The Apple Watch Series 2 (beginning at $369) is the closest we have come to a real smartwatch/health tracker hybrid. Along with a quicker processor and a brighter screen than the original mannequin, the Series 2 now comes with a waterproof design for swimmers, and built-in GPS so the runners can leave their iPhones at home. It’s a lot more costly than a Pebble, and health features aren’t fairly as advanced as you may get with some dedicated trackers we have examined, but it surely’s a reliable alternative for iOS users looking for the most efficient of both world. Even so, like most smartwatches, it nonetheless isn’t a must-have device.
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Design
And yet again, Apple has opted for a square look for the Apple Watch Series 2, whereas a lot of the competitors, just like the Samsung Gear S3 and the Asus ZenWatch 3, go the more conventional round route. I discover Apple’s design enticing, and like that, it stands out a bit. It’s also very comfy, to the purpose that I may sleep with it on without it being a hassle.
The rotating Digital Crown is located on the right; pushing it in twice opens up the primary app screen, whereas rotating it zooms in or out, scrolls, and inputs information depending on the screen you are looking at. Next to the Digital Crown is the merely named Side Button. It powers the watch on and off when held down, wakes up the watch, pulls up the Dock, and sends an SOS alert. On the left side, you will find two little slots for the audio system and two pinholes for the microphone. Underneath, you will see metallic charging contacts and tiny buttons on both sides that you just push to slide off the swappable band.
Display
The Apple Watch Series 2 comes with an OLED Retina touch display, similar to the original. However, it’s twice as vibrant, at 1,000 nits in contrast with the original’s 450. Now, that’s bright enough to light your way in a dark room, and it’s easily viewable in direct daylight. Both the 38mm and 42mm models come with a resolution of 272 x 340 and 312 x 390 pixels, respectively, similar to the original. That works out to only over 300 pixels per inch (ppi) for the 42mm mannequin. Pictures, textual content, and video all look nice and sharp. It’s even better than the 400 x 400 pixel, 286ppi display on the Huawei Watch.
Force Touch is back, which implies you’ll be able to push hard on display to activate completely different features depending on the app or screen that’s open. In case you’re on the watch face, for example, you possibly can press down and then cycle by the other faces out the re. In Twitter, Force Touching commands the screen to compose a new Tweet.
The display isn’t always on, which implies it blinks off if you put your wrist down or if you’re not doing anything on the watch for around 10 seconds. In contrast, the Pebble Time and the forthcoming Samsung Gear S3 are always on, which is handy if you’re glancing at your wrist for the time.
WatchOS 3 and its Features
You need an iPhone 5 or later to pair with the Apple Watch Series 2. To pair, you need to download or open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, open it, and follow the simple instructions. It takes a while pairing course of to finish. As soon as connected, the watch automatically syncs along with your mobile device each time it’s in range.
The Sequence 2 ships with watchOS 3, which incorporates some new features like a Dock screen for fast entry to your favorite apps, the flexibility to handwrite messages on the screen, extra watch faces, and SOS function to alert emergency contacts to your location or dial 911. Original Apple Watch users can download and install the new software program at no cost.
You can access the Dock by pressing the Side Button. It’s a screen where you can flip through apps you’ve got already opened, which seem as little cards in a horizontal line. You may swipe through and open apps from there rather than utilizing the small bubble interface on the home screen, which is quite handy.
Apps can now run in the background. As far as handwriting messages are concerned, the precise process takes a while—you’ll be able only to scribble one letter or symbol at a time—however, it’s a good addition to have. In any other case, you may speak into the microphone to compose your textual content, and access the standard array of emojis.
Siri is always listening so that you only have to say “Hey Siri” to set off voice control. For example, you may say, “Hey Siri, set the alarm for 6:30,” and the watch will open the alarm app with the fixed period. Of course, the Apple Watch Series 2 can also display caller ID info, calendar reminders, social media notifications, and textual content messages.
Performance
The Apple Watch Series 2 is powered by a new dual-core S2 processor to which the Apple says is twice as the speed of the original’s S1 chip, with a GPU that will deliver 50 % quicker performance. It’s troublesome to benchmark a smartwatch, however as far as I can inform, efficiency is snappy. Apps open in less time than the original, and motions feel quick and fluid.
As far as sensors go, the watch has an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a heart price monitor, similar to the original. The built-in GPS makes the Series 2 a good selection for athletes (particularly runners), and for the most half, it works very efficiently. Using GPS, you may leave your iPhone at home whenever you go for a run and still get accurate distance and pace stats, in addition to maps of your route.
The Apple Watch Series 2 doesn’t continuously monitor your heart rate, just like the Fitbit Charge 2 and another dedicated fitness trackers. The re’s also no built-in sleep monitoring. For that, you need to install a third-party app, and as mentioned, the little battery life means you will probably be recharging it every night anyway. The Apple Activity app is somewhat helpful. It offers you an excellent breakdown of active minutes, distance traveled, calories burned, steps and progress made, depending upon the activity, all on the same screen.
WaterProofing
You’ll be able to take the Apple Watch Series 2 all the way down to an impressive 164 feet underwater. Though, Apple cautions that it must not be used for scuba diving or waterskiing. You may swim with it, although, and use it to track swimming stats together with calories burned, distance traveled, pace, and strokes.
A powerful new mechanism in the watch’s speaker ejects any water that finds its way inside. You will realize it’s time to take away liquid whenever you see a water drop icon on the top of the display. When that occurs, just rotate the side dial. Now, wait and just watch liquid sputter out of the speaker port, accompanied by a mechanical whirring sound.
You’ll not be able to use the touch screen underwater, and it may be troublesome to swipe through app screens with wet fingers.
Battery Life
Battery life is similar to the original Apple Watch, at about 18 hours. That means you will be recharging the watch each night of battery life left. You have to use the included magnetic charging cable to juice up the Apple Watch Series 2 rechargeable lithium-ion battery. That may be irritating if you wish to track your sleep at night and also you only have a bit of battery life left.
With GPS enabled, your battery life estimate drops to 5 hours, which is sufficient for a small marathon.
Conclusion
The Apple Watch Series 2 is the most powerful smartwatch-fitness tracker hybrid we have seen, and better than the original watch because of a brighter screen, quicker performance, and an impressive waterproof design. If you’ve not bought the Series 2 and are looking for something even more runner-specific, try the Apple Watch Nike+, with its unique watch faces, Siri instructions, and built-in Nike app. If you aren’t in the health features, the Apple Watch Series 1 will save you $100 while still giving you access to Apple’s fantastic third-party app choice.
Where To Buy
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