On my trip to Japan, I brought along my Apple Watch Series 8. As I had never owned an Apple Watch before (but heard all my friends raving about it), I was feeling excited and expectant. Check out my quick introduction video below!
At first look, the one I am wearing has a 45mm face. It is definitely aesthetically pleasing, with a seamless display all the way to the borders of the screen. I had fun playing around with all the different watch faces to find which theme suited my needs and style the best. Even if I was fickle-minded, I could swap watch faces just with a swipe, depending on the activity I am doing.
As I was travelling around Japan for the first time, having the map feature on the Apple Watch literally saved me so much trouble. Lugging two pieces of luggage around kept my hands full, preventing me from easily grabbing my phone from my pockets. Having the watch kept me hands-free, while still giving me directions to my destination.
The selling point for me was that I wanted to be more informed about my health so that I could have better control over it. The enhanced health sensors in the Apple Watch Series 8 provide data that can help you better understand your health.
I always had bad quality sleep but could not understand why, hence I decided to start logging my sleep with the sleep app. The Sleep app does more than just log how much time I spend sleeping. It displays how long I may have been in REM, Core, or Deep sleep as well as when I may have awoken. Being aware of such factors allows me to tweak my sleeping environment.
As I also travelled down to the Mount Fuji area, we did a lot of hikes. I wanted to log those workout sessions down, and it is convenient to just focus on my workout without having to hold on to my bulky phone. After the workout, I was able to quickly see my workout details with sophisticated metrics, keeping me motivated.
As this was a new area that we were exploring, the Compass app came in handy. With waypoints and backtracking, I was able to find my direction back easily. I set our accommodation as a waypoint and started exploring. Even when we got lost, we could use the backtrack feature to find our way back to our starting point, which I found was a very neat feature.
As a woman, the cycle tracking feature dived deeper into monitoring my health as compared to normal period-tracking apps. A ground-breaking new sensor in the Apple Watch Series 8 monitors my body temperature as I sleep so I can observe changes over time. I receive a more thorough understanding of my menstrual cycle when combined with my heart rate and logged cycle data. For older users, you can measure your ECG and Blood oxygen levels too.
Apple Watch Series 8 can now tell if you’re in a serious car accident. Crash Detection can instantly link you with emergency services, provide dispatchers with your location, and let your emergency contacts know when a crash is detected. This was especially useful when I was overseas and getting immediate help may be difficult. Thankfully, I did not have to activate this function.
It is Crack Resistant, Dust Resistant, Water Resistant, meaning that it is swim-proof with
WR50 water resistance, which means it can survive up to 50 metres of water. On the low power mode, the battery lasted more than 2 days for me, and on normal mode, I had to charge it at the end of each day. However, I do not find that a hassle as I just had to charge it whenever I charged my phone too before I slept.
Overall, the Apple Watch Series 8 truly allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of my own health and body. It has become an indispensable part of my daily life. The Apple Watch Series 8 is available in-store and online from S$599, it is available in Aluminium and Stainless Steel finishes. #AppleWatch, #AppleWatchSeries8, #watchOS9
