The Apple Watch Series 8 may seem a bit boring compared to the brand new Apple Watch Ultra, but don't get me wrong Health tracking, safety, and connectivity upgrades seem to make the best smartwatch even better

The noticeable Apple Watch Series 8 upgrades are all internal The long-rumored skin temperature sensor and long-awaited low-power mode will extend the battery life of the latest Apple Watch to 36 hours The Apple Watch 8 will also feature new collision detection and utilize an improved motion sensor to instantly call for help when you are most likely to need it

Other than that, there is not much new, but this is exactly what I have come to expect from the Apple Watch every year Apple continues to update the watch incrementally while maintaining the initial price of $399

Whether that will be enough this time around remains to be seen in a full review For now, here are our hands-on impressions of the Apple Watch Series 8 and an overview of the new features

Pricing for the Apple Watch Series 8 starts at $399 for the 41mm GPS-only model and $499 for the GPS + cellular version Meanwhile, the 45mm size starts at $429, and $529 for cellular support

Two additional Apple Watch models will be added this year: the $799 Apple Watch Ultra and the $249 Apple Watch SE (2022) You may recall that the original Apple Watch SE was $279, and that model received a $30 discount

Pre-orders for the Apple Watch Series 8 are now open, and the full version will be available on September 16

The Apple Watch Series 8 looks identical to the Apple Watch Series 7, with the curved casing and thin display bezel that debuted last year The screen is optimized for the new watchOS 9 face, but there are no additional faces on the Apple Watch Series 8

The sides of the Apple Watch Series 8 have the familiar digital crown and side buttons; only the Apple Watch Ultra has an additional action button Again, I don't think it is possible to distinguish the new flagship Apple Watch from the earlier Apple Watch

That is, unless you pay close attention to the colors; the Apple Watch Series 8 comes in Midnight, Silver, Starlight, and Product Red Blue and Green are no more Besides, customization is possible by finding the Apple Watch band that best suits your style

We already gave you a preview of the new features, but let's take a closer look at the skin temperature sensor that Apple is introducing with this update The skin temperature sensor will provide information for two areas of Apple's health suite: sleep tracking and cycle tracking For sleep, a baseline overnight body temperature deviation may help you figure out what external factors affect your regular rest For example, travel, alcohol consumption, etc

Perhaps more compelling, however, is how skin temperature measurements advance the tracking of infertility Changes in wrist temperature have proven to be an accurate indicator of the likelihood of ovulation (open in new tab) Whether you are trying to conceive or monitoring a condition such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), ovulation prediction based on skin temperature measurements through Apple Health and Apple Watch could make great use of the new sensors

As for privacy, all cycle tracking data is protected by end-to-end encryption, and data can be deleted at any time You also have control over who you share your health data with For example, you may want to share your cycle information with your fertility doctor

Collision detection is not a new feature in Apple Watch Series 8, but unfortunately car accidents happen; Apple Watch has had fall detection and emergency SOS features for some time, but collision detection is made possible by the upgraded motion sensor in Series 8 It's a new kind of safety tool

The Apple Watch Series 8 incorporates two new motion sensors, as well as an improved gyroscope and accelerometer Together, they are able to sample movement four times faster than before, allowing for more accurate detection when a collision occurs And in the unfortunate event of a collision, Apple Watch will automatically call emergency services and notify emergency contacts While heartbreaking, a quick rescue may be a matter of life or death

The Apple Watch Series 8 includes a low-power mode, a longtime wish list of mine Yes, previous Apple Watch devices had a power reserve, allowing you to check the time even when the watch is practically dead But borrowing a handy setting from the iPhone, the Apple Watch's new low-power mode disables certain power-draining features while still leaving the device mostly usable In practice, I was able to switch to low-power mode from the Control Center The main one is Always On Display, which makes sense

In low power mode, the Apple Watch Series 8 can last up to 36 hours Otherwise, the charging interval is still 18 hours We would love to see how or if low power mode changes the Apple Watch charging schedule

At the demo table with the new Apple Watch devices, the Apple Watch Ultra was the first one I reached for between the Apple Watch 8 and the Apple Watch Ultra

The skin temperature sensor, crash detection, and low power mode seem like nice additions to the experience Is that enough, and stay tuned for our full review of the Apple Watch Series 8