What you need to know about the new Apple Watch

www.vox.com ^ | September 9, 2014, 2:23 p.m. ET | Updated by Danielle Kurtzleben

[Red Badger]

Apple unveiled its first smartwatch on Tuesday. The move was hotly anticipated, as Apple enters a competitive and rapidly expanding market. The new watches will be available starting in early 2015, starting at $349. Here's everything else you need to know about the new Apple Watch.

1) It's sleek

There's a reason Apple invited fashion bloggers to the event today. The Apple Watch is clearly more than just a wrist computer that does nifty high-tech things; it's meant to be pretty. CEO Tim Cook told the audience Tuesday that Apple thought hard about the watch's look, not just its capabilities. A video of the Apple Watch showed a variety of shots that could have come from a fashion magazine.

It was clearly also made to look like a watch, with a knob on the side and a small face — a departure from some of its bulkier competitors.

But it's not just about how the hardware looks; it's about the software. Apple created an interface that allows you to use the watch without having to try to manipulate a touchscreen with your (comparatively huge) fingers. As Tim Cook said at the event, "pinch-to-zoom" wouldn't make much sense on a screen that's so small. The crown on the side looks like it was meant to wind a watch's gears, but it instead is used to navigate: to zoom, for example, and scroll up and down. However, it is still a touchscreen, allowing you to swipe or scroll with your fingers.

2) There are lots of choices

The Apple Watch comes in three editions: the regular Watch, Watch Edition (made from 18k gold), and Watch Sport (made to be "light and durable"). It also has two face sizes...though not explicitly announced as a men's and women's watch, those sizes in that way also mimic the non-smart watches many people are used to.

In addition, the range of strap choices allow the watch to vary in its look, from sporty to dressy. And a variety of watch faces will also make the watch infinitely customizable.

3) You need an iPhone to use it.

As is standard with smartwatches, the Apple Watch doesn't do much without a smartphone. And this being Apple, the Apple Watch will only work with the iPhone. At the very least, you might not need a new iPhone to use it; it will work with iPhone 6 but also iPhone 5 models.

4) New ways to communicate

Have you ever wanted to send your heartbeat to someone? No? Well, you can now — you can share your heartbeat as tracked on the Apple Watch to another watch wearer. Not only that, but you can draw small pictures to send to friends; during the presentation, Apple's Kevin Lynch sent a drawing of a fish to a friend to ask him if he wanted to get sushi for lunch. It also has walkie-talkie capabilities, allowing a person to communicate with another watch-wearer.

5) It wants to make you healthier

Apple is billing its watch as a "comprehensive health and fitness device." Not only will it count your steps and track your heartbeat; it counts your calories burned, how much activity you've done all day, even whether you've stood up recently. The watch is also designed to "learn" about the wearer, suggesting fitness goals. All of this works in concert with the fitness app on the iPhone to allow you to keep track of your longer-term fitness progress.

6) You can pay with it

All of the Apple Pay functionality that Apple unveiled on Tuesday will be available on the Apple Watch. So instead of tapping your phone to pay for your groceries, you could also just tap your wrist.

7) It will run outside apps

In addition to giving you text notifications and updating your fitness achievements on your iPhone, the Watch will also perform other functions, thanks to Apple collaborations with other companies. It will show Facebook updates and baseball scores, as well as where you left your car (assuming that car is a BMW). Starwood Hotels has also worked with Apple to create an app that will allow the watch to unlock a hotel room door.

One reason Apple's iPhone announcements dominate the news Card 9 of 13 Launch cards Why is Apple so good at making gadgets?

No company is better than Apple at building devices that are powerful, beautiful, and easy to use. Over the last four decades, Apple has produced some of the most beloved products in the technology industry, including the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

How does Apple do it? A big factor is the distinctive approach to designing products pioneered by Steve Jobs. "Steve felt that you had to begin design from the vantage point of the experience of the user," said former Apple CEO John Sculley, who worked closely with Jobs until Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985.

"The designers are the most respected people in the organization," Sculley said in a 2010 interview. "Everyone knows the designers speak for Steve because they have direct reporting to him."

It helps that Apple develops so much of its technology in-house. Most technology products are highly modular—most Dell computers, for example, have chips from Intel and an operating system provided by Microsoft. Apple products are different. For example, the iPhone is powered by Apple's A7 chip and runs Apple's iOS operating system. Apple even sells iPhones in Apple-designed retail stores.

Steve Jobs believed that this kind of vertical integration was essential to creating a great user experience. When hardware and software are designed by different companies, it's more difficult to make them work together seamlessly. Creating the whole product allows Apple designers to control every aspect of the user experience and ensure that everything lives up to Apple's exacting standards.

[doorgunner69]

Different tap patterns can be used to distinguish between, say, a Twitter notification

Are there truly airheads out there that need/want this sort of stuff?

[Red Badger]

My son-in-law’s then 15 yo niece from Ohio, came to visit them one summer a couple of years ago. She could not tell time on an analog clock.............

[laplata]

I’ll stick with my 35 year old Seiko 6138.

---

That’s cool.
I have one of those I received as a present in 1978. Two little dials.

[laplata]

Yeah, it’s crazy. A good example is seeing 4 people sitting together in a food court. They are all texting and chances are they are texting the person right next to them.

A bunch of mind numbed robots with no or few interpersonal skills.

[martin_fierro]

$350? Too rich for my blood.

Me likee the new iPhones, tho.

[Yossarian]

So, it looks like the battle is on again between Apple and Samsung. Here are their latest (and both unreleased) smart watches compared :

Here is the page on Samsung's just-announced Galaxy Gear S watch. It is bigger, but with a bigger display, and it can stand alone from a phone, with the ability to make and take calls on its own.

Apple has some amazing HW/SW collaboration, but ultimately it is an accessory for an iPhone. It can't do much without not just a phone, but an iPhone.

My hunch is that payments, not health, will be the killer app. (We all would like to be healthier, but we all must make purchases.) The ability to swipe your watch to pay will be handy, and dangerous. Whomever executes that the smoothest and most securely will win.

[Arrowhead1952]

I hear you. Our neighbor used to be a teacher. One of the students asked her hat time it was, and she pointed to the clock behind her. The kid had no clue what the time was on the clock.

As and English and drama teacher, she took enough time to teach the class how to tell time on an analog clock. Many former students still email her to tell her how much they appreciate here instruction.

[GreyFriar]

1: Where is the face to see the time?

2: I think I’ll stick with my old and dependable Timex. It tells me the time and that is what I want a watch to do. I don’t want to spend time constantly watching my watch.

[Terry L Smith]

Dear al_c,

all that is missing, now, is that infamous ‘mooncar’[, if you remember that!!

My idea is that apple is so much inside the Q.i.C.’s alimentary canal, that there is a ‘watch the wearer’ program built into the watch!

[doomtrooper99]

$350 is waaaaay toooo much for me. :-(

[itsahoot]

The rest of it? Everything an Apple geek will gladly shell out lots of money for.

I will put you down as a maybe purchaser. As an Apple Fanboy I have absolutely no use for one. In fact I have no real use for any Apple Products beyond a web browser and I don't even use Safari. My computer runs 24/7 hooked to my Big Screen TV, and has been for 5 years or so without a crash of any kind other than an external drive or two. That is why I use Apple Computers, I even have a couple Mac Mini G4 models that are still running.

[itsahoot]

She could not tell time on an analog clock.............

I doubt she could shoe a horse or castrate a pig either. Things change, you either change with them or not, whatever makes you happier I guess.

About 95% of the things that have changed in my lifetime, that personally affect me, I don't like, but life goes on.

I do have some control over what I purchase, so I buy things I need or things I just want to have. Although I have in the past purchase a few Windows machines I never really desired one, all my Apple computers are things that I wanted, even back in the old days when Apple was lost in the wilderness.

I have Windows 8.1 installed on my Mac just to remind me why I really don't want a windows machine. I am way to old to change my mind, although I have been toying with the idea of a NUC so I can run HDHomerun and replace my EyeTV. Plus the Chrome DVR feature from Chrome cast looks cool.

[itsahoot]

$350 is waaaaay toooo much for me. :-(

They know that already, they track your bank account, you are not the droid they are looking for.

[CurlyDave]

It tells me the time and that is what I want a watch to do.

Actually, I want a watch to do a lot of things related to telling time, but not quite exactly the same.

I am frequently outdoors, and the first "other" feature I want is a rotating bezel, like a dive watch. When I start hiking into the wilderness, set this to zero. I want to know how long I have been hiking into the wilderness, so I have a good idea of how long it might take to get back out.

I like to have military hour markings on the watch face, so I can convert between 12-hr and 24-hr time easily.

I want a Sapphire crystal, so the face is durable.

I want analog hands and a second hand, so I can time things of a minute or two duration.

A Swiss Army watch with these features cost about $300 if I look hard on the internet. If the Apple watch can do all these things and then add a timer which will notify me by silently tapping my wrist, and a stopwatch function, I would be a happy camper.

[PIF]

For those interested here is a main link to the Apple watch:
Overview;
Design;
Features;
Technology.

Siri is also on the watch.

[kevkrom]

You can replace “Twitter” with any other kind of notification, say, an alert from your home security system or an email arrives from a contact designated as “VIP”. It was meant to be illustrative, not the be-all and end-all of the technology.

[kevkrom]

Apple, like Google, will track you and now will disclose your heart rate to the US Gov for Obamacare purposes.

Apple doesn't get your data. It's stored directly on your phone, encrypted, and you have complete control over who or what accesses it.

Apple and Google have very different models and views of the world. To Apple, you're the customer, and their focus is on giving you the tools they think you want or need. To Google, you're the product, and their focus is to entice you to use their stuff so that they can collect data on you to use and to sell to third parties.

While both companies will provide whatever info they have in response to a valid warrant, it's Google, not Apple, that voluntarily provides the government with data without notifying their users that they do it.

[kevkrom]

Mmmm, a 4k Apple TV with ultra-high resolution movies added to iTunes, totally re-vitalizing the television market.. Oh, wait, it's a watch. It's a nice looking iPhone accessory for the relatively modest price of $349, don't get me wrong. But it is an accessory, not a game changer.

I think the watch is more likely to be a game-changer than an Apple-produced television set. Apple needs to stick with the set-top box model, but just upgrade the darn thing (including for 4k) and re-do the UI to make it easier for people with large libraries to manage.

[kevkrom]

1: Where is the face to see the time?

I think the default "home screen" of the watch is a typical (though customizable) watch face. All of the other display modes shown are brought up through user interaction and/or context. So most of the time, it's acting as a regular watch, until you want/need it to do something else.

[kjam22]

The real deal....