Apple Watch Series 4 (GPS, 44mm) - Space Gray Aluminum with Black Sport Band (Renewed)

Product Information

As far as smartwatch app ecosystems go, Apple's remains the most extensive by far. While it's still missing some key players like Spotify, you can find apps like American Airlines, Citymapper, Delta, Lyft, Neato Robotics, Philips Hue, Strave, and Uber, among many, many others. Comparatively, the apps available for Google wearOS, Fitbit OS, and Samsung Tizen watches are fewer in number and vary in quality. WearOS has the largest offering of the three, but actually getting them onto your watch isn't nearly as simple as it should be. It's easier on Samsung's Tizen watches, which include some apps Apple misses like Spotify and Speedo. Fitbit's offerings are the least developed of the bunch, but includes some big names like Deezer and Pandora. We have a rather low heart rate from regular running training, and the update did ping in from time to time to reference to us that the heart rate testing was working. I still have a big complaint, though, and it’s the same complaint Richard Easton levelled at the Series 3 – why is there no always-on display option so I can constantly see the time? This is something just about every other high-end smartwatch we’ve reviewed this year has implemented and it’s sorely missing here. I understand this would heavily impact battery life and Apple wants to ensure everyone’s watch makes it through the day, but there’s nothing wrong with giving consumers the choice. The Watch 4 also comes with an alert system if your heart rate goes too low or high: should your heart rate spike or fall hard for no reason for a long enough period (around 10 minutes) you'll get an alert telling you all is not well, and maybe you should see a physician. Inbetween the Digital Crown and side button is the microphone, while the speaker has been shunted to the other side. This is to try and avoid any interference between the two.

Make sure to update your Apple Watch to watchOS 5 or later (and the paired iPhone to iOS 12 or later) to avoid pairing issues after a display replacement. This is also the first Apple Watch to play about with the sizing, replacing the 38mm and 42mm sizes with 40mm and 44mm. I was initially sceptical about the 44mm size (this is one I have been using during the review period) as there were times when I felt the 42mm size was a little on the large side for my wrists, but really the difference is negligible and just leads to bigger displays. This feature isn’t being aimed at me though; that’s made clear by the fact it’s turned off by default for anyone under 65. As someone who knows the problems accidental falls can cause, this feature alone would instantly make me want to recommend this to older relatives. That’s not something I would have said about a mass-market smartwatch before. Replacing the display can cause issues with Apple Pay. If possible, to reduce the likelihood of problems, delete all your Apple Pay account info before the replacement, and then re-enter it with the new display installed.

Being able to stream music directly to the watch and take any incoming calls means you can head out for a 10km run with just your watch and some AirPods. When you’re running you’ll also get heart rate data – again this data was comparable to both the older Apple Watch 3 and a Fitbit Charge 2 I was using as a comparison. Perhaps the most important new feature here is the FDA-approved electrode-based heart rate monitoring. When the ECG app arrives later this year, you'll be able to put your finger on the digital crown for 30 seconds to receive an ECG reading that you can export to PDF to share with your doctor. Since this feature isn't yet available, we didn't test it, but we'll update this review with our findings as soon as it comes out. I have replaced an original screen from another apple watch and everything seems to have gone well. But when I try to pair with the iphone it doesn't succeed. Is it because I didn't put the NFC chip from the original apple watch? What can be?. The difference became much more apparent after using the Series 4 for a few days. You can see more information at a glance, which makes reading easier, especially when it comes to text messages and app notifications. And you can now fit eight complications—applets that do something other than tell time—on a watch face, up from five. The additional screen real estate also helps animations stand out. The effects in the Fire and Water watch face, for instance, are truly mesmerizing.

The Apple Watch 4's key feature is really its design - we say that because while the extra health benefits are something that are worthy and really make this an attractive device for those in need of them, the pool of people this is relevant to is smaller than just those looking for a new watch.Call quality is even better. We really liked the Series 3, the first Apple Watch with standalone cellular capability, but it was plagued by dropped calls and poor sound quality. In testing the Series 4, I made several phone calls, none of which dropped. And the new microphone placement does indeed help with call quality, as does the louder speaker, for a more intelligible experience on both ends. LTE calling depletes the battery faster than hammering the GPS. This reaffirms the point that this is purely meant as an addition to your phone, rather than a futuristic wrist-based replacement for it. Another major upgrade is the electro-cardiogram feature (ECG) that has so far only been enabled in select countries, including the US and the UK. A subtler design change is that the sensor array that sits on the bottom of the watch has been shrunken down, resulting in a less bulbous look. This means the Apple Watch 4 sits closer to the wrist than before. It’s a small design tweak – one you’ll only notice if you’re upgrading from a previous model – yet it’s something I have constantly been impressed with. Heart rate monitoring also proved accurate in testing, but this is somewhat misleading. During the controlled treadmill tests, the Apple Watch was always within five to 10 beats per minute of a Polar H10 chest strap, which is great. For resting heart rate, however, the watch's battery doesn't last long enough to wear it to sleep, which you need for an accurate assessment of your resting heart rate. Because of this, the Apple Watch reported my resting heart rate as 67bpm, compared with the 60bpm offered by the Fitbit Versa, which I was able to wear to sleep.