Apple Watch Series 8 long-term review

Apple launched the Watch Series 8 final 12 months, upgrading the Watch Series 7 with a brand new S8 chip, crash detection, and temperature sensor. And since rumors level to the Watch Series 9 carrying over the identical design we figured we should always examine how the Watch Series 8 holds in the long term.

Should you look ahead to the Watch Series 9, which might value extra with out providing a lot, or must you get your self a Watch Series 8 as soon as it will get discounted? Here’s our long-term review of the Apple Watch Series 8 after over six months of utilization that can assist you resolve.

Design

The Apple Watch Series 8 seems to be much like its predecessor. The 41mm Aluminum (GPS + Cellular) mannequin, which is the topic of this review, even has the identical dimensions (41 x 35 x 10.7 mm) and weight (32 g) as its Watch Series 7 counterpart. As already evident from its identify, the Aluminum model’s case is constituted of 100% recycled aluminum, whereas the 1.69″ display screen is roofed with Ion-X glass (Sapphire crystal on stainless-steel fashions).

On the left facet of the Apple Watch Series 8 is the speaker, and on the best is the microphone, flanked by a recents/facet button and a Digital Crown with a purple accent. The button and the crown have good suggestions, with the latter providing responsive scrolling, which was smoother than the swiping on the display screen in my expertise. Both have retained their tactility nicely in spite of everything these months of utilization. The crown can also be used to take ECG measurements, however extra on that within the Performance part.

Speaker on the left facet • Microphone on the best facet, flanked by current button and digital crown

The shiny again panel – made from ceramic – helps magnetic charging, with the center price sensor and SpO2 sensor positioned on an elevated plate. That helps forestall the buildup of grime over time and ensures correct contact with the pores and skin for correct measurements. There’s additionally a temperature sensor on the crystal, with one other one sitting below the show.

The again of the Watch Series 8 has two buttons to launch the straps. Our unit got here with the black-colored common Sport Band package deal, together with S/M and M/L strap items, which might match 130-200 mm wrists. These are constituted of a “custom high-performance fluoroelastomer,” which, Apple says, makes them “durable and strong, yet surprisingly soft.”

Well, the bundled straps are certainly mushy, and given the watch’s weight, sporting them to sleep at evening and through exercises was a snug expertise. The bands have a pin-and-tuck closure, which made sporting the Watch Series 8 fairly a chore for me initially and created comical scenes because it had been some time since I put one thing on my wrist with such straps (it was the Oppo Watch a number of years in the past, and I had an identical expertise). It can take a while to get used to for many who don’t have any prior expertise with straps of this design, however when you study the trick, it is fairly straightforward and fast to place the watch in your wrist.

Apple Watch Series 8 41mm Aluminum got here bundled with black-colored Sport Band

However, as a result of bundled straps’ design, which created rashes on my wrist, and my desire for a extra conventional design, I ended up getting myself a few third-party straps. And since we’re speaking about Apple, there are equipment galore, so there was no dearth of selections.

It’s additionally value mentioning that the Apple Watch Series 8 is IP6X mud resistant and has water resistance as much as 50 meters, making it “swimproof.” That clearly means you do not have to take it off your wrist when going for a bathe.

I like the general design of the Apple Watch Series 8. Yes, it seems to be much like its predecessor, however it’s sturdy, and regardless of a number of drops on the ground throughout months of utilization, it did not choose up a single scratch.

Display

The Apple Watch Series 8’s 41mm mannequin packs a 1.69″ screen of 430×352-pixel resolution, while the 45mm version features a 1.9″ show with a decision of 484×396 pixels. However, each use Always-On Retina LTPO OLED panels having as much as 1,000 nits peak brightness and Sapphire Crystal Glass safety.

The Watch Series 8’s Retina show is vibrant and has a 3-level brightness adjustment. And at 100% brightness, I used to be capable of see the on-screen content material outdoor below robust daylight with none points. The smartwatch additionally has an ambient gentle sensor for automated brightness adjustment, which works nicely.

The Watch Series 8’s display screen has a pleasant contact response with good haptics, and typing on such a small display screen did not change into as tough as I assumed, primarily as a result of swipe gestures, which labored properly for a display screen of this dimension.

That mentioned, the smartwatch comes loaded with only one watchface, however you get tons of different choices by way of the Watch app on the companion iPhone grouped in over two dozen classes.

Many of those watchfaces are appropriate with the Always-On Display (AOD), which might be enabled/disabled from the Settings app on the smartwatch and thru the Watch app on the companion iPhone. It additionally has put on detection to show off AOD while you aren’t sporting the Watch Series 8.

However, AOD cannot be scheduled to activate and off routinely on daily basis at a given time, so the display screen stays on at evening throughout sleep. This might trigger inconvenience to others within the room at evening even with decrease brightness and likewise drain the battery unnecessarily along with rising the probabilities of mistouch on the show.

Software

The Apple Watch Series 8 is appropriate with iPhone 8 or later with iOS 16 or later. It was launched with watchOS 9.0 and is presently operating watchOS 9.6.1. The Series 8 depends on three apps – Watch, Health, and Fitness – which have been pre-installed on the iPhone 13 I used for this review.

Watch app

The Watch app is used to arrange the Watch Series 8 and tinker with its basic settings, whereas the Health app pertains to all of your well being knowledge, together with sleep, coronary heart price, ECG, blood oxygen degree, and step depend, amongst different issues. The Fitness app, as evident from its identify, reveals all of your indoor and outside exercise info. It additionally shows all of the awards you’ve got earned and your knowledge concerning the Mindfulness actions – Reflect and Breathe.

Health app

The Watch and Fitness apps have a easy and clutter-free UI, which I discovered fairly straightforward to make use of. The Health app is not complicated both, however Apple might’ve accomplished a greater job of displaying some well being knowledge.

Fitness app

Besides, I’d have favored to see one single app for the whole lot as a one-stop answer as an alternative of getting to juggle between three totally different apps. We’ve seen another manufacturers – together with Amazfit – do it for his or her wearables, so it is not unimaginable.

The Apple Watch Series 8 is powered by Apple’s S8 dual-core processor, which, along with the watchOS 9, supplied a easy expertise because the smartwatch had a constantly snappy efficiency throughout all these months of utilization.

The Watch Series 8’s UI is easy and simple, just like the aforementioned apps. A swipe down on the homescreen brings up the notification middle, whereas a swipe up opens the management middle that permits you to entry customizable fast settings. Swiping left or proper does not do something, and I discover that wasteful. Apple might’ve let customers entry their favourite apps/options by swiping left/proper on the smartwatch’s homescreen.

Installed apps on the smartwatch – together with the Settings apps – are accessible by urgent the crown. By default, the apps are offered in a grid view, however you may change it to a listing view. The crown can also be used to exit the app. The facet button, however, enables you to change between current apps.

You can change the App View from Grid View to List by way of the Watch Series 8 or companion iPhone

Most of the UI navigation on the Watch Series 8 with watchOS 9 will depend on these two buttons, particularly the crown, because it’s used to carry up the app record, return to the earlier display screen, and exit the app. A extra open method in the direction of gesture-based navigation would’ve been appreciated because it’d have allowed for higher customization of the bodily buttons. One instance is swiping left on the homescreen to entry all of the apps and swiping proper for the app switcher.

The Watch Series 8’s reliance on the crown to return to the earlier display screen or exit the app proved extra inconvenient when coping with the notifications.

If you faucet on the grouped notifications from an app within the notification middle, you see a listing of notifications, and in case you click on on a specific notification to increase it, you might be offered with associated fast actions for some apps. But in case you do not wish to take any motion and return, you may’t simply swipe proper like you may on an iPhone. You need to faucet on the “Done” button within the top-left nook of the display screen or press the crown or facet button to return. And in case you swipe down when viewing an expanded notification or a bunch of notifications from the identical app, the notification or the grouped notifications get cleared from each the watch and the related iPhone.

I’d actually like Apple to let customers swipe proper to return to the earlier display screen, whether or not it is the notification middle or some apps, together with Settings and the App Store. Besides, the notification administration might additionally use some sprucing.

The UI navigation is much like the iPhone since a proper swipe does not all the time take you again to the earlier display screen. You need to press the arrow/again button within the top-left nook of the display screen, which, like on the iPhone, feels inconsistent and counterintuitive to me.

Features and Performance

The Apple Watch Series 8 is essentially an identical to its predecessor however comes with a brand new chip (S8 vs. S7), a temperature sensor, and crash detection. It additionally comes with the standard slew of well being and health options, together with real-time coronary heart price monitoring, blood oxygen degree measurement, sleep monitoring, ECG, sedentary reminder, steps counter, and indoor and outside exercises.

Aside from that, the Apple Watch Series 8 comes with digital camera and music controls, climate forecast, compass (with Backtracking), telephone finder, stopwatch, countdown timer, fall detection, noise monitoring, and GPS (L1). The Watch Series 8 additionally has temperature sensing, which is just helpful for females because it’s used for Cycle Tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates to assist ladies higher perceive their menstrual cycle.

The Apple Watch Series 8 has 32GB of storage onboard, permitting customers to obtain music on the smartwatch for offline playback. You can take heed to them by way of the watch’s audio system in case you really feel adventurous, or join the watch to any Bluetooth earphones to take heed to music by way of the Apple Watch with out requiring your iPhone.

This is beneficial when going for an outside exercise since you do not have to hold your iPhone with you, extra so in case you personal the LTE mannequin, which helps you to make and reply calls with out being related to an iPhone.

Speaking of, the Apple Watch Series 8 comes with Apple’s W3 wi-fi chip and the U1 chip and helps Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) connectivity.

Talking concerning the well being and health options, the Apple Watch Series 8 measures the center price routinely at an interval of 1 minute, and there is not any strategy to change it, which is not best since letting customers improve the hole by even a couple of minutes would assist lengthen the battery life. However, automated coronary heart price measurement at an interval of 1 minute is beneficial on most wearables for extra correct outcomes, so I perceive why Apple did not present that possibility.

That mentioned, in case you do not wish to depend on knowledge from automated monitoring, you may measure your coronary heart price manually everytime you want by way of the Heart Rate app on the smartwatch. It’s quick and shows the resting coronary heart price, with an in depth evaluation obtainable within the Health app on the companion iPhone. The coronary heart price sensor recorded the heart beat precisely more often than not, however it’s nonetheless greatest to not use it for analysis.

The Watch Series 8’s ECG sensor can generate an ECG much like a single-lead electrocardiogram with the ECG app on the smartwatch. All it’s important to do is put your finger on the crown for 30 seconds, and like coronary heart price monitoring, you’ll find the ECG knowledge within the Health app. I did not have any technique of checking its accuracy, however regardless, we suggest you do not use that knowledge as a foundation for analysis or remedy.

(*8*)
Put your finger on the Digital Crown for ECG measurement

The SpO2 sensor on the Watch Series 8 may also measure blood oxygen ranges all through the day like the center price sensor, together with in Sleep Focus and Cinema Mode. However, you can even take on-demand readings utilizing the Blood Oxygen app on the smartwatch, which takes 15 seconds for the measurement. The readings have been principally correct, and you’ll find the associated knowledge within the Health app. Just do not use it for diagnostic functions.

Next up is sleep monitoring, which breaks down the entire sleep hours into 4 phases – Core Sleep (aka Light Sleep), Deep Sleep, REM Sleep, and Awake. You get the earlier evening’s sleep metrics on the Apple Watch by way of the Sleep app, which reveals your complete hours of sleep, go to sleep and get up occasions, and the time you spent within the aforementioned phases throughout your sleep. It additionally reveals you the typical sleep time for 2 weeks. An in depth evaluation is on the market by way of the Health app on the iPhone, the place the Sleep part additionally shows details about your respiratory price and coronary heart price throughout sleep, together with different knowledge, together with the time you spent in mattress, which I discovered fascinating.

However, sleep monitoring on the Apple Watch Series 8 was disappointing and unreliable in my expertise. It did observe the Awake occasions precisely, however not the autumn asleep time.

The Watch Series 8’s sleep monitoring algorithm clocks the sleep time even if you find yourself mendacity on a sofa or a mattress watching movies on a telephone/pill and shifting commonly. I’ve used smartwatches up to now with related conduct, and I’d have been effective with the Watch Series 8 as nicely for that if it did not give me Stand Reminders when the algorithm thought I used to be asleep. It’s bizarre. The Health app additionally does not allow you to edit the sleep document, which means you might be left with an total inaccurate sleep evaluation because the knowledge used for that’s incorrect. Apple enables you to add sleep knowledge by way of the Health app, so I hope the corporate will let customers edit present sleep information with future updates.

It’s additionally value mentioning that the Apple Watch Series 8 does not observe afternoon naps even after you activate the Sleep Focus mode, which is a bummer since even watches that value lower than half of the Apple Watch try this. Here’s hoping Apple will carry that performance to some – if not all – of its smartwatches with a software program replace.

The Apple Watch Series 8 helps a number of indoor and outside exercises. I clearly could not strive all of them. I principally used the Indoor Walk and Outdoor Walk exercises. And whereas the steps counted by each modes weren’t completely correct like most different smartwatches, the margin of error was minimal sufficient to not be a priority. However, the Indoor Walk used GPS for some cause, which I discover pointless as that is one thing extra helpful with outside exercises. The Outdoor Walk mode used GPS, however it did not hint the route of my stroll and as an alternative solely pinned the start line of my stroll on the map, which I did not discover helpful.

Moreover, the Apple Watch Series 8 additionally requested me if I’d like to finish my Indoor/Outdoor Walk regardless of me not slowing down or pausing for a couple of minutes for the algorithm to point out that immediate. This began with the watchOS 9.2 replace and nonetheless occurs with watchOS 9.6.1.

Talking concerning the Watch Series 8’s LTE characteristic, I made and obtained calls by way of the smartwatch, and the individuals on the opposite finish might hear me clearly once I introduced the watch nearer to my face when counting on the built-in microphone. The similar goes for its audio system to take heed to the oldsters on the opposite finish. However, in a loud surroundings, you may all the time join the Watch Series 8 to any Bluetooth earphones for calls with out requiring an iPhone resulting from its LTE connectivity. This additionally labored once I moved the SIM card from the companion iPhone to a different gadget (offered it is not related to the companion iPhone through Bluetooth), however that did not work for textual content messages.

The Apple Watch Series 8 LTE’s means to allow you to make/obtain calls, ship textual content messages, and compose emails, along with doing a number of different issues with out being related to an iPhone, makes it a real extension of the iPhone.

The Backtracking on the Apple Watch Series 8 labored effective, however I clearly did not take a look at its crash detection characteristic. However, over the months, we have discovered studies that it proved helpful.

My solely main criticism with the Apple Watch Series 8 after over six months of utilization is its sleep monitoring, which wants important enhancements. I hope this can be mounted with the subsequent replace. I’d additionally like Apple to introduce afternoon nap monitoring.

Battery

The Apple Watch Series 8 Aluminum 41mm (GPS + Cellular) packs a 282 mAh battery, marketed to supply 18 hours of endurance on “4 hours of LTE connection and 14 hours of connection to iPhone via Bluetooth” with “90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use and a 60-minute workout with music playback from Apple Watch via Bluetooth.”

My utilization was comparatively extra conservative, and plenty of occasions, there weren’t even half-hour of exercise. However, the Watch Series 8 had an LTE connection on a regular basis and was additionally related to the iPhone 13 through Bluetooth. With that sort of use, the Apple Watch Series 8 bought me by way of the complete working day however wanted a top-up earlier than sleeping because it requires no less than 30% battery for sleep monitoring.

After the Watch Series 8’s battery was utterly drained, it took just a little over an hour to go from flat to 100% with the bundled charger, of which the primary 9-10 minutes have been taken to activate.

Verdict

The Apple Watch Series 8 with mobile connectivity is a pleasant extension of an iPhone because it permits you to make and obtain telephone calls, ship and obtain texts, and do a number of different issues like checking and composing emails with out being related to an iPhone. You may also obtain music for offline playback and take heed to it by way of the watch’s audio system or Bluetooth earphones with out maintaining it related to an iPhone, which might turn out to be useful when going for a run or figuring out.

The Watch Series 8 has a vivid display screen that is legible outdoor below robust daylight and durable construct, which has held up nicely after over six months of utilization. The similar goes for the bundled straps. The smartwatch’s efficiency can also be snappy, which, paired with good haptics, supplied a nice expertise.

However, notification administration wants sprucing, and UI navigation may very well be improved for a extra handy expertise. I’d additionally wish to see Apple launch an app that serves as a one-stop answer for the whole lot associated to Apple Watches, eliminating the necessity for customers to juggle between three totally different apps for various functions.

So, a 12 months later, must you purchase the Apple Watch Series 8 or look ahead to the Watch Series 9? If rumors are to be believed, the Apple Watch Series 9 will not include important upgrades because it’s mentioned to be “basically unchanged” from the Watch Series 8. It’s anticipated to get a brand new chip based mostly on Apple’s A15 SoC, which might carry efficiency and effectivity enhancements to the smartwatch.

Considering that, and in case you belief Apple to repair the software program points we talked about with the following software program updates, I do not see any cause to not purchase it in case you discover an excellent deal on it, which is more likely to occur quickly as we inch nearer to the September 12 Apple occasion since retailers would wish to clear their previous shares at discounted costs earlier than the Watch Series 9 arrives.