Apple Watch Series 10 review: Super, slimmer smartwatch

I still remember when the original Apple Watch was announced in 2014. It was very much a fashion play rather than a health and fitness device back then, but oh how that has changed. The fashion element is still there – you only have to look at the Hermès collab to see that – but this is very much a smartwatch that now wants to look after your overall wellbeing, not just look good on your wrist and show you the odd incoming text message.

We’ve now had a decade of Apple Watch and while you might not think the design has changed all that much in that time, take one look at the original next to the Watch Series 10 and there are stark differences.

Sure, the shape has remained the same, so much so that the original watch straps are all still compatible with the latest model, but what the Apple Watch Series 10 can do compared to the original Apple Watch is considerable. I’ve worn the Apple Watch since 2015 and while the differences in the Series 10 are subtle compared to the Apple Watch Series 9, it’s my favourite iteration yet.

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The Disconnekt Downlow

The Apple Watch Series 10 is a lovely smartwatch. The polished titanium is gorgeous but I’ve seen the aluminium options too and the Jet Black is something to be admired. In its 10th iteration, the Apple Watch remains great at what it does, offering accurate activity tracking, a smooth and fluid interface and a comfortable fit that makes it easy to wear 24/7. I’d like to have seen a couple of extra features alongside sleep apnoea, and a longer battery life over the one-day use would have been welcomed, but what the Apple Watch Series 10 does, it does very well. If you’re considering the Apple Watch for the first time, the Series 10 is a delight and if you’re upgrading from a Series 6 or 7, you’ll notice some big changes with a lot to love in this anniversary model.

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The reasons you should choose the Apple Watch Series 10

I know people who love smartwatches, and I know people who hate them too. I sit in the former camp in that I thoroughly enjoy knowing what’s going on without having my iPhone in my hand every single second of the day. It takes some time to learn what notifications you want coming through and which can just stay on your phone, but once you’ve figured that out, smartwatches can be a superb tool, especially when you consider the health and fitness features they offer too.

That all applies whether you opt for Apple Watch, Google’s Pixel Watch or Samsung’s Galaxy Watch. But what the Apple Watch does so well, is going relatively unnoticed most of the time. The design is clean, simple and comfortable, and that used to apply whether you opted for aluminium or stainless steel. For the Series 10, stainless steel has been replaced with titanium and that statement is now even truer. The polished titanium is gorgeous, especially in the gold finish that I had as my review unit, and so light that I barely noticed it on my wrist during the day or while sleeping.

The matching titanium Milanese Loop strap isn’t the most suitable for workouts of course, but damn does it look good. The Series 10’s slimmer case is a delight too, and a noticeable change when on compared to the previous iterations, though honestly, it’s the screen that really stands out when it comes to this year’s design changes.

The screen is more visible in the Series 10 in terms of viewing angles and it’s bigger too, which makes everything slightly easier to use, from typing in your pin code on the tiny keyboard to viewing messages or reading notifications. It sounds minor but it makes for a better user experience. There’s nearly 10 per cent extra screen space in the 42mm model compared to the 41mm Series 9 model, though compared to older models, like the Series 4, 5 or 6, the Series 10 has a 30 per cent larger screen area in the smaller model and 25 per cent in the larger model so there is quite a significant difference if you’re upgrading.

There’s plenty of punch and vibrancy too, meaning everything from the Activity Rings synonymous with this device to apps, data and notifications look great. Design aside and the features and functionality offered by the Series 10 remain up there with the best. It offers accurate workout tracking and the health features are starting to tally up too, from the ability to take an ECG (a feature that’s been around since the Watch Series 4) to detecting sleep apnoea, which is new for Series 10, though available on Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 as well.

Everything the Apple Watch does, it does well and therein lies the beauty of this smartwatch. Is it perfect? No. But it is considered, the interface is sleek and it’s great at both looking good and doing something useful.

What the Apple Watch Series 10 could do better

I said the Apple Watch Series 10 wasn’t perfect and it isn’t. Battery life is still something the Apple Watch Series 10 hasn’t quite mastered. The Watch Ultra and Watch Ultra 2 give you a couple of days, but the Watch Series has always been a day-long affair, at best.

For the Series 10, you get faster charging with up to 80 per cent in 30 minutes, which is 15 minutes faster than the Watch Series 9, and that has been useful, but the battery will still only last a day. It’s a smidge longer than I got out of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 if you’re counting, but the Google Pixel Watch 3 gives me two days and that’s what I want to see from Apple in the Series model, not just the Ultra.

I’d love to have seen Apple introduce some form of sleep score or energy score too. Pretty much every smartwatch, smart ring and fitness device has some form of simple indicator these days detailing how you slept and how much go you have in you for that day, from Garmin’s Body Battery and Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score, to Samsung’s Energy Score. I appreciate the accuracy of these scores can be questionable, especially when you don’t feel anywhere near what the score tells you you should, but it’s a nice simple way to help people understand the data being collected.

Apple doesn’t completely ignore it in the Series 10 (or indeed any of the other Apple Watch models compatible with watchOS 11) but I think there’s more in the tank here. The Vitals app on Apple Watch takes note of five measurements – Heart Rate, Respiratory Rate, Wrist Temperature, Blood Oxygen and Sleep Duration, and it will mark any ‘Outliers’ in the Heath app to indicate when something is out of whack.

There’s also a feature called Training Load in the Fitness app that gives you insights on how your workouts add up to help you make better decisions and both are summarised alongside each other in a neat little card in the Fitness app. What I want though, is for those two features to get married and give me their data child in a simple to read score that tells me what those five vitals mean in combination with my workouts and whether I need to chill out or get off my ass.

And hey, while we’re on things I’d love to see, a steps complication would really be the cherry on top of my Apple Watch cake. Or at least a steps widget that I can add to the Today screen on iPhone, and I wouldn’t say no to blood pressure monitoring either given the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 has it, as does its predecessor.

A little about the watchOS 11 software

What I will say is that watchOS 11, the software that Apple Watch runs on, brings in some features I have been wanting for a while. One of these is the ability to pause the activity rings. Oh it sounds so simple right? Well, until watchOS 11 (which is available on Apple Watch models from the Watch SE (2nd generation) and newer) pausing your rings wasn’t possible.

You could adjust your Move goal or Exercise goal if you remembered before midnight to make sure you didn’t lose your streak, but if you forgot and you were ill or hadn’t moved much that day for whatever reason, you’d be back to square one.

The Vitals and Training Load features I just mentioned are also part of watchOS 11 so they will come to older Apple Watch models too, prompting you to rate your efforts when you finish a workout (don’t go lying now). The software also ushers in the ability to scroll through apps like Weather using the Double Tap feature (available on Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 alongside Series 10), which is handy if you’re carrying a coffee, or in my case, a dog lead most of the time, and being able to see Live Activities like your Uber arriving directly on the Apple Watch screen adds to the usability.

There’s a new view for pregnancy too – something I would have loved a few years ago, and Check In can now be done from the Apple Watch rather than just through iPhone. Check In is arguably one of the most underrated of the new features Apple has announced in the last couple of years and one I use all the time with friends and family when I have been out or they have been out. It’s a superb safety feature so if you haven’t used it before, please do. You’ll find it tucked away in the Messages app on iPhone and Apple Watch.

Should you buy the Apple Watch Series 10?

The Apple Watch Series 10 is a lovely smartwatch. The polished titanium is gorgeous but I’ve seen the aluminium options too and the Jet Black is something to be admired. In the 10th iteration, the Apple Watch remains great at what it does, offering accurate activity tracking, a smooth and fluid interface and a comfortable fit that makes it easy to wear 24/7.

I’d like to have seen a couple of extra features alongside sleep apnoea, like some form of sleep or energy score, and a longer battery life over the one-day use would have been welcomed, but what the Apple Watch Series 10 does, it does very well.

There’s not enough here to upgrade from the Series 9, despite that slimmer body and larger display, but if you’re new to Apple Watch or you’re upgrading from an older model like the Series 6 or 7, the Apple Watch Series 10 is an absolute delight.

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