Series 2 v Series 3 = help if you cannot decide

[PCtoMAC1]

Not trying to troll on people that bought a series 3, just my humble opinion...

I have a 42mm SS Series 2 and tried the same in a Series 3. I read a ton of reviews and watched a lot of YouTube videos comparing the two. Personally, I cannot justify the cost for the difference. The speed increase was mediocre (in my opinion) and I don’t use music on my watch. Note that I didn’t activate LTE either.

Sure, I’d love the LTE ability, though the increase in cost and the mediocre speed increase is having me hold off for the next watch launch. Hopefully that series will have better battery life and some extra design changes that will make the move more enticing.

I hope that helps some people who might be on the fence.

Until then EVERYONE enjoy their watches. They are fantastic Apple products!

 

[Mansu944]

It’s not much more for the S3 and it’s seriously faster.

 

[ImBuz]

Not trying to troll on people that bought a series 3, just my humble opinion...

I have a 42mm SS Series 2 and tried the same in a Series 3. I read a ton of reviews and watched a lot of YouTube videos comparing the two. Personally, I cannot justify the cost for the difference. The speed increase was mediocre (in my opinion) and I don’t use music on my watch. Note that I didn’t activate LTE either.

Sure, I’d love the LTE ability, though the increase in cost and the mediocre speed increase is having me hold off for the next watch launch. Hopefully that series will have better battery life and some extra design changes that will make the move more enticing.

I hope that helps some people who might be on the fence.

Until then EVERYONE enjoy their watches. They are fantastic Apple products!

I sold my nearly new series 2, and got the series 3 LTE, your points are all valid.
Not worth the money

 

[deadworlds]

I think that people coming from a S2 watch are not going to see much of a difference, but people coming from the S0 and S1 will. I upgraded to the S3 LTE from a launch dat S0 and to me the speed increase is amazing and I actually enjoy using the apps on my phone now. Whereas before there was a lot of waiting around for apps to launch.

 

[satchmo]

I think not to upgrade to a S3, is an easy decision especially if you already have a S2.
Assuming you don't need LTE, the S2 is still highly usable. Keep it, plus resale is not great.

A more difficult decision is if you are brand new to the Apple Watch.
Do you buy a S2 (usually discounted significantly), or go with a S3.
If the price differential is only $50 or so, I'd get the S3.
But if we're in the $80-$100 range, I'd almost lean towards a S2.

 

[edhchoe]

If you do not notice the difference in speed, keep the S2.
If you ask me, I will tell you to upgrade.

 

[PCtoMAC1]

I think not to upgrade to a S3, is an easy decision especially if you already have a S2.
Assuming you don't need LTE, the S2 is still highly usable. Keep it, plus resale is not great.

A more difficult decision is if you are brand new to the Apple Watch.
Do you buy a S2 (usually discounted significantly), or go with a S3.
If the price differential is only $50 or so, I'd get the S3.
But if we're in the $80-$100 range, I'd almost lean towards a S2.

Exactly what I was finding. No one wanted to pay more than $350 for my S2, so the upgrade price was horrible.

 

[squirrrl]

I understand that the OP was referring to the SS versions of the watch and with this there is a larger price difference.

With the aluminum versions the price difference is only $30-60 right now so not that big of a difference.

 

[broadbean]

I think in Australia, S3 (no Cellular) was cheaper than the S2 at launch last year? In this case, S3 for the win.

The O.P. is effectively saying hey, iPhone 7 owners, iPhone 8 is not worth it. And this is valid for most who don't use or even know what the 8 brings to the party apart from the very superficial changes. If you do a lot with video, no questions straight to the 8! (or X!)

A more difficult decision is if you are brand new to the Apple Watch.
Do you buy a S2 (usually discounted significantly), or go with a S3.

If you are likely to get rid of the S2 say next year and go to an S4, then yep! But if you're gonna keep it for 2+ years, then you're already starting a year behind.

But then, plenty around still rocking iPhone 4/4S/5/5c etc and are quite happy with it. A lot of people on S0 still claims it's fast enough for what they need it for. So, YMMV.

 

[outie2k]

I have a S2 edition ceramic since launch. I pre-ordered the S3 Hermes, and subsequently the S3 ceramic white and gray. I found the Hermes leather too delicate for my day to day wrestling with my 2 young children. I didn't like the gray as much as the white. Going from a S2 white to a S3 white feel like the same exact watch. At the end of the day I decided to return all the S3s and keep the S2. The new features don't do much for my use. I really only rely on notifications which works just fine on the S2.

 

[AndrewR23]

I think in Australia, S3 (no Cellular) was cheaper than the S2 at launch last year? In this case, S3 for the win.

The O.P. is effectively saying hey, iPhone 7 owners, iPhone 8 is not worth it. And this is valid for most who don't use or even know what the 8 brings to the party apart from the very superficial changes. If you do a lot with video, no questions straight to the 8! (or X!)



If you are likely to get rid of the S2 say next year and go to an S4, then yep! But if you're gonna keep it for 2+ years, then you're already starting a year behind.

But then, plenty around still rocking iPhone 4/4S/5/5c etc and are quite happy with it. A lot of people on S0 still claims it's fast enough for what they need it for. So, YMMV.

If you own an iPhone 7, the 8 is pretty pointless lol. Thats been pretty much proven over in the iPhone section.

ah i misread your post sry

 

[zmunkz]

Fair point. I'm an S0 owner, and this is why I skipped a few generations. Each year brings only minor upgrades, really, but after a few years, the improvement is substantial.

 

[44267547]

The Series 2 basically included a lot of new capabilities and features over the first generation Apple Watch with the GPS, brighter display, 50 m water resistance, water lock out, etc. Series 3 is an incremental build off of Series 2 with the speed, battery life and and LTE.

I can't make the recommendation for many to upgrade from the Series 2 to the Series 3, as that's more of a lateral grade. Unless somebody wanted to upgrade strictly for the speed and LTE.

 

[riverfreak]

The killer feature of the S3 is clearly LTE. If you have an S2 and don’t need or want LTE, don’t upgrade. Simple as that. Personally, I find LTE on the watch totally 100% awesome. It’s now truly a mobile wearable.

 

[predation]

1st time watcher here. Went for lte and locked in my monthly. Who knows. These carrier knuckle heads could possibly raise the monthly. I’m locking in my monthly this year.
Plus I wanted the ceramic back.

 

[TravisPNW]

The Series 3 is my first watch... it's amazing. I'm sure the earlier versions were fine though.

 

[44267547]

1st time watcher here. Went for lte and locked in my monthly. Who knows. These carrier knuckle heads could possibly raise the monthly. I’m locking in my monthly this year.
Plus I wanted the ceramic back.

I think once LTE becomes more streamlined with the Apple Watch, carriers will have more efficient plans into place and or promotional offers (Aside from 90 day trials). Seems like there's a lot of confusion this year with carriers and Apple with the LTE on the Apple Watch. I'm assuming this will get resolved as LTE becomes more available with the future Apple Watch lineup.

 

[skillwill]

It's worth keeping in mind that with Apple products it's not just about those speed tests right now, of course you are not going to really see a difference in something that 70% faster than something else that was already a split second.

For me the main thing to think about is longevity - yes there's little difference now, but the S2 will be crippled before the S3 and that $50 (around that) you saved now, will be gone when you need to buy a whole new Watch when it can't handle watchOS 6.

It's more easily demonstrated by using the iPhone as an example - those "saving" $200 by buying an iPhone 6S over an iPhone 8 now will need to buy another new phone probably next year, so it's really a false economy.

 

[satchmo]

It's worth keeping in mind that with Apple products it's not just about those speed tests right now, of course you are not going to really see a difference in something that 70% faster than something else that was already a split second.

For me the main thing to think about is longevity - yes there's little difference now, but the S2 will be crippled before the S3 and that $50 (around that) you saved now, will be gone when you need to buy a whole new Watch when it can't handle watchOS 6.

It's more easily demonstrated by using the iPhone as an example - those "saving" $200 by buying an iPhone 6S over an iPhone 8 now will need to buy another new phone probably next year, so it's really a false economy.

I hear what you're saying, but much will depend on an individual's use case.
For instance, owners of Series 0 are might be happy using basic notifications and fitness tracking.

My iPhone 6 is still chugging along on 10.3.3 and my Mac is still on Yosemite.
Keeping up with Apple's planned obselescence strategy can get expensive. You don't necessarily need to be on the latest OS to get value out of a purchase.

 

[anticipate]

I went from a S2 to a S3LTE, and I have found the speed increase when running 3rd party apps, or running off wifi (updating firmware etc) to be very noticeable over the S2... and I love it. It is what the AW should have been all along! but no. It's not a generational leap.

 

[a.y.n]

Sold my S2 and upgrade to S3 LTE, it didn't cost that much to do that, is it worth it? I think so, coz it's nice to have LTE on the watch for me, and speed is faster but not night and day difference, I've had S0 and S2, and the S3 is the first AW I really love wearing.

 

[xDKP]

The Series 2 basically included a lot of new capabilities and features over the first generation Apple Watch with the GPS, brighter display, 50 m water resistance, water lock out, etc. Series 3 is an incremental build off of Series 2 with the speed, battery life and and LTE.

I can't make the recommendation for many to upgrade from the Series 2 to the Series 3, as that's more of a lateral grade. Unless somebody wanted to upgrade strictly for the speed and LTE.

If you run or bike a lot like me, the altimeter is a pretty nice addition as well. After a long tough run in hills it’s pretty annoying to se elevation is 0