The new Apple Watch Series 6 – There’s nothing really new about it, and Apple knows that too…

“It Already Does That”…

If you watched the keynote just a few hours/minutes back (depending on when you’re reading this), the words “It Already Does That” will sound incredibly familiar to you. The words are proof of two things. A. The Apple Watch is a pretty remarkable device, and B. It’s so remarkable there’s little you can do to really improve it.

There was an entire video in Apple’s keynote dedicated to what the Apple Watch can already do – which is a testament to the company’s vision and cutting edge technology, but it also goes to show that the Apple Watch 6 isn’t VASTLY better than the Apple Watch Series 5. It’s just slightly better, and comes with a few embellishments to make it seem ‘new and better’.

The keynote starts with what a great life-saving device the Apple Watch is, and Tim, as is customary, talks about how he loves to read letters every day from Watch owners about how the miraculous device saved their life. This isn’t really too different from any of the previous Apple Watch reveals over the last 2-3 years. The Watch is a great device when it comes to keeping track of your vitals – that hasn’t changed – and it still tracks your heart rate, heart rhythm, EKG, and can tell if you’ve fallen or not… it already does that. This year, the Watch 6 comes with a built-in blood oximeter that can calculate the amount of oxygen in your blood by using infrared sensors to detect the color of your blood and parse it through well-written algorithms. The Blood Oximeter feature comes at a great time – given the nature of this pandemic, but it raises two questions. What feature would Apple have showcased had it not been for COVID-19? And how many of us will really use it after the pandemic’s long gone?

The Blood Oximeter runs on a new set of sensors embedded into the watch, but aside from that, there’s really no hardware upgrades to talk about other than the new S6 chipset and a larger, moderately brighter screen. It’s still the same old Apple Watch, which isn’t a bad thing, because the Apple Watch is a pretty remarkable device… but it isn’t a great thing either. The Blood Oximeter aside, the Watch 6 does practically everything the Watch 5 does. It comes with a heart-rate monitor, a sleep tracker, an EKG machine, an always-on display, an e-sim, and all the fitness tracking features your heart could desire. In short, “It already does that”.

Most of the Watch 6’s noteworthy upgrades come with WatchOS 7 and its UI, led by Alan Dye, VP of Human Interface Design and a successor to Jony Ive. The Watch 6 boasts of new faces that allow you to access a whole myriad of features and information right from the face of the watch. You could choose a minimal watch face, an artistic one (in collaboration with Geoff McFetridge), a color-striped one to correspond with your clothes, your home team, or Pride, a face that shows you your vitals, your appointments, or various time-zones, and even a Memoji Watch Face. Apple’s made improvements to its Nike and Hermès Watch-lines too, and even launched a Product Red version of the Watch 6 along with a ‘new type of single-loop’ silicone strap they call the Solo Loop.

I honestly believe there isn’t much Apple can do to make their Watch ‘vastly’ better. The Watch 6, at least according to me, is the pinnacle of smartwatch innovation and perhaps the only thing that can make it an absolute home-run is the ability to calculate blood-sugar without needing to prick your skin. The Watch 6 puts Apple in a very tough position because I’m struggling to think of what more a Watch could do, but that’s probably me living inside a box. That being said, Cook and his team did a great job so far, especially considering how now every part of the watch is made entirely from ethically sourced materials, recycled metals and plastics, with 100% renewable energy and no harmful chemicals. It’s worth noting that Apple’s even promised to completely carbon neutral by as early as 2030… here’s to hoping we all live to see that day.

Designer: Apple

Watch Apple’s ‘Time Flies’ event here at 1PM ET

Apple has been hosting annual iPhone press conferences in September since 2012, but this year is understandably different. While Apple is holding a big launch event today, we probably won’t learn much about the upcoming iPhone 12 series, which has be...

A circular Apple Watch seems very unlikely, but it sure looks beautiful!

Short of putting a camera on the Apple Watch, there’s little to nothing Apple can do to make their Watch Series 5 better. It’s a remarkably built wearable with a great battery, a screen that can stay on all the time, a waterproof build that lets you go swimming with it on, an e-sim that lets you call, send messages, and the ability to perform EKG readings to keep you in the pink of health. It’s the perfect cross between consumer tech and medical tech, and there aren’t many smartwatches that can really match up to it. There’s no need for Apple to make their watches better, but the vicious cycle of product launches fuelled by profit-growth means Apple will, invariably release a new watch this year.

What could the Series 6 possibly do to be different from (and better than) the Series 5? A concept creator by the name of Phone Industry’s envisioned a radically different, circular Apple Watch 6… because why not. It features a Samsung Galaxy-inspired circular body and dial, with a thin bezel around the edge, and a speaker grill at the very periphery of the dial. It also ditches the rotating crown for a more standard tactile button.

I doubt you could watch Apple TV or a keynote on the circular screen (or even browse the internet effectively), but the Apple Watch has never been touted as an internet-browsing device on your wrist. Instead, the circular screen could enhance the Apple Watch’s existing services by making use of the circular UI to lay-out information in an effective way. Besides, that circular watch-face looks pretty stunning, don’t you think?!

Designer: Phone Industry