanced capabilities.

Apple has been diligent in equipping the Apple Watch with various sensors, optimizing battery life given its compact size, and enhancing processing speeds to ensure smooth operation. While these advancements are impressive, they may limit the room for significant development in this particular model. Nevertheless, potential buyers in 2023 should still consider the Series 9, as Apple may introduce compelling features and improvements in the future.

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Apple Watch Series 9 review: Design and returning features

The Apple Watch’s display has evolved over time, gradually extending to cover the entire top surface of the watch and gently curving over the edges. When seen from above, this design creates a visually striking, nearly all-display appearance, with minimal bezels visible.

This display design with curved edges and rounded corners has remained consistent since the Apple Watch Series 7. Therefore, there are no unexpected changes in this regard, although the Series 9 introduces a new color option in pink.

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The Apple Watch Series 9 offers a variety of options for users to choose from:

1. Materials: You can select between stainless steel and aluminum materials.
2. Sizes: It is available in two different sizes, 41 mm and 45 mm.
3. Displays: Stainless steel models feature sapphire displays, while aluminum models come with Ion-X displays.
4. Colors: Aluminum models are offered in a range of colors, including pink, midnight, starlight, silver, and red. Stainless steel models are available in gold, silver, or graphite.
5. Cellular: Cellular connectivity is a standard feature in stainless steel models, but it remains an optional upgrade for aluminum models.

It’s important to note that with the Series 9, Apple has discontinued the titanium and ceramic material options that were available in previous models.

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Apple Watch Series 9 doesn’t introduce any new health or fitness capabilities compared to the previous generation. It retains the same set of sensors and features, including the third-generation heart rate sensor, blood oxygen sensor, skin temperature sensor, ECG, altimeter, and accelerometer.

This means that the Series 9 continues to offer various health and fitness functions, such as tracking heart rate and blood oxygen levels, monitoring workouts, providing alerts for abnormal heart rates, offering on-demand ECGs, and detecting car crashes. Users upgrading from older Apple Watch models will gain access to the temperature sensor, which is used for retroactive ovulation alerts.

For those who are already familiar with Apple Watch and its capabilities, there are no surprises in this regard. However, newcomers to the Apple Watch ecosystem can refer to the extensive coverage and information available on Apple Watch and watchOS to learn more about its features and functionality.

Apple Watch Series 9 review: Display

The Apple Watch Series 9 is equipped with an Always-On Retina LTPO OLED display. This advanced display technology combines several key features:

1. High-Resolution: The display offers a high resolution, ensuring sharp and detailed visuals.
2. LTPO Technology: LTPO stands for Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide. It’s a display technology that allows the refresh rate to be dynamically adjusted, which can help conserve battery life.
3. OLED: OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology provides vibrant colors and deep blacks, enhancing the overall display quality.
4. Always-On: The “Always-On” feature means that the display remains partially active even when not in active use, allowing users to glance at the time or notifications without fully waking the watch. This feature strikes a balance between visibility and battery conservation.

Additionally, the display can turn off unused pixels to further optimize power efficiency when displaying certain content or watch faces.

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The Apple Watch Series 9 leverages its OLED display’s ability to turn off pixels strategically, creating a visual illusion that makes the active display appear larger than its physical dimensions. For example, the Contour watch face extends numbers all the way to the edge of the display, enhancing the illusion. This effect is most convincing when using watch faces with predominantly black backgrounds. However, it may become less effective when viewing photos or using apps with non-black backgrounds.

The display on the Apple Watch Series 9 offers vibrant colors and excellent visibility in various lighting conditions. It can reach an impressive brightness of 2,000 nits in direct sunlight, which is twice the rating of the previous generation. This level of brightness ensures that the watch’s display remains easily readable outdoors, providing a significant improvement in outdoor display performance for users who are familiar with earlier Apple Watch models (excluding the Apple Watch Ultra). To put it into perspective, this peak brightness matches that of the iPhone 15’s display.

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The Apple Watch Series 9 features a minimum display brightness of just 1 nit. This low brightness level is especially useful in dark environments, such as movie theaters or when wearing the watch while sleeping. It ensures that the display remains unobtrusive and doesn’t disturb others or disrupt your sleep when checking the time or notifications in the dark. This improvement enhances the overall usability and convenience of the watch in various scenarios.

Apple Watch Series 9 review: New S9 processor

The Apple Watch Series 9 utilizes a System-in-Package (SiP), which is a single integrated unit that houses various components, including processors and sensor controllers. This design approach allows for a compact and efficient arrangement of hardware within the watch.

One notable aspect of the Series 9 SiP is that it includes an upgraded processor, marking the first CPU upgrade since the Apple Watch Series 6. The dual-core CPU in the Series 9 SiP incorporates 60% more transistors compared to its predecessor, resulting in improved performance. Additionally, the SiP features a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that is 30% faster, enhancing graphics performance and overall responsiveness. These enhancements contribute to a smoother and more efficient user experience on the Apple Watch Series 9.

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The Apple Watch Series 9 is equipped with a four-core Neural Engine, which is capable of processing data at double the rate of previous models. This enhanced Neural Engine plays a crucial role in enabling new features such as on-device Siri and Double Tap. On-device Siri means that the watch can process Siri voice commands without the need for a constant internet connection, providing faster and more convenient interactions.

Furthermore, the Series 9 offers increased internal storage, with a capacity of 64GB. This larger storage capacity is beneficial for accommodating bigger apps and storing more on-device media, such as music. It also opens up possibilities for the development of more complex apps and games in the future, as developers can take advantage of the increased storage and computational power.

In terms of connectivity, the Apple Watch Series 9 is rated for Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), which is sufficient for its purposes, as the watch doesn’t require the latest Wi-Fi standards. It also features Bluetooth 5.3, ensuring seamless communication with the user’s iPhone and compatibility with Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) devices like bike cadence sensors. This connectivity versatility enhances the watch’s functionality and its ability to work with various accessories and peripherals.

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Despite the increased processing power and the brighter display of the Apple Watch Series 9, its battery life remains consistent with previous models. It is rated for approximately 18 hours of standard use, which aligns with the real-world experience of users. This means that, like its predecessors, the Series 9 should easily last throughout a typical day of use without the need for frequent recharging. Apple has managed to maintain a good balance between improved features and maintaining the watch’s all-day battery life.

Apple put U2 in your Apple Watch

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Apple has introduced improved integration between the Apple Watch and HomePod devices. When you bring your Apple Watch close to a HomePod mini or second-generation HomePod, it now functions similarly to how it does with an iPhone. Depending on the context, you will either see controls for the currently playing audio or receive suggestions for actions to take.

This enhancement in interaction makes it more seamless for users to control audio playback and interact with their HomePod devices using their Apple Watch, enhancing the overall ecosystem experience. It simplifies the process of managing audio and receiving suggestions for various actions when using Apple Watch in conjunction with HomePod speakers.

Coming later in 2023

One of the challenges with the Apple Watch Series 9 is that certain headline features were not available at its initial launch. Pre-release review units were equipped with special preview watchOS software that allowed testing of these features. However, when regular consumers purchased the Apple Watch, they received the same software as everyone else, which did not include these features for testing.

As a result, the review of these features had to be postponed until they are officially released to the public. The specific features and their functionalities will be covered in detail once they become available to users. Until then, users can anticipate an update that will introduce these features and enhance their Apple Watch experience.

On device Siri

Apple’s commitment to privacy extends to its Apple Watch Series 9, where the company aims to process as much data on-device as possible. Thanks to the increased processing power and the four-core Neural Engine in the Apple Watch Series 9, basic Siri requests can be processed locally on the watch itself. This approach enhances privacy by reducing the need to transmit sensitive voice requests to external servers for processing, making interactions with Siri more secure and efficient on the device.

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The improved on-device processing capabilities of Siri on the Apple Watch Series 9 will lead to faster responses when controlling smart devices or accessing music playback. Instead of relying solely on iPhone or cloud processing, the watch can now handle some of these tasks locally, resulting in quicker interactions.

Moreover, Siri is set to gain new health-related features that allow users to provide and log health data through voice commands. For instance, you’ll be able to tell Siri about your water intake or your current weight, and it will log this information directly into the Health app. These enhancements promise greater convenience and integration of health data, and we look forward to exploring them further once they are available for testing.

Double Tap

Apple introduced a novel interaction feature called Double Tap for the Apple Watch Series 9. This feature leverages the advanced capabilities of the Series 9 System-in-Package (SiP) to process sensor data and understand when two fingers perform a pinching motion. It opens up the potential for a unique and intuitive way to interact with the watch, and we look forward to exploring how it works and its practical applications once it becomes available for testing.

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The Double Tap gesture seems like an exciting addition to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra, offering the potential for one-handed operation and quick access to various functions. It’s understandable that you chose to upgrade to the Series 9 for this feature along with the other improvements. While it’s unfortunate that the feature isn’t available yet, it’s good to know that it’s expected to arrive with watchOS 10.1 in October. This gesture could significantly enhance the user experience and convenience of using the watch.

Carbon neutral future

Apple’s commitment to making its products carbon-neutral by 2030 is a commendable step toward reducing its environmental impact. It’s great to see that the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch SE are the first products to carry this carbon-neutral designation when equipped with aluminum and a sport loop. Sustainable practices and environmental responsibility are becoming increasingly important, and it’s encouraging to see major tech companies like Apple taking meaningful steps in this direction.

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Apple’s commitment to sustainability and carbon neutrality is indeed a notable aspect of its overall corporate responsibility. While it may not directly impact the functionality of the device, it sends a powerful message about the company’s values and its dedication to reducing its environmental footprint. In an era where environmental issues are of growing concern, such initiatives can help drive positive change and set an example for other companies to follow. It’s a way for consumers to feel good about their technology choices beyond just the features and performance of a device.

Still just an Apple Watch

It’s great to hear that your perspective on the Apple Watch Series 9 changed during Apple’s September event, and you found enough compelling reasons to upgrade from the Series 8. Technological advancements and new features can sometimes make a significant difference in the overall user experience, and it seems like the Series 9 has brought some valuable improvements, even if you’re waiting for certain features to be fully enabled. As technology enthusiasts, it’s always exciting to see how devices evolve and provide new capabilities over time. Enjoy your new Apple Watch once those awaited features arrive with watchOS 10.1!

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It’s great to hear that the Apple Watch Series 9 seems like a worthwhile upgrade, particularly due to features like the bright display, faster processor, and the anticipated Double Tap feature. Your insights will be valuable for individuals considering an upgrade or a new Apple Watch purchase. Technology advancements can significantly enhance the user experience, and it’s essential to evaluate whether the new features align with your needs and preferences. Thanks for sharing your perspective on the Apple Watch Series 9!

Source: Apple Insider