Apple unveiled its new smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 3, at Tuesday's launch event held in Cupertino, California. The new watch is now capable of making phone calls on its own despite the absence of an iPhone in range. More than that, the third-generation device makes a great Health And Fitness companion with intelligent coaching features. It will be available for sale on September 22 with a tag price of $399.
Key features
One of the prominent features in the third installment of the Apple Watch Series is built-in cellular. This capability will allow users to stay connected, receive messages, make calls, and more without an iPhone nearby.
A host of other upgrades has also incorporated into the device, including 4G capability. In addition, it is water resistant and has a new barometric altimeter that can track activity and measure elevation.
Further, users of the new watch can now stream as much as 40 million songs on their wrist. The music app has also been redesigned, and a radio app has been introduced, so users have access to Beats 1 radio station live. Improved health and activity tracking are also showcased in the Watch 3. There are auto-sets for swim workouts, improved heart rate algorithms for intense workouts, and the capability to pair with fitness app Gymkit.
The new watch comes in two models, one with GPS and the other with GPS and cellular.
Both models are powered by S3, Apple's third-generation architecture with a faster dual-core processor. The S3 makes quicker app launches and smoother graphics possible. It also enables activation of Siri through the built-in speaker. This new processor is claimed to increase the device capability by 70 percent. Apple's new wireless chip, the W2, is also another feature to behold as it allows faster connectivity and a more efficient power use.
Weak battery
One of the drawbacks on placing phone calls is how it easily drains the battery. As for the Apple Watch 3, the battery life may be pretty weak. According to the blog posted on 9to5Mac, the smartwatch offers over an hour of talk time while connected directly to LTE. This is considerably a short time if the watch is meant to be used all day without the phone.
It can also be inconvenient if the user plans to use it to take a few conference calls, for example. With the phone nearby, the battery life is increased to three hours worth of phone calls. If it will be utilized for mixed functions, a total of 18 hours of battery life is possible. Such catch may actually be worth it for some users considering the major upgrades, but for some, the new cellular feature may not even make a difference.
