Apple Watch SE 3 review: It’s definitely time for an upgrade

The Apple Watch SE range is a hugely popular choice thanks to its decent feature list and much more wallet-friendly price. The older SE 2 can be picked up for as little as £179, which is over £500 less than the most premium Apple Watch Ultra. There’s been nothing wrong with previous SE wearables. These devices have all been able to track your health, monitor activity levels and check things such as heart rate and sleep.

However, the SE has definitely been left lagging behind in recent years with receiving all the biggest and most headline-grabbing upgrades.

But the new Apple Watch SE 3 has just changed that, and it now makes the SE a seriously tempting purchase. My go-to Apple wearable remains the Watch Ultra as I like its bigger screen, long battery life and more robust design.

But I can honestly say I’d have no issues strapping the new SE 3 to my wrist instead – that’s something I’ve not said in the past. Firstly, it finally gets an always-on display, which means you see a constant watch face rather than a black and blank screen on your arm.

This Retina LTPO OLED display is also smart, so despite constantly glowing, it doesn’t nuke the battery life. During my tests, the SE 3 easily lasts a full day and night.

That’s important as some might want to wear it to bed to get access to their nightly sleep score, which reveals just how much shut-eye has been had. During my testing, I’ve woken up to find the SE 3 still working but getting low on juice. Luckily it now supports faster charging.

As long as you remember to pop it on its puck, you’ll be back to 80 percent in 45 minutes that’s around the same time it takes to have a shower and your morning cornflakes.

Along with a better screen and fast charging, Apple has also placed its latest S10 chip under the toughened Ion-X glass and aluminium shell. This adds extras such as useful gesture controls, on-device Siri and voice isolation which let you make calls in noisy environments from the Watch itself thanks to mic and speaker, and still be heard. The S10 chip has also allowed that always-on screen tech to be included.

Other bonus extras now packed inside the SE 3 include 5G connections (for those that buy the celluar model) and temperature sensing, plus it can check for conditions including sleep apnoea.

There’s also life-saving features such as heart rate monitoring, Fall and Car Crash Detection plus it continues to show just how much or little excercise you’ve done via the neat Apple Rings.

You get all that for the same £219 price as before, which I think is a bit of a bargain.

Of course, the SE 3 is not perfect. It has an older design with chunkier borders around the display, so isn’t as sleek as the new Series 11.

Unlike devices such as those made by Garmin, it’s not going to last a weekend away, so you’ll always need to pack a charger in your bag. There’s no Action Button (a feature I love on the Ultra), and it won’t get access to the hypertension alerts, a feature Apple is soon adding to other Apple Watch models, which are designed to go off when high blood pressure is detected over a period of time.

Watch SE 3 final verdict

The Apple Watch SE 3 is the entry-level update we’ve been waiting for. This more budget-friendly device now gets many of the features found on more expensive models, such as the new Series 11, but without the high price.

There’s a premium S10 processor inside, that much-needed always-on screen, faster charging and improved health features.

No, it won’t match the Ultra for battery life, and the Series 11 beats it on design, but those gadgets cost hundreds of pounds more.

If you’ve never tried an Apple Watch before or your ageing old model is on its last legs, this is probably one of the easiest wearables to recommend, and you shouldn’t think twice about upgrading.

The only thing to remember is that the older Apple Watch SE 2 is now even cheaper if you shop around.