By Manas Tiwari: Apple had a slightly surprising annual upgrade of its smartwatches this year. It showed some ambition by dramatically adding the Watch Ultra to the portfolio. It’s big, strong and expensive. Extremely capable too. But, it’s the Apple Watch SE, on the other end of the price spectrum, that is likely to see most buyers this year. This is because of its affordable price tag as well as the ability to do almost everything a usual smartwatch user would want.
Let’s start with the price. The Apple Watch SE is currently the most affordable Apple Watch in India. It starts at Rs 29,900 for the GPS variant and you only need to pay Rs 5,000 extra for cellular connectivity. That’s still Rs 10,000 less than what the GPS variant of the next Apple Watch, the Series 8, costs.
It has a tweaked design, a new processor, Apple’s latest low battery mode and even the crash detection feature which has also been introduced on the more expensive Apple watches. Obviously, it misses out on some key features too. What exactly are they and how is the Apple Watch SE (2022) different from the Watch Series 8? Let me take you through.
Small and identical
The Apple Watch SE (2022) looks identical to its predecessor, at least from the front. Apple has hardly changed a thing from the 2020 model. The watch still comes in aluminium finish and is available in both 40mm and 44mm sizes. As mentioned before, there are also both Wi-Fi and cellular options. Apple has introduced three new colours for the case: midnight, starlight and silver, all of which can be combined with different colour and style straps.
The Digital Crown, side button and the speaker grill will feel familiar to anyone who has used an Apple Watch earlier. It’s not the most exciting design for sure but the watch feels light and comfortable. I prefer 44mm size. It’s not too big or small, and sits well on my wrist. The size also allows me to wear this watch to sleep, something I don’t see happening with bigger watches like the Watch Ultra or even Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.
The notable design difference is at the back where Apple has given a new finish to the watch. It makes the watch look slightly premium, when it’s not on the wrist. Otherwise, the overall construction doesn’t feel as premium as the Watch Series 8. It doesn’t feel like a cheap watch at all.
Apple has also provided the same water resistance on Watch SE as other Apple Watches — that is 50 metres. So, you can take a shower or go swimming wearing the watch without any issues.
A major miss
I have been using the Apple Watch Series 7 for the past year and switching to a smaller display wasn’t really difficult. The big bezels around the Watch SE aren’t the most pleasing to the eyes but apart from that the screen size is ideal to read notifications, switch between different workout modes and is quite touch responsive.
The Retina OLED display also gets plenty bright for outdoor use. It has a peak brightness of 1000 nits, same as the Watch Series 8. I could easily change music, check notifications and more under direct sunlight.
There are two features of the Apple Watch Series 7 (and even the Series 8) that I genuinely missed on Watch SE. First is the qwerty keypad. Only introduced last year, it became an important part of life, allowing me to reply to messages and emails directly from the watch. You can still scribble and dictate to reply but they don’t give similar level of comfort.
The other, and a bigger miss, is the always-on-display. I was expecting to see it on the Watch SE this year but seems like Apple wants to reserve some features for its more expensive watches.
These are some trade-offs for the price but apart from that, the display is great for everyday use.
Almost everything you need
Thankfully, the Watch SE doesn’t miss out on many health features of the Apple Watches. It packs most essential features of a smartwatch. Apple has added a new S8 processor, just like the Watch Series 8 which is claimed to make the Watch 20 per cent faster than the 2020 model. The new chip will also help Apple provide more years of software updates on the watch.
Now, 20 per cent or not, the Watch is indeed fast in everyday use. It loads apps quickly and animations are quite seamless too. The battery life is also pretty decent. I have been leaving home around 9 am with a fully charged watch and on most days, come back at around 9:30 pm with about 15 to 20 per cent battery left. So, I have been getting close to 14-15 hours of battery life on the watch. This is when I am using the watch to receive notifications for select apps, attend calls at time and to change music regularly.
But there is still scope for improvement. I have used smartwatches that give 3 to 4 days of battery life but, most premium watches, including that of Apple and Samsung, somehow don’t last more than a day. I have to put the watch on charge every single day. This shouldn’t be a thing in 2022 and needs to be fixed.
Yes, there is a new low power mode which increases the battery life but also restricts the functionality of the watch. This is the best way to increase the battery at this point.
There are obviously some features of the Watch Series 8 that the Watch SE misses out on. These include Blood Oxygen monitoring, ECG monitoring and temperature sensing. I think most people can live without the first two, at least I can but, it’s the third I think would have been very useful. Apple’s algorithms use the data collected by temperature sensors to notify users about their retrospective ovulation estimates. The Apple Watch SE is very popular among female users because of its size and it’s unfortunate that they miss out on this feature.
The headline addition here is Apple’s new crash detection feature which makes use of the improved accelerometer and gyroscope to detect and notify when you are in a crash. Nope, don’t have the guts to test this out. I am assuming we will soon hear stories of how this feature is saving lives, like some of the other Apple Watch features.
Apart from this, it is business as usual. You get sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring and different workout modes. I found the readings accurate and similar to what my Watch Series 7 registered. I found myself using the watch a lot as a remote for music playback this time. It can also be used as a camera shutter to click photos from your phone. The compass app has also been completely redesigned to include a new feature called Backtrack which drops GPS markers along your way as you travel somewhere. It can be helpful while trekking and hiking.
The Watch SE also comes with WatchOS 9 which had added some new features and watch faces to improve the overall user experience. I loved the new Playtime watchface where characters have a nice animation and bounce every time you tap the screen. You can also create a customise workout for any workout type in the Workout app. Sleep tracking now includes sleep stages, allowing users to detect when users are in REM, core, or deep sleep. All of this just gives you more ways to use the watch and track your activities.
Final verdict
The Apple Watch SE is the perfect choice for anyone looking to buy a smartwatch to receive notifications from their iPhone, track their daily exercise routine and sleep activity. Plus, if you own the LTE variant, you can also register your eSIM on the watch and take calls directly from the wrist. There are a few features that the Watch SE misses out on, most notably the always-on-display and qwerty keypad but, it is still a great choice for anyone looking to buy their first Apple Watch.
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