Apple Watch series 8 and SE Review

dhruvtalksstech
Oct 1, 2022
4 min read

Updated: Dec 5, 2022

The Apple Watch Series 8 is the iPhone 14 of Apple Watches. It is not praised but more of a blatant call-out and insult of the Series 8. Like the iPhone 14, the Apple Watch Series 8 has very few changes namely 2 - an ovulation estimator and crash detection. Most of the other changes are not because of the updated hardware but rather the updated software. WatchOS 9 brings a host of new features that will be available not only to Series 8 but also to all the compatible Apple Watches. Apple says the OS update will be available to Apple Watch Series 4 and newer. Like the iPhone, Apple provides robust and incredible software support for their watches. 4 years of software support is not a joke and I hope the Android world could take some inspiration.

Using a temperature sensor to measure body temperature when you sleep, Apple Watch Series 8 can help females get vital information about ovulation which would go a long way to help them if they are or aren't trying to get pregnant. Keeping in mind the recent overturning of Roe vs Wade, Apple has implemented end-to-end encryption and the ovulation and period data is completely encrypted to make sure that the government can't misuse it to target women. I think this is a great step and one that goes a long way in making women feel the same and it also allows them the freedom that they rightly deserve like any other human being. The Apple Watch Series 8 uses some pretty sophisticated tech to estimate ovulation dates and it is always good to see companies focus more on health features.

The crash detection feature works the same way as it does on the new iPhone 14 lineup. By using accelerometers, microphones and pressure sensors, it can detect car crashes and is highly accurate thanks to 1 million hours of crash data which was kept in mind while designing the feature. It is a potential life-saver but I seriously hope none of you ever get to use it. Drive safe guys !!!! Then there is the general Apple Watch features such as a blood-oxygen monitor, heart rate sensor, ECG, workouts and an always-on display. The sizes are 41mm and 45mm. You can get the standard aluminium casing or the premium stainless steel casing.

In my experience, the Apple Watch has incredible longevity and is built to last. My dad has had an Apple Watch SE for over 1.5 years and he wears it every single day to work and gym. He uses it a lot but still the battery has only degraded 2%. He often ends the day with 30% battery still left but that is considerably less on days when we works out intensively. My sister also has an Apple Watch Series 5 and it is still rocking strong and she has never felt the need to upgrade it ever since. New WatchOS updates ensure that the Watch feels news and that she can enjoy the latest and greatest new features.

You get to choose from 4 colours - Midnight, Starlight, Silver and (PRODUCT)RED. I'd go with the Midnight. For the stainless steel casing - Gold, Silver and Graphite which are pretty standard. For the Aluminium casing, there's an option of GPS or GPS+Cellular. GPS+Cellular is standard across all stainless steel models. Watch0S 9 brings new watch faces, a medications app to remind you to take your medicines in time, sleep stages, better workouts, a compass app, and low power mode which boosts the Watch's use time to a whopping 36 hours of battery life. The Series 8 starts at 46,000Rs for the 41mm GPS model and goes up to 75,000Rs for the stainless steel version. For more details, visit the Apple website - https://www.apple.com/in/shop/buy-watch/apple-watch

The best part about the SE is that it received a price slash of 3,000Rs. There are all the new WatchOS 9 features and crash detection along with sleep tracking which was not present earlier. The back of the SE has also been redesigned to have the same colour as the casing and not have an all-black casing. There are even fewer details to talk about the SE even compared to the Series 8 but I welcome these changes and feel that the SE is a better watch than the Series 8 because it has all the essentials minus the always-on display, ECG app and ovulation estimator. If you are a first-time Apple Watch buyer, buy the SE without any hesitance. My father uses the SE 1 and he is very happy with it. He ends the day with up to 40% battery and is helpful in his workouts. The SE comes in 3 colours - Midnight, Starlight and Purple. You get the same GPS or GPS+Cellular option and the size is either 40mm or 44mm.

It starts at 30,000Rs for the GPS and goes up to 38,000 for the 44mm GPS+Cellular.