Apple Watch Series 10 Reviews: Solid Upgrade With an Unexpectedly ‘Mind-Blowing’ Feature

The first Apple Watch Series 10 reviews have been published by various media outlets and YouTube channels, ahead of the device launching on Friday.

Key new features for the Apple Watch Series 10 include larger displays with 42mm and 46mm case sizes, a nearly 10% thinner design compared to the Apple Watch Series 9, a new Jet Black polished aluminum case option, faster charging, the ability to play audio through the built-in speaker, voice isolation for phone calls, Depth and Tides apps for water activities, and more. In addition, watchOS 11 adds a new sleep apnea detection feature on the Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Reviews

The Verge‘s Victoria Song on the Series 10’s larger displays:

Normally, I rail against the trend toward larger watches, but the Series 10’s display is worth every millimeter. […]

I haven’t missed the Ultra’s display at all. The Series 10 is about half the weight, and at 9.7mm thick, it’s about 30 percent thinner than the Ultra too. It fits easily under jacket cuffs, doesn’t catch on the straps at my Pilates class, and doesn’t slide up and down my arm when I run. Plus, the on-screen buttons are also slightly larger. […]

Also unexpected: I love the wide-angle OLED. I can see the time from just about every angle.

Sleep apnea detection has only been available for a short time, so reviewers said they have not been able to test it thoroughly yet. The feature is now available in more than 150 countries and regions on ‌watchOS 11‌, which was widely released yesterday.

Sleep apnea is a potentially serious disorder in which a person’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts while they sleep. The detection feature uses the Apple Watch’s accelerometer to “monitor small movements at the wrist that are associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns,” according to Apple. If these disturbances occur frequently over multiple nights, they may be associated with sleep apnea, according to Apple.

Forbes‘ David Phelan on the Series 10’s thinner design and Jet Black finish:

On the wrist, the 46mm Series 10 feels way more discreet than the Ultra 2, not to mention more effortlessly dressy and chic. And I speak as someone who loves the Ultra. And you can certainly feel the difference in weight. The 46mm Series 10 weighs 42g or less, depending on the metal finish you choose. The Ultra 2 weighs 62g.

Part of that chic quality is down to Apple going big on shiny this year. The aluminum finish is, Apple says, polished using nano-particles before undergoing a 30-step anodization process. The Jet Black color is very attractive, reminiscent of the same color on the iPhone 7 from 2016.

CNET‘s Lexy Savvides on the Series 10’s ability to play audio through the speaker:

I did my own highly unscientific test to see how annoying it would be to play a heavy rock track at full volume on the watch speaker. In a quiet indoor environment, my colleague Faith Chihil could hear the speaker from about 20 feet away. Outside with street noise, she had to be standing right next to me to hear anything. In short, it’s nowhere near as loud as the maximum volume from a phone speaker.

I measured the Apple Watch Series 10’s maximum volume with the Noise app on an Apple Watch Ultra 2, and it hit around 92dB with that heavy rock track. But most other songs I played were in the region of 80 to 87dB.

Apple Watch Series 10 adds voice isolation to phone calls. Apple says the device’s Neural Engine is able to suppress background noise during phone calls or FaceTime audio calls, so that your voice sounds more clear and crisp on the receiving end of the call. Apple says the feature even works in especially noisy environments, such as outdoors on a windy day or inside a crowded restaurant.

This feature is not available on the Apple Watch Series 9 or older, but the ‌Apple Watch Ultra 2‌ does already feature wind noise reduction.

Savvides said the voice isolation is “mind-blowingly good”:

The Apple Watch Series 10 voice isolation is mind-blowingly good […]

Naturally, I wanted to test this in the noisiest environment I could think of, so I headed to Lion Dance Me in San Francisco and called my colleague Lisa Eadicicco. If you’ve ever heard a dragon dance during events like Lunar New Year celebrations, you’ll know the drums can be incredibly loud. It felt like my ears were being blown out in real time, but the voice isolation was so good on the Series 10, it made the drums sound like they were a block away. Lisa could hear me clearly, even though I felt like I was shouting into the watch.

CNBC‘s Todd Haselton on faster charging:

The charging is great. The Series 10 has new coils under the back glass that charge it to 80% in 30 minutes. I could get plenty of juice for the day ahead by plugging it in while reading a book or taking a shower.

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