When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12, two features stood out: the new Siri Recap feature, as well as the much improved heart rate monitor. While those two features were part of the reason I was compelled to buy the new Apple Watch, I've found myself delighted by much more than just those two things.

Battery and charging While Apple's website doesn't quote any additional battery life for Apple Watch Series 12 compared to Series 11, the battery certainly feels like it lasts longer. As I've written in the past, I was someone who used the WHOOP prior to the Apple Watch Series 12, and even though I kept my Apple Watch, I never used it for sleep tracking. After the keynote, I decided to give Apple Watch sleep tracking a shot. That said, on my Series 11, juggling sleep tracking and charging was a bit of a pain. After using the watch throughout the day, I'd have to charge it a little bit before going to sleep, then when I wake up, I'd have to charge it again. On Series 12, that isn't the case. It has enough battery to last through a day and overnight, and now I just charge it when I wake up. Apple Watch Series 12 also charges significantly faster, which makes that part less of a pain. 15 minutes of charging gets you up to 12 hours of use, per Apple. Regardless of the why, it feels amazing to not have charging anxiety around sleep tracking on the Apple Watch Series 12.

Another big upside to the S11 chip? Apple Watch Series 12 feels so much faster, especially with Siri. Software exclusives On Series 12, Apple finally includes a proper step counter as a complication, which I like checking on in my smart stack. Another neat new feature is the entire Readiness app, which gives you an idea of how okay you're doing today based on last night's sleep, your previous day's activity, and your vitals. This is similar to a recovery score on WHOOP, and I was certainly happy to see Apple add this to the Apple Watch? It's a bit of a bummer it's exclusive to the Series 12, but I could understand why Apple isn't willing to calculate it with less accurate data.

All in all, the Apple Watch Series 12 is a rather nice upgrade. It's a total S year, but if you care about your Apple Watch actually doing more rather than just looking different, I'd say this might be one of the most substantial year over year upgrades since Apple Watch Series 4.