The Apple Watch family has a new member in the form of the Series 7 which was just announced in the ongoing Apple Event, but the Fitness+ service still alludes South Africa as it comes to other countries.
As is to be expected with Apple, the Series 7 is a collection of incremental improvements instead of a massive leap.
This starts with the newest operating system in the form of watchOS 8 which, in the livestream event, seems to have a large focus on cyclists.
The new operating system has features such as detection of when a ride starts and begins, fall detection, and better support for electronic bikes.
The software has also been fine tuned to work with the bigger screen of the Series 7, which is 20 percent larger than the Series 6.
The larger screen is paired with what is claimed to be improved resilience thanks to IP6X dust resistance and WR50 water resistance.
Finally there’s the battery powering everything with a promised 18 hours of up time. Charging is said to be fast here with a claimed zero to 80 percent charge happening in 45 minutes.
Those who love customising their Apple Watch with bands will be happy to know that all existing bands are supported.
The Apple Watch Series 7 starts at $399 (~R5 706) and launches later in the American fall, which is between late September and late December. Pricing and availability in South Africa hasn’t been revealed yet.
More countries for Fitness+, but South Africa excluded
Right now the Fitness+ platform support six countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US) and in the American Fall that and that number will grow.
The newcomers are:
- Austria
- Brazil
- Colombia
- France
- Germany
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Portugal
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- United Arab Emirates
Content in these countries will still be in English but subtitles will be provided in six different languages, according to an Apple press release.
To try and entice those countries to use the service three months of it are being offered with the purchase of a Series 7 Apple Watch.
It has also been updated with new features and workouts based around meditation, group exercises (done remotely) and even exercises meant to prepare you for Winter / snow sports when it isn’t that season yet.
All of this is a moot point for South Africans, however, as 2021 is now entirely ruled out as receiving support from Apple for Fitness+.
Maybe those who have been waiting, and have been good boys and girls this year, can write Santa to twist Tim Cook’s arm into releasing this for South Africa, but we’re pretty sure Cook’s assistant blocks those calls.
