Which is better Shazam or Sound Hound? To replace Shazam: the best music recognition apps

Apple seems to intend to confuse its customers with a complex model range, which is expensive to understand. 3 generations of wearable devices have already been released, each with several versions developed. Now let’s look at the differences between smart watches of different series and find out which apple watch to choose based on appearance and capabilities.

What models are there?

All Apple Watch series come in two sizes: . The second option has a larger screen diagonal, a more powerful battery and a $50 higher price. The 42 mm version will hold a charge longer, but will cost more and will look more massive on the hand. The sleek version is neater, but the battery life is 2 hours less. The choice between the two models depends on the buyer's priorities. For convenience, Apple has made a life-size template of both versions on its website so that everyone can print it out and try it on.

There are 3 models of Apple Watch.

Apple Watch Sport is the most budget option, although the functions are not inferior to more expensive models. A distinctive feature is bright sports straps of different colors, built-in functions for training.
Apple Watch is the basic model, made in a classic style.
– the device is the most expensive, the body is made of an alloy of precious metals. It emphasizes status and is more of an accessory than a gadget.

The first and second series of devices. What improvements have been made?

It’s worth saying right away that the second version of wearable devices has already been discontinued by the company, so comparing the first two representatives is almost pointless. But still, the series 2 smartwatches have gone on sale, and there are still some leftovers, so let’s look at the differences between generations and find out which one is wiser to purchase for use.

Case design

The Apple Watch Series 1 module was made of aluminum, and the representative of the second generation boasts a choice between ceramics, aluminum and steel. The screen is now covered with sapphire glass, which protects the display from scratches and chips. Mechanical damage is no longer so terrible; users note that even after a fall, the case remains intact and unharmed.

Screen brightness

The second difference is that the Watch Series 2 has higher screen brightness (450 Nits versus 1000). This is a step forward, because previously in clear weather it was practically impossible to distinguish anything on the display, but now the text remains readable, and the image is clear and of high quality. The color of the picture has become more saturated. And the changes did not affect battery life in any way, this is a clear advantage.

Moisture protection

Series 1 watches are protected from splashes of water, but the main thing here is not to overdo it. You can wash your hands while wearing a watch; getting caught in the rain is also not a problem, but it’s better to stay away from water. Apple Watch 2nd generation is characterized by increased resistance to moisture: it can withstand immersion to depths of up to 50m. You can already take a shower in them, swim in the pool, and swim in the sea. The smart gadget even has a special mode, which you can set to monitor your results: the number of strokes and laps completed. At the end of the water procedures, just press a button, and excess moisture is pushed out by a sound wave.

Built-in GPS

The difference between the first and second generations is the built-in GPS sensor in the 2nd case. The gadget will save the history of the route covered and automatically transfer this data to the iPhone the next time it is synchronized.

Battery

The second representative features a more capacious battery that allows you to hold a charge for up to 2 days. The predecessor only lasted 1 day of battery life.

Apple Watch Series 2 vs Series 3

Now let's compare series 2 and 3 and analyze the advantages of the latter. Apple Watch series 3 was released in 2 versions: with and without LTE, this is the ability to make and receive calls without an iPhone. These 2 models do not differ in anything else, let’s look at the difference with the second generation.

LTE support in one version. This function will be useful to residents of the USA and Canada; for technical reasons it is not available in Russia.
The models are made in aluminum, ceramic and steel casing. But the last 2 options are varieties of the LTE version, which is not sold in Russia. It turns out that in this country only aluminum module design is available.
The processor has become more powerful, performance has increased by 70%, RAM has been added, now its volume is 768 MB. In the version with LTE, the built-in storage has also increased – up to 16 GB, previously it was 8 GB.
Bluetooth has become newer – 4.2. This increases data transfer speed and makes synchronization with iPhone instantaneous.
In the second series, a barometric altimeter appeared; the device counts the number of floors climbed. Also, when traveling in the mountains, the traveler will know to what height he has risen.

Watch Series 4 select. Is 40 or 44 mm better? It would seem that what is the question? A large screen on a watch is always a plus!

But no, it's not that simple with the new Apple Watch Series 4. If previously a large model would have really suited most people, now I would think twice about it. Maybe the little ones will be enough.

Moreover, I would not call them small. With such and such a display...

In this article, I have collected all the significant differences and features of the two sizes of the fourth (actually fifth) generation of Apple smartwatches. Not all are as obvious as the title might suggest.

Technical characteristics of AW Series 4. What is the difference with the previous generation

Apple Watch Series 4 (44 mm) and Series 0 (38 mm).

In the new generation of Apple Watch, for the first time in the history of the line, the display has changed: 38 mm has become 40 mm, and 42 mm has become 44 mm. That is, both models have become a little larger.

The screens themselves have become physically larger; cases and films will not work for previous generations of AW. The glass and corners of the watch case are now more rounded, and the gadget no longer seems as “rectangular” as before.

The display resolution has also increased:

Series 3 38mm: 340 x 272 ppi

Series 4 40mm: 394 x 324 ppi

Series 3 42mm: 390 x 312 ppi

Series 4 44mm: 448 x 368 ppi

Read more about the differences and innovations in our Apple Watch Series 4 review.

Both Series 4 models have the same processor, speakers and microphones. The body colors are also the same. So you will choose solely based on appearance, preferences and several differences, which are discussed below.

The new size is perceived differently: 40 mm is universal, but 44 is not suitable for everyone

How was it before? The 38 mm model (small) was mainly suitable for women, and the 42 mm (large) was taken by men. But now I would seriously think about the small Series 4 model and not look back at established preferences.

I asked the opinions of the owners of the old 42 mm AW generations, and the vast majority liked the new 40 mm model. It displays exactly the same amount of information, and looks more organic on the hand. More refined, perhaps.

As for the 44mm model, it is more for lovers of large watches. If you thought the Apple Watch was tiny before, your comments are finally being heard. Well, plus, you can see even the smallest text and icons on it, even while running.

I don’t pretend to be objective; after all, everyone has their own vision of the ideal watch. But personally, to me, the larger body and screen in the 40mm version now seem like the golden mean among all existing AW models. They look more like a good stylish accessory than a geeky gadget.

In short: the “small” 40mm model is versatile, while the 44mm version will appeal to lovers of large watches.

Old bracelets fit new models, and that's great

If you have bracelets from the 38mm version of the Apple Watch lying around, you can safely attach them to the 42mm version. The same goes for the 42mm and 44mm Series 4 straps.

I didn't notice any "gaps" or problems attaching the old original bracelets to the new watch. It’s as if there were no significant upgrades.

I believe that Apple can be given confident respect for this: the cases have become larger, which means that the designers deliberately sought to achieve aesthetic compatibility of the straps with previous generations of AW.

By the way, this also works in the opposite direction - new straps are also put on old Apple watches.

The backward compatibility of the belts will please not only owners of previous generations of AW, but also those who buy such a thing for the first time and want to collect a collection of bracelets for different situations, clothes and moods.

Over the four years of the gadget's existence, Apple has released countless bracelets of various shapes, materials and patterns (I'm talking about nylon ones). Whatever combination you want to wear on your hand is possible.

Briefly: all old bracelets fit new watches and vice versa.

The model with a 44 mm display lasts longer, that's a fact

As with the iPhone Plus/Max, many people buy the larger version of the Apple Watch for better battery life. This is still true for Series 4.

Pay attention to the battery capacity:

Apple Watch Series 3 (38 mm): 1.07 Wh Apple Watch Series 4 (40 mm): 0.86 Wh Apple Watch Series 3 (42 mm): 1.34 Wh Apple Watch Series 4 (44 mm): 1.12 W /h Didn’t you think: yes, in the new generation of Apple watches they have reduced the battery capacity. But at the same time, energy consumption was reduced. And in the end, we achieved the same battery life from Series 4 as last year’s models.

With moderate use, both sizes can get 2 days of battery life. And when active - from 12 to 18 hours, that is, from morning to late evening.

But the 44mm version still has an advantage, which I have confirmed through experience. If you do nothing at all with the AW and just wear it like a watch, the “large” model can last as long as 3 days.

For a smartwatch, this is a very impressive figure, if anything.

Briefly: if you are used to charging your watch once a day or two, feel free to take the 40 mm model, you won’t notice the difference. If you only want watch faces and notifications from your Apple Watch, consider the 44mm version—it lasts a third longer.

Some bands are not available for the 44mm Apple Watch. And vice versa

If you liked a certain strap model before you chose a watch, check in advance that it is compatible.

What bracelets are available for 40 mm and 44 mm at the same time:

all sports (“silicone”)

all nylon

all textile

all Milanese mesh

all block

The bands below are only for 40mm (old 38mm) Apple Watch:

leather straps with modern buckle

Hermès Double Tour (double loop)

And these bracelets can only be installed in 44 mm (old 42 mm) AW:

magnetic leather straps (Leather Loop)

Hermès Simple Tour (some colors)

Hermès Simple Tour Rallye (which are perforated)

When buying a bracelet for your Apple Watch, carefully check that it is compatible with the size of your watch model. Once I got caught with a magnetic leather strap, fortunately I promptly returned it to the store.

In short: get the 40mm if you want to wear the Hermès Double Tour bracelet. Or 44 mm, if you like Apple's magnetic leather straps.

The 44mm model will display more information, but the 40mm version is almost not far behind

Due to the higher display resolution, the “large” Apple Watch Series 4 has an advantage: it can show more information on one screen. This is a serious advantage for a watch.

The difference in diagonal is most noticeable in the quick commands menu, on the Siri prompts dial (you can see half a block more), in the main menu (more icons) and when reading text notifications from an iPhone.

However, there is a trick with the latter.

You can change the font size in watchOS (Apple Watch operating system) settings. If you reduce it a little, then even a 40mm watch will show exactly the same amount of text in notifications as the 44mm model. You'll just have to look a little harder.

40 mm is for those who like small watches, wear them primarily as an accessory, and have thin or regular-width wrists.

44 mm is for those who like large watches, have wide wrists, want maximum battery life and a very large (for a watch) display, and also for people with limited vision.

In 2019, Apple introduced the fifth series of watches, however, the previous model, Apple Watch Series 4, disappeared from the catalog. Now two options are available on the company’s official website: Apple Watch Series 3 and Apple Watch Series 5. Residents of Russia are limited in the choice of modifications: We traditionally do not sell watches with steel, ceramic or titanium cases. In the official sale you can only find a gadget made of aluminum.

A modification of Nike+ is also sold in Russia. These are the same watches with an aluminum case, but with a strap from the sports brand and exclusive dials with its logo.

That being said, the Series 4 hasn't disappeared from shelves, so we'll also look at them in our comparison.

How do different Apple Watch series differ?

General characteristics

	Apple Watch Series 5	Apple Watch Series 4	Apple Watch Series 3
Case size, mm	40/44	40/44	38/42
Thickness, mm	10,7	10,7	11,4
Weight, g	39,8/47,8	30/37	42/53
Back panel material	Ceramic and sapphire glass	Ceramic and sapphire glass	Composite
Immersion in water, m	Up to 50	Up to 50	Up to 50

Display

	Apple Watch Series 5	Apple Watch Series 4	Apple Watch Series 3
Technology	LTPO OLED	LTPO OLED	OLED
Diagonal, inches	1,57/1,78	1,57/1,78	1,5/1,65
Area, mm²	759/977	759/977	563/740
Resolution, pixels	324×394/368×448	324×394/368×448	272×340/ 312×390
Pixel density, ppi	326	326	290/303
Brightness, cd/m²	1 000	1 000	1 000
Always on display support	Eat	No	No

Hardware platform

	Apple Watch Series 5	Apple Watch Series 4	Apple Watch Series 3
CPU	64-bit dual-core Apple S5	64-bit dual-core Apple S4	Dual-core Apple S3
Capacity, GB	32	16	8
Wireless chip	Apple W3	Apple W3	Apple W2
Wi-Fi	802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz	802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz	802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.0	Bluetooth 5.0	Bluetooth 4.2
Wheel		Digital Crown with haptic feedback	Digital Crown

Sensors and modules

	Apple Watch Series 5	Apple Watch Series 4	Apple Watch Series 3
Accelerometer	Measurement of overloads up to 32 g	Measurement of overloads up to 32 g	Measurement of overloads up to 16 g
Gyroscope	Improved	Improved	Ordinary
Navigation	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS
Altimeter	Barometric	Barometric	Barometric
Light sensor	Eat	Eat	Eat
Magnetic compass	Eat	No	No

Biometric sensors

Nutrition

	Apple Watch Series 5	Apple Watch Series 4	Apple Watch Series 3
Battery life, h	Before 18	Before 18	Before 18

Available colors, complete straps and bracelets

Prices

We took the cost of Series 5 and Series 3 from the official Apple catalog. The price of fourth generation watches may be slightly higher or lower depending on the store.

Who should buy the Apple Watch Series 5

The fifth generation watch is suitable for those who do not accept compromises and want to wear the latest Apple Watch, which will not become outdated for a long time. The appearance of a magnetic compass may please extreme travelers, and the function of determining the angle of movement may please snowboarders and skiers.

Not the most common scenario that justifies the purchase of the latest Apple Watch is the constant use of the watch as a music player. The device has 32 GB of internal memory, which, apart from music, doesn’t have much to fill with anything.

The main innovation of the fifth generation is the always-on screen. If you've been waiting for this feature in Apple watches for a long time, then this is your choice.

Who should buy the Apple Watch Series 4

Apple Watch Series 4 is head and shoulders above the third series: it is a completely redesigned device with a bunch of new features and a different design. But there are almost no differences from Series 5.

The optimal choice for those who like the dimensions, body and screen of the Apple Watch Series 5, but don’t want to overpay 5,000 rubles for an always-on display and compass.

Who should buy the Apple Watch Series 3

It's the most affordable Apple Watch yet and has all the vital features, including NFC payment and water resistance. The watch also supports the latest version of the watchOS 6.0 operating system, which means that most of the features invented by Apple in 2019 will be available on the third-generation gadget.

Suitable for those who want to save money: the mini version will cost about half as much as fifth-generation watches. In this case, the device will regularly monitor workouts, play music when the iPhone is dead, and show notifications.

One of the most famous analogues, which can recognize not only the music being played, but also the song you are singing. For an identified composition, a link to Google Play immediately appears, as well as supporting information about the artist himself, his albums and videos.

A useful feature of the service is the ability to monitor the lyrics of a song in real time. The application is completely free to use, but you will have to put up with advertising banners. In general, SoundHound is almost as accurate in terms of accuracy, but the recognition process itself sometimes takes much longer.

2. BeatFind

This is a lesser-known, but no less useful service, devoid of a clutter of functions and advertising. In terms of accuracy of recognition of compositions, it is not inferior to its more famous analogues, and in terms of speed it often even surpasses them. During testing, he made a mistake only once, mistaking a song performed a cappella for a studio original.

The recognized track can be opened in Spotify, Deezer or YouTube. The application also allows you to visualize the music that you “hear” by synchronizing the animation on the screen with it. Even your camera's flash can blink at the beat, as if it were a portable strobe light.

3.MusicID

Another little-known and very simple-looking service with links to Amazon. It doesn't know much about indie music, especially Russian-speaking artists, but it has a nice and user-friendly interface with a minimum amount of advertising.

All found tracks are stored in the search history, from where you can always return to them. For each song, similar compositions and links to videos from YouTube are displayed. You can easily navigate to all albums by artist. The Russian language is not supported, but no special knowledge of English is required.

4. Google Audio Search and Siri

In fact, you can recognize the music around you without any applications. Owners of Android devices can use the audio search widget available with the Google app. It will not only identify the song, but will also allow you to immediately proceed to purchase on Google Play and get more information about the artist and album from the Web.

In the case of Apple devices, everything is much simpler, because Shazam functionality has long been built into Siri. You just need to launch the assistant and ask him “What song is playing?” or simply “Who’s singing?” A link to Apple Music is, of course, included.

5. Bots in Telegram

Using bots in the messenger is not the most convenient way to recognize music, but for those who “live” on Telegram, this option may well be suitable. You just need to add the desired bot and let it listen to the song by holding down the microphone in the message sending line.

One of the most popular bots for this is . It has no problems with recognition speed and accuracy. Each track found is supplemented with a link to the Yandex music service of the same name.

Another option is the Acknow bot. It is also quite accurate and fast, but for it to work you need to subscribe to the Bassmuzic channel. Acknow supplements tracks with links to Spotify and YouTube.