Also Apple has entered the smartwatch market, offering users of the bitten apple the Apple Watch Series 4, the latest model of the Cupertino company. This is an advanced device, with lots of innovative features such as integration with Siri, Apple’s voice assistant. This smart watch allows you to make payments, monitor your heart rate, workout and much more. Here are all the details on the Apple Watch.
What is it and how does the Apple Watch
Apple Watch is the official Apple smartwatch, the smart watch that offers many features, now in its fourth generation. It is a wrist device, which in addition to providing the exact time can monitor the heart rate, track sports activity, show notifications of messages and emails. It also allows you to make payments, use Siri voice commands, receive directions and make calls to your contacts.
Apple has to compete in the smartwatch market with several companies in the industry, each offering its own model of smartwatch, including companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, Fitbit and Garmin. These companies, unlike Apple which uses the watchOS operating system, have equipped their devices with Wear OS, a program developed by Google and compatible with all Android smartwatches.
All the features of the Apple Watch
In comparison to other smartwatches, the Apple Watch is a truly advanced device. For example, it is able to understand the type of activity you are performing, adapting the information to be shown depending on whether you are practicing yoga, hiking, running, swimming or tennis. Thanks to the Training application it can provide you with various types of exercise and display the most appropriate workout for each activity, considering parameters such as calories burned, distances covered and goals achieved. Through alerts, Apple Watch 4 helps you maintain your pace, detecting when you need to pick up the pace and push harder.
In addition, the Apple smartwatch can be connected to some of the machines in the gym, including the exercise bike and treadmill, allowing you to start playing playlists from Apple Music, monitoring the outdoor temperature, UV intensity, air quality and activating audio files from Apple Podcasts. You can set challenges with friends, choosing an activity to share to see who achieves the best result, or analyze your daily physical activity with the 3-ring system, which measures calories, exercises performed and time spent sitting.
With regards to health with Apple Watch you can have an important support, for example creating single-lead electrocardiograms, using the built-in electrodes and downloading the ECG app, monitor the heartbeat and store the data in the Health app on the iPhone, which also allows you to export the information informed PDF. Apple Watch Series 4 offers high connectivity, 112 emergency calls, and most importantly, seamless integration with the Siri virtual assistant, which provides plenty of useful suggestions.
Apple Watch: what’s new in watchOS 2019
The latest model of Apple smartwatch for sale, namely the fourth generation, comes with the new watchOS operating system, which features several new features compared to the previous version. For example, walkie-talkie functionality has been added, which allows you to start a conversation with any user who has another Apple Watch. In addition, the devices are now compatible with podcasts, so you can listen to them at any time directly from the watch.
Even Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, has become smarter, in fact it is able to propose suggestions on the content to be shown on the display, based on your preferences, you can set quick commands and create playlists, to immediately find the most used features. Similarly, with the Apple Watch equipped with watchOS you can challenge your friends, organizing activities to share online, you can receive workout suggestions in real time, personalized notifications and alerts in case of heart rate outside the limits.
The new operating system is also compatible with some student cards: simply store the card in the Apple smartwatch and use the device in contactless version. In addition, the built-in Weather app has been significantly improved to provide more accurate information about the weather, various digital dials can be set, and the device now also supports Dual SIM iPhones, including the iPhone XS and XR.
Apple Watch 2019: models and costs
Currently you can buy the latest version of smartwatch from the bitten apple, Apple Watch Series 4, or alternatively the Apple Watch Series 3 smartwatch. The latter is available with a cheaper price, starting at €309, however it is a good quality device, which has all the main features such as running tracking, synchronization with compatible training machines, podcast playback, online challenges with friends, heart rate monitoring and calls operated with Siri.
The new model on the market instead is Apple Watch Series 4, an evolved device with even more sophisticated Digital Crown, EKG functionality, emergency SOS calls, breathing monitoring, workout program for various activities including yoga, running and hiking, distance tracking, full tracker service and advanced compatibility with Siri voice assistant. The cost of the Apple Watch Series 4 starts at €439, and goes up to €809 for the most expensive version with a Milanese mesh strap.
Apple offers several versions of its latest smartwatch. One of them is the Apple Watch Sport Series 4 Nike, sold with a price starting at €439, a device that provides users with integration with the Nike Run Club app, designed specifically for runners to receive feedback, advice and personalized training programs. Alternatively, you can buy the elegant Apple Watch Hermès, with a cost starting at €1,329, a smartwatch with stainless steel case, leather strap and design made by the famous luxury house.
How to configure Apple Watch
Activating Apple Watch is really simple, in fact you just have to put it on your wrist by adjusting the strap, so that it remains in contact but not too tight. After that you just have to turn on the device, holding down the side button, until you see the Apple logo on the display. At this point you need to take your iPhone to perform the setup, using a model with the iOS 12 operating system or a higher version, so from the iPhone 5S onwards.
Leaving the phone close to the Apple Watch you should see the watch icon, so just click Continue to enter the configurations, otherwise you need to open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone and tap the item Pair a new Apple Watch. Keeping the two devices close together should start the procedure automatically, so you just need to follow the directions by selecting the Configure Apple Watch option. With the same iPhone you can set up multiple Apple smartwatches, just repeat the operation and always tap the item Pair a new Apple Watch.
How to set up VoiceOver on Apple Watch
An interesting new feature of the latest smartwatches from Apple is the compatibility with VoiceOver, a technology that allows the device to read the screen, which works thanks to the integration with the voice assistant Siri. To configure the system just open the settings on the Apple Watch, selecting the options General> Accessibility> VoiceOver, finalizing the activation of the service. At this point VoiceOver is operational, but you can change the settings through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, which allows you to disable the program, adjust the speed of pronunciation and activate the time reading in automatic mode.
To control the Apple smartwatch with VoiceOver you only need to use gestures, in fact you can move your finger on the display to start reading the items on the screen, turn on or off a function, go back by drawing a “Z” with your fingers, or pause the system by tapping the display twice. To adjust the volume, simply double-tap the screen, hold for a few moments and slide your finger down and up to increase or decrease the volume.
How to pay with Apple Watch
The Cupertino company’s new smartwatch models offer several innovative features, including the ability to pay with the Apple Watch, using integration with the Apple Pay digital system. This is an application that allows you to make payments with various Apple devices, such as iPhone, iPad and Mac OS, by creating a wallet (virtual wallet) and connecting a credit or debit card. In this way you can make purchases in stores, using contactless technology simply by bringing your device close to the POS reader.
To pay with Apple Watch you need to make some preliminary settings, including pairing a payment card to Apple Pay through your iPhone, inserting it into the wallet. After that, the system will show a series of devices, on which you can activate Apple Pay, so just select your Apple smartwatch, tap on Add Now and confirm the operation with your security code. After that, to pay, you just need to unlock the Apple Watch, bring it closer to the POS and wait for the payment notification to appear.