Michal Ždanský It will take place in less than a week Apple keynote, which appears to be exclusively about the Apple Watch, the company's first entry into the smartwatch market. We already had the opportunity to learn a lot of information about the watch at the first performance in September, but there were still a few unanswered questions and surely Apple kept some functions to itself in order not to give an edge to its competitors.
However, before the press event takes place, we have compiled a complete overview of the information that we know from various sources, official and unofficial, what are the assumptions on some unclear issues and which information we will not know until March 9 in the evening.
What we know
Collection of watches
This time, Apple Watch is not one device for all, but users can choose from three collections. The Apple Watch Sport is aimed at athletes and is more or less the cheapest watch in the range. They will offer a chassis made of chemically hardened aluminum and a display made of Gorilla Glass. They will be available in both gray and black (space gray) colors.
The middle class of watches is represented by the "Apple Watch" collection, which offers more noble materials. The chassis is made of brushed stainless steel (316L) in gray or black, and unlike the Sport version, the display is protected by sapphire crystal glass, i.e. a more flexible version of sapphire. The last luxury version of the watch is the Apple Watch Edition collection made of 18 carat yellow or rose gold.
All watch collections will be available in two sizes, 38 mm and 42 mm.
Hardware
For the Watch, Apple engineers have developed a special S1 chipset, which has practically all electronics in one miniature module, which is encapsulated in a resin case. There are several sensors in the watch - a gyroscope for tracking movement in three axes and a sensor for measuring heart rate. Apple reportedly planned to include more biometric sensors, but he abandoned this endeavor due to technical problems.
The watch communicates with the iPhone via Bluetooth LE and also includes an NFC chip for making contactless payments. The pride of Apple is then so-called Taptic Engine, it is a haptic response system that also uses a special speaker. The result is not ordinary vibrations, but a subtle physical response to the hand, reminiscent of a finger tapping on the wrist.
The Apple Watch display offers two diagonals: 1,32 inches for the 38mm model and 1,53 inches for the 42mm model, with a 4:5 ratio. It's a Retina display, at least that's how Apple refers to it, and it offers a resolution of either 340 x 272 pixels or 390 x 312 pixels. In both cases, the display density is around 330 ppi. Apple has not yet revealed the display technology, but there is speculation about the use of OLED to save energy, which is also evidenced by the black-tuned user interface.
The hardware will also include user-accessible storage that will be used for both applications and multimedia files. For example, it will be possible to upload songs to the watch and go for a run without having to have an iPhone with you. As the Apple Watch does not include a 3,5mm audio jack, only Bluetooth headphones can be connected.
Control
Although the watch seems simple at first glance, it allows for a large number of control methods, unusually large for Apple. The main interaction is through the touchscreen using tap and drag, much like we'd expect on iOS. In addition to normal knocking, there is also a so-called Force Touch.
The watch display detects if the user has tapped the display with more force and if so, displays a context menu for that screen. Force Touch works more or less like pressing the right mouse button or holding down your finger.
The unique control element of the Apple Watch is the "digital crown". By turning it, you can, for example, zoom in and out of content (maps, images) or scroll through long menus. The digital crown is more or less the answer to the limitation of a smaller field for finger control and replaces, for example, a gesture pinch to zoom or swiping up and down multiple times, which would otherwise cover the majority of the display. The crown can also be simply pressed to return to the main screen, just like the Home button.
The last control element is a button under the digital crown, pressing which brings up a menu of favorite contacts, to which you can, for example, send a message or call. It is possible that the function of the button can be changed in the settings and possibly associate other functions with multiple presses.
The watch itself, or rather its display, is activated by the movement of the hand. The Apple Watch should recognize when the user is looking at it and activate the display accordingly, instead of the display being active all the time, thus significantly reducing the strain on the battery. The watch will also recognize a quick look and a longer look at the display.
In the first case, for example, only the sender's name will be shown when an incoming message is received, while the content of the message will also be shown if you look longer, i.e. if you keep your hand in the given position for a longer time. After all, this dynamic display of content is supposed to be one of the key functions of the watch.
Charging the watch is handled by induction, where a special spherical charger is magnetically attached to the back of the watch, similar to MagSafe technology. The absence of exposed connectors will probably allow water resistance.
Software
The operating system of the watch is more or less modified iOS for the needs of the watch, however, it is far from a mobile phone system scaled down to the size of the watch display. In terms of system complexity from the user's perspective, the Apple Watch is more like an iPod on steroids.
The basic home screen (not counting the watch face) is represented by a cluster of circular icons, between which the user can move in all directions. The arrangement of the icons can be changed in the companion application on the iPhone. Icons can be zoomed in and out using the digital crown.
The watch itself offers a number of pre-installed applications, including Calendar, Weather, Clock (stopwatch and timer), Maps, Passbook, remote camera trigger, Photos, Music, or controls for iTunes/Apple TV.
Apple paid special attention to fitness applications. On the one hand, there is a sports application for running and other activities (walking, cycling, ...), where the watch measures distance, speed and time using the gyroscope (or GPS on the iPhone); heart rate measurement is also included in the game, thanks to which you should achieve more effective sports.
The second application is more related to a healthy lifestyle and counts steps taken, healthy standing time and calories burned. For each day, a certain goal is set for the user, after the fulfillment of which he will receive a virtual award for better motivation.
Of course, dials are also one of the cornerstones. Apple Watch will offer several types, from classic analog and digital to special horological and astronomical watches with beautiful animations. Each watch face will be customizable and some additional data can be added to it, such as the current weather or the value of selected stocks.
There will also be Siri integration in the operating software, which the user activates either by long pressing the digital crown or by simply saying "Hey, Siri".
Communication
With the Apple Watch, the communication options also received a lot of attention. First of all, there is the Messages application, in which it will be possible to both read and reply to incoming messages. There will be either default messages, dictation (or audio messages) or special interactive emoticons whose appearance the user can change with gestures. Dragging your finger on a smiley, for example, turns a smiling face into a frowny one.
Apple Watch users will then be able to communicate with each other in a very unique way. To start communication, for example, one of the users taps the display several times, which is transferred to the other participant in the form of tapping and a visual display of touches. They can then exchange simple colored strokes drawn on the watch with each other or even share their heartbeat.
In addition to messages, it will also be possible to receive or make calls from the watch. The Apple Watch includes a microphone and speaker, and when paired with an iPhone, it turns into a Dick Tracy watch. Finally, there is also an e-mail client for reading mail. Thanks to the Continuity function, it will be possible to open the unread mail immediately on the iPhone or Mac and perhaps reply to it immediately
Third-party applications
In addition to pre-installed applications, the user will also be able to use third-party applications. These can be developed using WatchKit, which is included with Xcode. However, unlike pre-installed Apple apps, apps cannot take on a life of their own on the watch. To work, they must be linked to an app on the iPhone that does the calculations for it and feeds it data.
Apps work more like widgets in iOS 8, only brought to the watch screen. The applications themselves are quite simply structured, don't expect any complex controls. All UI consists of one of two types of navigation – page and tree – and modal windows to display details.
Finally, the context menu comes into play after activating Force Touch. In addition to the applications themselves, developers can also implement Glance, a simple page without interactive elements that displays arbitrary information, such as the next calendar events or tasks for the day. Finally, developers can implement interactive notifications, similar to iOS 8.
However, the situation with applications should change during the year, Apple has promised that the second version of WatchKit will also allow the creation of autonomous applications independent of the parent applications in the iPhone. This makes sense, for example, for fitness apps like Runkeeper or music apps like Spotify. It's not clear when the change will happen, but it's likely to happen after WWDC 2015.
Mobile payments
The Apple Watch also includes NFC technology, which allows you to make contactless payments via Apple Pay. This service requires the watch to be paired with a phone (iPhone 5 and above). Since the Apple Watch does not have a fingerprint sensor, security is handled by a PIN code. The user only has to enter it once, but will be asked again any time the watch loses contact with the skin. This is how the user is protected against unauthorized payments when the Apple Watch is stolen.
Apple Pay cannot yet be used in our region, as it requires direct support from the bank, but Apple plans to introduce its contactless payment service to Europe later this year. After all, the Czech Republic is among the countries with the largest adoption of contactless payments.
What do we expect?
Battery life
So far, one of the most discussed topics around watches outside the price list is battery life. Apple has not officially mentioned it anywhere, however, Tim Cook and unofficially (and anonymously) some Apple employees have stated that the endurance will be around one full day. Tim Cook literally said that we will use the watch so much that we will charge it overnight every day.
Mark Gurman, in an earlier report based on Apple sources, said that the actual battery life will be between 2,5 and 3,5 hours of intensive use, 19 hours of normal use. So it looks like we can't avoid daily charging together with the iPhone. Due to the small battery capacity, charging will probably be fast.
A watch would too they were supposed to have a special mode called Power Reserve, which will reduce the functions to only displaying the time, so that the Apple Watch can last significantly longer in operation.
Water resistance
Again, the water resistance information is a collection of Tim Cook quotes from several interviews. There is no official statement regarding water resistance yet. First, Tim Cook said that the Apple Watch will be resistant to rain and sweat, which would mean only partial water resistance. During a recent visit to the German Apple Store, he revealed to one of the employees that he was also showering with the watch.
If you can actually shower with the watch, we can talk about full-fledged water resistance. However, not about water resistance, so it will not be possible to take the Apple Watch to the pool and use a specialized application to measure swimming performance, as it is possible, for example, with other sports watches.
What we want to know
Price
$349 is the only known price Apple has listed for the Sport Collection with an aluminum body and Gorilla Glass. No word yet on a stainless steel and gold version. But it is obvious that they will not be the cheapest, because with the remaining two collections Apple is aiming more at the market of luxury fashion accessories, where the price of the product is not directly proportional to the price of the material.
For the steel version of the watch, many estimate the price between 600-1000 dollars, for the gold version the heat is even greater and the price could easily reach a dizzying 10 thousand dollars, the lower limit is then estimated at four to five thousand. However, the gold version of the watch is not for the average consumer, it is aimed more at the upper class, where it is common to spend tens of thousands of dollars on watches or jewelry.
Another wild card is the straps themselves. The total price will probably depend on them as well. For example, both premium steel link straps and rubber sports bands are available for the stainless steel collection. The choice of band could thus either reduce or increase the price of the watch. Another question mark is the so-called "black tax". Apple has historically made users pay extra for the black version of its products, and it is possible that the aluminum and stainless steel version of the watch in black will be priced differently compared to the standard gray.
Modularity
If the gold version of the Apple Watch is to cost several thousand dollars, it will not be easy to convince people to buy it, given that in two years the watch will be practically obsolete in terms of hardware. But there is a good chance that the watch would be modular. Apple already mentioned in September that the entire watch is powered by one miniature encapsulated chipset, which the company refers to as a module on its website.
For the Edition collection, Apple could therefore offer a service to upgrade the watch for a certain fee, i.e. replace the existing chipset with a new one, or even replace the battery. In theory, he could do so even with the steel version, which practically falls into the premium category. If the watch could really be upgraded like this, Apple would definitely convince undecided customers who are more likely to invest thousands of dollars in a gold watch that can work for decades and be passed down from generation to generation. The problem may then arise when the Watch gets a brand new design in the coming years.
Availability
During the latest financial results announcement, Tim Cook mentioned that the Apple Watch will go on sale in April. According to information from foreign sources, this should happen at the beginning of the month. Unlike the iPhone, the first wave should have a greater international reach than a few selected countries, and the watch should thus go on sale in other countries, including the Czech Republic, in the same month.
However, we still do not know the exact date of the start of sales, and it will clearly be one of the details that we will learn at next week's keynote.
All around straps
There are a total of six types of straps for the Apple Watch, each of which has several color variants. Straps give users a wide range of options to customize the watch to their style, but it is not entirely clear which straps will be able to be combined with which collection of watches.
Apple displays specific watch and strap combinations for each collection on its website, and the Apple Watch Sport, for example, is only shown with a rubber sports band. This could mean that the straps won't be available to buy separately, or at least not all of them.
For example, Apple could sell only some, such as a sports rubber, leather loop or a classic leather strap, others will be available for selection only when ordering a certain collection of watches, or Apple will allow the purchase of a replacement strap for an existing one.
The sale of straps alone can be very lucrative for Apple, but at the same time, the company could maintain partial exclusivity and offer more interesting straps only with more expensive versions of the watch.
I am interested in why it is good, when the next generation will come and what it will be better at. This is pure boredom, absolutely uninteresting and pointless.
Nice summary, thank you very much to the author... I think that if the watch could be upgraded and could at least be used in the shower, it would be a hit and Apple would be able to attract even very mobile customers and the watch would be a good investment. See you on March 9.
"Hugo Miletic"...
Don't know if they will be able to display notifications for the music being played on the iPhone?
It's probably too early to speculate on this, but I dare say that it won't light up directly on the display, so you'll have to tap and look under the icon to see what's playing. There will be about hours on the "title"!
The Apple Watch is certainly a nice piece on the hand, and Apple's design has succeeded not only in terms of HW, but also in terms of software, however, several things must be taken into account that will have a very unpleasant effect on future owners:
1. Endurance for one day - this will discourage 50% of interested parties, charging an iPad, iPhone, Macbook and Apple Watch every day is a superhuman feat, just one day is not enough. I use a Fitbit charge HR myself and its 5 day battery life is the bare minimum so it doesn't bother me or startle me.
2. Real use - people will have to get used to the cooperation between the iPhone and the watch and change habits, this will be a problem at the beginning and the question will be how effective it will be. What will it bring to the user in terms of speeding up or making work easier? As a notification display, it is too expensive and if Siri is not in Czech, sorry...then the functions will be degraded to pedometer, heart rate and time.
3. Use for sports - here the possibility would be offered, and this was my idea, so that a person could easily go for a run without a phone, swim in the pool, go to the sauna, have the location displayed on the map in the field, simply wear the Apple watch as a normal waterproof watch that I hardly took off my hand. Can't! In most cases, athletes get away with it.
4. Charging time - "Charging speed is positive" only 2 hours????? iPhone 6 recharges in 1,45 hours, so what is this, is this a joke? this is of course negative news...another negative thing will be the charging connector, which will be atypical and you will have to buy a replacement for some money (about 500 CZK) :-(
5. Price – this is still being speculated about, like most things, and we will see in real life, anyway, my estimate will be 9.900 to start, but then it will definitely be more expensive, around 12.000,- for a higher version with better straps, etc...
6. Community of people - for sports purposes and motivation, there needs to be some sort of community portal for people to compete in steps or calories burned, which should be part of the Health app, or have data on iCloud. Hopefully, Apple will introduce something like this, because without the Gaming factor, people won't use the target much, or not as much as they would compete with friends and people in a group.