With Apple introducing Apple Watch 2, there are quite a few upgrades that have come to Apple’sSmart Watch. From improved GPS abilities to better water-resistance, Apple Watch has improved quite a lot. Though still not perfect, but you can really enjoy the improved experience. So, let’s perform an Apple Watch 2 review and try to find out more about different aspects of the Apple Watch Series 2.
Jump To Section
- Design Upgrades In Apple Watch 2
- What’s The Screen Like?
- Performance And watchOS 3
- How About Running With Your Apple Watch 2 On?
- What About Other General Fitness Tracking?
- Apple Watch 2 Price
Design Upgrades In Apple Watch 2
Apple watch series 2 comes with a simple design. You may find the overall design similar to previous version. And that’s not really something bad unless you love to have round-shaped wearable on your wrist. As we all know, Apple always designs something that looks nice regardless of what product it is.
Everything in the Apple Watch 2 gives a premium look be it those curved edges, quality of digital crown or formed glass. And, when it comes to the weight, it weighs reasonably and isn’t too heavy or too light.
The straps don’t look too elegant and Apple should have come up with something different. It is also a bit hard to push the small strap release buttons.
Take a look at underside of your Apple Watch 2 and you’ll find heart rate monitor there along with four LEDs which serve the purpose of pulsing light underneath your skin so that your heart rate could be tracked. These LEDs may appear to be bulbous at first but when you strap the watch around your wrist, they are not noticeable and offer support for some useful features of the watch.
Even though Apple has gotten rid of the gold version that was too expensive, it has now given a ceramic alternative. And eve this one is quite expensive with price going as high as thrice the price of base model. Besides ceramic, there are stainless steel and aluminum watches are available.
The Series 2 watches from Apple are water-resistant, and feature GPS functionality along with bigger battery. All these have also caused the watch to get a bit thicker as compared to previous model. You can use the watch while swimming and it can be your perfect tracking help as well.
What’s The Screen Like?
As for the dimensions of the screen, there are no big changes in Apple Watch 2. In fact, it comes with same 1.65” display that was there in previous model and there’s 390×312 OLED display to go into side of Apple Watch’s frame.
What’s worth talking about the screen of the Watch series 2 is its brightness. Yes, it comes with up to around 1000 nits brightness. It is way brighter compared to previous Apple Watch models and allows you to read easily in just about any conditions. That OLED elementin the display means that it turns off black backgrounds when they’re not being used. It doesn’t just help in saving some battery life but also improves brightness of white element.
Also, as we now have a water-resistant Watch, there’s a ‘wet mode’ added to the display. It locks your Watch’s display while disabling touch functionality at the time of activation. That’s something really smart we believe. As water is a conductor of electricity, it is sensed by the screen as input and performs tasks while you’re swimming. When you have wet mode turned on, your Watch screen isn’t just safe but also activates automatically when swimming tracking is turned on.
The unlocking is pretty cool as well. You have to spin digital crown of your Watch, and when it gets cleared completely, a pulse is emitted by the speaker for shoving out water if there is any of it left inside.
When you consider the big positives of Apple Watch 2, screen is one of the top few items on the list. Though the resolution may not be that high as what you might get with best phones available today, it’s quite sharp enough. And, it is colorful and bright enough to perform different tasks easily at any time.
Performance And watchOS 3
Apple Watch Series 2 comes with an all-new processor which makes your Watch to function smoother than ever. Though you can’t rate older models anywhere near sluggish, but Watch 2 has really got a performance boost. You can quickly open the apps and everything else has become a bit more immediate. App switching might be the biggest difference you can feel in performance as things are done instantly now.
The snappier fell of the Watch Series 2 isn’t just because of S2 processor that comes along. Rather, the watchOS 3 also has its role to play in this improved performance. With this operating system, it is possible for the developers to ensure that their apps stay inside the memory once they are opened. And when something is already there in the memory, it significantly cuts down the loading time. So, that gives a massive performance boost.
You can also pin the apps to the dock. Also, any open apps stay there as well. So, it’s the matter of your priority as to which apps you’d like to keep just a tap away. Though the apps can be pinned from your smartwatch directly, but it gets a lot easier if you opt to manage them through Watch app on your iPhone.
This way, you will be able to better personalize your Watch 2 settings,as well as those of the tweaks you have installed, which may not be accessible through the device directly. As there are lots of apps available, it may not be the easiest of things for you to decide which ones you should get accustomed to. However, with a bit of persistence, you can be able to find all types of tweaks like those that allow you to adjust brightness of the screen or hand & orientation for wearing the watch.
The Apple Watch 2 comes with quite a lot of new watch faces and changing them has also become easier than ever. A simple swipe from right-to-left can help you switch faces. It is also possible to decide what should appear on each of these watch faces. It allows you to add app shortcuts of your own choice or decide to access certain information constantly.
Easy switching of watch faces can be taken both as a curse and a blessing. For instance, you may like a particular watch face and you can switch to it easily whenever you like to make any changes. But, in the process, you may also end up on a watch face that you may not be too comfortable with. Though it is a minor thing, but it may irritate you when it starts happening quite often.
The watch OS 3 also comes with Emergency SOS, another worth mentioning addition. Press and hold side button of your Apple Watch for few seconds to bring up the option of Emergency SOS. And, as you press it, your Apple Watch will start making loud beeps and emergency services will be dialed from your iPhone right away depending on which region you are in.
Apple Watch 2 also comes with storage but there is a limit to it. 2GB at most can be used for music while 75MBs of photos can reside on your Apple Watch. Now with that distribution, you may be able to store anywhere around 400 songs right on your wrist. So, that would be great if you’re planning to use your Apple Watch with Bluetooth headphones as you head out and don’t want to take your iPhone along.
How About Running With Your Apple Watch 2 On?
Though you may not term it as a perfect watch for running, but it certainly is a big leap forward. If your Apple Watch 2 can give you accurate monitoring of your heart rate then it would, definitely, step a bit closer to becoming a perfect all-in-one Watch.
The accuracy of the GPS is quite good, however. Besides, it now comes with a stronger battery alongside a clean user interface that is quite usable as well. So, if Apple can come up with a perfect running app that can give you some dedicated plans that you can follow then resisting this Apple Watch would be almost impossible.
Right now, Apple is dependent on developers for that. And, despite the fact that they may be able to do that, there are no brands with running watches of their own that can cannibalize the sales with such moves.
What About Other General Fitness Tracking?
Your Apple Watch 2 can adeptly perform other fitness tracking as well. Be it elliptical machines, or cycling, or any other workout that burns equal number of calories as in brisk walk, Apple Watch can handle all.
Among all these, swimming tracking can be considered as a major feature that comes with Watch Series. Though it may not tell you the distance you have travelled or for how long you have been swimming, there’s a gyroscope and an accelerometer that tell you when you are changing lengths. And as you enter your pool’s length while starting your workout, your Apple Watch 2 should be able to tell how exactly how you have done.
Apple hasn’t done a great job bynot taking an all-out approach towards fitness tracking, adding some tailored programs designed for keeping your faster and fitter by changing styles of your workouts.It’s high time for it to do that – rather than relying on the third-party applications for creating some wonderful experiences, Apple could really turn itself into a winner as far as fitness tracking is concerned.
And, there wouldn’t be much of a problem in that as it has already included some good enough fitness tracking capabilities on its Apple Watch 2. It doesn’t give you just some meaningless numbers, rather you can find out for how long you have been active, what calorie goals you should be working towards, and determine how much you are standing every day. And, we all know how important all this can be from fitness viewpoint.
Apple Watch 2 Price
Apple Watch 2 was made available last year on 16th of September. When it first came out, the Watch was priced at $369 for the cheapest 38mm model. However, now that Apple Watch Series 3 has been announced, the starting price for the Series 2 Watch has been lowered down to $249.
You can also buy its Nike+ variant at same price. There’s a better sports band that it comes with and allows instant app access as well. There are no brand levies associated which we normally see and that’s why the cost is the same as base model.
So, Apple Watch 2is definitely great from many perspectives and carries many features that you can boast of. If you are planning to buy a new smartwatch this one would be a good choice. Though there are some limitations, but it is well worth its price. Go ahead and get one for yourself!
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