DECEMBER 2021 T3 71Apple Watch Series 7
your movement, breathing rate, heart
rate and pulse ox levels at different
moments. But it never collates this
information into a total view of your
sleep habits, only presenting more
basic views, such as noting that you’re
spending less time sleeping than you
did last month, for example.
Face facts
With the Watch 7, Apple has created
some new Watch faces that take
advantage of the bigger screen with
even more dense information options.
The extra space has made us happy to
really pack in the complications –
where apps can present handy
information to you at a glance –
whereas we tried to keep it a little
simpler before. It’s just less
overwhelming now.
However, every year we complain
about the overall quality of Apple
Watch faces, and this is no different.
In the case of watch faces with digital
time, there are plenty of great
options, and watchOS 8’s new
Portraits option is a particular
favourite, because it enables you to
float the time within a 3D picture.
But we’ve never been 100% happy
with the more traditional faces. The
elements on them nearly always
remain quite chunky, and Apple uses
only a single design for the hands on
every single watch face, which is a real
weakness for making the faces feel
distinct and personal.Power struggle
The Apple Watch 7 has a new
processor, though there isn’t a major
improvement in speed, connectivity
or battery life than the Apple Watch
Series 6, or even the Apple Watch SE.
Anecdotally, we think we’re
getting slightly more battery life
from the Series 7 than the Series 6,
but real-world use varies so wildly
we wouldn’t say it for certain.
Apple promises that its new
fast-charging is 33% faster, and we’ve
seen it go from 30% to 80% in half an
hour, which we would’ve expected to
take about 45 minutes before. Apple
also says that eight minutes of
charging before bed gets you enough
juice for eight hours of sleep tracking.
However, the Apple Watch needs
to break out of being a single-day
device. Apple officially rates all Apple
Watches for 18 hours of use, but for
Garmin fitness watches or Fitbits,
you’re looking at days upon days.
The next Big Thing in the Apple
Watch will be the day you can go fora weekend away without the charger
and not have to worry about it. And
that’s not here yet.
The Apple Watch Series 7 remains
the best smartwatch on the market,
in T3’s opinion. That’s no surprise –
it’s like the Series 6, but gently
improved, and other watches haven’t
surpassed it in the meantime. It may
not be a revolution, but that’s okay –
it’s the best smartwatch so far,
building on what Apple’s done
before, and making it even more
accessible and useful.WE’RE IMPRESSED Bigger screen, tiny
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WE’D IMPROVE Battery life only one day; sleep
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THE LAST WORD This beautiful, fast
smartwatch is easily the best of its kind.VERDICT
Find the best deals on the Apple
Watch 7 at: bit.ly/t3aplwch7Charging the
battery is 33%
faster than its
predecessor,
according to AppleFIT FOR A KING
The Apple Watch still reigns
supreme when it comes to
health and fitness features,
tracking heart rate, blood
oxygen levels, falls, sleep and
more varieties of workout
than you can shake a stick at