At Apple’s media extravaganza this week, Apple revealed a customizable Apple Watch that seems designed to straddle the desires of the tech world with the sensibilities of fashion. It will ship in 2015 and come in three core designs with six different strap options with two different sizes starting at $349.
It has four different wrist sensors for capturing biometric information, like heart rate, plus motion sensors to track movement for exercise tracking via its Activity App.
Pared with an iPhone, you can send and receive messages, answer iPhone calls, use Siri, use Maps for directions . . . and let the Maps app vibrate your wrist to tell you when to turn left or right.
Apple says its “Taptic Engine” provides this vibration feature, and it’s designed to offer subtle vibrations for apps and alerts. It can even be used to help an Apple Watch wearer “feel” the heartbeat of another Apple Watch wearer, which will surely help techie couples believe they are more in love than ever.
The Apple Watch has a touchscreen, of course, that is both tap and pressure sensitive, which means apps can react to different kinds of taps. Because the screen is so small, pinch to zoom in or out is hard to do with fingers, so Apple solved this issue with its “Digital Crown,” a Home button that also turns to help you zoom in or out or navigate apps.
The Apple Watch has 11 different watch “faces,” which are customizable by each user with different colors and sometimes different information like stocks or weather.
Apple’s WatchKit tools and APIs will help third-party developers create new apps to take advantage of the Apple Watch form and sensors.
It charges with a snap-on magnet, and because it will suck its battery dry after a day of use, it will need to be recharged every night. Apple is apparently still working to optimize its battery life.
The Apple Watch is arguably the most feature-rich and well-designed smartwatch to date, but is it enough to convince millions of consumers that they want a watch again? Do people need a watch to tell them when they are exercising enough? I’m an Apple fan and I’m on the fence. Fortunately, we have months to think this through before it’s even a viable option.
