Apple Watch Series 6: Your health is thankful – MacMagazine.com

From an early age, I became interested in smart watches. Many were the Casio that I had, always with different functions. But I highlight two of them: the famous model that acted as a TV control and another model that had a lot of sensors (like temperature and atmospheric pressure) and that was huge on my wrist – but, as a true geek, I always thought it was. cute!

All this, in the 90s.

A few years later, at the beginning of the iPhone era, I remember having a conversation with my mom over lunch, where we talked about how fun it would be if Apple allowed us to remotely control an iPhone using an iPod. sixth generation dwarf, put it on your wrist. It even became a trend at the time, with people putting this MP3 player on their arm.

The truth is, in public transport, I didn’t feel very safe using an iPhone around so many people – and sometimes I just wanted to see if I had an important message or another notification.

The curious thing was that, a few months after that conversation with my mom, Pebble, one of the first iPhone compatible smartwatches, was launched – and, of course, I had to buy one. It was as if someone had read my mind and I enjoyed every day I spent with him!

This whole introduction was to explain how naturally I saw the launch of the first Apple Watch and why I threw my eyes closed on the original model. It was what I had dreamed of for many years and it made perfect sense to me.

Next, I switched to Series 3 in hopes of finding a faster experience – who doesn’t remember the desperation of opening apps, even a few simple menus, in the first edition of the Apple Watch? It was a real test of our patience, wasn’t it, Mrs. Apple ?!

Now, three years later, I thought the news was already relevant enough to buy a new generation of watches. I opted for Series 6, in its Nike version. And I wasn’t wrong, as there are improvements in all aspects: design, performance and more functionality. It was the right time for this exchange.

This is a great time to remember the unpacking that Rafael did there on our YouTube channel:

But let’s go in parts, starting with the news that this smartwatch from Apple brought me.

New features

One of the great news that I was very eager to try was the always-on screen feature – I got really annoyed when I sometimes wanted to look at the time, but for that I had to wiggle my wrist very pronounced for the screen to turn on.

But now, in addition to being aesthetically more beautiful than having a gadget on my wrist with information always present on the screen, this problem has disappeared and I finally have the feeling of really wearing a watch.

Furthermore, I was also very curious to try the EKG, because I wanted to see if it could detect a condition that I have (ventricular extrasystole or VES). It is a very common condition, even in healthy people and which, in most cases, like mine, does not need any treatment. Basically what happens is that one of my ventricles sometimes has “extra” contractions, giving my chest a throbbing sensation – the first time I felt it I had a panic attack, because I thought my heart had stopped ! But it was just a scare, thankfully.

According to Apple, the Apple Watch ECG detects so-called atrial fibrillation and assesses whether the heart has a uniform beating pattern. So it was not surprising that the ECGs I ran produced “normal” results. Why, I don’t have ESV all the time – I can go weeks without anything and suddenly, here she comes. And this is where, if I get the chance, I want to do an EKG to see what the result will be.

So, since I have a heart problem, I find this kind of feature very useful. And I realize how important it is for people with heart problems or with a family history. Additionally, the fact that Watch alerts you when it detects significant changes in your heart rate is in itself a life-saving feature, as we’ve seen in several articles here on MacMagazine.

The oximeter is equally important, not only for people with heart disease, but also for those suffering from lung disease. Knowing, in real time, the level of oxygen saturation in the blood can make a difference for people with these conditions. And in tests performed on people with normal saturation levels, the Apple Watch’s oximeter revealed very competent accuracy. Unfortunately I have not been able to evaluate in patients with low saturation.

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Another point of differentiation that I immediately noticed on the Apple Watch Series 6 – compared to Series 3 – was the speakers, which reproduce noticeably louder audio while maintaining “average” quality.

A curiosity: even the sound that Watch makes to expel water drops is different: lower and lower, but equally (or even more) efficient.

Finally, there are other new features that the Apple Watch Series 6 introduced me, such as noise level measurement and real-time altimeter (using the Compass app), but for my daily life, they are not very relevant . However, the note is for those interested. 😉

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Screen

It’s amazing how a few millimeters can make such a difference. As soon as I turned on the Series 6 and saw its active screen, with an end-to-end display, I immediately had a much greater immersive feeling than the Series 3. Especially the numbers for entering the password, for example, which they are much easier to hit.

As a result of this screen increase, we now have displays with support for more complications, as is the case with Infographic and I do Hybrid Nike.

But personally, I think it’s a bit much. My favorite watch face remains the Siribecause it looks very visual clean presenting the most useful information during the day. I just regret not being able to put the temperature and time permanently at the same time – we only have room for one complication and those from third parties that show these two information at the same time don’t work very well.

Dimensions

The size of the Apple Watch Series 6 is one of the most important things to consider when buying. Of course, if you’re from a Series 4 or 5, you already know what to expect. But if, like me, you’re migrating from a Series 3, it’s good to remember that Apple has changed the size of the smartwatch.

Up until the Apple Watch Series 3, it offered models with 38mm and 42mm cases. With the launch of the Series 4, these dimensions have grown to 40mm and 44mm.

The other dimensions of the 42mm aluminum model, for example, are as follows:

• Height: 42.5 mm
• Width: 36.4 mm
• Height: 11.4 mm

With the introduction of the 4 Series, these dimensions have increased to:

• Height: 44 mm
• Width: 38 mm
• Thickness: 10.7 mm

The only change for the 6 Series is in the thickness, which has been reduced by 0.3mm. However, the 1.5mm increase in height and 1.6mm in width over the Series 3 are more significant than they appear on paper.

In my case, I have a wrist of around 16cm – the 42mm Series 3 was perfect. But the 6 Series is already starting to look a little big, bordering on what’s acceptable to me. So my advice is: before you buy, try the sizes for yourself, because if you have a small wrist like mine and you use the 42mm model, you might not be satisfied with the 44mm.

On the other hand, it is worth remembering that if you upgrade to the smaller model, 40mm, you will need to purchase new bracelets as they are not compatible between different size models. If it weren’t for that, I probably would have opted for the 40mm model.

Drums

I’ve always had a great experience with the Apple Watch autonomy, both in the original model and in the Series 3. Of course, if the duration was a week, it would be perfect, but for my daily habits it is enough – waking up around 8. in the morning and go to sleep around midnight. I easily reached the end of the day with more than 50% in Series 3, even practicing physical exercises. I slept with him, and when I woke up, I charged him while I got dressed, which was enough to last for another day.

With the 6 Series and the always-on screen functionality, I had some concerns that the battery life would be much shorter. But, fortunately, this was not the experience I had.

Yes, the autonomy is lower than that of the Series 3, but, even by monitoring my physical activity, I easily reach the end of the day with over 40%. I think performance would be much better if I turned off this always-on screen mode, but since I don’t need more battery life, that’s how it works.

Conclusion

Looking at the features of the Apple Watch Series 4 and 5, it’s hard to recommend the Series 6 to anyone who owns one of these devices. Unless the oximeter, the always-on screen or the compass, for example, are not very important factors to you.

Otherwise, the Series 6 is the perfect smartwatch for anyone with an even older Series 3 or Apple Watch. It would be like swapping an iPhone 6 for an X: you get more performance, new features and a redesigned screen, while keeping the format – just a little bit bigger.

If this is the case for you then it will be a great update!

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