Apple Watch Series 4: What’s new for runners
For those who use their Apple Watch as a fitness tool, the Series 4 has considered your needs
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The Apple Watch Series 4 became available for pre-order today in North America. Its official release date is September 21st. The latest Apple Watch has several new additions that are useful for a runner. The Series 4 has improved battery life, it’s thinner with a brighter screen, and it even has fall detection capabilities.
RELATED: What’s new for runners in the Apple Watch Series 3
For those who use their Apple Watch as a fitness tool, the Series 4 has considered your needs. The watch with GPS function retails for $519 CAD and goes for $649 CAD with both GPS and cellular.
Features
Music
Apple has included podcast availability in their newest watch. Runners can now stream any podcast in the Apple Podcast catalog using Siri. The speaker on the watch is also 50 per cent louder than that of the Series 3. Music will also still be available through Bluetooth headphones.
Staying Connected
The Series 4 has integrated watch-to-watch connection via a walkie-talkie function. This function can be used over wifi or cellular networks. If you’re meeting up with a friend for a run, and they’re also an Apple Watch user, you will now be able to communicate at the click of a button from your watch. Also, walkie-talkies are fun and nostalgic, if nothing else.
Extended Battery Life
Runners can take advantage of the extended battery life on the Series 4. Going for a very long run? No problem. The watch should last six hours longer than its predecessor.
Cadence
The Series 4 measures cadence (number of steps per minute) for both indoor and outdoor workouts. This function will allow runners to play around with their cadence and find what works best for them.
Rolling Splits
Previous versions of the Apple Watch showed splits on the screen for a few seconds after one kilometre or mile, but the Apple Watch 4 will show your rolling splits. The watch will also provide pace alerts for outdoor runs, and pace for the immediately preceding mile. This function will make running intervals pretty seamless.
Fall Detection
An interesting feature of the new watch is fall detection. The Apple press release explains, “Fall detection utilizes a next-generation accelerometer and gyroscope, which measures up to 32 g-forces, along with custom algorithms to identify when hard falls occur.” After a fall, the user will receive a notification to call emergency services, which they can accept or dismiss, depending on the severity of their fall. While most runners stay on two feet during their exercise, roads can be slippery, especially during the winter. Many runners have fallen at least once, and having the Apple Watch can be a preventative measure in case of a slip.
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