Favorite gadget of 2023: Apple Watch Series 9 looks the same, but changes the way you use your Watch

When it came time to review the Apple Watch, I went into it with low expectations. On paper, the Watch Series 9 looked almost identical to the Watch Series 8. Neither the design nor the software had changed much. And before the big update arrived that added Double Tap functionality, there were only two notable changes.

First, the actions assigned to Series 8 buttons have been remapped in Series 9. The action button on the right side of the Watch 9 opens the control panel instead of the main menu, and clicking the crown opens the main menu and also works to return to the watch face. Drag the screen up to open stacked widgets, and drag down to continue viewing notifications. This was the first change I noticed when I looked at my watch, and at first I was a little annoyed because its usual behavior had suddenly changed. But once you get used to it, you can really feel the difference now that you’ve been using the smartwatch for a few months.

Second, battery life. The Apple Watch Series 9 battery lasts a really long time. As mentioned in the review, the Watch Series 9 has a great battery backup. The Apple Watch is now an accessory to my existence. I use it all day, but usually overnight. I’m one of those guys who has a 9-to-5 schedule. I wake up at 5am every day. On nights when I don’t sleep without my watch on, the first thing I do when I wake up is put it down. Apple Watch on my wrist.

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Then, before 6 a.m., run a workout app on your Watch for at least 90 minutes. I also connect my AirPods to my watch and listen to music while I do 15-20 minutes of cardio. Then you get notifications all day long, music apps run in the background, and sleep and other trackers are always on at night. Although I share much of my daily schedule with him, he only charges his watch every other day, sometimes in the shower, or for a while. This means that it is only for a short period of time when you take off your watch. 20-30 minutes to rest your wrist. This time is usually enough time to bring the battery back to full charge and last at least another day. This battery is really impressive.

However, while these improvements are nice, they are the kind of updates you expect from generation to generation. They’re not the kind of things that make you go, “Whoa.” Instead, it’s the double tap feature that completely surprises you with the Watch 9. To quote my review again, the Watch Series 9 with its new hand gestures truly brings “new tricks to your wrist.”

It’s really interesting to be able to control the watch with just a tap of two fingers. For those who don’t know, Apple introduced new features to his Watch Series 9 in the first week of November. This will allow users to control their smartwatch with just a tap (as the name of the feature suggests, quickly he does it twice in a row). Place your index finger (or other fingers) and thumb together. This gesture allows users to answer or decline calls, play or pause music, open widgets, and more. There’s a bit of a learning curve with this feature, but once you get the hang of it, it’s very difficult to go back to using the watch the way you used to.

The focus of the Double Tap feature is on doing more with less effort. A smartwatch’s small display of less than 2 inches can be quite limiting. It is also a device that must be worn in one hand. Therefore, all that is left is your other hand to operate your device. And in everyday life, we notice that our hands are busy, carrying things, holding the mobile phone, opening the door, washing the dishes, etc. Your hands aren’t always free. That’s where his double tap gesture comes into play. If you get a call while you’re doing the dishes and want to answer it, just hold your hand so the clock is facing you and double-tap. The other hand can continue to do what it was doing before receiving the call.

This gesture eliminates a lot of the hassle of focusing on a small screen or reorienting yourself to interact with small icons on your smartwatch. Don’t get me wrong. The double-tap feature still requires you to return to the screen, but only when absolutely necessary. I like that this feature gives me more control over how I interact with the watch. And what I like even more is that this feature helps you get even more screen time. This is something the Apple Watch is already great at.

It’s easy to see that it’s not a simple implementation for the Apple Watch Series 9 to successfully detect the subtle movement of a double tap without accidentally setting off a false alarm. This gesture makes your life a lot easier and makes everyday operations on your watch more intuitive. However, that was only a few days after I started using this feature. And now that I’ve been using the Watch 9 for a few weeks, I can confidently say that this one feature makes the Watch 9 a better value than its specs.