I almost titled this article âReview: Apple Watch Series 2, as Apple's watch should have been in its first generationâ, but it's not just too clichĂ©, of course, that we always like to have better / more finished products in our hands. As soon.
The big question is that, when we aim for perfection in an exacerbated way, we can end up getting so involved that we never actually carry out a certain project. Apple, unlike Google for example, a company that prefers to take longer to deliver products / services to us, but when it does usually deliver something well thought out / polished.
The first generation Apple Watch, last year analyzed in detail by Edu, did not totally escape this rule. For a totally new product, I consider the 7.3 grade given by him to be good. Far from excellent, of course; but the Apple Watch didnât quickly take the top spot among smartwatches for nothing. Apple got it right in many ways, although there was plenty of room for improvement.
At the Apple Watch Series 2, near to watchOS 3, the company worked hard and managed to resolve a good part of the criticisms regarding its clock. In this review, I will talk about each one of them.
Nomenclatures
Before going into the news of the Apple Watch Series 2 itself, let's talk about nomenclatures. Since the first generation, there was some confusion in the model structure created by Apple. Before we had the Apple Watch Sport (aluminum), the Apple Watch (stainless steel) and the Apple Watch Edition (gold) in addition to the special edition Apple Watch Herms (also stainless steel).
This year, Apple both simplified and complicated it all. Now we have the Apple Watch Series 2 (which can be either aluminum or stainless steel, there is no longer a âSportâ line), the Apple Watch Edition (now ceramic, much more cheap), the special editions Apple Watch Nike + (of aluminum) and Apple Watch Herms (stainless steel), and the Apple Watch Series 1 (from aluminum).

The first clarification: the Apple Watch Series 1 * is not * the first generation Apple Watch. Actually as if it were, but it equipped with a processor dual-core just like the Series 2. That is, as if the first generation Apple Watch was an âApple Watch Series 0â. It is no longer sold by Ma.
Although the Apple Watch Edition, Apple Watch Nike + and Apple Watch Herms do not have âSeries 2â in their names, they have exactly the same technical characteristics as the Apple Watch Series 2.
Performance and GPS with the S2 chip
The Apple Watch Series 2 comes equipped with a new System in Package (SiP) developed by Ma, the S2. It not only has a processor dual-core built-in (like the one on the Apple Watch Series 1, called the S1P) that promises up to 50% better performance, as well as a GPU for up to 2x better graphics performance and clapping! a built-in GPS.
I only had the opportunity to use watchOS 3 on my first generation Apple Watch for a week, and I can already see a much better experience provided by the software. Combining that with the S2, my biggest complaint about the previous model was almost completely remedied. Before there were times when I give up to use Watch for something because I knew it would irritate me with its slowness. Now, no more.
I do not mean that the thing is already perfect. When we go to open an app that is not in a complication or in the Dock it still takes a few seconds to load, but much less than before. I understand that it shouldn't be easy for Apple to balance performance with low power consumption in such a limited physical space.
THE GPS, yes, a novelty that many awaited. The absence of this component was one of the things that most attached Watch to the iPhone in its first generation, especially for those who use the watch to exercise, one of its most common purposes, without a doubt. Now, whoever is going to run in an open space no longer needs to take the iPhone with them; Watch itself has an integrated GPS and can measure exactly the distance covered and plot its entire route on a map.
As the use of GPS affects the battery, Apple did something smart: when the iPhone is nearby, communicating with the Watch, the watch continues to pull the GPS data from the iPhone (which has a much larger battery). The Watch GPS itself is only activated when necessary.
Screen
Apple did not change the Watch screen sizes in any way (the watch continues to be sold in 38mm and 42mm versions, whose screens have resolutions of 272 Ă 340 and 312 Ă 390 pixels, respectively), as well as its exterior design. The aluminum models continue with a glass of ons-X, while stainless steel and ceramic have sapphire crystal.
What changed on the screen, and noticeably, was its brightness. It more than doubled from 450 to 1,000 nits. This is especially important when we are going to use the watch in the sunlight; Anyone who has used a first generation in this situation knows how difficult it was to see anything.

The new screen is not as visible as the e-ink of a Kindle, for example, but now it is quite satisfactory.
waterproof
And we arrived at what, for me, the biggest and best new feature of the Apple Watch Series 2. Ma said that the first generation model was water resistant, withstanding splashes, hand washing and maybe even taking a shower. Now, the watch officially waterproof with a classification of 50 meters within the ISO 22810: 2010 standard.

There were a lot of people who completely ignored what Apple was saying before and really put Watch down, without any problem. I preferred not to take risks and, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, when I went swimming, I kept the watch kept in the gym's closet. This upset me a lot, especially since my Activity circles were never properly filled in three days a week.
Now, yes, I can say that Watch basically just gets out of my arm at bedtime. And until it was worth the wait, because now, as the official waterproof rating, the WatchOS Exercises app itself has specific options for those who swim.
I never had a watch there Garmin Swim; with the Apple Watch Series 2 that I'm using a device for the first time to monitor me during the swim. As I heard from some people who have or have used a Garmin of these life, a great watch differentiator that you just need to start the exercise and forget. In these other watches, I need to press a button to inform you of each lap you take in the pool.
In the case of Watch, the use of sensors built into it (such as the accelerometer) to measure all of this automatically also has its disadvantages. For me, the worst of all Watch is not able to measure when I'm doing leg exercises either using a board or not. As there are no arm movements, he doesnât know Iâm crossing the pool. I can swim as long as I can, the lap counts and swim distance remain frozen.

I didn't get to test swimming with the Apple Watch Series 2 in an open space, so I don't know if I would use the built-in GPS to detect my displacement and also be able to measure leg exercises. But, for anyone who swims in indoor pools (like the one in my gym), it would be interesting for someone who knows how to manually add, at the end of training, at least the number of laps we took while doing leg exercises.
As water itself can affect the Watch's touchscreen sensitivity, right when we start a swimming exercise watchOS automatically locks the screen. It stays off most of the time, even to conserve battery, but when I stop at the edge of the pool just raise my arm as usual to check how I'm doing in the exercise.
I cannot fail to mention here the fantastic mechanism that Apple created to solve the âproblemâ that water continues to enter through the hole in the Watch's speaker, while everything else is now sealed. After you get out of the pool, just turn the Digital Crown to unlock the watch and it then automatically emits certain sounds at a frequency that expels water that is inside the speaker compartment.
pretty! đ
Drums
Here is something that âhas changed, but hasn't changedâ. Apple preferred not to mention the subject during the keynote, because in practice the idea is that owners of Watches continue to put it to recharge every night, when sleeping.
But the battery of the Apple Watch Series 2 increased a little in size, yes, even to support the S2 and mainly its built-in GPS. With that, Apple must have calculated that the average autonomy of the watch remains about a full day of use, but in my experience I can say that it goes beyond that.
Since I got the Apple Watch Series 2, I have had two or three experiences of not being able to recharge my watch at night, and this was not a problem because it is normal for me to sleep with (much) more than 50%. In fact, at the time of writing this paragraph it is now 10:44 pm, I have had Watch on my arm since 8:00 am and he has 75% battery. In other words, I was able to use the watch for two days straight without problems.
Still, we are a long way from the 7-day autonomy promised by a Pebble for example. And I'm not even going to talk about conventional watches, because the story here is different. No wonder, too, that Apple says nothing about sleep monitoring with Watch; the orientation is even to recharge it at night, and not to sleep with it on your wrist.
watchOS 3
I mentioned watchOS 3 a few times above, but it is worth a specific sub-topic about it here. Of Apple's four current operating systems (iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS), the one on the clock was the one I most looked forward to this year for all that it promised. And I was not disappointed.

I hated the concept of Abstracts (Glances), found it repetitive. I also donât remember using the button below the Digital Crown for something really useful that I donât play in the first few days I got the Watch, to send some drawings / ringtones to the few people I knew had a Watch too.
The Dock was everything I wanted for watchOS and I loved it being accessible by this button below the Digital Crown, which now has real use. With the system's performance optimizations, now the apps that are in that area (as well as the ones you put in the complications of your display) open practically instantly as they are stored in the RAM of the watch.

In addition to checking the time and following notifications, the main uses of Watch for me are knowing my upcoming appointments, checking the weather forecast, controlling the playback of music on my iPhone, recording and tracking exercises / activities, setting alarms and / or timers, and eventually take a photo on the iPhone from a distance. All of this is now always at hand, in the Dock.
The other news from watchOS 3, such as the Breathe app (Breathe), one or another new watch face (I expected more, much more although itâs nice to now be able to set up / customize your watch faces directly through the Watch app on the iPhone), sharing activities, etc. I didn't feel like it that much.
Design
As I mentioned in the sub-topic on the Apple Watch Series 2 screen, Apple has not changed the watch's exterior design this year with the exception of the addition of a second microphone hole / hole. His box is actually slightly thicker (probably to give more battery space), but the difference is imperceptible to the user.
That good and bad. Good because it indicates that Apple got it right in the design of the first generation, which saw no need to change now. And I don't even speak for the bracelets themselves, because even changing the design d to maintain support for the current mechanism of the bracelets for many years. I would say right now, that this should only change there for the fifth or sixth generation of the Apple Watch.
Well, too, because it maintains total familiarity with the product that is still going through an adaptation / acceptance phase for many people. And look, Apple did not do that when it moved from the first to the second generations of the iPod, iPhone and iPad; everyone has changed a lot.
But of course, there are negative points. Those who did not like the original design and expected something different now will have to wait at least another year. Whoever bought the first generation Apple Watch and now wanted a change would have to settle for something the same or very similar, that is to change the model and / or color. It is also bad for me that we cannot easily differentiate one Apple Watch from another simply by looking at it from the outside; You only know if we pay attention to that second microphone hole or looking at what is written behind the box, with the Watch off the wrist.

For my first Watch, I bought a leather bracelet that I wore everyday and only switched to sports when I was going to work out. Even so, after more than a year of using the leather, it became very worn and already bothered me at certain times. Now, with the Apple Watch Series 2, I am wearing the sports bracelet (the one that came with it) 100% of the time because, as I am swimming with the watch, I would have to change the bracelet every single day. Even better, because that way I save.
Completed
I think Apple did very well in the second generation of Watch. It remains a niche product, which many either do not understand, or (think) do not see useful or, reasonably, find it too expensive for what it offers. I am happy to be âobligedâ to have one, due to the nature of my work in . I would certainly live without it, but I would miss it after incorporating it into my daily life.

For those who have or have used a first generation Apple Watch well, the differentials of the Series 2 are quite clear. If you run outdoors or nothing, like me, I think that migrating to him is a no-brainer. But if you are not going to explore these benefits, I don't think you should buy simply thinking, for example, of superior performance; watchOS 3 alone has already brought good improvements in this regard.
To those who have never had an Apple Watch, I bring here the cliched phrase that I quoted at the beginning of the review: the Apple Watch is now as it should have been in its first generation and, although it appears to be the same, it is now much more capable as a smartwatch. And the thing is still to evolve somewhat in the software part, considering what we have seen change from watchOS 1.0 to 3.0 and in such a short time. I foresee a bright future for the Apple Watch and I am happy to be watching this development closely.
The Apple Watch Series 2 arrives in Brazil this Friday (10/28), costing from R $ 2,999.00 (or R $ 2,699.10 seen) for the 38mm aluminum models, which go for US $ 369 in the United States. The most expensive model, the ceramic Apple Watch Edition, with 42mm, costs R $ 10,299.00 (or R $ 9,269.10 seen) while in the USA it costs US $ 1,299.