Apple Watch Series 6 review – easily the BEST smartwatch you can buy today
STILL not jumped on the smartwatch bandwagon? There’s never been a better time now that the Apple Watch Series 6 is out.
I’ve been testing out Apple’s brand new ticker, and it’s about as good as a smartwatch gets. And hey, it could even save your life.
Apple Watch 6 – what is it?
The Apple Watch Series 6 is the latest smart watch from Apple HQ.
Gone are the days when the Apple Watch seemed like a pricey gimmick: it’s now a beloved and often-essential gadget.
It can boost your fitness, reduce your reliance on smartphones, and can even save your life.
And it looks good too, which is half the battle.
The Apple Watch 6 was announced and released in September 2020, and is currently the top-end model.
A cheaper spin-off variant called the Apple Watch SE also launched, for around half the price.
For bleeding-edge features and specs, the Apple Watch 6 is the prime choice.
Apple Watch 6 design – does it look good?
Not much has changed in terms of the raw design.
Apple has stuck with the curvaceous squad display, and uses the same attachment mechanism for the bands.
The face is still large, bright and highly responsive, just as it ever was.
Fashionistas will be pleased to hear that there are new Blue and (Product)Red Aluminium cases.
And you can also get it in Graphite and Gold Stainless Steel options too. Swanky.
The other new addition to the Apple Watch design world is the Solo Loop.
It’s a new type of band with no clasps, buckles or overlapping parts.
Apple says their main benefit is comfort, and come in a range of sizes for an ideal fit.
You’ve got two choices: a sporty liquid silicon rubber version, or a braided model made from recycled yarn.
There are nine available sizes, which you’ll need to work out using an Apple tool – as the fit needs to be spot-on.
Overall, the Apple Watch looks as good as ever, and feels comfortable to wear indefinitely.
Apple Watch 6 specs and features – what’s new?
Apple’s headline feature for the new watch is Blood Oxygen.
This is a new tracker that measures the oxygen saturation of your blood.
Apple says this is an important indication for your overall wellness.
But the key caveat is that Apple doesn’t want you using this as a medical tool. It’s a fitness feature only, for now.
Nevertheless, some people will inevitably ignore the warnings and panic over read outs anyway.
Oxygen saturation, also known as SpO2, is a way of measuring how well oxygenated blood is being delivered around your body.
At 100%, your red blood cells are fully saturated with blood.
Typically, a normal healthy person will have a saturation of between 95% and 99%.
Apple uses something called Pulse Oximetry to tracks this.
In medical settings, you’d often be given a fingertip clip that passes specific frequencies of light through your skin – to detect blood colouring.
The Apple Watch does much the same, but passes that light through your wrist.
There are lots of health reasons why your blood oxygen saturation might decrease, but those should be discussed with your doctor.
Apple’s hoping you’ll mostly use the tracker to detect changes due to your environment.
High altitude is the most common: blood oxygen saturation can be an important metric for hikers.
That’s because oxygen is reduced at high altitudes, which can result in lower SpO2 levels than usual.
You can perform a Blood Oxygen test whenever you like using the Apple Watch Series 6.
And the Blood Oxygen feature will also periodically measure your SpO2 levels throughout the day – when you’re still, typically.
You can view all of this in the standard Apple Health app.
So what else is new?
The Apple Watch Series 6 is powered by a new S6 chip that’s the most powerful yet.
According to Apple, it’s 20% faster than the S5 in last year’s watch.
So far, nothing I’ve done on the watch has been slow to load or laggy – so performance isn’t an issue.
Apple is also finally offering real-time elevation for the first time.
There’s an always-on altimeter that will persistently track your elevation change in real-time.
The Always-On Retina display is also now 2.5x brighter when your wrist is down, versus last year’s Series 5 model.
I definitely noticed this increased brightness, and it’s handy when it’s very sunny.
One omission on the new Apple Watch Series 6 is 3D Touch.
That’s a pressure-sensitive touch feature that let you “hard press” the screen to perform some actions.
This has been removed from older watch models by a software update too.
At first I found this frustrating, because I had to relearn a few gestures. But after a day or two, my habits changed and I stopped noticing.
So if its removal means the Apple Watch design can be more efficient, I’m all in.
Lastly, battery life has been given a boost.
Apple says you’ll get an additional hour of audio playback, up to 11 hours.
And you can do an extra hour of workout tracking up to 11 hours. That sounds like hell, but some people will love it.
Honestly, I charge my Apple Watch Series 6 once a day, and that’s more than enough. The same was true for the Series 5. Don’t worry about battery life, because I never do.
Even if you do burn through battery life, charging has been increased.
You can go from zero to 80% in about an hour, with 100% in 90 minutes. That’s a 33-40% improvement on the previous model.
Apple Watch software – watchOS7 revealed
There are a bunch of nifty features baked in to the Apple Watch, by virtue of watchOS 7 or as a carry-over from the Series 5.
You can now enjoy Family Setup, letting you dole out Apple Watches to the whole family with only one iPhone required.
Cycling directions, a new Memoji app (that lets you manage animated personalised emoji from your wrist, and face-sharing are also available.
There’s a handwashing feature that automatically detects when you’re scrubbing, and reminds you to carry on for 20 seconds.
This only seemed to start for me about 75% of the time for me, so maybe I’m washing my hands poorly?
In any case, you can set reminds, reminding you when you return home.
The new watchOS 7 also adds sleep-tracking, revealing the quality of your kip.
It seems accurate enough, though I’ve found it deeply depressing so far. I miss my bedtime and I wake up far too early. Let’s hope that doesn’t keep me awake at night…
The “hearing health” feature that warns you about ambient noise being too loud is back once again.
And women will hopefully find good use out of Cycle Tracking, which lets you log and visualise your menstrual cycle.
You’ll even be warned when your period or fertile window is about to begin, which is neat.
Heart health notifications are also back: you can track your heart-rate, and be warned if anything is awry.
And the ECG is also available, letting you take a single-lead electrocardiogram that can detect signs of AFib – a heart defect.
If you haven’t got the picture yet, the Apple Watch does a whole lot more than just tell the time.
Apple Watch 6 review verdict – should you buy it?
I love the Apple Watch Series 6, just like I loved the Series 5.
It’s useful, easy to wear, and I like how it looks.
I spend plenty of weekends traipsing across hills, so workout features, a proper altimeter and a working compass are all great additions.
Other carry-over features like Fall Detection and the ECG aren’t top of my tick-list, but they’ll be invaluable to some people.
For anyone who cares about fitness, the Apple Watch is fantastic – and will become even more so once Fitness+ launches.
Right now, the Blood Oxygen feature doesn’t seem hugely useful.
Once Apple can do the proper research and get regulatory approval for meaningful health features, it could be a game-changer.
But for now, it’s a neat bonus for hikers, but can’t be formally recommended for much beyond that.
Outside of very specific use-cases, upgrading from a Series 5 to Series 6 probably isn’t worth it.
But for newcomers – or anyone with an older model – the Series 6 is a proper workhorse.
It easily lasts all day, and has a broad-enough range of features that you’ll find something to love.
And it’s as customisable as ever, so you can match it to your own style.
The Sun says: Easily the best smartwatch you can buy today, the Apple Watch Series 6 is a powerful, long-lasting and attractive gadget you’ll quickly come to adore. 5/5
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In other news, there’s a new iPhone homscreen in iOS 14, and fans are divided over it.
Find out about all the new iOS 14 features here.
And check out our review for the new (and very cheap) iPhone SE.
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