Apple is launching the Apple Watch Series7. Is it worth the upgrade? Talking Tech podcast

Best gifts for girlfriends: Apple Watch Series 7

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Hey there listeners. It's Mike Snider here.

And I'm Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. Apples newest smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 7 hits stores this Friday. It's got a bigger display and two new watch faces. Mike, you got the chance to check this out. What did you think?

Brett, let me start by saying a couple of years ago... Until a couple years ago, I would not wear a watch. I wear no jewelry. I don't wear a wedding ring because I just don't like to wear jewelry and stuff. One reason I don't like to wear a watch is because I've had repetitive motion syndromes in both of my arms so a watch bothered my wrists. However, when the Series 6 came out last year, I began trying to wear one and now I have to admit the functionality it provides, this made it basically something I want to have all the time. This new, the new Series 7 comes out, if you pre-ordered it, you might be getting it right now by the time you listen to this. If you're going to go to the store then they're going to be available starting on Friday, starting at $399 for the smaller model and $429 for the bigger model, which is the size that I've got.

I think it's generally men get the bigger one than women get the littler one I think. I'm not sure about that. But what's cool about the new watch is the display is slightly bigger, but they've changed the way that they design it so it really doesn't feel bigger and it's not bulkier, but you get more screen and display area for apps and information. And what I really liked is some of the new faces give you quite a bit of functionality that you might think, gee, I don't know that I'm going to really want all this on here and will it bother me? But it's pretty interesting. I've got one of the module duo face and the one I've chosen to use, it has the time, it has the current temperature outside, it has your activity level for the day. And it also has a five day forecast all on your wrist. I used to think I don't need a watch because I have my phone with me, right? Well, this gives you a lot of information without even having to use your phone. So I really think they've made a good move here with this new kind of display. And it's actually a more robust display. It's got increased crack resistance. It's also dust resistant and it continues to be water resistant to 50 meters. Beyond that, there's a faster charging feature you get with a cable that comes with this watch. And one of the things it does is it charges it about one third of the time faster, but also usually works for about 18 hours, right? Well, if you want to take advantage of some of the sleep monitoring factors on in the Apple Watch, you need to wear it a bed, right?

So at some point you're going to run out of battery power. They say if you use the new charging cable to charge your watch, in eight minutes, you'll get enough power to use it overnight. At some point, you're going to need to charge it for a longer than that, but that gives you the option at nighttime to kind of use that. And then you can get all that health information that the watch gathers overnight. Now the other thing you can also do it and beyond all the health things that I talk about in my story on tech.usatoday.com is there's a keyboard this time and you might be thinking a keyboard on a watch? This is going to be real fun. And I will admit, I don't see myself doing this a lot, but I put it through the paces and you can actually use a QWERTY keyboard just like you would have on your computer.

And you can tap it. My fingers are kind of a little fat, I guess I should say. So I didn't always get the right words, but it uses some AI to try to get to what you're trying to type. You can also use the swiping method of, it's called a quick path, to try to type words. And that actually worked pretty good. There's also another option called a scribble screen, which just is a blank screen with kind of like a grid underneath it. And you draw the letters.

This works at times where you don't want to pull your phone out. I wouldn't want to do it a lot, but it's another feature that might be interesting to folks. One thing I would say about the Apple Watch is that the fall detection might be interesting for if you have an older parent or you have someone who's worried about, you're worried about them falling, it does do some automatic phone calls if it's connected to a cell network or to WiFi or your phone is nearby. If you fall, it gives you a one touch option to call for emergency help. And if you fall and don't move for 60 seconds, it automatically sends out a call. So those are some pretty interesting aspects of the watch that I would point out to people who are considering getting it.

I currently have an Apple Watch SE. It's a great watch. I really like it. Good price point. If you have a newer model Apple Watch right now, do you think the Series 7 is worth making the upgrade?

It all depends really. How much money do you have? If you feel like you always got to have the latest and greatest, I mean, I'm not going to say anything to stop you, but I would say most of these health features have been around, the models that have come out in the last three years. So unless you want to pass your watch down to someone else or something, I wouldn't feel like you really have to do this. What I would say is if you're thinking about getting an Apple Fitness Plus and you want to use that as your home workout regimen, a newer watch might pay off there. That's what I would say. I mean, this watch, in my story, I have a picture of this watch next to the 6 that I was testing and you can tell a difference, but I don't know that there's anything that's life-changing right now with this watch versus the 6 for instance. On the SE, I forget all the features that are on there, but I would guess that you could do pretty much everything that the new watch OSE allows you to do as a user.

Oh, well, there you go. Sounds good. Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show ideas, any tech problems you want us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter @BrettMolina23.

And I'm @MikeSnider. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. You've been listening to Talking Tech and we'll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Apple releases Apple Watch Series7: Talking Tech podcast