Apple Watch Series 10 review: an Ultra sleek package

The Apple Watch is 10 years old. That’s an unthinkable milestone successful the gadget satellite — and rarer inactive erstwhile it comes to wearables. Part of maine thought Apple mightiness propulsion retired each the stops, bash thing with a batch of fanfare to commemorate the occasion. Instead, the Apple Watch Series 10 is different steady, incremental refinement successful a agelong enactment of steady, incremental refinements. 

But not each iterative updates are created equal. With the Series 10, it feels similar Apple acceptable retired to reply 1 question: however bash we get the biggest show imaginable without sacrificing comfortableness and artillery life? 

This is simply a pugnacious seed to crack. Between a large display, comfort, and large artillery life, you lone get to prime 2 with astir smartwatches. The Series 10 is the closest Apple’s gotten to nailing each three. On apical of having the biggest show of any Apple Watch ever, the Series 10 is the thinnest, lightest, and fastest-charging. watchOS 11 besides brings respective training-focused fittingness features to the device. The extremity effect is the Ultrafication of the Series 10. It whitethorn not beryllium the splashiest update, but if you can’t wow’em, you mightiness arsenic good marque astute refinements. And that’s the Series 10 to a tee.

A much wearable Ultra

The embiggening of the Apple Watch is thing new. The archetypal Apple Watch measured 38mm and 42mm. The Series 4 bumped that up to 40mm and 44mm. The Series 7 made it 41mm and 45mm. Today, the Series 10 measures 42mm and 46mm. Normally, I obstruction against the inclination toward larger watches, but the Series 10’s show is worthy each millimeter. 

I accidental this arsenic idiosyncratic with crappy vision, tiny wrists, and sausage fingers. Bigger displays usually mean a little comfy watch, but sometimes that’s a worthwhile trade. A large crushed wherefore I picked the Ultra 2 implicit the Series 9 arsenic my regular operator was the bigger show made speechmaking texts and notifications truthful overmuch easier. That’s contempt the information the Ultra 2 feels similar a mini ceramic connected my arm. It made specified a difference, I was apprehensive astir making the power to the 42mm Series 10’s somewhat smaller display. (Only the 46mm Series 10 is bigger than the Ultra.) Turns out, I was disquieted for nothing. 

I haven’t missed the Ultra’s show astatine all. The Series 10 is astir fractional the weight, and astatine 9.7mm thick, it’s astir 30 percent thinner than the Ultra too. It fits easy nether overgarment cuffs, doesn’t drawback connected the straps astatine my Pilates class, and doesn’t descent up and down my limb erstwhile I run. Plus, the on-screen buttons are besides somewhat larger. When I person press-on nails, it’s not a full symptom to participate my passcode oregon deed a complication! 

Also unexpected: I emotion the wide-angle OLED. I tin spot the clip from conscionable astir each angle. I, of course, would never suggest anyone peep a gossipy substance from the wrist during an important meeting. But I tin corroborate it’s 100 percent easier to bash truthful now. I lone inquire you to usage this powerfulness for good. 

The bottommost enactment is the Series 10 is simply a sleeker, much wearable Ultra. It lacks sportier features similar dual-frequency GPS, the Action Button, and an 80db siren. The Ultra besides has amended artillery life. But I can’t stress capable however galore radical prize surface size and wearability implicit bells and whistles — peculiarly folks who are much casual athletes oregon fashion-conscious. When you origin successful that the caller titanium mentation with sapphire solid is $699 – a full $100 little than the Ultra? I tin easy spot plentifulness of folks trading successful their Ultras for a titanium Series 10.

My 1 interest is I consciousness similar we’ve deed the precocious bounds of however large the tiny Apple Watch tin be. I slipped connected the archetypal 38mm Apple Watch and compared it to a Series 10, and it’s a noticeable leap successful size. Right now, Apple’s deed the saccharine spot for smaller wrists. I conscionable anticipation it stays there.

Faster charging 

Usually, a bigger ticker besides means amended artillery beingness due to the fact that it has a bigger battery. That’s not the lawsuit here. Most of the hardware tweaks this twelvemonth were laser-focused connected getting everything thinner and lighter. And yet artillery beingness wasn’t a occupation for the Series 10. That’s due to the fact that wrong the caller all-metal backmost is simply a larger charging coil that enables importantly faster charging. 

You tin present spell from zero to 80 percent successful 30 minutes. A 15-minute complaint volition get you 8 hours, and 8 minutes gets you 8 hours of slumber tracking. Not lone is it an highly convenient improvement, combined with the much comfy design, it makes the Apple Watch a amended enactment for slumber tracking. 

Folks balk that Apple hasn’t budged from the Apple Watch’s 18-hour artillery beingness estimation successful 10 years, but it’s besides fundamentally a non-issue with faster charging. I plop my Series 10 connected the charger erstwhile I spell ablution and get acceptable successful the morning. It’s topped up by the clip I’m done. In a week, I’ve ne'er gotten a azygous low-battery notification. For the mean person, this is the adjacent champion happening to multi time artillery life.

Sleep apnea 

Sleep apnea detection is the biggest wellness update this year, but unfortunately, I can’t measurement successful yet connected however good it works. The diagnostic was just cleared by the FDA, and portion I’ve had immoderate clip with it, it’s not capable to walk immoderate judgment. Expect an update to this reappraisal successful the adjacent month. 

Even so, Apple’s instrumentality connected slumber apnea detection is an absorbing one. Sleep apnea is simply a information wherever you intermittently halt breathing during the night. It tin lend to excessive daytime fatigue, arsenic good arsenic cardiovascular and metabolic issues down the line. Most wearables observe breathing disturbances — a proxy metric for slumber apnea — utilizing a humor oxygen sensor. Apple is presently locked successful a patent conflict implicit humor oxygen sensors with Masimo, truthful U.S. models can’t marque usage of this method. The Series 10 uses the accelerometer instead.

Once enabled, you’ll get a speechmaking that says Elevated oregon Not Elevated. After 30 days, you whitethorn oregon whitethorn not get a notification that you amusement signs of slumber apnea and to speech with your healthcare providers. Setup is casual — you conscionable person to corroborate that you’re older than 18 and don’t already person a slumber apnea diagnosis. Like with Apple’s different precocious wellness features, this is meant to beryllium a informing flag, not a diagnostic tool. 

Even if I’d had a full period of testing, features similar this are hard for immoderate 1 reviewer to evaluate. For one, this diagnostic is designed to show breathing disturbances implicit a agelong play to regularisation retired the unusual nighttime of mediocre sleep. Also, if I don’t person slumber apnea, I should ne'er get a notification. We’ll person to spot however things play retired connected a larger scale, but connected paper, I similar this to Samsung’s implementation — which lone evaluates 2 night’s worthy of slumber information astatine a time. 

Ultra oregon Series 10?

This is the uncommon twelvemonth wherever the Series 10’s wide plan and charging improvements are worthy upgrading for. Especially if you’ve got a Series 5 oregon older. But if you person a newer Apple Watch — peculiarly 1 with progressive humor oxygen sensors — it’s sensible to clasp disconnected until your existent ticker craps out.

The trickier calculation is for radical stuck betwixt an Ultra 2 and a Series 10. I’m close determination with you. watchOS 11 adds several new training features, but those travel to some the Ultra 2 and the Series 10. So connected the bundle front, the Series 10 is present beauteous bully for each but the astir aggravated endurance training. Also, the Series 10’s lighter plan and bigger surface erases a ton of the Ultra’s advantages. I thought artillery beingness would beryllium a large factor, but for me, it simply wasn’t. The lone times I miss the Ultra 2 is erstwhile I run. And adjacent then, it’s lone aspects of the Ultra 2, specifically the Action Button, and precision commencement for GPS activities. It’s silly, but the main happening stopping maine from switching to a Series 10 is its GPS maps. They’re a smidge much squiggly compared to the Ultra 2. But for reasonable people, the Series 10 is undeniably the amended mundane watch. 

Ultimately, the Series 10 is not revolutionary similar the Series 3 and 4, oregon a large shakeup wrong the class similar the Ultra 2. It doesn’t person a marquee diagnostic similar humor oxygen oregon treble tap. But I’ve said clip and clip again that wearability is really the most important thing for a smartwatch to get right. By that measure, the Series 10 is the astir wearable, readable Apple Watch successful years.