Posted on 03/09/2015 11:26:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It’s been some time since Apple introduced the world to the Apple Watch, it’s first wearable ever. Few devices could hold our attention for so many months without losing their allure, but because it’s Apple, we’ve been following every move since it first appeared onstage in September. Now, the time has finally come to meet Apple Watch. Here’s what we know so far.
A note on updates: We’re updating this post with all the news from the March 9 reveal, so keep checking back.
Tim Cook relieved a lot of people today when he announced that the Apple Watch will tell time accurately. He said it’s within 50 milliseconds of UTC, so you’re never behind. Cook also showed off watch face widgets for the first time, which can be anything from a stopwatch, calendar events, world clock, or other tools. The Glances feature was also explained. All you have to do is swipe up from bottom of watch to see Glances such as weather, calendar, music, heart rate, and other key information that you only need to see for a second or two at a time.
Cook claimed the Apple Watch offers brand-new ways to communicate immediately and intimately with your family and friends. Thanks to what Apple calls Digital Touch, you can send animated sketches scribbled on the screen to a friend’s Watch, in real time, or send a tap from your watch to get your their attention. It’s even possible to send your digital heartbeat.
Unlike Android Wear, the Apple Watch will have a home screen that’s full of app icons. The app icons look like small, brightly colored bubbles, resting on a black field. You’ll be able to choose which app to open at will. However, we’ve also heard that the watch will be contextually aware and bring up appropriate apps when you need them most. You’ll receive notifications, calls, texts, and other alerts on your wrist, which you can glance at, answer, or dismiss.
Related: The Apple Watch must succeed for smartwatches to surrvive
The watch will supposedly know when you’re looking at it and turn off when you’re not, so you don’t have to worry about pressing the power button every five minutes. Apple says the screen will be sensitive enough to recognize a “force touch” press from a light tap, so you’ll have yet another way to interact with the watch. Meanwhile, the digital crown will handle all the zooming, scrolling, and so on. Additionally, Siri will be there for voice commands, dictation, and other functions.
Apple always puts a lot of focus on design, but it has really put the emphasis on style for the Apple Watch. The watch comes in three versions, each made of different materials. All three watches will come with several strap options at the start, though many third-party manufacturers are expected to jump in with their own straps, too.
The entry-level Apple Watch Sport is made out of anodized aluminum and comes in space gray or silver. You can choose from a variety of strap options, including brightly colored silicon. The Sport has an ion-X strengthened glass screen to protect it from scratches. Meanwhile, the mid-range Apple Watch comes in stainless steel with a hadr-wearing sapphire crystal face, and you can choose between the space gray or standard silvery finish options. A variety of metal, leather, and other kinds of straps are available for this model.
Related: Get a virtual pet on your Apple Watch
Finally, the premium and likely most expensive version of the Apple Watch, called Edition, comes in 18-karat yellow and rose gold. The watch face is made of sapphire crystal, and you can choose from several fancy leather and metal strap options.
So far, wearables have been one-size fits all, but that’s not the case with Apple Watch. It will come in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm, so as to fit a wider range of wrists more comfortably. For reference, the 38mm Apple Watch will be smaller than the 1.56-inch wide Moto 360, as well as the 42mm Huawei Watch. It will also be much shorter than the Samsung Gear 2, which measures 58.4mm tall. Theoretically, this will make it ideal for smaller wrists, while those who can sport a Moto 360 and look natural can have the larger 42mm version.
According to Apple’s WatchKit developer information, the 42-millimeter Apple Watch model will feature a screen with 390 × 312-pixel resolution, and the 38-millimeter model will pack a 340 × 272 pixel resolution.
Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends
As with any smartwatch, one the Apple Watch’s biggest features is fitness. Tim Cook says it’ll even give you a tap on the wrist if you sit for too long. The watch has a built in heart rate monitor, which should give it accurate fitness tracking and an awareness of how many calories you’ve burned. It will track your steps, the intensity of your workouts, and other fitness metrics. The accelerometer and GPS are also sure to draw gym rats, as are the personalized fitness goals in the workout app.
Just like the latest iPhones, the Apple Watch will work with Apple Pay, thanks to built-in NFC. Tap-to-pay will undoubtedly become much easier once you’re doing it from your wrist instead of your phone. Reports hint that it’ll be secure, thanks to sensors in the Apple Watch that know it’s on your wrist when you pay.
Apple isn’t a miracle worker, and it probably still hasn’t solved the eternal smartwatch battery life conundrum. The Apple Watch will almost certainly need charging every night in its box, or with the company’s MagSafe charger. Luckily, it seems there’s a power saving mode, which should keep the most basic watch functions alive when the battery’s running low.
Tim Cook even says you can wear it in the shower, while you’re running in a rainstorm, or sweating through a hot yoga class. There’s no mention of swimming with it, though.
We’ve heard that pricing will start at $350 and go up from there, perhaps into the thousands of dollars. Tim Cook previously said the Watch will arrive in April, but we’ll keep you updated in the meantime.
I didn’t get a chance to see the Apple Announcement, as I was at the doctor’s ... so I’ll catch it later.
I hear that the Apple Watch will take Apple to be over a TRILLION DOLLAR company!
Just like the phone was “more than a phone” ... the watch is “more than a watch” ... :-) ...
I totally agree
So nothing more than the two smartwatches I’ve previously purchased....at a MUCH lower price.
Obama’s mad at Apple since it won’t report back to Obama! ... LOL ...
OTOH: Apple has finally created the technology that the Dick Tracy cartoonists only dreamed of. And it’s available to anyone - not just policemen.
I still wear a Seiko. No I didn’t spring it forward, I never do. But that’s another topic. A watch like this might very well get the millennials into wearing a watch.
The sport version starting at 350 is comparable to a lot of watches these days that only tell time.
I just told my wife that I was saving my pennies and will be getting her an (extravagant for us) Apple Watch for her birthday. She’s all smiles.
Just remember the types of things people said about the iPhone ("just another smartphone, not as good as BlackBerry... where's the keyboard?") and iPad ("another tablet, can't see what's different from all these others that never took off").
Now, you may be right that this isn't any different than existing smartwatches, but Apple's track record shows that they're never the first into a market, but that they take it over with a product that exceeds expectations created by the existing market.
But can it make a decent martini?
It probably has good instructions to do so ... :-) ...
Sure enough, it’s an accessory for the iPhone, or basically, a peripheral for the iPhone.
Yep, it will sell a billion, and take Apple into the quadrillion market cap level.
With dozens of wrist ban options and the ability to change the default screen to just about anything you’d like, it won’t be any more “gay looking” than any other watch.
Don’t remind me that everything today has a clock in it. I have already reset the stove, microwave oven, digital camera, bedroom clock. I still have to toggle the one in the car, the television, the digital turner for the television, and possibly the one in my phone, and probably a few others.
Transistor radios were a good start. So were handheld walkie talkies.
Satellites (in the space race) also helped.
Apple “didn’t build that” alone (to quote Obama).
When Apple makes their first quadrillion, do you think they’ll be able to afford to pay the factory workers better or to bring the jobs back to the US?
LOL! I dont think so.
The cheap one is the sports model. To even get one that doesn’t look like a kids toy, it will costs you 500+ dollars and then you still have that gay-looking poka-dot display that looks like some sorts of game for children.
And that’s assuming there even is a point to have one of these! Smartwatches are about as useless as it gets!
I can get if it costs 100-220 dollars that it would be maybe justifiable as a blow-off buy. But this is highway robbery.
I think Apple is late to the game here and at a price point that is not insignificant and with a much, much higher degree of competition. The barriers to entry on wearables is much smaller than phones, tablets, or ipods and computers.
This will be an interesting market to watch. But, right now, for the first time on a new Apple product, I find myself very underwhelmed.
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