The new Apple Watch reviews are in — and the steep price tag is raising as many eyebrows as the features (AAPL)

Kif Leswing

The new Apple Watch models go on sale on Friday.

It's the first major redesign of the product since Apple first released it in 2015. It's got a bigger screen, new health sensors, and it's thinner, too.

But specs don't really matter in day-to-day usage. What matters is how it worked — especially considering these watches start at $400, a steep price for a watch or an iPhone accessory. 

Apple loaned out Apple Watch units to a bunch of bloggers and publications ahead of Friday's launch, including TechRadar, CNBC, Hodinkee, New York Times, USA Today, Sydney Morning Herald, Women's Health, Buzzfeed, TechCrunch, and The Verge. 

In conclusion: It's a great gadget for fitness fans, but people with older models may not need to upgrade.

Here's what they had to say: 

TechRadar: "If you’re going to notice something about this watch though, it’s that it looks bloomin’ different ... While it’s nowhere near edge-to-edge as some are suggesting it is, it’s certainly a lot larger and more rounded, giving the impression of a rounder timepiece without losing the benefit of a square display."

Hodinkee: "At first glance, the Series 4 looks like...an Apple Watch. Any rumors that Apple was going to massively change the form factor were dispelled the moment the first image of this watch appeared on screen, and I think it's highly unlikely that Apple abandons this general form any time soon."

New York Times: "A less obvious, though still useful, change is the watch’s speed. Apple emphasized that the device was two times faster than the third-generation model, which was already zippy.

The speed difference was most noticeable when using Siri, Apple’s voice assistant."

Women's Health: "The speaker is louder, the design is sleeker. Everything runs zippier, and the crown now includes a cool haptic (vibrating) feature. The watch is also thinner, so despite the increase in screen size, the watch feels more subtle (in a good way) on my wrist."

Hodinkee: "The display isn't actually any brighter or more pixel dense, but the size of it plays tricks on your eyes and make everything look at little, well, more."

USA Today: "Aside from the new health features, one reason I'm seriously thinking about an upgrade comes with an edge-to-edge display that provides more than 30 percent extra screen real estate, whether you opt for the bigger 44mm case or the 40mm version. On a modest size screen, 30 percent is a lot, and the payoff for consumers comes with larger text and bigger buttons (again, a potential boon for older people)."

CNBC: "The battery life is good, too. Apple advertises 18 hours of use. I took the Apple Watch Series 4 off of the charger on Friday morning. I drove to the beach that evening and realized I'd forgotten my charger. I turned it off Saturday night and still had 16 percent left on Sunday at 3 p.m. I'd worn the Apple Watch all day each day, and even used it to track workouts and make sure I closed all of my rings. That's good enough for me."

USA Today: "During my regular mixed usage, I got about a day and a half of battery life, same as on my Series 2 watch. I'd love more, but I am used to the routine of pretty much charging a watch every night."

Buzzfeed: "Battery life — 18 hours, all-day, according to Apple — was sufficient, but a year of the beastly Garmin had spoiled me and made me grumpy about charging it every night. For that reason, dedicated distance runners, backpackers, and long-day hikers will likely find more utilitarian fitness trackers (with multi-day GPS battery life) better suited to their extreme demands.

CNBC: "I love the new Apple Watch faces that are in watchOS 5, and many were designed to take advantage of the larger display on the new edition. There's one mode that looks like the Apple Watch face is burning, which just looks cool. But my favorite one lets me set 8 different complications, so I can quickly do things like access the exercise app, the weather and check my heart rate."

The Verge: "any of watchOS 5’s best features will work fine on more recent Apple Watches, too. Yes, there are exclusive watchfaces on the Series 4, but that’s also a silly thing to drop so much money for."

See Also:

• iPhone XS reviews are starting to come in, and there's not a lot of complaining
• Here are all the features coming to your Apple Watch with the huge new software update that's out today
• Here's how the new $400 Apple Watch Series 4 compares to last year's model, the Apple Watch Series 3

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