After a major appearance upgrade the previous year, Apple did not spend too much time on the appearance of this year’s Apple Watch. This also makes it difficult for us to find too many differences from Apple Watch S4 in the appearance of Apple Watch Series 5 (hereinafter referred to as Apple Watch S5).
Apple Watch S5’s appearance upgrade this year is mainly focused on the shell. Two new materials, titanium alloy and ceramic, are added to the original aluminum alloy and stainless steel.
▲ From top to bottom, there are precision ceramics, titanium, and stainless steel models
Let’s talk about the titanium alloy material first. In fact, compared to stainless steel, titanium has the characteristics of higher hardness, lighter weight, more corrosion resistance and better biocompatibility.
The previous points are easy to understand, that is, more scratch-resistant and lighter, but what is better biocompatibility?
In fact, I can tell a little story about Apple’s development of Apple Watch.
At that time, when trial production of the stainless-steel Apple Watch, Apple distributed the products to some employees for try-on. But Apple soon discovered that a considerable number of employees developed allergies after trying them on.
After research, Apple discovered that it was actually caused by the nickel element in the stainless steel. Later, Apple had to re-modulate the ratio of the metal elements in the stainless-steel case.
Although after re-adjustment, the chance of allergies has been very low, there are still some users with more sensitive skin.
And this time the titanium case will be more friendly to the user’s skin. Therefore, users who are sensitive to stainless steel may wish to try the new titanium case.
Apple offers two color options of titanium gold and silver and titanium gold gray in the choice of this material.
If you could simply distinguish the shell of the Apple Watch S4 in front of you by whether it was frosted or polished, however, this is not that simple.
If you want to describe the texture of titanium, it should be a texture between aluminum and stainless steel. First of all, it has the same polished texture as stainless steel, with metallic luster. But it does not have the finer polishing like stainless steel, but retains the metal texture of the metal when it is not carved, and has a “raw steel” texture.
Then let’s talk about the precision ceramic shell.
In fact, this is not the first time Apple has used this material on Apple Watch. Apple has introduced this material as early as Apple Watch S2.
This case has only one color, that is, white for users to choose.
From the hands-on point of view on site, the precision ceramic shell is the most recognizable among the four materials, and it is also the most refined.
If one word is used to describe the precision ceramic case, it must be “warm and moist”. And this sense of warmth can be reflected in both vision and touch.
Some students may think that ceramic materials are more fragile than metal, but they are not correct. In fact, the hardness of precision ceramics is more than 4 times that of stainless steel, so compared to stainless steel, the ceramic shell will be more scratch-resistant and strong.
However, we also found a small problem with this case. It may be that ceramics are more difficult to process at the corners, so we found that there is a gap between the ceramic shell and the screen glass that is significantly larger than other styles.
- “Won’t go out” screen
Apart from buying new titanium or ceramic models, how can you let others know that you are wearing the latest models?
Show off the screen that won’t go out.
In this update, Apple has added a new Always-On feature to Apple Watch, which is what we often call “the screen is always on.”
Thanks to the lower power consumption LTPO (Low Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) screen, Apple Watch S5 can maintain a long battery life even if the screen does not go off: 18 hours of daily use. However, it is worth mentioning that, in fact, this screen material has already begun to be applied on Apple Watch S4, but the “screen always on” feature was added to Apple Watch S5.
Of course, in order to achieve this endurance level, Apple has also optimized the dial and brightness adjustment.
In the actual experience, we found that although the screen can be always bright, the brightness of the Apple Watch S5 screen will decrease when the wrist is not raised, and the brightness will only increase when the wrist is raised.
As for the low brightness when the wrist is not raised, will it be too dark to make it difficult to see. According to our on-site experience, the effect is not great indoors. Even at low brightness, the time and information on the multi-function dial can be seen clearly, but if you go outdoors, the situation may be different. However, whether the screen brightness adjustment of Apple Watch S5 will change according to the change of external light, this will have to wait for our detailed evaluation later to answer for everyone.
The other is the change of the dial. In addition to reducing the brightness, part of the dial will change depending on whether you raise your wrist or not. When these dials are selected, the dial will become brighter, clearer and lighter when the wrist is raised. In the non-lifting state, the dial will become a darker color with lower power consumption.
- New health function, more independent watchOS 6
Apple has updated the 64-bit S5 processor on Apple Watch S5. But Apple did not put more pen and ink on the improvement of processing performance at the press conference. It was just a simple sentence “twice the processing power of S3”.
This is not surprising, because for a wearable device, sensor updates are often more important than processor updates.
Apple Watch S5 adds a new compass function, which can realize real-time recording of altitude, latitude, longitude, and inclination, and can be linked with medical card functions, emergency call functions, and fall detection functions.
In the first experience, after turning on the compass function, you need to rotate the watch like on the iPhone before the system can recognize the direction. But this time is not long, probably only between 1 to 2 seconds. In addition, from our experience, the accuracy and sensitivity of the compass is almost the same as when used on the iPhone. For some users with outdoor sports needs, it will be more practical.
After that is the update of the health application. Apple Watch S5 adds noise detection and menstrual tracking. The former can detect the noise level around the user in real time, and warn immediately when the noise volume is too high, which is quite practical for users of some special types of work. The latter allows users to track the menstrual cycle more easily.
However, due to time and gender, we have no way to experience these two new functions in a deeper area. Similarly, we will give you a more in-depth introduction in the subsequent in-depth evaluation.
Finally, let’s talk about watchOS 6. The biggest highlight of this update is that Apple Watch finally has its own app store. This also means that when users download new applications, they no longer need to use the mobile app to do so, just operate directly on the watch.
In addition, watchOS 6 has added several new dials, some of which, as mentioned above, can be changed with the movement of raising the wrist.
- Apple Watch Series S5 features
The Apple Watch5 series is upgraded with a brand new retina display, which will never sleep. It only needs a light touch and the screen will light up. Using LTPO technology, the screen can be continuously refreshed at a frequency of 60 Hz, while having lower power. Excellent ambient light sensor, these different technologies achieve 24-hour display on the screen.
In normal times, the screen will be dimmed intelligently, and it will light up when you lift your wrist or tap the screen. Apple has adopted the LTPO display in Series5, which can support dynamic refresh from 60Hz to as low as 1Hz.
Series 5 has a built-in ultra-low power display driver and a newly optimized dial, which helps it to be permanently lit while still maintaining a full 18-hour battery life.
Support the new compass function, you can see the facing position, longitude, latitude and altitude, no matter where you are, you can see our position at any time, and the new product has upgraded the emergency phone service. In 150 countries, you only need to activate the control button , You can directly make emergency calls.
AppleWatchSeries5 has a built-in compass application and safety application. The compass can be combined with a series of outdoor and stargazing apps for azimuth observation. The safety application further strengthens the original emergency help functions of Apple Watch. SOS can now also call international help calls.
The new changes in software are mainly in the Research application. Apple will launch three health studies in Research, aiming to help further medical research on hearing, reproductive health and general health by using the functions of Apple Watch.
- Feeling of using
Use experience, it seems that there is no feeling. I have used Mi Band before. You can’t say that Mi Band is not easy to use. After all, it’s cheap, but Mi Band should not have built-in GPS, and your running distance is not allowed. Unless you pair your phone well, use Mi Sports App, in addition, Apple Watch now records sleep very well, and can detect the heart rate during sleep at night. I have a brother, because the resting heart rate is too fast, I went to the hospital for a diagnosis. There was a problem with the blood vessels. Fortunately, it was nothing serious. I’m not saying how good Apple Watch is, but that it is easy to use. Except for battery life, there seems to be no noise.
Assuming you are a running enthusiast, you can go out to apple watch cellular version + air pods or beats, after all, apple watch itself can store songs in.
This time it is equipped with an Always-on Retina display, which supports the always-display function. The screen brightness is naturally reduced during standby to save power. When you look at the screen, its brightness will brighten again, which is also very clever. When you keep a position still, the screen only shows the time, but unfortunately, I just wanted to capture it and didn’t take it.
- Reason to buy
No reason, just want to buy. Because in the past few years, the appearance of Apple iPhone is very similar, s1 is not waterproof, s2 is waterproof, s3 can swim, s4 battery life is strengthened and widened, and s5 seems a little innovative. However, Apple It still brings us a little surprise-Apple Watch Series 5 is equipped with an “always bright” display, which brings great convenience to this user. The new “always on” display will allow you to view the content on the watch screen anytime, anywhere, whether it is in a meeting or exercise, viewing is very convenient. Actually, it make apple watch look more like a watch.
Finally, to summarize, from the initial experience, if you already have an Apple Watch S4, the update can actually be slowed down. After all, the appearance has not changed much, and the new features are not attractive to most users.
And if you are a previous user of Apple Watch S4, or if you have never owned an Apple Watch, then Apple Watch S5 is undoubtedly still one of the most comprehensive and experienced watches on the market.
