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Apple Watch Series 4 Includes a Bigger Display, ECG Support, and 64-Bit S4 Chip (9to5mac.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the shiny-and-new dept.

Apple has unveiled its next-generation Apple Watch Series 4 smartwatch, featuring a larger display with smaller bezels, a 64-bit processor that's twice as fast as the previous generation, and electrocardiography (ECG) support. 9to5Mac reports: In terms of hardware, the Digital Crown has been completely reengineered with haptic feedback. For instance, as you flip through content in the Podcast application. The speaker is also over 50 percent louder, according to [Apple COO Jeff Williams]. As we reported earlier this week, the Apple Watch Series 4 uses a new 64-bit processor that offers performance up to two times faster performance. There's also a next-generation accelerometer gyroscope, which Williams says allows Apple Watch to detect a fall. When a fall is detected, Apple Watch will send an alert prompting you to call emergency services. If it senses you are immobile for more than 1 minute, the call will be started automatically.

As for heart features, Apple Watch is now capable of detecting a low rate. The device will also now screen your heart rhythm, allowing it to detect atrial fibrillation. As expected, Apple Watch Series 4 also now supports ECG -- which measures the electrical activity of the heart. With Apple Watch, you can take an ECG directly on the Apple Watch by putting your finger directly on the digital crown. The feature -- as well as irregular heart rate detection -- has received FDA clearance. Williams says that all health and fitness is encrypted on-device and in the cloud. Battery life on Apple Watch Series 4 is the same, 18-hours as before. Outdoor workout time is now 6 hours. In terms of pricing and colors, the Apple Watch Series 4 will start at $399 for the GPS model and $499 for the cellular model, with preorders starting September 14th. The aluminum model will feature space gray, silver, and black color configurations, while the stainless steel model will feature gold, polished black, and space black color configurations.

15 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. It's real and it's spectacular by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Interesting

    64 bit on a watch? Does this thing access more than 2 GiB of addressable memory?

    64 bit is not just about memory, but other things also - and it puts it in line with all the phones so the 32-bit path is closed down.

    And ECG. There's no way in hell this thing is remotely certified

    And yet, it is. The heart rate monitor itself has proven to be as good as a dedicated heart rate monitor... if you watch the video it'd not like it's taking an ECG all the time, the user triggers an ECG and you get a 30 second reading (which you can then examine or share a PDF of with your doctor or anyone else). I think that's part of how they are able to make it reliable enough to get certified.

    I don't know if Apple originally planned on all this latent health monitoring when they first cooked up the watch, but I think they have a winning strategy here. If my mom will wear one I'd get it for her, to have the fall detection and early warning of heart issues... heck I am finally upgrading my original first gen Apple Watch because I really would like warnings about my own heart rate!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes but it's thinner while keeping the same battery life

      Thinner while still being gigantic. Same battery life, which is still too little. Little wonder that Apple keeps losing share in this category.

      And yet, they not only have the best-selling Smartwatch, they have the best-selling watch, PERIOD!

    2. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2

      And may I point out, Apple claims "up to" 18 hours. You can be sure it is less. Reality: if you have this watch then you need to charge it multiple times per day, and get used to wearing a brick for those times you forget. These guys have the right idea.

      Unlike all the other LYING OEMs, Apple has a reputation for being the ONLY tech-device manufacturer that even APPROACHES their st stead battery life.

      You need to do less Spewing of that Bile, and do some more Research.

    3. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2

      So firstly 64 bit. What? But only x86 that was massively register starved in 32 bit mode.

      As for the ECG you're right , but it only works when you touch the watch with your other hand. I'd assumed naively that any ECG watch was a watch that monitored ECG just on your wrist, not a watch with a rather standard single channel ECG bolted on. My mistake though. But I don't think you'll find it very useful.

      It still has the optical heart rate sensor. This is just a more accurate sensor. They explained in the keynote: when you touch your finger to the crown, it completes a circuit with the back of the watch. That's how it is able to read the WAVEFORM, rather than just the RATE.

      That's the same reason that that $99 ECG device has TWO pads, one for a finger on your left hand, and the other for the right hand.

      tl;dr signal acquisition (especially of very small signals) requires both a "positive" and a "ground".

    4. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 3, Informative

      How on earth would an ECG work off a single hand?! A circuit needs to be complete, which implies both arms.

      That's why you have to touch the crown with a finger on the opposite hand from the one on which you are wearing the watch. The back of the case forms one side of the circuit, and your finger is the other.

      They explained that in the Keynote. Pretty clever, actually.

    5. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by DRJlaw · · Score: 3, Informative

      Apple has 17% of the smartwatch market, with Xiaomi looking set to take the lead in the near future. That is, 83% of smartwatch buyers today do not want Apple.

      Source?

      Apple grew its market share by 4% from 13 to 17%.
      Xiaomi grew its market share by 1.8% from 13.3% to 15.1%.

      That's called falling behind, not taking the lead.

    6. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by DRJlaw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Without Qualcomm, Android would not be grinding Apple down towards single digit market share right now.

      Well that's not what's happening. Going from 13 to 17% marketshare is the opposite of being ground down towards single digit share.

      Odd.

    7. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by DRJlaw · · Score: 2

      Apple had 61% of the smartwatch market in 2015 and 17% today. That's what I call falling behind, not taking the lead.

      Imagine that - it essentially had no competition in 2015. Apple is the market leader now. It is growing faster than Xiaomi now. It introduced a new generation product now. How is Xiaomi "set to take the lead" exactly? You can't fall behind people that you're pulling away from.

    8. Re:It's real and it's spectacular by DRJlaw · · Score: 2

      Doofus, Apple went from 61% share of the smarwatch market to 17% today.

      From a majority of a "smartwatch" market incluing Apple and Samsung -- but not Fitbit and others who made "basic wearables" -- to 17% today where there is almost no such thing such thing as "basic wearables" because the survivors have all moved into "smartwatches." Odd how you insist upon starting in 2015, versus 2016 (10.8%) or 2014 (0% - no Apple watch). Perhaps because in 2015 Apple and Samsung were the only game in town, and Samsung was a distant also-ran.

      I would not be surprised if Apple hits single digits by this time last year.

      Can't hit single digits by this time last year because, like, that already happened, and Apple's market share increased from 10.8% in 2016. Do try to keep up.

      This butt ugly power hungry product update practically guarantees it.

      Apple will be shipping its updated product back in time? Wow! Triple digit sales growth here we come! /s

  2. Re:what I don't even by SimonTheSoundMan · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is certified by the FDA for AFib and ECG.

  3. Re:what I don't even by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

    64 bit on a watch? Does this thing access more than 2 GiB of addressable memory?

    And ECG. There's no way in hell this thing is remotely certified (it's bloody hard to get a good reading from the wrist under ideal conditions never mind on a watch without wet silver chloride electrodes). That makes is not just useless but actively deceptive. Fitbit couldn't even manage heart rate (via pulse ox like tech which is way easier that far distal) without a class action lawsuit.

    No, it's got an ARM processor, and 64-bit ARM is vastly faster than 32-bit ARM due to various optimizations available that 32-bit ARM is incapable of. (conditional instruction execution is no longer present on AArch64 because it hamstrings out of order execution when instructions depend on each other) and other such things. And by "vastly faster", we're easily talking 2x or more.

    And the monitoring stuff likely came about because "apple watch saves lives" started becoming a thing. There are plenty of reports of people being alerted to heart conditions by Apple Watch and getting checked out by a doctor, only to discover than they were hours away from a massive heart attack or other heart condition.

    So while the ECG and such may not be precise enough to be a replacement for a real machine at a hospital, it may prove to be sufficient for Apple Watch to say "Please see a doctor NOW for potential heart condition". It's one of those things where even if it misses a few people, it may alert a few more to heart conditions they never knew they had.

  4. Re:what I don't even by DRJlaw · · Score: 2

    I guess I'm not trusting ARM on their marketing claim.

    So where's the false marketing lawsuit? After all, there's been three years for people to claim fraud versus claims like:

    "At the same frequency and process, the A35 architecture (codenamed Mercury), promises to be 10% lower power than the A7 while giving an 6-40% performance uplift depending on use-case. In integer workloads (SPECint2006) the A35 gives about 6% higher throughput than the A7, while floating point (SPECfp2000) is supposed to give a more substantial 36% increase."

    You're wrong. It's obvious to all. Stop embarrassing yourself, please.

  5. ECG only for USA? by Camembert · · Score: 2

    I currently live in Hong Kong and notice that the ECG feature is not mentioned on the local Apple site. Probably it needs to pass local certification and regulation to be activated wherever it is being sold. I do assume that the feature can be turned on remotely whenever it is certified for local use.
    A pity really.

  6. Re:what I don't even by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2

    Huh I see. So I just checked, it's only certified ECG when you touch a metal bit in it with your other hand. Yeah that's technically feasible for a single channel ECG. Not really sure how useful that is. It's certainly not a continuous monitoring device that's for sure.

    They still have the optical heart rate sensor on the back. That IS continuous, and has already been credited with saving several lives.

  7. Re:what I don't even by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    It's not like healthy thirty- and forty-somethings get ECGs that often.

    Is that another sign of the American medical system? I mean an ECG and stress ECG is something recommend and provided free in many coutries around the world and is highly recommeneded to do as part of a medical checkup every 10 years after you become an adult.

    Did mine 3 days ago.