Apple Announces the Apple Watch; Available Next Year
by Joshua Ho on September 9, 2014 2:06 PM EST
Apple has thrown their hat into the wearable ring with the Apple watch, which tries to bring a better user experience to the watch without trying to adapt iOS to the watch with multi-touch gestures that we're familiar with on the iPhone.
There's a single crystal sapphire display, a digital dial crown that acts as a home button and a scroll system. There's also a strong emphasis on haptic feedback which allows for linking of watches to share notifications by sending taps in any possible pattern. This is done by using a force sensitive touchscreen, which is a method of navigating along with the scrolling dial. This allows for subtle communication that doesn't rely on obvious sound or gestures. It's also possible to send taps based upon pulse/heart beat.
There are IR lights and sapphire lenses on the back of the watch for heart rate and serves as a magnetic alignment wireless charging system. The accuracy of the watch is no more than 50 milliseconds off at any time.
In order to support this watch, Apple has also designed a custom SoC called S1, likely for battery life and sensor integration and reduction of board area.
There are six different straps that are easily exchanged. The sport band has multiple colors and is some kind of rubber. There's a leather sports strap which has multiple magnets to ensure that the fit works correctly. There's also a traditional leather strap and a stainless steel link bracelet. There's also a stainless steel mesh band that is infinitely adjustable. There are also two versions of each watch edition, one larger and one smaller.
The Apple Watch also has NFC and will work with Apple Pay.
There are actually three variants though, which include the standard Apple Watch, Watch Sport, and the Watch Edition which has 18 karat gold for the casing. The sport edition has a anodized aluminum casing.
Furthermore the watch will also come in two different case sizes to account for different wrist sizes (essentially his & her watch sizes). These sizes are 38mm and 42mm tall respectively.
The Apple Watch must be paired with an iPhone to work properly. It starts at $349 USD and will go on sale early 2015.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
122 Comments
View All Comments
ol1bit - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
This appears to be one of the worst smart watch designs, and that's after 2 years of other smart watches. Maybe Motorola hired all the good Apple designers.jjj - Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - link
If the announced size is the height of the body ,excluding the hinges ,then the thickness including the back hump appears over 12mm and the screen on the 42mm one is most likely 1.5 inches and 5:4 AR.fteoath64 - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
Yeah, 12 mm thickness is a huge problem. A show stopper, if you asked me. It should be 6mm of less.... This thickness kills the elegance of the watch itself due to protruding top also in motion, it tends to slide away from the top wrist if the band is too lose. Some people wear their watches with slightly loose strap .... they will stop wearing this as it will be uncomfortable after a few hours.arvivaz - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
Triwa iWatch Concept. I prefer this design over the LG G Watch R, the Moto 360 or the Samsung 3G. But unfortunately, it's just a concept.mutatio - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
The standalone images don't make it look too appealing, though the images shown in the presentation of what it looks like on the wrist actually look pretty good. I think some 3rd party bands will be inevitable and I'd love to see one that is as wide as the watch face and then tapers in. That'd clean up the sort of boxy appearance of it from the side as well as looking at it straight on.Samus - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
At least it has NFC. That's something new.mathiasdk - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
For a smartwatch yes, new no...sangs - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
How will Apple Pay work without touch ID? (Did I miss something?)fteoath64 - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link
I do NOT think Apple Pay would work on the watch without the iPhone since it needs to GET the token from iCloud. The watch cannot reach internet via Bluetooth alone. BT4 is for client to host connectivity only. So a phone is needed. An iPhone in this case or maybe an iPad with LTE or Wifi.ol1bit - Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - link
Steve would be pissed, Apple always tries for form and function. Before the Moto 360, I'd say this new iWatch was at least competitive with the other square watches, but that is not Apple's MO. They build better fancier electronics. We have no idea about performance, but only lasting a day just like the Moto 360 seems like a fail for Apple Design. Oh and I should get my first Smart Watch Wednesday...The Moto 360 of course, so I'll see if the OMAP 3 is really that bad on tinny screen.