Apple Watch Series 2 review, 3 weeks in

Rene Ritchie has lived with his new Series 2 Apple Watch for three weeks. His review is realistic and well worth the time if you are thinking about buying one.

One quote on performance:

watchOS 3, unsurprisingly, runs great, as well. Scratch that. On the original Apple Watch, it runs great. On Series 2, it flies.

That’s thanks to the new S2 system-in-package (SIP), which now includes a dual-core central processor and an amped up graphics processor. A fresh app launch is still count-the-spinner-wheel-seconds slow, but way better than before. And given how recent and favorite apps are now kept in memory, it’s also rarer than before.

The S2 also includes GPS. It is assisted GPS in the most assisted sense of the word — it only fires when you’re tracking an workout route and your iPhone isn’t around to piggy-back on. As a result, power drain is minimal.

Combined with the new, bigger battery and more efficient processor, it’s so minimal that I’ve done two workouts in a day and still been well over 50% by sundown.

The difference between the original and the Series 2 is ridiculous.

Read the whole review.