Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen, 2023) [GPS 40mm] Smartwatch with Midnight Aluminium Case with Midnight Sport Band S/M. Fitness & Sleep Tracker, Crash Detection, Heart Rate Monitor

I’ve been really impressed with the Apple Watch SE. It has most of the features I wanted—fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, notifications, and seamless integration with my iPhone—without the high price tag of the Series 9 or Ultra.What I love most is that it doesn’t feel like a budget option. It’s fast, sleek, and super comfortable to wear all day. Sure, it doesn’t have some of the advanced health sensors or the always-on display, but for my everyday use, it does everything I need and then some.The lower price made it much more accessible, and I feel like I got incredible value without missing out on the Apple Watch experience. If you’re looking for a smart, reliable watch that won’t break the bank, the SE is a fantastic choice.

I bought this Apple Watch SE for my wife, already owning a Series 9 myself. She chose the SE as it's significantly cheaper and she wasn't fussed about the extra features the Series 9 offers, which are mostly aesthetic.The main thing my wife wanted from the watch was for it to monitor her health and motivate her to exercise and workout more, which it absolutely has. Combined with an Apple Fitness+ subscription, the SE is fun and easy to use and provides mostly the same data and feedback as the Series 9. An Apple Fitness subscription is not compulsory and all functions of the watch can be used without it, however, it definitely enhances its usefulness.Data recorded by the watch is quite in-depth and syncs with the Health and Fitness apps on your iPhone, if you have one, providing information on daily, weekly, monthly and annual trends. It seems quite accurate for a smartwatch, which is not a dedicated fitness recorder like a Fitbit. At the gym, I have noticed the fitness equipment tends to report slightly higher calorie burn than the Apple watch - it's hard to tell which is correct, but I suspect it's the gym equipment.Visually, the SE looks surprisingly good compared to my Series 9, which has the same colour case and strap. The materials and screen are different but the SE looks good and its darker screen is still very useable. I would guess most women, like my wife, will prefer the smaller, 41mm size over the 45mm, which looks fairly large on the wrist.The Apple Watch is a great device, providing all the benefits of your smartphone with added fitness-tracking features that can genuinely encourage you to improve your health. I think the SE version is good value. In our case, we've both found the WiFi version is good enough given we usually have our iPhones with us when wearing the watch.The watch syncs with your phone via Bluetooth and shares all connectivity, meaning a cellular-enabled watch isn't necessary for most people. You can take calls, send messages, use popular apps, play music, set reminders and alarms, customise faces, and of course, tell the time!

When I had my first smart watch it was a Sony / android one and there were not many apps and it didn’t do much but the Apple Watch is a game changer. I can have my password safe on my watch, send and reply to text messages and even Facebook messages, I can see the moon phases, monitor my health, take voice recordings : notes and instantly it will beam them to my phone, I can play games, get reminders to drink water, reminders to stand up, you can have a virtual pet, I have my reward cards so I can scan them at the checkout from my watch. Map my workouts, track them, play music, I can control my web browser with iCabMobile, remote control tunein radio. Tell the weather with the barometer app, I can identity music playing using Shazam, keep track of my medicine, have notes and todo lists and it’ll all sync with my phone when I’m done and best of all my password safe and my watch is password protected. I don’t remember my passwords for my online accounts so to be able to display them on my watch after entering the passcode is brilliant and saves time and effort, with Apple or YouTube music it’s easy to listen to music even on the go and the sound is loud enough and the audio quality is amazing. It will monitor heart rate, sleep and the watch face selection is amazing, you can even get snoopy and there are apps with many face plates to choose from. Having Siri is helpful and it has crash and fall detection and at the press of a button you can send your location to your contacts in case you need to let them know where you are. It has hand writing recognition for reply to messages. It’s a real game changer and I love it. I got a necklace attachment so I can wear it around my neck when I’m out so it won’t get lost. I ordered the 220mm sports band which is good enough for what I need. It also can detect when your washing your hands and set a 20 second timer so you know your washed your hands long enough if that matters to you, I don’t use that feature.It was so easy to set up, I brought it close to my phone and it linked to my phone and setup with ease and the data is very accurate. I would have liked the extra health features like spo2 and ecg but I couldn’t justify the cost for features that I will barely use. The screen is very clear and it’s very comfortable and if you hold your wrist up to look at the time, the screen comes on and shows the time, when you move it away it turns the display back off (it’s not got always on)It has timers, reminders, countdown timers and you can add WhatsApp to it if that’s your thing. I got a screen protector for mine so it doesn’t get scratched during workouts and if it gets knocked it should keep the screen safe.It’s easy to charge also with the included charger. I’ve not found any negatives so far other than the fact I can’t communicate with Google home through it (Google didn’t make a watch app for it)The walkie talkie feature is handy if you have a friend or family member with an Apple Watch. It’s very snappy at loading apps. I love it 🥰

Bought as a gift for someone who previously had a Fitbit. They were amazed with how much more could be done between a phone and smart watch compared to the Fitbit.It was thinner and the screen was vibrant and great quality, it took a while to be fluent in using the navigation even as an Apple user but there is a lot of customising to your own needs to make navigation quick and easy or for the Home Screen to display what you readily need.

This is a great smart watch. Lots of functionality and looks good. Only issue is with battery life was it seems to run down pretty quickly. I am very active and measuring activity using GPS exacerbates the problem. I then need to put the watch on charge a couple of times a day. This is annoying especially if the battery goes flat and recording stops. I’d say a great everyday smart watch but if you are seriously active I’d suggest a newer model with increased battery life or a dedicated sports watch.