Apple Watch S10 review

Expected a foldable watch face or circular dial for the tenth year of the world's favourite wearable? Apple played it extra safe and gave us the same, but more of it. A (slightly) larger display on a (slightly) thinner body. But when you wear this thing all day and all night, every millimetre matters! Surprisingly, the new display on the Watch S10 has an even larger screen area than the Watch Ultra 2. The glass tapers down beyond the edges, unlike the Ultra which has a protective casing.

Using a new wide-angle OLED with 40% more brightness, the S10 aims to be a lot easier to read even in the resting position. The difference isn't that noticeable but the LTPO3 tech is so power efficient that you now have watch faces with a functional seconds hand even in the resting mode, bringing it ever closer to an analog watch movement. New watch faces like Reflections and Flux highlight this new advancement to great effect and while we never had an issue with resting brightness earlier, with the seconds hand ticking away even while your hand isn’t raised does make it look a lot more interesting.

Shedding weight and bulk hasn't been easy and Apple has redesigned the SiP,  Digital Crown, speaker, antenna and the display itself to fit into the new chassis. The result is a watch that sits closer to your wrist than ever before and you simply forget that you're wearing it! A desirable byproduct of that is also more accuracy on a larger section of consumers and a smartwatch you will have no problem wearing to bed.

Apple’s new Sleep Apnea detection doesn’t have a date for India debut yet, but is a huge deal when it does. Meanwhile, the Vital Metrics app now shows you a more detailed view of your overnight health, giving you more reason to keep it on during snoozes.

Not easily visible, the redesigned speaker module is even smaller than before but without any drop in output level and in fact you can even listen to music and podcasts via this speaker for the first time. A real feat of miniaturisaton this! For almost everyone who isn’t a scuba diver, the Watch S10 is a better value than the Watch Ultra 2 now. Where the Ultra trumps it is in areas of water immersion, siren alert and battery life.

We also get an improvement in charging times, as long as you use the included USB-C cable and a power brick that is capable enough. 80% in 30 minutes is very much possible and it even lasts longer than our S9 with easily a day’s worth of use.

A new water temperature sensor is great for vetting cold plunges or hot jacuzzis before getting in. The Tides app makes for a great watch face even if you're not a surfer at one of the 1,15,000 beaches it shows data for. Choosing more specific workouts through the day will obviously impact the battery life and at times, during a hyperactive day, we had to juice it up before bed time to power it through the night. Quick charge to the rescue.

The"slight" decrease in weight and bulk is magnified when you have to wear something 24x7. So yes, it's still the most comfortable smartwatch to wear to bed without feeling like you're out on parole. With the Watch OS11 adding more workout options, superb new watch faces and with as many band and case finish choices as the Watch S10, it's hard not to still crown it as the world's best smartwatch.