Apple Watch SE 3 evaluation: the cut price smartwatch for iPhone | Apple Watch

Apple’s entry stage Watch SE has been up to date with nearly all the things from its wonderful mid-range Series 11 however prices about 40% much less, making it the cut price of iPhone smartwatches.

The new Watch SE 3 prices from £219 (€269/$249/A$399), making it one of many most cost-effective brand-new totally fledged smartwatches accessible for the iPhone and undercutting the £369 Series 11 and the top-of-the-line £749 Apple Watch Ultra 3.

The Watch SE line is up to date solely each few years and has been good worth however was lacking some essential issues that make Apple’s different watches nice. The Watch SE 3’s largest improve is an always-on show, which brings it as much as par with the Series line, permitting you to see the time and notifications at a look with out having to twist your wrist to show the display on.

The SE 3 has the older Apple Watch design from 2020’s Series 6 with smaller screens, bigger bezels and a selection of 40mm or 44mm case sizes in contrast with the present Series watches. The display can also be not fairly as brilliant because the dearer watches, however that’s noticeable solely in brilliant direct daylight. It continues to be sharp and good trying.

The SE 3 has the identical S10 chip because the Series 11 and Ultra 3, and is simply as responsive. It additionally has the identical wonderful touch-free gestures, together with double faucet and wrist flick, which let you dismiss notifications, timers and alarms simply.

The watch additionally helps all the remainder of the final Apple Watch options in watchOS 26, together with Apple Pay contactless funds, wealthy notifications, music management, third-party apps and a variety of watch faces.

The battery lifetime of the SE 3 is a little bit shorter than the Series 11, lasting a few day and a half of basic use, together with sleep monitoring in a single day. Most should cost it each different day, notably in the event that they observe any exercises. The SE 3 will last as long as seven hours of working monitoring with GPS and coronary heart charge, which needs to be lengthy sufficient for a marathon. A full cost utilizing the magnetic puck takes about an hour, hitting 70% in half-hour.

Specifications

• Case measurement: 40mm or 44mm

• Case thickness: 10.7mm

• Weight: about 26g or 33g

• Processor: S10

• Storage: 64GB

• Operating system: watchOS 26

• Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM)

• Sensors: HR (2nd-gen), pores and skin temp, NFC, GNSS, compass, altimeter

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, wifi 4, NFC, elective 5G

Health and exercise monitoring

One of the most important cuts for the SE 3 is the elimination of {the electrical} sensor from the again of the watch, which permits electrocardiograms (ECG) of your coronary heart on the Series and Ultra watches. It additionally lacks a blood oxygen sensor and hypertension monitoring nevertheless it nonetheless has an correct optical coronary heart charge sensor that covers most bases, together with excessive and low coronary heart charge notifications.

The SE 3 additionally has a pores and skin temperature sensor, which is used as a part of the Vitals app, the sleep monitoring and for retrospective ovulation estimates for the cycles monitoring app. The watch additionally does a superb job of monitoring basic exercises, together with walks, runs, cycles and different widespread sports activities and actions with its GPS.

The watch additionally helps offline music playback by way of Bluetooth headphones, together with from subscription companies corresponding to Spotify. And it has offline Apple Maps, must you get misplaced with out your telephone.

Sustainability

Apple says the battery ought to final greater than 1,000 full-charge cycles with at the very least 80% of its unique capability and might be changed for £95. Repairs value between £195 and £229 relying on the mannequin.

It incorporates greater than 40% recycled materials, together with aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, rare-earth components, metal, tin, titanium and tungsten. Apple presents trade-in and free recycling for units, and breaks down the watch’s environmental influence in its report.

Price

The Apple Watch SE 3 prices from £219 (€269/$249/A$399) for the 40mm model or £249 (€299/$279/A$449) for 44mm.

For comparability, the Apple Watch Series 11 prices £369 and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 prices £749.

Verdict

The Apple Watch SE 3 is the perfect deal in Apple’s smartwatch line this yr, providing nearly all the things that’s nice concerning the Series 11 however at a considerably cheaper worth.

The new always-on show, S10 chip and watchOS 26 make the SE 3 simply pretty much as good day after day. The solely significant characteristic you miss out on is the power to take ECGs, but when you don’t want it then that’s no loss. The 1.5-day battery lifetime of the 40mm isn’t too unhealthy however the bigger 44mm ought to final a little bit longer.

The restricted selection of colors is well remedied with a brilliant strap, whereas the older design with smaller screens, bigger bezels and a thicker physique is simple to dwell with for the value.

Pros: nice worth Apple Watch, always-on display, Apple Pay, double-tap and wrist-flick gestures, first rate well being and health monitoring, lengthy software program help, recycled supplies, 50-metre water resistance.

Cons: no ECG, no blood oxygen monitoring, no hypertension alerts, outdated design, solely works with an iPhone, no third-party watch faces, display not tremendous brilliant in daylight.