Okay, I’ll admit it. The Apple Watch I’ve been using for the past year or so has a patchy record on my wrist.
I absolutely love it, but when I’ve had to remove it – because I’ve been testing an Android phone or smartwatch – I haven’t always automatically put it back on afterwards.
This is nothing to do with its quality as a smartwatch. The Apple Watch has been, comfortably, the best smartwatch on the market since it launched, and had it not been for the appearance of the Apple Watch Series 2, it would still reign supreme.
Apple did a great job back in 2015 in producing a wearable that was intuitive to use and looked great. It also achieved that tricky task of establishing a workable platform for wrist-based software, and encouraging developers to produce great apps for it.
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But I wanted more. I wanted a smartwatch that could track my running, swimming, cycling and sleep as proficiently as my favourite fitness trackers. That’s something the original Watch didn’t quite offer.
Fortunately, Apple has become rather good at steadily improving its products over the years, and the Apple Watch Series 2 benefits from that vast experience – and then some. In fact, it’s close to being my ideal smartwatch.
Apple Watch Series 2 review: Out with the old...
So what’s actually new with the Apple Watch Series 2? You won’t be able to tell by just looking at it, unless you’ve splashed out on the beautiful ceramic version (this year’s iteration of the Apple Watch “Edition”), or plumped for the black-and-neon-yellow Nike+ model, but the changes are there nonetheless.
The differences start out small. Although the squared-off watch face and gorgeously rounded glass screen edges are still there, with the clickable digital crown and narrow button on the right edge, it’s actually fractionally taller and thicker than the original. The left edge is adorned by two small slots for the watch’s speaker, as before, but there are now two pinprick holes instead of one, for the Watch’s new noise-cancelling microphones.
You won’t see a sharper display, this time, either. As with the first Apple Watch, the technology used is AMOLED, and the resolutions are the same too. The 38mm model has a 272 x 340 display, delivering 290ppi, while the 42mm model has a 312 x 390 screen, delivering 302ppi.
It’s inside that the bigger changes begin to emerge. First up, there’s a new processor, the dual-core Apple S2, which Apple says offers 50% faster processing performance and double the graphics speed. Then there’s a brighter display, twice as bright as the original, reaching a peak brightness of 1,000cd/m2. Both these upgrades are welcome, and both make a difference
Navigating around the confines of watchOS 3 feels more fluid than before, although there are still places where it isn’t 100% smooth, while the screen is noticeably more readable outdoors. I’ll be interested to see how it fares in full, bright sunshine, but since we haven’t seen an awful lot of that in the UK recently, this will have to wait for a later update.
Elsewhere, there’s a bigger Taptic Engine, which gives a slightly stronger buzz than before, and a larger battery. There’s a 273mAh battery in the 38mm model versus the 205mAh one in the previous edition, and although no-one has yet dismantled the 42mm version, it’s safe to say the battery will be similarly improved in that model.
In the time I’ve had the watch for testing, I’ve found it performs at a similar level to the previous model, which is impressive given how much more it’s doing. Even including a 47-minute swim and several short bursts of GPS use, the 42mm Apple Watch Series 2 I tested lasted almost two full days.
Apple Watch Series 2 review: Waterproof, swim-proof and built-in GPS
Read the subheading. That tells you all you need to know about the Apple Watch Series 2’s big selling points. Because as nice as it is to have a faster processor, brighter screen and bigger battery, new features are even better.
The new Apple Watch is waterproof to 50 metres, which means you can swim with it, and it will track your pool sessions as well. In fact, the Apple Watch is as good as many dedicated fitness trackers I’ve used for tracking swimming.
It has both open-water and pool-based modes; with the latter, it will count your laps, track your heart rate (surprisingly accurately) and give you a time per 100m as well.
There are some quirks to be ironed out here. I found that, for the first few laps, the distance travelled and number of laps didn’t quite tally up, and although Apple says the Watch will detect your stroke type, it doesn’t surface this data in any kind of depth. After my 1,500m swim, it was content to state I’d used “mixed” strokes during my workout. Not very helpful.
Having said that, what the Series 2 did track was accurate. When I threw in a stroke change halfway through a lap, it managed to cope where my Moov Now, which I was wearing as a control, became confused and added an extra 50m.
If that was all the Series 2 added, it would be enough, but Apple has gone one step further and added built-in GPS. Now you can take the Apple Watch Series 2 out running or hiking without having to cart your phone around, and it will still be able to track your speed and location.
Great stuff, and once again, it’s pretty good at it. Because it uses assisted GPS (A-GPS), you won’t have to wait for minutes at a time while it scans the sky for available satellites, and I found it rarely lost satellite contact even around medium- and low-rise areas of central London. I haven’t had the chance to test it in high-rise areas yet, though, so your mileage may vary.
The best thing about the GPS in the Apple Watch, though, is that it’s completely transparent. There’s no external indication that the Watch is using its own internal GPS or your iPhone’s, and when it loses contact with your phone it simply switches over. The only evidence you get that it’s ever lost satellite contact is a dotted line along the route map in the summary it shows you at the end of your run or walk.
Overall, the Apple Watch Series 2 is a great improvement on the fitness front, but it’s not the perfect tracker just yet. Fitness nerds will point out that it lacks support for ANT+ accessories, and that it doesn’t have an altimeter and won’t track elevation. A more surprising omission, perhaps, is that there’s still no sleep tracking function built in as standard.
However, it’s almost there, and in conjunction with watchOS 3’s new fitness-sharing facilities, the GPS and waterproofing mean that the Apple Watch is now a serious contender in the fitness-tracker stakes. Indeed, for most people it will be the only wearable they ever need.
Apple Watch Series 2 review: watchOS 3
One thing we knew would arrive with the Apple Watch Series 2 was watchOS 3. We’ve already taken a look at what’s in watchOS 3 (and you can click here to check our overview of all the new features), but to recap, its primary focus is on speeding up app performance and streamlining the UI.
Gone is the rarely used favourite friends feature, which used to be activated by pressing the side button, and in its place is a “Dock” where you can put your most commonly used apps.
Apps in the dock are also kept in the Watch’s memory so that they open significantly faster when you need them, and if they’ve been coded for watchOS 3, apps can pull data from your phone in the background.
The old Glances view has now made way for the Control Centre, giving quick access to common settings such as Do Not Disturb and Flight mode with a drag up from the bottom of the display. It’s now possible to respond to messages by using handwriting recognition, too, as well as a selection of pre-canned responses.
With updates to many core apps, and the new Breathe app to help you relax when things get stressful, watchOS 3 represents a dramatic change to the way the Apple Watch works.
Apple Watch Series 2 review: Verdict and prices
It may not look it, then, but the second Apple Watch is a serious overhaul, and a successful one at that. Where the first watch was merely okay as an occasional fitness tracker, it’s now a fully fledged multi-sport fitness device with very few gaps in its armoury.
Combined with improved usability and performance, the Apple Watch Series 2 holds an even bigger lead over the rest of the smartwatch crowd, and while that won’t mean much to you if you’re an Android smartphone user, it gives iPhone users even more of a reason to buy one.
Perhaps the only issue here is that, due to the weakness of the pound against the dollar, the Apple Watch Series 2 is now more expensive than the original when it launched. The smaller 38mm model starts at £369, while the 42mm watch starts at £399, up from £299 and £339. That’s disappointing, but Apple has also slightly overhauled the original, keeping it on sale and boosting its speed, while dropping the price to £269 for the 38mm and £299 for the 42mm.
The fact remains, though: the Apple Watch in either of its guises is the best smartwatch on the market, and the Series 2 can now claim to be among the best fitness trackers too.
