Apple Watch Series 4 (GPS + Cellular, 40MM) - Gold Aluminum Case with Pink Sand Sport Band (Renewed)

The Good The Apple Watch Series 4 offers a larger, crisp display that shows more with less bezel, super fast speed and a louder speaker. It adds high and low heart-rate detection, fall detection with SOS trigger and an FDA-cleared ECG app for more detailed heart readings.

The Bad Starting prices are higher than last year. Battery life still won't last past two days. Watch face options are still very limited in choice and function. It only works with iPhones.

The Bottom Line The Apple Watch Series 4 is the fastest, most connected and best overall smartwatch around, but its battery life and watch face options often fall short of the competition. 

 the Apple Watch is no closer to being a clear must-have device than it was before, unless you value the possible benefits of new health features. For those looking for a fitness tracker, however, the S4 hasn't changed much over the S3 at all.

The 2018 model adds a nice slate of upgrades:

1.     Thinner design with bigger, almost no-bezel watch faces: Larger 44mm and 40mm displays fit into the same general case sizes that previously held 42mm and 38mm ones, respectively.
2. Lightning-fast speed: The Series 4 is fast. Response time for nearly everything that doesn't require an online ping is effectively instantaneous. The improvement versus Series 2 and earlier models is particularly dramatic.
3. Fall detection: The Watch will alert loved ones and EMS when you take a serious tumble (but Apple doesn't guarantee it, and it's not on by default unless you're 65 or older).
4.  Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG): This feature amps up the Watch's already impressive heart-rate monitoring features with a full-on, FDA-cleared, on-demand ECG app that will check for heart arrhythmia, via 30-second heart rate samples.
5.  GPS battery life on runs is improved a bit (6 hours instead of 4, which isn't much, but it's something).
6.  The Series 4 is more expensive, Larger sizes, optional cellular connectivity and upgrading to steel case or fancier straps runs the cost even higher.
7.   Battery life remains stuck at about a day and a half to two days on a charge, less if you're using GPS, cellular or exercise frequently.
8.  No sleep tracking: Because the watch needs to be charged every day, that effectively dampens sleep tracking options. There are third-party apps, but nothing Apple offers as part of the core health experience.
9.  No always-on watch face: To save battery life, the watch face is dark most of the time.
10.   Despite a handful of new data-rich watch faces, the apps that use these faces are limited, and  deeper customization -- including having a watch face store like rivals do -- remains MIA on Apple Watch.   

 To be clear, none of these missing pieces are futurist fantasies. Rival products from Fitbit, Samsung and others are starting to last for days -- with promises of weeks between charges (in more pared-down watch modes) made by Qualcomm's new chip that's powering upcoming Google Wear OS watches. And those same products mostly offer sleep tracking, dozens or hundreds of watch face options, and always-on timekeeping, too.