Month: January 2024

The Apple Watch 2nd Generation is Apple’s second and newest smartwatch of the Apple Watch SE series. I have been using it for the past six months, and I have got to know the watch pretty well.

Specs

The SE 2 uses the Apple S8 chipset, which has a dual-core CPU. It has a water resistance rating of 5 ATM, which means you can take it swimming and use it in the shower with no problems. It has a 296 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is bigger than the first generation Apple Watch SE. There is a WiFi and an LTE variant of this watch. The device has 32 GB of internal storage and 1 GB of RAM. It also has an accelerometer, a barometer, a gyro, a heart rate sensor, an always-on altimeter, and a compass, and it starts at 279 US dollars.

Design and Screen

The Apple Watch SE 2 is made of Aluminum, and it feels durable and premium. It has the exact same design as the first generation Apple Watch SE, and there is a 40mm and 44 mm option. The digital touch crown feels nice and clicky, and the watch itself has epic haptics. From the notification vibrations to the haptic feedback the digital crown provides, all the haptics are built with perfect precision. The screen is very clear and very responsive. The wobble on the touchscreen is very small, which makes the touchscreen very satisfying to use.

Performance and Battery Life

The performance is spectacular with the Apple Watch SE 2. Apps load really fast, and the experience is very snappy. All the animations and transitions are as smooth as ever. I never felt like anything took too long to load when using the watch. The battery life is also good, but not the best. After a full day, I’m usually around 50% battery when I go to sleep. I am usually awake for 15 hours, so you can use this for sleep tracking, but you would have to charge it in the morning.

There is one issue, though.

While the SE 2 is a fantastic watch, it still has it’s issues. The main issue I have experienced is that some of my notifications, such as reminder and Google Calendar notifications, were not coming. I am not sure what is causing this problem, but when I was using the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 with my Pixel 3, I did not experience this issue. It is possible that the particular Apple Watch SE 2 that I have is defective.

Conclusion

The Apple Watch SE 2nd generation is probably the closest thing to a win-win-win smartwatch on the market. It has great battery life, fantastic performance, and all the apps you could ever want all for just 279 US dollars, and if you do a little shopping on Ebay, you could probably get it for even cheaper. With all of these advantages, I would highly recommend the Apple Watch SE 2nd generation to anyone using an iPhone.

In 2016, Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone with the iPhone 7. Immediately, Android phone companies began advertising how their phone had a headphone jack, and the iPhone did not. Google made fun of the iPhone’s lack of a headphone jack when they announced the first generation Pixel phone at a San Fransisco Press event. However, both Google and Samsung would soon remove the headphone jack as well. Then, others would follow suit. Android phones should have kept the headphone jack because it would have been the strongest reason to buy an Android phone over an iPhone.

Why Buy an Android Phone Over an iPhone?

To the average consumer, the only big reason to buy an Android over an iPhone is the price, and even that is a little fuzzy. For example, you can buy an open box iPhone SE 3rd generation on Ebay for 230 US dollars, and you can buy a 2nd generation iPhone SE for as low as 150 US dollars. Many decent mid-range Android phones are in that price range, so might as well buy an iPhone SE, right? Other than the price, Android does not have any big advantages. Android phones are slower, more buggy, are not supported as long, and have less high quality apps than iPhones. There are many apps, like Twitter for Android, that have missing features, and others, like iTabla Pro, that are not available on Android at all. Apple also added a lot more customization to iOS, making Android’s customization advantages almost worthless for many people.

Having a Headphone Jack is a Huge Advantage.

If the main reason to buy an Android is to avoid expensive prices, what could companies do to convince more people to switch to Android? Well, they could add a headphone jack. Some people are quite satisfied with their bluetooth headphones/headsets, but many would rather use a wired headset/headphone because bluetooth headsets/headphones often have problems. Many bluetooth headsets/headphones fail to connect to your phone when you turn them on, or connect improperly. Also, connecting a bluetooth headset/headphone to a new device can be very time consuming because many of them do not connect successfully the first time. This can be annoying if you lose your bluetooth headset/headphone, and need to borrow your wife’s or someone else’s. You also have to remember to charge them, which most people do not want to do. However, with a wired headset/headphone, you just plug them in, and it just works. For these reasons, many people may find using a wired headphone/headset less of a headache, and would buy one phone over another just to have a headphone jack.

The ASUS Zenfone 10 Showcases the Power of the Headphone Jack.

While most phones have removed the beloved circular plug, some have not. The ASUS Zenfone 10 has a headphone jack, along with world class battery life and extremely good performance. It is also decently priced, at 699 US dollars. MKBHD claimed in his “This Phone is Nearly Perfect” video that he “never kills it in under 24 hours.” However, there are many other Android phones at a similar price, such as the Galaxy s23 and Pixel 7, which also have great performance and battery life. How can the Zenfone compete with the s23 and the Pixel 7 if it is priced so similarly to them? It competes with the addition of a headphone jack. While the Zenfone 10 has a headphone jack, both the s23 and Pixel 7 do not, and if you are going to pay 800 US dollars for an s23, might as well buy the high-performing $700 Zenfone and get a headphone jack.