Apple Watch Series 2 Review: a Faster, Brighter Fitness Machine

Apple’s Second Generation Watch Doubles Down on Fitness With GPS, Water-resistance, a Dual-core Processor, and a Super-bright Display. 

- Caitlyn McGarry

The Apple Watch is a polarizing product. Sometimes it feels like a novelty, a gadget lifted straight from Dick Tracy or Inspector Gadget. Other times it seems essential, a heart rate monitoring device that could save your life (go.macworld. com/watchsaves). To make the watch a need-to-have instead of just nice-to-have, Apple is doubling down on its health potential.

I wore the original Apple Watch Sport almost every day (not counting the weeks following The Incident go.mac world.com/watchtale), and I’ve long argued that the device’s true purpose lies in its health and fitness features (go.mac world.com/watchhealth). Apple is closer to realizing that potential with the Apple Watch Series 2 (go.macworld. com/shopwatch), which is equipped with GPS, 50-meter water resistance, a dual-core processor, and a brighter display. The Apple Watch is no longer a smartwatch that’s pretty good at activity tracking. It’s now a fitness band that does all that other stuff—notifications, messaging, emails, podcast playback, reminders—really well.

 

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The Series 2’s marquee feature (go. macworld.com/watchgps) is built-in GPS, which means you can leave your phone at home and the watch will record workouts like runs, hikes, and bike rides accurately. I tested this running the same route, once with my original Apple Watch and iPhone in tow, and once with just a Series 2. The mileage matched perfectly, and the results were also comparable to the same route tracked by a Fitbit with connected GPS. The GPS signal, which can get a little lost in New York with its tall, densely packed buildings, picked up as soon as I launched the Workout app.