If you’re on the market for the best smartwatch that’s powerful and still affordable, you wouldn’t immediately think of Apple, but their Apple Watch Series 4 easily fits the bill. The Series 4 is designed to improve upon the previous model (why fix what isn’t broken?) while still adding additional features. Compare this smartwatch with our COOKOO connected watch for iPhone review to be sure you’re making the right choice from the best smart watches.
Why We Like It – Apple Watch Series 4 Review
The Apple Watch Series 4 is equipped with all kinds of health and fitness capabilities, among other apps, that make it an excellent companion for any iPhone user. And if you’re a pilot, you will probably be interested in this Garmin D2 pilot watch review.
- Access to tons of apps
- Large display
- Sharp-looking design
- Battery life is so-so
- Few physical buttons
Performance
It isn’t surprising that the Apple Watch Series 4 performs well in just about everything it does. All the oodles of features respond incredibly fast to your touch, even little functions like a walkie talkie between Apple Watches. Far more functionality than the Letscom Fitness Tracker.
The biggest boost in performance from previous models is the Series 4 propensity for health features among its other watch apps, not just simple health apps. Things like fall detection—EMS can be alerted—and a heart rate sensor, but lacks any sleep tracking. You can get a read on optical heart rate by placing one finger on the bottom and the digital crown.
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You can get two days of battery life on a good day. However, every day normal use feels like 18 hours. The Samsung Gear S3 Frontier is packing a 3 day+ battery.
Design
Aesthetically speaking, the Apple Watch Series 4 is such a snazzy looking device with rounded corners—especially with the option to swap out various straps for a bit of personality. Arguably better looking than the Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch. However, there’s only two available controls on the right-hand side.
It relies a lot more on touchscreen functionality, so to balance it out, the Series 4 has a much larger screen than previous Apple Watches—near no-bezel watch faces. In fact, there’s several different models with bigger screens. Its design even lends to pretty solid water-resistance up to 180 feet deep.
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Value
There’s a lot of functionality crammed into the Apple Watch Series 4, from apps to health features like the ECG app. The watch is capable of being a GPS, has a retina display, swimproof, optical heart sensor, stores choice media, emergency SOS, even elevation. With all that housed in an aluminum shell, or stainless steel case, and you’ve got yourself a product with excellent value.
To sweeten the deal, the Apple Watch Series 4 isn’t as expensive anymore as it was when it was released. Sure, the new watch, the Series 5, is technically better (finally adds an always-on display) but if you’re looking for similar functionality and want to save some money, the Series 4 is worth it.
Apple Watch Series 4 Review Wrap Up
The Apple Watch Series 4 is a fast-acting smart watch with a rich chest of apps to mess around with, some useful, others benefiting health. And it looks good doing it. Sure, the watch only has two functioning controls and the battery life is only so-so, but its large touchscreen reacts near-instantly to touch and the battery lives long enough for the day’s errands.
