Apple Unveils Apple Watch Series 6 With Blood Oxygen Monitoring and New Color Options

[Takeo]

I was so excited for the always-on display last year but in practice I found it too dim. Especially outside in the sun. Completely unreadable. I’m very curious about the new “2.5X brighter outside” AOD. Has there been a hardware change? Or same hardware and it just uses the ambient light sensor to boost the AOD only outdoors. If that’s the case would that not just be a software tweak that would also be available on my 5 with watchOS 7? Is it the same brightness as before indoors? I’d love for it to be brighter in all scenarios but even if it’s only brighter outdoors and if that‘s a series 6 only feature… that may be enough to make me buy.

I‘m also very athletic (runner, yogi, hiker, figure skater) so maybe the O2 thing is good too? I don’t really understand why I should care about that.

 

[Takeo]

Ok so the press release says “An enhanced Always-On Retina display on Apple Watch Series 6 is up to 2.5 times brighter than Apple Watch Series 5 outdoors when the user’s wrist is down, making it much easier to see a watch face in bright sunlight.” which clearly makes it sound like a hardware change. But why only brighter AOD outdoors? Hmm. Ever if it was a little brighter indoors as well (not 2.5X but even just 1.5X brighter indoors) I’d be more excited about it.

 

[31 Flavas]

The fact that they spun the lack of a power adapter as an “environmentally positive” thing is just infuriating! The reality is that Apple removed an essential accessory from the box so they could save on costs and charge you extra to buy it separately. Yet they lie to your face and tell you it’s because it’s “good for the environment.” Such bullcrap. The audacity! Just be honest to your customers.

How to charge Watch 6?

One possiblitity is the $26 Anker 40W 4-Port USB Wall Charger. Which could charge your iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Apple Watch. What an extortionate price, I know. I just don't know how AirPods owners cope - they were never provided any charger, ever. I guess Apple just expects owners to toss them out when they run out of power.

 

[user_xyz]

Being on your wrist and in motion are two reasons why it won’t detect much of anything valid, never mind a consistent pattern that’ll trigger any medical intervention.

I assume you’re talking about COVID when you say “screening/monitoring”. Please don’t expect or rely on that.

Well...
If your O2 gets low Tim Apple will swoop down and bring you to closest ER for Lockdown!!

 

[newjerseydamo]

As others have mentioned in this thread, I have a S4, and the updates with S5 and now S6 still don't warrant me upgrading.
I'm not a fan of an always on screen, I quite like the display being off.

Also, I've been trialing the sleep tracking and as someone else mentioned, it's kind of useless with the charging habits, frequency, and simplicity compared to say, a Fitbit.

At the end of the day, the S4 still tells me the time, my bpm, tracks my activity and steps, and sends me notifications.
Only way I'll upgrade at this point is a physical re-design.

 

[31 Flavas]

I'm sorry but REALLY, you are going to justify removing the charger to save on carbon footprint?! Don't take us for idiots please.
They are a trillion $ company, I'm sure they can make a bigger impact than having 50k less cars on the road (which btw is NOTHING) if they were that bothered.

Just makes this the perfect opportunity for Samsung, Google, OnePlus to differentiate themselves, show real courage, and definitively state that always and forever they will ship a charger. I'm not holding my breath though since one by one they've followed Apple and eliminated the headphone jack, SD card expansion, no longer offer user replaceable batteries or limit these features to their most expensive flagship.

Samsung may want to not make Apple meme commercials this time, though. Their prior commercials didn't age well after they followed suit and dropped the headphone jack.

 

[JosephAW]

Still waiting for all week battery life.

 

[LFC2020]

When can we expect to see the YouTube reviews?

 

[ghostlines]

This thing helped me detect Afib and had to go to the ER! Have the Series 5, ordered the new Series 6 for extra blood oxygen info. Would have preferred a higher trade in value than $190 but understand they gotta make a profit.

 

[cardfan]

I was so excited for the always-on display last year but in practice I found it too dim. Especially outside in the sun. Completely unreadable. I’m very curious about the new “2.5X brighter outside” AOD. Has there been a hardware change? Or same hardware and it just uses the ambient light sensor to boost the AOD only outdoors. If that’s the case would that not just be a software tweak that would also be available on my 5 with watchOS 7? Is it the same brightness as before indoors? I’d love for it to be brighter in all scenarios but even if it’s only brighter outdoors and if that‘s a series 6 only feature… that may be enough to make me buy.

I‘m also very athletic (runner, yogi, hiker, figure skater) so maybe the O2 thing is good too? I don’t really understand why I should care about that.

You probably shouldn’t care about the oxygen thing since apple clearly says it’s not intended for medical
use. I see it as a gimmick.

S4 works fine for me and that’s basically what this is. Will wait on S7 for something more significant.

 

[Takeo]

You probably shouldn’t care about the oxygen thing since apple clearly says it’s not intended for medical use. I see it as a gimmick.

Yes I’ve come to the same conclusion. I don’t really see much benefit in the O2 sensor. I am still very curious about the AOD improvements though. I love the AOD but it is way too dim outdoors.

 

[kyykesko]

No mention of battery...
So we have to pay an steep price, for Blood O2 and a new color over the previous version? Pssst. No Thanks

Don't forget you will be saving the environment by having to buy the charger separately! That alone is worth the extra price. I'm still waiting for $300 wheels for the watch.

 

[kyykesko]

Or you likely already own one (or more), or have a wireless charger, or can use the charging solution of your choice (whether it be cheaper, to your aesthetic liking, or otherwise).

I own one charger. I own one watch. If I sell my watch, do you expect me to sell it without a charger? And when I do, I'm stuck with having to buy the new charger separately.

That same old argument was used at some point with cables. "You can buy whatever you like". Sure. I've got 20+ lightning cables, 18 of which Apple has at some point in time in the last years decided to refuse. They worked (and still do) just fine on my iPhone 6. Not so much on the X or 11. So yes, I was able to purchase cables that were the color and style I liked, but doing so I caused many times more harm to the environment than I would have had I purchased 2 original cables. I've had enough issues with wireless charging, too. Bought a stand to charge my watch. Yes, it charges, but so slowly I need all night to top it, while the original charger charges it in 1-2 hours.

So don't give me the crap about "having a choice" when the device manufacturer is very much anti-choice.

 

[kyykesko]

To me. they could have said the lack of power adapter allows us to low the price by $5 or $10. I think everyone would be happy with that.

..when you end up paying $30 for the charger separately? No, I wouldn't have been happy with that. Then again, I'm not buying the S6. Nor am I buying any other model for the time being. The only charger that works reliably with the S5 is the one that came with it. And the next Watch I'm buying will have 2+ days battery life. And a charger.

 

[jimbobb24]

That Product Red Watch though....

It looks like only one red band....and not a good one. Otherwise wow.

 

[jimbobb24]

Perhaps I misread but what is the purpose of the O2 integration if its for studies?

what benefit does it provide to the user?

Its for fitness but sadly I dont see it on any of their fitness pictures so will probably wait for reviews on this. But lots of the dedicated devices have them now and with the addition of O2 sensor it gives next level data about how you are doing with workouts.

 

[chreesto]

My point was the blood oxygen “feature” is in no way a reason to upgrade from S4. It’s of negligible practical use.

Not negligible for me. Because of some serious head injuries, I have a kind of sleep apnea (central, as opposed to obstructive) that can't be fixed with CPAP. I use an advanced BIPAP that senses when I've stopped breathing and prompts me to do it. Blood Oxygen monitoring is incredibly helpful when it comes to assessing and tweaking the machine's performance. If things aren't going well my SPo2 can be in the low 80s or high 70s. Being able to track this consistently will be of tremendous medical value to me and my MDs. This was the one and only factor that drove me to upgrade from my series 4, and I would have done it at twice the price.

 

[recoil80]

This thing helped me detect Afib and had to go to the ER! Have the Series 5, ordered the new Series 6 for extra blood oxygen info. Would have preferred a higher trade in value than $190 but understand they gotta make a profit.

My series 4 is worth €135 so just a little less than your series 5. Not sure I'll pay the difference to buy series 6 though, I don't really care about always on display and there is a faster processor but is not like I spend hours using apps, so it wouldn't make a real difference.
Blood oxygen seems interesting, that would be the only feature I'd really care about

 

[jimbobb24]

Nintendo started doing the same thing with the DS. It IS good for the environment whether you like it or not.

“Good for the environment” is literally a nonsense term. It has no repeatable definition. If it just means produce less this is easy. Apple could say they are only selling x number of watches. But apple advertises their watches trying to get more people to consume them. “Bad for the environment”. If less packaging is better than its better for the environment not to have Apple watches. Or maybe you could extend their life with user replaceable battery. ”Good for the environment” means whatever CORPORATION selling PRODUCT wants it to mean and people eat it up. Most recycling is more energy intensive and costly than new production - if we had a standard definition it would probably be rated “bad for the environment”. Nonsense all the way around. But what it really is great for is marketing to a certain segment who has $2000 worth of disposable technology with them at all times to help them feel noble. And thats good for COMPANY profits.

 

[jimbobb24]

Almost ordered my first SS.
But no Sapphire, no sale.

Pity.

They gave up sapphire because it was better for the environment😉.

 

[jimbobb24]

I watched the Apple’s video about this watch and I was trying to understand how measuring blood oxygen level is useful. But all they told was a list of university names.

By far the weakest. My fear is that it is not implemented well. On dedicated devices in combination with HR it can be very helpful in measuring fitness and accurate calorie consumption. They didn’t show it being used in fitness which makes me wonder if they messed it up in a rush to have the feature.

 

[hans1972]

They charge £30 for a charger on their store... have they reduced the price of the Apple Watch by £30? No.

It is $19 for the Apple 5W USB Power Adapter which in the US, which is probably the same in pounds.

 

[Veinticinco]

Not negligible for me. Because of some serious head injuries, I have a kind of sleep apnea (central, as opposed to obstructive) that can't be fixed with CPAP. I use an advanced BIPAP that senses when I've stopped breathing and prompts me to do it. Blood Oxygen monitoring is incredibly helpful when it comes to assessing and tweaking the machine's performance. If things aren't going well my SPo2 can be in the low 80s or high 70s. Being able to track this consistently will be of tremendous medical value to me and my MDs. This was the one and only factor that drove me to upgrade from my series 4, and I would have done it at twice the price.

Fair enough, I forgot to caveat for “the vast majority of people” and list out every single comorbidity that features compromised respiratory function, CSA, COPD etc. The reason I didn’t is because people like yourself, managing their conditions well, will have access to far more accurate and thus clinically significant monitoring apparatus than an Apple Watch as you do.

A wearable and discreet puls-ox is the answer and whilst I understand having a continuous conscious monitoring log is interesting for your medical team to track changes from your “awake” baseline, as I’ve explained already within this thread, the accuracy of the AW sensor is not anywhere near sufficient to be able to functionally track any significant pre-symptomatic drops (and thus legitimate patterns) in Sp02.

By contrast the (effectively 1-lead) consumer ECG sensor in the AW is much more clinically accurate and predictive (AF) which is why Apple has spent literally 2 years trying to get it approved as a bona fide medical device by the various healthcare regulatory authorities around the world. No such effort for the blood oxygen feature you’ll note, even during a respiratory viral pandemic.

 

[BeerboyUK]

As nice as the 6 is I’ll pass and hold onto my 5 until they come out with something to non-invasively check blood sugar.

 

[chreesto]

Fair enough, I forgot to caveat for “the vast majority of people” and list out every single comorbidity that features compromised respiratory function, CSA, COPD etc. The reason I didn’t is because people like yourself, managing their conditions well, will have access to far more accurate and thus clinically significant monitoring apparatus than an Apple Watch as you do.

A wearable and discreet puls-ox is the answer and whilst I understand having a continuous conscious monitoring log is interesting for your medical team to track changes from your “awake” baseline, as I’ve explained already within this thread, the accuracy of the AW sensor is not anywhere near sufficient to be able to functionally track any significant pre-symptomatic drops (and thus legitimate patterns) in Sp02.

By contrast the (effectively 1-lead) consumer ECG sensor in the AW is much more clinically accurate and predictive (AF) which is why Apple has spent literally 2 years trying to get it approved as a bona fide medical device by the various healthcare regulatory authorities around the world. No such effort for the blood oxygen feature you’ll note, even during a respiratory viral pandemic.

I take your point and respect your logic but, at first blush, it reads like someone arguing against a camera in phones, circa 2004. What that long debate yielded was the concept of "the best camera is the one you have with you" and then increased consumer demand led to cameras becoming a focal point for competition. I think these healthcare advances are really similar. For me, and I think many others, the SPo2 monitoring function adds value to an already great and, relative to its value, inexpensive device. I used to drop more than 400$ every couple of years for garmin's latest forerunner, a device that had rudimentary gps and heart rate functions. I feel like we are in a new era of fitness/health wearables and I embrace it. I happily preordered a titanium series 6 because my series 4 has been flawless. It's also worth noting that my series 4 alerted me to a very serious aFib event last October. That has led to a year of examinations and the discovery of heart issues that will be greatly helped by early treatment and intervention. When it comes to the medical information provided by apple watch, I'm all in. Having said that, I won't take the SPo2 data as gospel. I will, however, try to gauge its accuracy against the devices I currently have and, if it's reasonably close, the best medical wearable will be the one I have with me.