Apple Watch Series 5 Offers International Emergency Calling Even Without An iPhone

The announcement of the new Apple Watch starts with Sumbul Desal talking about Apple’s three new health studies with an aim to improve health care issues, including hearing, women’s menstrual cycles, and heart & movement.

Apple partners with Brigham and Women’s Hospital as well as the American Heart Association for its Heart and Movement Study to comprehensively study the connection between mobility and heart rate signals and falls, hospitalizations, quality of life and heart health.

For its Women’s Health Study, Apple works with NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study focuses on women’s menstrual cycles and their gynecological conditions. Users will be informed about screening and risk assessment of different conditions like pregnancy, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, osteoporosis, and the menopausal transition.

Apple Hearing Study is the result of a partnership between Apple with the University of Michigan. The study collects data to understand how hearing can be impacted by everyday sound exposure. The World Health Organization also takes part in the study as a part of its Make Listening Safe initiative.

Stan Ng is the presenter for the Apple Watch Series 5. The newest model of Apple Watch resembles the Series 4, in terms of size and design. This year’s new feature is an option for always-on display with which you can see the time on the screen of your watch without having to raise your wrist.

The 18-hour battery life of the prior model is maintained in the Series 5, even with the always-on screen. This is possible thanks to a new low-power display driver and a low-temperature oxide and polysilicon display. The company has redesigned watch faces and workouts to work with the new display option. The screen won’t switch from low-brightness mode to full brightness until you move your wrist.

The Series 5 comes with a wide range of material including recycled aluminum, ceramic, stainless steel, and brand-new titanium. There are also new Hermes and new Nike models.

Other new features are built-in compass along with international emergency calling to 150 countries. Surprisingly, the rumored sleep-tracking wasn’t announced. The best part about the new emergency calling feature is that it can work even without an iPhone just by holding the side button.

The starting price of the Series 5 is $399 for the GPS model while you have to pay $100 more for the cellular one. The watch is available for order today and you can find it in stores on September 20^th. Apple announced a price drop for its Series 3 which now costs only $199, the lowest price that we have ever seen. The Series 4 has been dropped from the Apple Watch lineup.