Apple Watch
SERIES 4
Replaced by the Apple Watch Series 5.
Apple Watch Series 4 (this one in gold with a Milanese band, $399-850) bigger. I'd get mine at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
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December 2019 Apple Reviews Watch & Clock Reviews All Reviews
Apple Watch Review
Top Review 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.
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 4 at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
One of unlimited styles of programmable watch faces.
In this typical face, I've set it to show at glance:
1.) 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.
2.) Text messages. Tap to see them.
3.) Stopwatch. Tap to start, stop, split and see more details.
4.) Three hands for time.
5.) Tap to get to the Map My Ride app, which I use for bicycle riding.
6.) Day and date. Tap to get to the Calendar app with all your appointments.
7.) Activity rings tracking calories burned, minutes of exercise and clock hours in which you've stood up. Tap for explicit details.
8.) Count-down timer progress. Tap to set the timer.
9.) Workout. The little guy runs when a workout is active. Tap him to set and check the details of your current workout.
New since Series 3
Much bigger screen now fills much of the watch face. The smallest 40mm Series 4 now has more screen area than the largest 42mm Series 3!
Bigger screen means everything is bigger and more legible, especially if you're moving.
Now rated for 6 hours, rather than just 5 hours, of continuous active workout with the watch's own GPS and heart-rate sensors working all the time without your iPhone. (Still rated for 18 hours overall battery life just like the Original Apple Watch ("Series 0" of 2014).)
The crown lets you feel clicks as you turn it. Apple calls this "Haptic Feedback," offering a more mechanical and responsive feel through the sensation of incremental clicks.
Thinner; 10.7mm vs. 11.4mm.
New Heart-Rate sensor.
Do-it-yourself EKGs monitor your heart, and it creates PDFs to send to your doctor.
Fall detection, and it can call 911 for you automatically if you've fallen or crashed and can't get up.
New watch faces.
Internal accelerometer reads to 32Gs, rather than just 16Gs.
"50% Louder" speaker.
Bluetooth 5.0.
New processor "up to twice as fast as" Series 3.
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 for 50 milliseconds maximum absolute error.
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" disables the automatic display as you turn your wrist 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 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.
Has the option to remind you to end workout tracking automatically when it thinks you've stopped, but if you're just stopping for a short break (like on a dog walk) I find it often it's annoying — so I turn this feature off.
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 Compared User's Guide
I'd get my Apple Watch Series 4 at B&H, at Adorama or at Amazon.
See All Apple Watches Compared.
Apple Watch User's Guide
Top Review Compared User's Guide
I'd get my Apple Watch Series 4 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.
Long Workouts
While the battery is rated for a six-hour workout, this means if you start at 100% you'll have a completely dead battery after just six hours of workout— not exactly a full day's usage after working out. The 18 hour rating includes only 60 minutes of workout along with everything else; which is reasonable for most people not in serious training.
My battery is down to 50% after a 3 hour workout first thing in the morning, and my watch may be dead by the end of the day. If I only workout for two hours in the morning, my watch may be down to 15% at the end of the day. Here's a tip: I put my watch on a charger when I hit the shower. It recharges at 1% per minute, so I get a lot of charge back, easily lasting the rest of the day with power to spare.
If you have a locker without a power socket, put 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.
Don't 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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