Stuff - UK (2019-12)

FIRST TEST APPLE WATCH SERIES 5

Always-on

my mind

pple’s domination

of the smartwatch

market is so easy it’s

boring, like watching

a cat play with a couple of mice

that are already half-dead.

There’s no great secret to

this continuing success: it’s all

down to a seamless relationship

between hardware and software,

and a bunch of really impressive

health features that the other

wearable makers still haven’t

been able to match.

You’d be forgiven, then, for

fearing that Tim Cook and pals

would be planning a nice long

snooze on their laurels after the

excellent Apple Watch Series 4.

But while the Series 5 isn’t as

significant an upgrade as last

year’s model (after all, that was

arguably the first smartwatch

that could save your life), it

does have one key addition:

an always-on display.

By no longer requiring you to

flick your wrist to see the time

and any notifications that may

have popped up, the Watch S5

becomes a lot more like, well, an

actual watch. And because of

the clever tech powering it, the

new screen doesn’t annihilate

your battery either.

Also new to the feature set

is a built-in compass, while the

watchOS 6 update adds a host

of new tricks that make the

Watch even smarter than it

was already. This is still a great

wearable, then – but has its

maker done enough to entice

you to dump last year’s model?

A

[^ W

or

ds

M

at

t^ T

at

e^ ]

from £399 / stuff.tv/WatchS5

With a display that no longer needs waking up with a violent gesture, Apple’s latest

Watch is turning the screw on its rivals. But is it worth upgrading from Series 4?