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How bright is the S2? How bright does it need to be?

Fzang

Fzang

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 15, 2013
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First time buyer here.

If you're not really going to be using the watch for running and swimming, then is the increased brightness really something you're going to appreciate, as it increases both thickness and price?

My 6S is plenty bright when I'm out and about on bike.
 
Fzang said:
First time buyer here.

If you're not really going to be using the watch for running and swimming, then is the increased brightness really something you're going to appreciate, as it increases both thickness and price?

My 6S is plenty bright when I'm out and about on bike.
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Original Watch owner here. I've never once thought the watch wasn't bright enough. And I've always kept it at the middle brightness setting.
 
I had the S0 for about a month before selling it this week. Even though increased brightness factored into my decision to buy the new watch it wasn't really something I ever thought about. Brightness on the S0 is fine, that alone is not a reason to upgrade.

It's the classic "you don't know that you need it until Apple tells you that you need it."
 
I don't agree with either of the other two posts. While I love my Apple Watch S0, the brightness is not great in sunlight. Depending on which watchface you use, sometimes you can't use it at all. I have the chrono watchface with light blue color selected when I first got the watch. When I went outside I could not see the display hardly at all. Some watchfaces aren't as bad, but none of them are super great. I am really looking forward to the brighter screen. I think it was much needed.
 
I don't even keep mine on full brightness, although all of my faces happen to use white lettering.
 
In all likelihood the 1000 nits will only happen in full sunlight since it requires about 10x as much power to double the light (450 nits) output.
 
The Apple Watch is about as good as an iPhone in bright sunlight. Meaning it looks really bright indoors and dim but legible outside. I think it's fine with white numerals in the Modular face.
 
I have the original series Sport - 38mm. I recall reading a review that said the Sport was slightly easier to see in bright sun than the regular AW with the sapphire crystal. And yes...there have been times when I wished it was a bit brighter, but I still managed to read it. In bright sun I will usually switch to the X-Large watch face and select a color that is easy to see in bright sun. That helps. The workout app is also quite easy to read in bright sun. The stuff that's difficult are watch faces with smaller fonts, lines and complications.

I would certainly appreciate a brighter display, but I have also gotten by just fine with my current watch. I live in the Pacific NW, where it's actually very bright and clear during Summer. That's about to end though, so I probably won't have any trouble with display brightness until July, 2017! :p
 
Julien said:
In all likelihood the 1000 nits will only happen in full sunlight since it requires about 10x as much power to double the light (450 nits) output.
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Is there a sensor though in the watch that detects sunlight level? I don't think so. But would be good if this was the case due to the power consumption.
 
April Knight said:
Don't forget the there's also an improved processor and GPU in Series 2 as well. It's not just the screen brightness and water resistance.
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Series 1 has the same CPU/GPU (at least speedwise), yeah? Thought I'd save a few dimes that way.
 
I find the original watch unreadable in bright sunlight. Hoping the 1000 nits does the trick.
 
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Niacchus said:
Is there a sensor though in the watch that detects sunlight level? I don't think so. But would be good if this was the case due to the power consumption.
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Of course, just like your iPhone the :apple:Watch has an ambient light sensor. In the iPhone you can turn it off and only adjust manually but in the :apple:Watch it is always on.
 
Comparison (CNET).

On the right: Space Black Series 0, On the left: Space Gray Aluminum Series 2.

So... Sapphire Crystal Series 0 vs. ion-X Series 2.

p686lej71jlx.jpg
 
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Ephram said:
Comparison (CNET).

On the right: Space Black Series 0, On the left: Space Gray Aluminum Series 2.

So... Sapphire Crystal Series 0 vs. ion-X Series 2.

p686lej71jlx.jpg
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Well that is not Apples to Apples (no pun intended). The Series 2 should be brighter whether it is the Ion-X Glass or Sapphire Crystal. This really does not show a true difference between series 0 and series 2.
 
Ephram said:
Comparison (CNET).

On the right: Space Black Series 0, On the left: Space Gray Aluminum Series 2.

So... Sapphire Crystal Series 0 vs. ion-X Series 2.
Click to expand...

Not really earth-shattering difference, if they're both at full brightness.
 
Thanks for posting this – I've been looking for similar comparisons. Although it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, it's helpful. One of the reasons I downgraded my SS to Sport last time around was screen visibility in bright sunlight. There were often times I couldn't read the SS at all without shading the watch, and the Sport was slightly better. I'm looking forward to seeing how the aluminum Series 2 vs Series 0 compare.
 
I always set my Watch brightness level to the lowest possible. The brightness of mine is more than enough for outdoors plus I save battery that way.
 
Loge said:
I find the original watch unreadable in bright sunlight. Hoping the 1000 nits does the trick.
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Exactly! And this is the reason many runners prefer the white screen of their Garmin running watches.
 
If you think the original Apple Watch is unreadable in the sunlight then you would also think most smartphones are also unreadable because they are about the same brightness.
 
perezr10 said:
If you think the original Apple Watch is unreadable in the sunlight then you would also think most smartphones are also unreadable because they are about the same brightness.
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I don't agree with that completely, but they are close. The problem is a watch is different. It's a tool used to tell time, and most normal watches are not hard to see in the sun. The AW on the other hand is. So yes a phone might be very close in brightness, the watch is much more important to see in the sun.
 
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