At a recent conference, a few people noticed my Apple Watch and asked me if it is good. As a tech reviewer, I have no choice but to tell them the truth.

Yes. It is good and here’s why.

The Apple Watch Series 1 was the worst Apple Watch ever made. This is because there are only two editions at the moment for comparison. Like many other tech reviewers mentioned, “The Series 2 is what the Series 1 could have been.”

They are right. The Series 2 is water-resistant and it has a built-in GPS, which many fitness tracking watches don’t have. You can also bring it for a good swim anywhere between 1m and 49m. Unless you are into deep diving, the watch should survive your tests. 

Do remember that before your water sport, let the watch know in advance by pressing on the droplet symbol. Somehow it will lock the watch and show only the time. My guess is that it wants to prevent you from being electrocuted. Once you are done with your water sport, turn the dial until you hear a beeping sound to let the microphone expel residual water out from its mouth.

Personally, I have no qualms with the battery life. It can last me three days without needing a charge. Even if I use it to track my runs, with the GPS turned on, the battery can still last me a minimum 1.5 days. Tell me this is not good enough for you. 

Besides tracking fitness, the Apple Watch Series 2 also urges you to breathe. Frankly speaking, when this function was announced, I was sceptical. Now, I breathe when it asks me to and stand up when it tells me to. I’m not a slave to the watch but I find that the reminders are pretty timely to how I feel at the point of time, which I appreciate very much.

Surprisingly, the Watch store does not have a lot of watch faces available. The silver lining (or not) is that you are able to customise the available watch faces with its shortcuts.

Now let’s talk about what I like.

I used to own a Pebble Time. It allowed me to reply messages using my voice and shortcuts. Love it a lot. The handsfree mode really made me felt like I owned the world. After it got bought over by Fitbit, I stopped using it. Sell out!

And now with the Apple Watch Series 2, I’m back using these functions plus writing replies on it too. 

The screen is small but scribbling on it is pretty handy since many a time I will keep my phone in my bag or leave it somewhere in my house.
Not to forget, the sport band I got together with the Apple Watch Series 2 is extremely comfortable. With normal watches, I find myself taking them off when I am typing my articles on the keyboard because the straps pushed hard on my wrist. But the sport band fits nicely and I don’t really feel any discomfort. Sometimes I wonder if it is there. 

I shall delve into technical details of the watch because it is not something that is noticeable if you are new to the Series 2. If you are not new to the Apple Watch, then you should be able to experience significant difference in terms of speed and the additional upgrades I mentioned.

The Apple Watch Series 2 is highly recommended to all iPhone users. If you like the idea of a smart watch and a beautifully designed product, the Series 2 is definitely the one you should buy. In addition, if you run and like to do outdoor activities, the Series 2 can fulfill your needs too.