As expected, the Apple Watch Series 5 has been announced. The announcement this morning by Apple was actually a pretty short one compared to the ones from the past. That is mostly due to the fact that the latest aspects of Apple Watch are in the OS that was revealed a few months ago.
The New Apple Watch Series 5 Is Here
You can order the Apple Watch Series 5 today from $399 for regular or $499 for cellular models. They will be available on September 20.
Here are the things about the new Apple Watch Series 5 that I find to be most interesting/exciting. In fact, one of these is from my wish list so I am happy about that!
There is one thing that is a “oh, finally!” but not something with its own heading. They are finally including a compass in Apple Watch.
Always On Display
In the footsteps of FitBit and Garmin (comparisons to come), Apple is finally allowing their Apple Watch to have an always-on display. It will have it be dimmed until it is raised up on the wrist when it returns to regular brightness.
Apple has done this while continuing to promise 18 hour battery life. The truth has always been that the Apple Watch battery lasts longer than Apple says it does. So, that means that it should offer more like 24 – 30 hours of battery life which is pretty good.
But, I am also curious to see if it is possible to turn off the always on display. If so, that should enable an additional day of battery life, which would be great! It will also be nice to finally have always on! I know when I would run with the Apple Watch, it would sometimes be annoying to not have the display reveal what I needed when I was just glancing at it.
International Emergency Dialing
This has continually been something I cannot stand about the cellular Apple Watch models – they do not work outside of their home country. That means that if you buy one in the US to work with Verizon, you cannot use it outside the US with cellular.
While it appears that has not changed, they did make a change that will allow your watch (cellular equipped) to call emergency services in 150 countries if you fall or need to push the emergency button. For travelers, that is an excellent change. This way, you can just go out with just the watch and not a phone (like a run or similar) and still be able to contact emergency services in case of a problem abroad.
Apple Watch Series 3
Photo from Apple
Wait, what??? While we have seen the Apple Watch Series 3 on sale from $199, now it is officially $199 brand new! That means you can likely find it on sale for as little as $179 or less brand new! For a GPS-equippped smartwatch, that is an awesome deal! In fact, it seriously undercuts some new offerings from Garmin and FitBit if people are hung between a true smartwatch like Apple or a more fitness/running centered watch.
So, I would not rush out to buy the Apple Watch Series 3 just yet but you should be able to find them on sale for around $179 or less in about a month on Amazon.
Summary
I will be getting the Apple Watch Series 5 to test out and review shortly so I will definitely report on any other new things that Apple did not highlight. Also, I will be testing out the battery life to see what we can get out of it.
Still a very ugly watch. iPod nano with a wrist strap.