Updated: Apple Watch release date, news and features Apple Watch release date and price Update: Apple Watch is now rumored to have a March release date, which fits the spring 2015 launch commitment. Its been a few months since Apple CEO Tim Cooks one more thing announcement was literally up his sleeve: a sapphire-coated smartwatch dubbed the Apple Watch, not the fabled iWatch. This iPhone-compatible watch was unveiled alongside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, fulfilling the Cupertino companys new product categories promise for last year. Its not a circular smartwatch like its fashionable rival, Moto 360, but it still features a premium rectangular design with rounded-off corners and works seamlessly with iOS 8 devices. Hands on: Apple Watch review Heres what we know. Cut to the chaseWhat is it? An iOS 8-friendly watch that plays nice with your iPhoneWhen is it out? Spring 2015 release date, rumored to be MarchWhat will it cost? Starts at $349 (likely north of £223, AU$403) Apple Watch release date Unlike many of its products which go one sale on the day of announcement, or during the week following an official launch, Apple was less clear on the Apple Watch release date. Tim Cook told us the wearable would arrive in early 2015, while the Apple site simply states Available in 2015. This has lead to much speculation as to exactly when the Cupertino firm will release its smartwatch on the masses. Valentines Day (thats February 14 people) was initially rumored as a potential date, although the latest reports suggest March as the time when the Apple Watch will hit stores. Beyond that speculation, the closest official Apple Watch release date comes from remarks attributed to an Apple executive who gave it a later and less precise spring 2015 window. Were going into the holidays, well go into Chinese New Year, and then weve got a new watch launch coming in the spring, read an alleged internal memo by Apple Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Arendts. Price An even trickier question than when will it come out? has been how much will the Apple Watch cost? Theres really no precedent for a premium smartwatch price just yet. The answer: More than we were hoping to pay, even though its specs may be on par with Android Wear. That notorious Apple tax pushes the pricetag to $349 given components involved. Thats £223 in the UK and AU$403 in Australia, but expect those prices to be even higher, above the straight dollar conversion. Before iWatch: the timely history of the smartwatch Its true that Apple has recruited high-profile people throughout the watch and biometrics industries who have wound up on its Apple Watch team. That talent comes at a price. Then theres a hidden cost. While a subsidized iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are cheaper upfront in the US, stores make up the difference with contract kickbacks. Not so with a smartwatch. Stores need a cut too. For the sake of comparison, Android Wears cheaper options are the Samsung Gear Live at $200 (£170, AU$250) and LG G Watch at $230 (£160, AU$250). But Apples biggest and most stylish competition is from Motorola, and the Moto 360 price is $249 (£199, likely AU$275 given its rivals prices). Apple is aiming for luxury given the sapphire glass-protected display, an imposing digital crown, two sizes and even the 18k gold colored edition. Expect prices for that version to climb even higher. Apple Watch wont be an impulse buy for most consumers. Thats why well continue to update this page to see whether or not the iPhone-compatible smartwatch is a fit for you. Stay tuned. What does Apple Watch do? Apples first wearable gadget beams messages, Facebook updates and simplified apps to our wrists, eliminating the all-too-common need to take out our devices to constantly check notifications. There are more than a dozen ways to interact with the watch, from receiving glanceable notifications, to feeling taptic feedback, to summoning Siri, according to the newly released developer WatchKit software. Its going to become especially convenient to pocket the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and even bigger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus in your jeans, or to always stow the newly released 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 in a bag. Is that phone call a telemarketer not worth your time or an emergency from a loved one? The Apple Watch makes mundane notifications easy to dismiss while keeping you in the loop on lifes most important alerts. Other apps seen in the Apple Watch video include iMessages, Health, Calendar, Weather, Mail, Photos, Cameras shutter button, Passbook that now includes Apple Pay and even Apple Maps for navigation. Developers are now readying more Apple Watch apps thanks to the WatchKit SDK launch. Theyre being given a headstart with the software and it could bring a whole new section to the iTunes App Store. The smartwatch also takes cues from the Nike FuelBand SE and other fitness trackers with health sensors and nutrition apps, a must for any serious wearable gadget these days. Sure there are fitness apps on your smartphone, but youre not always carrying your iPhone while tracking your steps and activity. The Apple Watch is better suited for your everyday workout. Apple Watch design, buttons and straps Apple Watch design The final Apple Watch design isnt too far from the made-up renders that we saw ahead of the official announcement. It draws inspiration from iPod Nano with a rectangular-shaped screen plus one knob and a single button. The Apple Watch is more than iPod Nano meets the iPhone, though. The smartwatch display comes in two sizes measured by height: 38mm (1.5in) and 42mm (1.65in). Both are slightly smaller than the entire Pebble Steel watch height, which measures 46mm (1.8in). We also now know the resolution of each screen. Itll come in two sizes: the 38mm Apple Watch will have a resolution of 272 x 340, while a 42mm version will have a 312 x 390 display. Apple has only revealed the height of its new smartwatch screen, so we cant properly calculate the pixels per inch, and anyone who does is just guessing. But itll likely rival the 300ppi of the Samsung Gear S. The Apple Watchs screen is surrounded by casing made of custom alloys of stainless steel and aluminum that, according to the company, stand up to the physical demands of daily wear and another BendGate. Beyond the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport versions, a special Apple Watch Edition mixes in 18-karat yellow or rose gold for a premium look. It certainly goes well with that gold iPhone 5S. That brings the metal colors to six: stainless steel, silver aluminum, space black stainless steel, space gray aluminum, 18-karat yellow gold and 18-karat rose gold. Apple Watch digital crown The Apple Watch doesnt have a round display like the Moto 360, but the casing does feature a circular knob known as the digital crown. This input is unique among smartwatches, but a true classic derived from traditional watches. Apple has of course put a modern-day twist on its functionality. The Apple Watch digital crown replaces the pinch-to-zoom touchscreen mechanic used on everything from iPhones to MacBooks, which is too impractical on such a small display, according to Apple. Rotating it allows you to zoom into your app selection, your location on Apple Maps and a photo from a gallery. Scrolling through dates and stopwatch times is handled by this knob too. The digital crown also acts as the Apple Watch home button. Theres no Touch ID sensor here, but Apple Watch is smartly tied to your wristwatch with an anti-theft passcode required whenever its taken off. Apple Watch conversation button The button below the digital crown allows you to start a conversation with friends. Pushing it brings up a their contact info photos and zooming into a specific person with the digital crown gets things started. Beyond calling and messaging Apple Watch wearing friends, you can get their attention with a gentle tap. It vibrates the taptic feedback on their smartwatch. Whats intriguing about this taptic feedback system is that its said to be more precise and subtle than a vibration everyone can hear. Want to ditch a party? Your friends secret sign may be three taps on the Apple Watch before bailing. Its an interesting way to get someones attention. The Apple Watch goes all Drawesome on us with a bizarre sketch function for light messaging on the wrist. Snapchat became big, why not Swipechat? You can also share your heartbeat with someone in real time, though were not sure why you would want to. Apple Watch bands The variety of Apple Watch bands played better than U2 at the press conference, giving consumers a way to personalize their smartwatch. Standard straps include Leather Loop that conceals magnets for easy fastening, the leather Modern Buckle and the leather Classic Buckle. Theres also a gym-friendly elastomer Sport Band. Higher-end metal straps include the Milanese Loop with flexible magnetic stainless steel mesh and the stainless steel Link Bracelet. The ability to swap the straps without having to use tooling or visit or jeweler is one of our favorite features in the Apple Watch vs Moto 360 comparison. Watch faces, battery and the competition Apple Watch faces Apple is promising customizable watch faces with millions of different appearances. It brings everything to its timepieces, from time lapse backgrounds to classic Mickey Mouse arms as dials. However, just to be clear, the smartwatch comes with a base of 11 watch faces, according to the official Apple Watch press release. Most allow you to change the colors, design elements and add functionality. The Apple Watch face gallery shows off an Astronomy design with an interactive, real-time 3D model of the earth, moon and planets. Likewise, the Solar acts as a contemporary sundial. If you want a moving background, theres the Motion watch face, or a still image, theres the Photo face. Utility, Chronograph, Color, Modular and Simple exhibit more contemporary designs. Apple Watch has a number of competitors that run on Google Wear, and since their upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop, you can now download a large range of watch faces there already. Google has made the Watch Face API available for developers and a number of striking designs are already available to download. Were guessing that Google will be a bit more relaxed about custom watch faces compared to Apple. This could mean that well see a quality versus quantity debate when it comes to comparing watch faces on Apple Watch and Android Wear devices. By the time the Apple Watch launches, there is a good chance there will be a huge variety of faces already available for Android Wear, so Apple might have a fight on its hands when it comes to customization. Apple Watch battery life Tim Cook didnt go into great detail about the Apple Watch battery life, but he did hint that the smartwatch is designed to be worn all day and is simple to charge at night. We think people are going to use it so much you will wind up charging it daily, Cook later reiterated at a conference in late October. That had led us to believe that the Apple Watch battery life will be approximately one day, sort of like the Moto 360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live weve reviewed. An Apple spokesperson backs up our theory, more or less confirming that the smartwatch requires a daily charge. The person also reportedly said Apple is working on modifications to eek out more battery life. Previously, when it was known as the Apple iWatch, it was rumored to have a 400mAh battery, but Cook is saving that announcement for a later date. He did, however, call attention to the unique recharging method. The Apple Watchs back crystal houses a magnetic inductive wireless charging solution similar to the MagSafe design. Again, it looks as if Apple bucks another trend - this time its the popular Qi wireless charging method - in favor of its own standard. The competition Although we dont know the exact release date of the Apple Watch, what we do know for sure is that it will be launching amid fierce competition. By the time the Apple Watch launches a number of its competitors will have been well established and may even be gearing up for a new version. LG G Watch R The LG G Watch R is one such competitor which could give Apple a run for its money. Unlike the Apple Watch (and many other smartwatches) the LG G Watch R comes with an attractive round face that gives it a classy, traditional look. The screen also looks gorgeous thanks to the P-OLED technology, and on the back of the watch is a heart rate monitor for health apps. Unlike the Apple Watch the LG G Watch R only comes in one size so if youre not a fan of the design then theres little you can do about it. At £220 (around $250, AU$280) the LG G Watch R is one of the more expensive smartwatches on the market, and is around the price that the Apple Watch may launch at. By that time, however, the LG G Watch R could have seen a price cut. Moto 360 The Moto 360 is another stylish smartwatch with a circular design, and its one of the best wearables on the market today. Although the LCD screen wont be quite as accomplished as the Apple Watchs display, we feel the round design gives the Moto 360 the edge in the looks department. Its also around $100 cheaper than the lowest priced Apple Watch will be, and again theres a good chance that it will get even cheaper by the time the Apple Watch launches. The Apple Watch beats the Moto 360 in customization options with the large variety of bands that will be available. Both the Apple Watch and the Moto 360 also allow you to change the style of the watch face, with the recent update to Android 5.0 Lollipop allowing a huge range of new designs to be available to Moto 360. Check out who won when we pitted the Apple Watch vs Moto 360 Previous rumors Apples smartwatch remained firmly up Tim Cooks sleeve until the very end. Plenty of iPhone 6 spy shots leaked, but so-called iWatch photos didnt surfaced before the official announcement. The final Apple Watch design isnt too far from the renders that weve seen in recent weeks. The iPhone-compatible smartwatch features a rectangular-shaped design, one knob and a single button. The Apple Watch screens features scratch-resistant protection thanks to sapphire glass. Thats really important for wearables that we bang and knock around all day. Previous rumors indicated that the iWatch will end up with a 1.6-inch display, which is slightly larger than the square-shaped iPod Nano 6G, and a two bigger screen options at 1.8 inches. For a real-world comparison, the now-launched Moto 360 has a circular 1.56-inch LCD touchscreen with an almost completely round 320 x 290 resolution. Its the 2.5-inch screen that has us collectively scratching our heads. Samsung Gear Live is a large at 1.63 in. and LG G Watch is even bigger at 1.65 inches. Samsung Gear S tips the scales at 2 in. Apple already makes a device with a 2.5-inch display, the iPod Nano 7G, but its difficult to imagine the company crafting the same dimensions onto wrists without some of that Apple magic. This could be why were hearing that the iWatch could come in two different sizes that conform to bigger and smaller wrist sizes. Theres also a chance that Apple may compete directly with the Moto 360 smartwatch that features a stunning circular watch face. Could Motorolas stylish smartwatch be why iWatch isnt due until 2015? The company could, alternatively, go with a more fitness-focused approach with an Apple iBand thats modeled after the Nike FuelBand SE, but its smartwatch features would be limited. Specs That LG-made iWatch display may be locked behind sapphire glass to protect it from the sort of nicks and bumps that comes with a constantly worn wearable. Sapphire glass is the same tough-as-nails material thats supposedly being used in the iPhone 6 in an effort to replace Gorilla Glass 3. The move, though expensive, would be much appreciated. Weve brushed our Android Wear smartwatches against walls in just one weeks time and thats too close for comfort. At the heart of the iWatch needs to be a speedy, yet small processor along the lines of the 1.2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 thats inside the Samsung Gear Live. Apple has partnered with Samsung and ARM for its iPhone processors in the past, including the A7 CPU iPhone 5S, so the same could be true for the iWatch core. It would also help if Apple could match its two Android Wear competitors the 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. Something tells us it wont be user-replaceable. Sensors Apple isnt all about cramming more megapixels into its smartphones vs the competition, but it may be inclined to add more sensors than any other smartwatch manufacturers. The iWatch has been speculated to include more than 10 sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, compass, heart-rate monitor, pulse oximeter, among others. This would pivot the iWatch from an iOS notification-reading wearable to a full-fledged fitness tracking devices, taking cues from the Nike FuelBand SE and expanding on that relationship. Health-focused smartwatches and apps seem like the future of wearables given the biometric sensor-filled Samsung Simband prototype and Apples own iOS 8 Health app thats just crying out for the iWatch. Interface and apps Like a Jetsons watch from the future, iWatch is likely to incorporate Siri on the wrist so that Apples personal assistant can head your every beck and and phone call. iWatch could put iOS 8 at your dominant-hands fingertips at all times thanks to a streamlined interface and smaller versions of the apps that you use every day. Its expected to push both iMessages and SMS texts to the Apple smartwatch and alert you of upcoming calendar events and reminder tasks. This would eliminate the all-too-common problems of I left my phone in the other room, in the charger or in the car overnight. On second, it may ruin some of your best excuses! The benefit of iWatch apps An iWatch would basically take the most important notifications from your iPhone and beam them to your wrist. Care to dismiss a call without the pomp and circumstance of taking your phone out? Done. Or maybe youre waiting by the iPhone for important news? Check. The iWatch touchscreen may deliver the ability to more discretely dismiss calls and actively keep on top of the ones you want to answer. Meanwhile, a built-in microphone could launch Shazam to identify a mystery song more quickly (like before the track ends five seconds too soon) or call up directions more safely. With an iWatch literally on hand, thered be no more dangerously fumbling with the iPhone on your dash while you wait for Apple CarPlay to be installed on your vehicle of choice. iWatch apps in the making We havent seen official iWatch apps just yet, but Apples iOS 8 Health app is almost certainly being readied for its first wearable due to metrics you just cant track with a normal iPhone. Apples HomeKit has also been previewed as a way to tie together smart home electronics. It could trigger smart light bulbs, door locks and thermostat setting. Since Android Wear devices like Moto 360 can initiate commands and message replies via voice recognition technology, the same is likely a part of Apples iWatch roadmap too. Just dont expect a full iOS 8 experience on the wrist or a phone-call-cabale iWatch decked out with a SIM card like the rumored Samsung Solo. Your Dick Tracy wristwatch days arent here just yet. Battery life The biggest hurdle for the Apple iWatch and all smartwatches in general is battery life. No one wants to charge another gadget every day. We do that too much as it is. Case in point, one of the major cons we mentioned in our Samsung Galaxy Gear review revolves around its pitiful one-day-per-charge battery cycle. It has a 300mAh battery. The LG G Watch, which also runs Android Wear, is hardly better at a day-and-a-half average capacity running off of a still-tiny 400mAh battery. Moto 360 is in the middle with a 320mAh battery. Apple has previously patented a curved battery design that could give it the extra space that it needs to boost the rumored iWatch beyond a day or two. The smartwatch components need to be small, but the battery life does not, according to energy-drained consumers. At the same time, they require more than the monochrome display of the Pebble Steel and the originalPebble watches, which eked out a respectable 3-4 and 5-7 day battery life. This impossible task may be why Tim Cook and company reportedly faced battery woes early on with the iWatch and still hasnt overcome them completely. Wireless battery charger At least when the iWatch battery dies, there may be a cool way to recharge the device thanks to wireless charging technology. Apple has reportedly called upon a wireless charging coil supplier in China to send samples of its technology so that it can implement it into the iWatch. The iWatch could therefore wirelessly charge through magnetic induction, a method similar to the Qi-compatible Moto 360 smartwatch. The Moto 360 wireless charging cradle is rather slick, perfect for a nightstand. It could even come with the iWatch, sort of like the first iPhone included a dock in the box initially. Qi is quickly becoming the more popular wireless charging standard ahead of its rivals. That being said, Apple does like going with its own proprietary technology more often than not. Waterproof A lightning connector could also be an alternate way to charge the iWatch, but that may be a more difficult task if Apple is to make it waterproof or at least water resistant. Smartwatches that can stand up to the elements are being demanded by consumers who want their 24/7 wearables to be true to that term down to the second. If the iWatch is like currently Android Wear watches, expect it to be splash proof up to IP67, which is rated for a depth of 1 meter (3.3 feet) for 30 minutes. Thats good for the shower and accidental submersions, but not exactly fit for dunking the iWatch in the swimming pool or taking it in the ocean. Not this first generation at least. Compatibility iWatch is likely to loosely follow the iOS 8 compatibility chart by working with new iPhones and iPads that contain newer Bluetooth antennas. The battery-saving Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy made its debut in the iPhone 4S, iPad 3 and iPad miniand can be found in all newer models. Its the exact same lineup that can wirelessly sync with the Fitbit Force, Jawbone Up24 andNikeFuelBand SE. The iPad 2, which can be upgraded to iOS 8, is the one exception to the chart. It may be left off of the iWatch compatibility list. It may mean its time to turn in that old iPhone 4 for an iPhone 6 or a price-reduced iPhone 5S when the new phones launch later this year. Just dont expect any Android phone, new or old, to work with the iWatch. Android Wear cant connect to Apples devices, and we expect Apple to return the favor. TechRadar is going to keep updating this feature explainer leading up to the release date and cost reveal, going beyond the vague spring 2015 and $349 (likely well north of converted £223, AU$403) price.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 10:24:04 +0000
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