Apple Watch SE: Does not fail to impress

While the new Watch SE falls a little behind in terms of design and aesthetics, it remains a good alternative for iPhone users who want to go for a pocket-friendly watch

Apple launched a series of gadgets ranging from smartwatches to smartphones, and earbuds last month. Today we are going to review the entry-level wearable from Apple which is the new ‘SE’ watch. The new SE watch (2022) is available in two size variants 40mm and 44mm. The company has also provided the users with the option of choosing the LTE-enabled version, which costs a little higher than the version without LTE support. 

The box contains the watch capsule, two sizes of bands, and the magnetic charging cradle. 

The look of the Apple Watches throughout the time remained the same with its aluminum built square-cut design and it looks the same as its predecessor launched in 2020. The new SE 2022, being an entry-level smartwatch from the company, comes with a smaller screen size when placed in front of the latest 8 series smartwatch. The digital crown placed on the right side of the watch is very smooth to navigate through the content on the screen. Also, a power button is located below the crown which also allows you to launch apps. On the left side lies two cutouts for the speaker. On the back side, one can spot the heart-rate sensor. The straps are designed very smartly, distributing the weight of the capsule thoroughly. One thing about the straps that we liked is their capability to get easily attached and detached from the dial. The watch feels a little heavy when compared to Samsung Galaxy Watch5 which has a lighter body weight. 

The 40mm size which we got is a very decent size fitting the wrist quite comfortably. The watch comes with a Retina LTPO OLED display and has a brightness level of 1000 nits making the screen easily visible under bright sunlight. The 3mm bezels around the screen are quite prominent which we don’t see in the 8 series watch.  The company did not use always-on-display in the new SE watch which has some benefits as well and that is saving the battery power. The display of the watch is very sharp and the level of colours is preserved very accurately when you view anything on the display. 

The new SE watch allows you to reply to the texts on the screen through dictation or by scribbling letters which is quite ok whereas Samsung Galaxy Watch5 which falls around the same price range offers you the option to type on the screen to reply to texts which we really liked. We feel Apple could have done better in this section. 

The new Watch SE comes with an IPX6 waterproof rating and can protect the watch up to 50m underwater. Also, the watch comes with Ion-X glass which prevents the display from getting unwanted scratches. 

The new Apple Watch SE is powered by the same WatchOS 7 and S8 processor which is used in the latest Series 8 watch. The processor is very fast and launches the apps very quickly. The touch interface has also improved as while scrolling you won’t get stuck on any content. The company claims that the new SE is 20% faster than its predecessor and we can vouch for it that the new processor and the OS are faster. The Haptic alerts for incoming messages and calls are very noticeable and grab your attention even when you are occupied and not looking at your phone.