NEWSLETTER
Dear Apple,
As you know, your Apple Watch is not new. The second generation came out in September 2022 together with the 8 series and the first iteration of the Ultra. He has given him the iPhone, all iPad, Airpods, MacBooks models and badly intelligent and premium smart watches updates since then, but not the smart clock. Last month, my editors asked me to see how the Watch is accumulated in 2025 and I was glad to please. I love to have in my hands the novel technology, analyze, evaluate and experience a device (then return it when it ends so that it does not have to accumulate more things). But this review left me cold. The Apple Watch feels soft and decidedly less than in 2025.
It is a fairly safe bet, we will see a new model of the Ca soon. There are, of course, rumors. In addition, the launch of the iPhone 16E suggests that you are still interested in producing more affordable versions of its devices. There are around a price difference of $ 150 between the SE and the Apple Watch 10 base series. The latter costs $ 399 at full price and as low as $ 329 for sale. It costs $ 249 and has gone through only $ 149. Although I do not hope that a budget clock has everything the flagship does, there are some characteristics that feel not negotiable in 2025, as well as some reasonable commitments that most of the buyers aware of the budget will probably be willing to accept. As a daily reviewer of intelligent watches and consumption gadgets, it offers my completely free advice on what I would like to see in the next Apple Watch Se.
Give us a bigger screen (not better)
Usually, I use an Apple Watch series, but before that, a series of Apple Watch 4 hand with a scratch screen. In addition to the disaster, the 40 mm Apple Watch screen that I checked feels identical to the one that can be used in 2018. In fact, both have the same size of exhibition areas, which is narrow and Inkyky compared to the generous real estate in the 42 mm series. Bevel. Taking into account the growing amount of information that our watches handle, I would like a larger panel to see it.
The brightness and general clarity of the OLED Retina screen are perfectly adequate. There is no need for high -end LTPO 3 technology that have the latest clocks. And the 1000 brightness of the se are also abundant. Even in sunlight, the screen is readable. It is true that it cannot reach a single brightness NIT, such as the can of the newer watches and, while that distracts in a dark room, the use of the sleep approach when bedtime turns out the screen completely.
When I updated to series 9, the characteristic I expected was the always on the screen (AOD). That is because my series 4 required me to raise my wrist repeatedly before finally illuminating. It was irritating simply to verify the time. But when I checked the Galaxy Watch 7, I turned off the AOD for much of the tests and did not miss it a little. It turns out that if the clock reliably and quickly catches my attention when I move my doll, Aod is not so crucial. So, if losing that characteristic can keep under cost, that would be acceptable compensation. Currently, verifying time is slightly, but not significantly better than my experience with my previous watch. Which could be resolved by a more advanced processor.
Amy Skorheim for Engadget
Let's have a faster chip (not the fastest)
I realize that when I say that Apple Watch's processing power feels slow, I am dishonoring my 14 -year -old self whose dream was to have a Casio calculator watch. But still, compared to my experience with current models, he is delayed. Open applications, control music reproduction, start training and talk to Siri is slower than it should be. A budget clock does not need to pack the system's zenith in Apple's package (SIP), but the step to 2023 S9 chip would make the clock feel satisfactorily shameless.
A processor blow could also enable double Tap, which debuted with the 9 series. But that is not critical: it could take or leave the gesture control function. It does not feel as precise or as integrated with the operating system as, for example, Samsung's version in Galaxy Watch. Although I have to admit, with my series 9, it feels a bit magical when I can pinch to start a suggested training to walk, especially when I am dealing with the strap of a crazy puppy.
The S9 chip also allows processing aboard Siri applications, which means that they do not have to borrow the internet of a connected telephone. If I am on a bike ride and I want to register it as such, I can ask Siri, even if I left my phone at home. (It is true that he is enabled for cell phone can complete those requests without telephone, but the price increase and the monthly service rate for that configuration begin to cloud the idea of a budget clock). Siri requests also complete much faster when they are handled on the clock itself. When I want Siri to quickly establish a two -minute timer to soak green tea, the process only takes too long.
For Pete's good, do it faster
My dad's name is Pete. And if I had an Apple Watch SE (instead of its 7 series), I know it would like to recharge in a reasonable time. In general, the battery performance in the SE is surprisingly good. I can spend a full day that includes tracking a race, a fitness exercise+ training, establishing timers, obsessively verifying the weather, registering medications and making a couple of dog walks, all with enough juice to track my dream. When I wake up, it is usually time to hit the clock on the charger. That is an experience similar to my Apple Watch series 9. But instead of filling the battery while I take a shower and prepare for the day, he takes more than two hours to move around ten percent to one hundred. That is too long to wait.
Keep your titanium and sapphire crystal
Budget models always receive less expensive materials and that's fine. The aluminum alloy that Apple uses in its non -premicume watches achieves a good balance between durability and lightness. Ion-x glass in the front is not as robust as sapphire glass, but it is less expensive. I am not trying to speak for all the people aware of the budget, but I and any other frugal person I know tends to swell all the expensive technology in the screen protectors, the cases and all kinds of other protection measures at the time it leaves the box. So, if a little less robust materials can shave dollars of the sale price, of course, Apple, do it.
We have seen rumors that your next one could be housed in a plastic case with brighter colors in the clock bands, possibly in an effort to attract children. I would need to see what kind of plastic feels that it is strong enough to face children's chaos, but it can last a few years without failing, at the same time keep the price low, I am open to the idea.
Okay if my watch is not a medical office
Fitness tracking is on my list of non -negotiable features. And the accuracy for that requires a set of sensors: a gyroscope, accelerometer, GPS, altimeter and an optical optical sensor of heart rate, gyroscope and accelerometer, GPS connection and an altimeter. He has all those and the data collected from my training and traced executions were on par with what my new clock would meet.
He lacks an electric heart rate sensor, so he cannot take an ECG reading. Nor is there a temperature sensor, which the 10 series uses to help predict ovulation and menstrual cycles. If your company ever generates patents on your blood oxygen sensor, I imagine that a new Apple Watch will not get that capacity either.
Alright. I have used ECG reading exactly once, to try it to compare in another smartwatch review. I was hypercobssed with my ovulation cycle for a total of six months, approximately eight years before my seven -year -old son was born. While it is good that our watches can compile so many data, I think it is more important to cover the basic concepts: tell me when I am really transporting a race and when my heart rate reaches 170 in an HIIT training. We can obtain these more specialized and rarely used health evaluations in other places.
He does not have a depth meter or a water temperature sensor. That's well too. I don't think anyone in the market for a budget laptop cares about that it is not designed to dive with them.
Apple's new flagship watches have an ultra wide band chip (UWB) inside to help with a more precise finding of an out of place iPhone and admits additional interactions with a nearby Homepod. I use my watch to find my phone up to three times a day. The UWB allows a more precise way to locate devices, and that interface appears in my series 9 every time I ping my phone, offering a nice heat and cold game, pointing with an arrow in the direction of my lost headset. But mainly I ignore the instructions and I only listen to the Da-ta-Da-Ta-Ding-Da-Ding of the Timbre of the phone. That is, I did not miss the lack of UWB in the least in the SE.
Amy Skorheim for Engadget
Conclusion
When Apple Watch came out in 2022, Cherlynn Low from Engadget called it the best smart watch that $ 250 can buy. That was certainly the case at that time. But two and a half years later, it is reasonable to wait for more from your budget clock. I remember the decade more or less after university when $ 250 represented more than my monthly food assignment. For many, even a “affordable” Apple purchase remains significant.
For the same money, people can get much more if they leave their walled ecosystem. Samsung's Galaxy Watch Fe costs only $ 200. Not only does it have the same sensors as the company's flagship laptop, but can also perform an ECG. For $ 200, we could also obtain a Fitbit Versa 4. It is true that it does not pack almost as many functions as the Pixel Watch 3, but it covers the basic concepts, the monitoring of the activity, the delivery of notifications and passed up to six days with a position. It will even combine with an iPhone. And then there is the Garmin Forerunner 165. At this time it is the favorite execution clock of our editors and it can be had for $ 250. Making an smart clock of quality is not outside the scope of the possibility.
Apple, you can save your premium materials, super specialized and extras pleasant sensors such as UWB connections for your flagship and premium models. In this way, people who are willing to pay more will feel that they are obtaining the value of their money. Simply concentrate on the characteristics that make a difference for everyday users and forget those unsengational advantages. There is still space for you to make a clock at a reasonable price that does not feel like a second -class accessory.
This article originally appeared in Engadget in https://www.engadget.com/wearables/revisiting-the-apple-watch-se-in-2025—-with-with-al NG-LIST -OF-UPDATE-REACHS-163046835.HTML? SRC = RSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
