Apple Watch
SERIES 5
New: Apple Watch Series 6 Review & Guide.
Review Specs Compared User's Guide
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Apple Watch Series 5, 44mm. bigger. |
Back, Apple Watch Series 5. bigger. |
Apple Watch Series 5 ($379~749; mine is a 44mm Space Black Stainless GPS + Cell MWW82LL/A, Model A2095 w/Milanese Loop Band, 368 × 448 pixels at 326 DPI OLED display, 3.114 oz./88.28g/0.195 lb.; shown here with optional Italian Leather Loop Band). I'd get it at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
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February 2020 Apple Reviews Watch & Clock Reviews All Reviews
Apple Watch Review
Top Review Specs Compared User's Guide
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The Apple Watch is the world's top selling watch because it's the world's most accurate watch, the world's most legible watch and the world's most functional watch. It is also supremely comfortable, with a choice of many different cases and band styles.
The Apple Watch works as an extension to your iPhone. Everyone who has an iPhone should have an Apple watch. Just like the iPhone, you don't think you need it until you have one for a few days, and then you know you couldn't live without it. I have a collection of fine mechanical watches, and so what: my Apple watch is more precise, more technically complex, more beautiful, more functional and more legible. Who care if hundreds of years ago they had to use precision mechanics in Switzerland to mark the passing of time; my Apple watch is far more finely made and does a hundred things more, like weather forecasting, wind speeds, sound levels, astronomical forecasts, moon phases, planet positions, and I could go on for weeks — all more simply and beautiful displayed than just about any other mechanical watch, ever.
At first I balked, asking why I'd want a watch I had to charge every night, but I very quickly realized all the reasons why I love my Apple Watch.
Even if I can't live without all the new things my Apple Watch does, even as just a watch it's more accurate and easy-to-read from direct sunlight to pitch-black darkness than any other watch.
Add the new features unique to the Apple Watch, and that's why it outsells everything else.
I'd get my Apple Watch Series 5 at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
Apple Watch Series 5, 44mm, with an Italian Leather Loop Band. bigger.
This particular watch face is called "Modular Compact." Each item in all of the many spots on the face are programmable. In this typical face, I've set it to show at glance:
1.) Day and Date. Tap to go to your calendar of events.
2.) Current temperature, as well as today's predicted high and low, and where the current temperature sits in this range. Tap this for the full weather reports for numerous cities.
3.) Beautiful and legible smooth-running hands to show hour, minute and seconds.
4.) Activity tracking showing calories burned, minutes of exercise and clock hours during which I've stood up. Tap for explicit details.
Here are some of the other faces I use. All I do is swipe left or right to swap among these and many more:
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"Photos" face randomly picks photos from my Favorites folder.
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"Infograph" face can display just about anything. |
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"Activity Digital" face shows my workouts so far throughout the day.
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Default monochrome version of Infograph. |
New since Apple Watch Series 4
The face is always on! Although it's dimmer when you're not looking straight at it, the great news is even if you can't move your arm to turn it on that it's always on and legible. I kid you not: the display really is on all day and night long and only turns off it you tell it to (Theatre Mode) or put it on your charger.
Magnetic Compass. The Compass app shows a magnetic compass and inclinometer, along with heading, ground elevation, precise latitude and longitude. You also can have the compass appear as a complication on many watch faces.
A-weighted sound-pressure level meter. It works faster and better than any other digital SPL meter I've owned, and now it's on my wrist everywhere I go. It reads from 30 dBA to 120 dBA SPL::
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It tells you what's a safe sound level |
— or not — |
and you can add the SPL meter to many of the watch faces. |
Calculator. A Calculator app is now native in Watch OS 6, so it should also run in other watches that can run OS 6.
Voice Memos. A voice recorder app is now native in Watch OS 6, so it should also run in other watches that can run OS 6.
Good
Built-in automatic fitness tracking and coaching encourages daily exercise so you'll feel better and have a longer life. Not many products can do that!
Brilliant and colorful OLED display.
Always sets itself.
Perfect accuracy; rated to ±50 milliseconds maximum absolute error.
Heart-Rate sensor.
Do-it-yourself EKGs monitor your heart, and it creates PDFs to send to your doctor.
Internal accelerometer reads to ±32Gs.
Fall detection, and it can call 911 for you automatically if you've fallen or crashed and can't get up.
Smooth-running hands. They don't jump each second or jitter around with the ticking of a mechanical watch.
1/100 second stopwatch, timers, alarms and everything any other watch has done — and they are all very easy to set and use.
Always has the correct day and date.
Just like $87,000 mechanical watches that correct automatically for leap year, so does the Apple Watch.
Also sets itself for daylight savings time and leap second.
"Nightstand" Mode shows time, day, date and alarm if you just tap a nightstand on which the watch is sitting.
Clever alarm starts brightening the screen gradually a few minutes before wake time to help you wake up more pleasantly.
Perfect automatic brightness control: flawless legibility from direct sunlight to total darkness.
Variable text sizes.
Easy to zoom the screen for the vision impaired.
Rated waterproof to 5 ATM/50 meters for swimming, bathing and surfing, but not for SCUBA.
Additional "Do Not Disturb for One Hour" option perfect for meetings and appointments. You also can control the regular Do Not Disturb Mode from your watch.
"Theatre Mode" keeps the display off unless you tap it or rotate the crown up; the automatic wrist-flick and always-on modes are deactivated so you don't bother anyone else.
Unlocks your Mac automatically, no need to type in password when you wake it.
Make and answer phone calls direct from your watch, and be able to use your phone for other things at the same time.
Built-in flashlight, and so smart it dims when pointed at your face.
Voice-controlled everything, including navigation.
Built-in GPS works everywhere on land, sea or air, even if there's no cellular signal. (You wont' see much in the way of maps without a data connection, but it will track your location.)
Controls iPhone camera, complete with a self-timer and seeing the picture on your watch!
Tracks heart rate and route while running, biking or otherwise working out. Weighs less than an iPhone which you can leave at home, making you faster.
Optional woven metal Milanese loop band (my favorite) breaths great for workouts, is easy to get on and off immediately and easily and infinitely adjusts to any intermediate size.
Fitness apps even encourage you to get up and walk around if you've been sitting too long.
Even if the battery dies, still seems to keep time and stopwatch running for when you do get charged.
Controls iPhone music or video playback, and the watch's crown sets volume faster and more precisely than the up-down button on an iPhone.
Tiny battery will recharge numerous times from a small USB power bank with the included Charging Cable.
Innumerable other features not found on regular watches.
Runs many third-party iPhone apps as well.
Bad
Flawless automatic brightness control, but the sensor is on the left so the screen may be too dark if a sleeve is half-covering it.
Missing
Battery only big enough to power about two to four hours of workout each day along with everything else. If you workout more than a couple of hours a day you'll probably have to charge the battery during the day, or set the watch not to record your heart rate in as much detail. Do this and it easily records at least 8 hours of workouts while running all day. See my Apple Watch User's Guide.
Waterproof for swimming, bathing and surfing, but not rated for SCUBA. Rated 5 ATM or 50 meters; not 20 ATM or 200 meters for SCUBA.
Apple Watches Compared
Top Review Specs Compared User's Guide
I'd get my Apple Watch Series 5 at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
See All Apple Watches Compared.
Apple Watch User's Guide
Top Review Specs Compared User's Guide
I'd get my Apple Watch Series 5 at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
Setup
Use the Watch app in your iPhone to connect to it and set it up the first time.
After that you also can do a lot of setting right in the watch.
App Installation
Everything comes from your iPhone.
Download apps on your phone first, and then in the Watch app on your phone be sure you set each app in My Watch (bottom left tab) to install on your Watch.
Power & Charging
It charges via USB with the included Apple Watch Charging Cable.
The USB cable only draws about 150mA at 5V while charging at the maximum rate.
It's AOK to leave it charging all night; it shuts off when full.
The battery is tiny, so it charges numerous times even from a small USB power bank with the included Charging Cable.
You don't need it if you have a power bank, but there are also self-contained portable chargers with a built-in battery.
Speak the Time
To hear the time, wake the watch, then hold two fingers on the face for a few seconds.
Long Workouts
The 18 hour battery rating includes only about 60 minutes of workout along with everything else; which is reasonable for most people not in serious training.
If you have a locker without a power socket, take a USB power bank and Charging Cable (or a self-contained portable charger) in your bag.
If you're on a century (100 mile) bike ride, keep a tiny self-contained charger in your tool bag and recharge during rest stops and lunch. You probably can complete the RAAM (Race Across America) this way, but remember to charge the tiny charger and your watch every night.
An easier way to track workouts all day and not have to do any charging is to use the Power Saving Mode. Set this in the Watch app in your iPhone at My Watch (lower left) > scroll down to Workout > Power Saving Mode > ON. This disables continuous heart-rate monitoring, which is the bright green LED light you may see coming out of the watch during workouts which is what's running down the battery.
The Workout Power Saving Mode still records heart rate every 10 minutes or so (as the watch always does) and lets you track workout speed and locations and elevations all day, but you won't get all the heart-rate details or real-time heart rates as you usually do.
I use the Workout Power Saving Mode when I work out all day. It's easily handled 8-hour workouts.
24/7 Power
If you want to wear it 24/7 to track sleep for some reason, it charges at about 1% per minute, so if you charge it while you're getting ready in the morning and getting ready for bed at night, that may be enough minutes each day to keep it charged all the time.
For instance, a 30-minute charge brings my watch from 66% to 100%.
Map My Ride app
I've been using the free Map My Ride app to track my bike rides and runs for years before I got my Apple Watch. The Watch's included Workout app does the same thing.
Map My Ride works with the Apple Watch, so you can control it and read it on your watch.
Map My Ride probably won't share data with your watch to count against your rings and workout goals unless you deliberately update settings in Apple's Health app in your iPhone to link Map My Ride's data with Apple Health. Map My Ride certainly records the data perfectly inside Map My Ride when you control it with the watch, but it might not share data with your watch unless you activate communications between the two in the Health app settings.
I can run the Apple Workout app at the same time as Map My Ride.
I get more details displayed more clearly in the Map My Ride app as seen on my iPhone, but its data doesn't always sync reliably to the watch and counts only about half the calorie burn while bicycling as Apple's Workout app.
Apple's Workout app always syncs and communicates properly and seems to accumulate calories more accurately (bicycling is about 500 calories per hour and Map My Ride only counts it at about 180 calories per hour), but Apple's Workout app doesn't display anywhere near as much data as well for elevation and heart rate tracking.
While both apps show your path on a map, Apple's is better by color-coding your relative speed throughout your route.
Like everything, all the apps get better all the time so whenever you read this it may have changed.
Map My Ride records percentage of effort based on heart rate thusly:
100 BPM 0%
110 BPM 8%
120 BPM 20%
130 BPM 32%
140 BPM 43%
150 BPM 55%
160 BPM 67%
170 BPM 79%
Map My Ride divides heart rates into five zones:
| Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3 | Zone 4 | Zone 5 |
| 50-60% of maximum heart rate | 60-70% of maximum heart rate | 70-80% of maximum heart rate | 80-90% of maximum heart rate | 90-100% of maximum heart rate |
Easy You're talking normally without having to stop to breathe. |
Easy to Moderate You're probably taking a short breath after each sentence. |
Hard You're taking a deep breath after each sentence. |
Very Hard You're taking deep breaths every few words. |
Exhausting Unable to speak; you're breathing as hard as you can. |
Active Recovery |
Endurance |
Tempo |
Race Pace |
Maximum, Capacity |
Here's how your heart rate looks displayed as you're riding (among many other possible screens):
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More at Training with the Apple Watch.
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