Apple Watch Series 2 review: Apple’s wearable gets cheaper

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.