So when apple created, the original sc, their goal is to create an apple watch with all the core functionality that you may need like great smart watch features tight integration with your iphone as well as plenty of health and fitness features. It was basically for somebody who didnt necessarily need a lot of the fancier features that came on a series 6 or series 7 and theyre continuing that trend with the second generation sc, with plenty of features for the money, along with some updated hardware. So in todays, video were going to go over everything new with the second generation se and if youre not familiar with my style of reviews, i like to go into a lot of detail on the fitness and sports end of things where i test these devices. With a variety of different activities like running cycling as well as weight training, just to give you a good idea if this device is going to be right for you and if you do find the information in this video to be useful, do me a favor and Just quickly hit that, like button down below oh and if youre curious about how the new second generation apple watch, sc compares to the new apple watch series 8 ive got another super in depth. Review of the series 8, which ill have linked down in the description below so to start out with apple, changed the hardware on the new sc slightly where they now have a color matching nylon composite material on the back of the case, and they say this reduces The carbon footprint of the sc by about 80, which is cool, but it also reduces the weight slightly by about 3 grams.
You can sort of notice the difference, but its not super drastic though, but both of these are comfortable watches. The new sc comes in three different colors, so theres a white color, a silver color, and this midnight version that i have for you here today and it also comes in two different sizes: a 40 millimeter and a 44 millimeter size. And this is how the 44 millimeter version looks on my 187 millimeter circumference wrist and then for connectivity options. You can opt for either gps version or gps plus cellular version, but dont worry with either one youll still be able to go out and track your outdoor activities without the need for your phone using the watchs built in gps, its just that with the cellular version. Youll be able to stay connected with texts and calls, but do note that that requires a little add on plan for your watch. Another thing new with the second gen sc, is that it now has the s8 sip dual core processor and thats, a pretty big jump from the original sc that had the s5 package and its supposedly supposed to be 20 faster. Another new feature with the second gen sc is that it now has a high g accelerometer and they use that in conjunction with the gyroscope, the barometer, the microphone as well as gps, to attempt to detect severe car crashes and then itll attempt to contact emergency surfaces. Basically, a feature i never want to see tested, but it is kind of cool to see them leverage all these sensors together, along with the connectivity of your phone for this type of safety feature and by the way, lte enabled second gen scs.
You can use this feature without your phone nearby. As long as your watch has a cell connection. The new sc also gets more advanced sleep tracking, where it can track sleep stages, and it gives you a pretty detailed breakdown not only on the health app on your phone, but also on the watch itself, and this is a watch os 9 feature by the way. So other apple watches that support watchos 9 can benefit from this feature as well and then on the battery life end of things. The new se comes with the same 18, 18 hour all day battery life that apple claims, but ive always found apples. Battery life estimates be pretty conservative, where i usually get about 24 hours, out of them, even with tracking some outdoor activities and thats. Basically, what im seeing other than usc is around 24 hours, at least in my use case, but the second gen se also comes with a new low power mode that came out with watch os 9, and what this does is extend the battery life to around a Day and a half and how it does this, is it disables things like background heart rate measurements, as well as limits notifications, but whats nice about this low power mode? Is that for workouts youre still going to get full blown gps and heart rate recording accuracy? So its just going to be as accurate as in the normal mode. One thing that you may notice, though, for workouts in low power mode, is that they actually dont display the hundredths of a second.
So this is what a workout looks like in the normal power mode, and then this is what it looks like in the low power mode kind of interesting, but they are going to be releasing a workout, specific, low power mode a little bit later this year, where It will reduce the gps and heart rate samplings to increase battery life for workouts, but unfortunately that feature isnt out quite yet, but make sure to have those notification bells on. When i drop a video about that new feature and then on the sports and fitness side of things, just like the previous generation sc, the new se has tons of different workout profiles to choose from from everything like running both indoors and outdoors cycling inside and outside Weight training, plenty of other gym profiles, pool swimming open water swimming theres seriously. A crazy amount of workout profiles to choose from the new se also benefits from new features in watch os 9, like new workout views, which provide more data for your workouts and how you access. These is just by rotating the digital crown during your workout, or you can swipe up and down on the screen. I actually have another video where i went into a lot of detail on this feature and ill have that video linked down in the description below another new thing with watch os 9, is that the 2nd gen se has running power. Running power is designed to provide another metric for training versus something like pace.
So pace can be a good indicator, but it also can be skewed with things like changes in grade wind, as well as the surfaces that youre running on. So the goal of running power is to measure the power or force to propel yourself and it uses the sensors on the watch. To do this running power is something relatively new, but its quickly gaining a lot of popularity, but as of this point, theres really no industry standard in terms of the actual number that a device may be delivering. So you will see a difference from something like an apple watch to a garmin device to a foot pod, but thats, not necessarily important. What is important is that the trends line up as in if im increasing power lets say going up a hill. I should see all these devices report an increase in power and vice versa, and by the way i use the healthfit ios app to sync, this data from apple health, which i can then export to strava with my running power and then for how well the second Generation se does for tracking sports lets, first start out with gps accuracy, tracking outdoor activities. So on this run here we see the new se line up basically perfectly with the other devices i was using as references and then for this longer bike ride. Here again, it was right in line now for the finer detail of the actual gps tracks. This part does get a little bit geeky, but the se which youll see in orange was basically exactly the same as the other devices i was using that actually have more powerful gps.
I used to see, with previous apple watches, that there were sometimes some smoothing around some corners where it wasnt super accurate, but i dont really see that within usc. But that is also something that i saw. An improvement on with older devices, with some firmware updates over the last couple of years, so i think all apple watchers are pretty accurate in that department now and then on the road ride that we just saw earlier again. The new sc was right in line with the other devices. I was using even around all the curvy sections, good stuff, all right so for heart rate accuracy, the second gen sc appears to have the same heart rate sensor as the previous generation sc, which, to be honest with you, i found to be great so lets see If anythings changed with a new version, so on the following examples, ill have the second gen apple watch, sc and orange, and then the other sensors are a chest. Heart rate strap as well as an optical arm. Heart rate strap for comparison, and this first session is indoor cycling and even all the changes in heart rate through the ride, the se was very good. There was a couple second delay on these hard sprints at the end, but thats pretty normal for wrist based optical heart rate sensor and then taking this outside running well. This is pretty solid as well. We did have this spot right here in the middle of the run, where there was a little blip, but funny enough.
The arm heart rate sensor read a little bit funny there as well now running, is generally a pretty easy activity for a wrist based optical heart rate sensor to track accurately, but now lets take it on a road ride outside and now were going to introduce a Lot more variables like gripping onto the handlebars, as well as a lot of vibrations and bumps in the road which can throw off these types of sensors and well, i guess thats, no problem at all for the second gen sc. I mean thats super super crispy here. Folks, even with the rapid changes in heart rate, if i had to nitpick there was this one spot right here where it tracked a few beats per minute high, but thats it. The rest is rock solid, okay, so now on to one of the most challenging activities for wrist based optical heart rate, sensor, weight training – and this is where were gripping onto dumbbells, which can throw off these sensors as well as a lot of varying arm movement, which These kinds of sensors dont tend to like, and the sc did really well here again, probably more accurate than the arm heart rate sensor. Looking at some of these sets like on these bicep curls, here attract most of these very closely to the chest. Heart rate strap and then on these tricep extensions here very good as well, and it also did a good job in these high intensity intervals at the end, maybe except for the last one, where it spiked just a little bit but overall for weight training.
This is a very good result for a wrist risk based optical heart rate sensor, so the new 2nd gen apple watch sc well its a nice little update to the original and its a great option for those of you out there who want to save some money. While still getting a great smart watch as well as a very capable fitness device, it may not have the always on display the ecg or the blood oxygen saturation measurements of the series 8. But it still offers a lot for the money and it performs very well in the fitness and sports end of things. But if you are curious about how the 2nd gen apple watch, se compares to the new apple watch, series 8 feel free to check out that video. Now that youre done over here and if you found the information in this video to be useful. Do me a favor just quickly hit that, like button down below and also subscribe to, the channel for plenty, more sports tech.XCItYTyVtuc
