Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Irish Mirror

Lifestyle

Mark Kavanagh

Apple Watch Series 8 review: still the most complete combination of smartwatch and health and fitness features

Apple Garmin

Apple Watch isn’t just the biggest-selling smartwatch, it’s the world’s number one selling watch.

Series 7 was such a complete wearable that it was difficult to see where the tech giant could make improvement this year.

The refinements may be small but it's no bad thing that Watch Series 8 is largely more of the same with just a few new additions.

Pros

Great design and display
Overnight temperature sensing
Car crash detection
Fast charging
Battery life boost

Cons

Only works with iPhone

Apple Watch Series 8 new features

The key changes to Watch Series 8 are new safety features and a temperature sensor for which has some clever uses for women’s health and family planning.

A pair of temperature sensors track the change in your wrist temperature overnight, setting a baseline over five nights with sleep tracking enabled.

It won’t report your exact temperature, but small changes are an indication of things such as exercise, alcohol consumption and sickness.

The primary use of the sensor is for optional enhanced tracking of women’s health for logging of menstrual cycle and ovulation.

The watch tracks the small increase in body temperature that typically occurs after ovulation, which it combines with logged cycle data to give a retrospective estimate of the day of ovulation.

It takes about two cycles for the estimates to be worked out, and it may be a useful tool for those attempting to get pregnant, as well as generally tracking cycle health for irregularities.

Health data collected by the device, including heart rate, ECG results and cycle data, is logged in Apple Health app on your iPhone and encrypted end-to-end when backed up to your iCloud account.

This means only you and those you intentionally share the data with can view it. Neither Apple nor third parties can read it.

On top of the existing fall detection, a new accelerometer and gyroscope can detect the extreme forces associated with a car crash and automatically call the emergency services if you do not respond within 20 seconds.

It’s a safety feature I hope I don’t ever need but it’s re-assuring to know it is there.

Apple Watch Series 8 key features

Otherwise Watch Series 8 is essentially the same as Watch Series 7, which is no bad thing.

My review model of the iPhone-only smartwatch was the 45mm size and came in the new Midnight (dark blue) colour which I fell in love with quickly.

It has a smooth metal body, bright and crisp always-on display and lasts about 18 hours between charges, including sleep tracking.

It is still the most capable and functional of smartwatches, with excellent haptic vibrations, always-on screen, ECG, heart rate and blood oxygen level monitoring, great activity tracking, 50-metre water resistance and fitness tracking across a large range of workout types.

The only wearables to track more metrics across running, cycling and adventure sports are dedicated multisport watches such as Garmin Fenix 7 or Garmin Epix, Polar Vantage V2 or Coros Vertix 2.

And Apple’s new high end Watch Ultra is obviously in the mix if your priority is deep sea diving as it is waterproof up to 100 metres compared to the 50 metres of Series 8, which has an IP6X dustproof rating too.

Apple Watch Series 8 battery life

Battery life is solid if average. I charge it once a day to avoid having to carry the proprietary charger with me for safety when I go out.

Like Watch Series 7, it includes USB-C charging which the firm says is 33 per cent faster than the old USB-A charger.

Ten minutes is enough to power eight hours of sleep tracking.

There’s no charger in the box incidentally, just the charging cable. But at this stage, most people would have at least one USB-C charger at home.

If you toggle on the new low power mode from the control centre you can double the battery life to 36 hours.

You'll temporarily lose Always-On Display, continuous health sensor readings and cellular connectivity. The latter is currently irrelevant in Ireland as network operators still have not introduced e-sim tech so wearables such as Apple Watch do not have cellular connections.

Apple Watch Series 8 other features

WatchOS 9 is the most functional and easy to use operating system on a smartwatch.

Some of most convenient uses of Apple Watch are the ability to unlock an iPhone, the ability to unlock your Mac computer and Apple Pay.

The latter is a function I use every day. It offers a quick and secure method of contactless payment – just double tap the side button and it’s ready.

The haptic vibrations on the device are excellent, especially when used with Apple Maps.

Like with the firm’s phones and tablets, you will receive at least five years of software support; much longer than any competitors’ wearables.

In Ireland, Series 8 comes in an aluminium finish with four colour options: Midnight, Starlight, Silver and PRODUCT(RED).

Apple Watch Series 8 verdict

The reality is that the body temperature sensors and safety features are enough to keep Apple Watch at the top of the wearable tech market.

This is the most complete smartwatch package that you can buy, but obviously it only works with iPhone so Android users will have to look elsewhere.

Apple Watch Series 8 pricing

Apple Watch Series 8 with Sport Band costs €499 (41mm) and €539 (45mm) from apple.com/ie.

Apple Watch Series 8 key specifications

Case size: 41 or 45mm
Case thickness: 10.7mm
Weight: 32/38.8g or 42.3/51.5g
Processor: S8
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 32GB
Operating system: WatchOS 9
Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM)
Sensors: HR, ECG, spO2, temperature, GNSS, compass, altimeter, gyroscope, high-g accelerometer, ambient light
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5, WiFi n, NFC, UWB, optional 4G/eSIM, NFC
Other features: microphone, speaker