“The new Apple Watch Series 2, available Friday starting at $369, adds key enhancements for people who would rather do a triathlon than sit on the couch eating a bacon burger — or maybe enjoy doing both,” Joanna Stern reports for The Wall Street Journal. “GPS makes it a far better running partner, a faster processor saves a lot of time and improved water-resistance for swimming could turn Michael Phelps’s frown upside down… After a week of wearing it I’ve stopped asking, ‘What’s Apple been doing for the past two years?!'”
“The Series 2 is what the first Apple Watch should have been — a more advanced Fitbit with the good looks and features to justify wearing it all day, every day. It’s speedy, helpful and able to go where you can’t — or won’t — take your smartphone,” Stern reports. “On Saturday morning, I went for a 2-mile run, just me, my Apple Watch and two alien-looking AirPods. Yes, I left my iPhone, and my dignity, at home… The AirPods stayed in fairly well when I was jogging, and they certainly beat the annoying process of pairing my PowerBeats.”
“My Saturday morning run concluded with a stop at Walgreens to pick up some water (OK, fine, and some Sour Patch Kids). A double-tap on the watch’s side button brought up my credit card and Walgreens rewards. Apple Pay worked fine, even though my phone was at home,” Stern reports. “If you’re a runner or a swimmer, the Series 2 is where it’s at. What about a Fitbit instead? …I still prefer the Apple Watch to the Fitbit Blaze smartwatch. Apple’s design is sleeker and its selection of third-party apps is stronger.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: Stern makes one big mistake in her review, writing “upgrading a watch isn’t something you should do every year or two.” Sorry, but that’s not the job of the reviewer. Just as claiming a product’s price is “expensive.” One man’s “expensive” is another’s “peanuts.” Just report the price and the reader can decide whether it’s affordable or not; the reviewer’s personal financial situation is meaningless when it comes to price. Back to the idea of upgrading: We plan to upgrade our Apple Watch units every time a new one is available because it’s not just a “watch,” not by a long shot, it’s a personal computer on your wrist.
As for the AirPods looking alien: Tape a pair of wires on the ends of each and you’ll see that they look very much like the type of earphones that everyone is very used to seeing by now (which, for those who remember, we weren’t used to seeing before iPod – people thought those looked “alien,” too). We’ll all get used to the lack of wires soon enough.
SEE ALSO:
The Verge reviews Apple Watch Series 2: There’s something effortlessly cool about it – September 14, 2016
Apple Watch Series 2: Apple refocuses its smartwatch – September 12, 2016
We’ve all said it before. Thank you to all you selfless beta testers. The original device was so new tried to do so much that it was only obvious that such an ambitious device would need to be in the wild, used in real world to better the experience. I highly doubt Apple could have gotten to this point had it been working on it in a bubble inside Apple. It needed to go out get feedback from all the millions of users.
I have no doubt that wearables are going to be a huge market, but every product evolves with each generation. The wright brothers first effort was not a jet fighter or jumbo jet, it was little more modest.
That’s how it works. its called evolution.
Still loving my original Watch. I don’t place the same demands on it others might and what it does for me is all I need at present. Glad to see it evolving so well and received as it should.
Some people think the Apple Watch has to be just a tiny iPhone worn on their wrist but with a battery that can be used to jump start a semitrailer truck and a magical tiny display that somehow become a huge iPad when you want to play video games like GTA. I am tired of these type of people who just don’t get what a watch is.
“The AirPods stayed in fairly well”
If they’re marketed for running, they need to do better than that.