Apple has finally
announced its first ever wearable, the Apple Watch. It has a curved sapphire
crystal glass Retina display in 38mm and 42mm case sizes. It comes in three
different styles — basic Apple Watch (made of stainless steel or space black stainless),
Apple Watch Sport (made of silver or space gray anodized aluminum), and the
Apple Watch Edition (made of 18-karat rose or yellow gold) that surely fits any
style preference. All three designs will have interchangeable wristbands, each
with a quick-remove clasp.
It is extremely
customizable, having 11 watch faces that include traditional analog options,
playful characters, a contemporary sundial, and an interactive, real-time 3D
model of the earth, sun, moon, and planets. Most faces allow you to change
colors, choose design elements, and add functionality. You can choose from
a variety of straps, including a sport band (made of tough, durable, sweat and
chemical resistant rubber), link bracelet, leather loop, classic buckle, modern
buckle, and Milanese loop, all made from a variety of materials.
Its screen is
scratch-resistant and is highly sensitive that it can differentiate between a
tap and a press. It can even vibrate with alerts using a haptic feedback
component and a speaker.
It has a Digital
Crown, which also serves as the Home button. The Digital Crown turns rotary
movements into digital actions onscreen. Turning the Digital Crown will
navigate through menus, zoom in and out, as well as scroll up and down
depending on the app you are using.
Pressing the Digital
Crown will bring you to the Home page while pressing the button next to it will
bring out your Friends.
It has four IR and LED
sensors protected by four sapphire glasses that are used to monitor a wearer's
health and fitness, track movement, heart rate, and activity, which are fed
into Apple's Health app.
The back of the Apple
Watch is made of tough zirconia and is used as an inductive charging plate.
With its inductive charging and magsafe magnetic locking, there's no need to align
charging pins and expose contacts.
The Apple Watch runs
with a custom-built S1 chip paired with Taptic engine — a vibrating motor that
provides physical feedback on receiving notifications.
Like other
smartwatches, Apple Watch is meant to be used in conjunction with an iPhone.
Unfortunately, it will only work with iPhone 5 and later.
The Apple Watch has
Siri for voice control and for dictating messages. You can reply to messages
using Siri, animated emoji, or automatically generated responses. It can also
be used as a walkie-talkie to chat with other Apple Watch users nearby. You can
even send little sketches to your friends, as well as a recording of your
heartbeat.
According to Apple,
the Apple Watch can control Apple TV, act as a remote camera viewfinder when
paired with an iPhone, and pay for goods using Apple Pay. Not only that, it can
also support the Handoff feature introduced with iOS 8.
Apple Watch will be
officially released in the US early 2015.
There is not much to
learn about the specifications of Apple Watch as of yet. However, these are
what we have gathered so far:
|
Specifications
|
Apple Watch
|
|
Display Shape
|
Square
|
|
Display Case
|
38mm (height) and 42mm (height)
|
|
Display
|
Sapphire Crystal Glass
|
|
Resolution
|
Retina
|
|
Color
|
Polished or space black stainless steel, space gray or silver
anodized aluminum, or 18-karat rose or yellow gold
|
|
Strap
|
34 different band options
|
|
Dimensions
|
Unknown
|
|
Weight
|
Unknown
|
|
Touchscreen
|
Yes
|
|
NFC
|
Yes
|
|
GPS
|
No (needs to be paired with an iPhone)
|
|
Intelligent
Assistant
|
Siri
|
|
Processor
|
Custom S1 SiP
|
|
Storage
|
Unknown
|
|
RAM
|
Unknown
|
|
Operating System
|
iOS
|
|
Battery Life
|
Unknown
|
|
Connectivity
|
802.11b/g, Bluetooth 4.0
|
|
Sensors
|
Accelerometer, Heart Rate
|
|
SRP
|
Starts at $349
|
