Apple Watch Series 2
FITNESS TAKES OVER THE APPLE WATCH.
WITH THE CHEAPEST 38mm version of the Series 2 costing from $529 (with the 42mm version from $579 and a ceramic edition at $1,799), the new Apple Watch is a hard sell, so has Apple done enough to improve it this time round? The design is unchanged; the curved edges, the formed glass, the quality of the spinning Digital Crown on the side all feel fantastic. The displays are the same size and resolution, with the OLED displays flowing attractively into the side of the frame. The Watch 2’s screen can now display at 1,000 nits, which is bright. As it’s now waterresistant, the display has been augmented with a ‘wet mode’, which locks the display and disables touch functionality.
The big spec upgrade on the Watch 2 is a new dual-core processor. Combined with 512MB of RAM (reportedly), it whips along under the finger compared to the original. That said, the response isn’t quite instant.
The watchOS 3 software upgrade is the platform the Apple Watch has been crying out for, coming with some smart tricks that really make use of the additional hardware. It’s amazing in retrospect that Apple didn’t launch the original Watch with the dock, a place for your 10 most-used apps (which you can set) that’s accessed by pressing the side button. And with the new software comes the ability for apps to show you more information.
The app experience is still a long way from being indispensable; there are some nice tweaks but it’s odd how few third-party apps still aren’t native (as in, working without the phone attached). There’s now an emergency SOS feature on the Watch that we love — press the power button and you bring up an SOS call option. You can also set this to trigger automatically after a countdown when you press the power button, and notify contacts of your location when triggered. It’s an excellent feature for the vulnerable.
The big hardware upgrade is the addition of GPS. The Series 2 also hooks up to GLONASS, the Russian variant of the global positioning satellite system, so it has more chance of picking up your precise location. The GPS lock seems pretty strong, and seeing your route taken after a run is great, but there’s no clear way to know you’ve got a fix before you go.
For hardcore fitness fans, Apple makes it easy to tell the Watch you’re going on complex runs or doing certain training types. But the new method of pausing a workout by pressing the Digital Crown and side button together should be a brilliant feature, but was inconsitent for us. The bigger issue for fitness use is still the third-party app experience. The Workouts app is fine if you’re just trying to beat your personal best, but we need apps from Strava and Adidas (among others) to bring a new level of functionality. Sadly, the Nike app doesn’t seem to add much to Workouts. If Apple could create a ‘Pro’ running app, it would be a runner’s dream.
Still, it’s all easier to use than before. The GPS accuracy is excellent, the battery life is stronger than expected and the user interface is clean and usable. The unreliable heart-rate monitor is still an issue, however. Has Apple made the perfect running watch? Not at all — but it’s a massive step in the right direction.
It’s not just running, though: the 2 is adept at other tracking tasks — from cycling to elliptical machines to ‘other’, which gives you the equivalent calorie burn to a brisk walk. Swimming tracking is the big new feature, and while, again, this doesn’t tell you much beyond how far you’ve gone and for how long, Apple has coded the accelerometer and gyroscope to be able to tell when you’re changing lengths.
Fitness is at the heart of the Series 2, but it’s not the only reason to own a Watch. The less active among us still get a device that acts as something like the equivalent of a remote control for our iPhones. It makes it easy to view notifications without breaking what you’re doing, and answer calls without your phone in-hand. The dock makes it easier to get quick information from apps. That said, these features are not unique to the 2 — the cheaper Series 1 will do these things just as well.
The battery life is also largely unchanged — it can get through a couple of days of light use, but you’ll mostly need to charge it every night. When using it for intense continuous fitness tracking, for instance, you can get around five hours from it.
So it’s still not quite a must-buy, but the Watch is more compelling than ever, and the Series 2 is a big boost for fitness lovers.