Daniel Hruska Apple yesterday released WatchKit, a toolkit for developing apps for the Apple Watch. We didn't know too much until now, at Apple's keynote the features of the watch were rather shallow, and it was no different in the showroom after the end, where only Apple employees could operate the Watch on their wrists. What other information do we know about Apple Watch now?
Only the extended hand of the iPhone… for now
There were many questions in the air. One of the biggest was about the Watch working without an iPhone. We now know that the standalone Watch will be able to tell the time and maybe a little more. In the first phase at the beginning of 2015, the application will not run on the Watch at all, all computing power will be provided by the currently paired iPhone through the iOS 8 extension. The Watch itself will only be a kind of tiny terminal rendering the UI. All these limitations result from the limited battery capacity in such a titration device.
Apple's documentation mentions the Watch as an addition to iOS, not a replacement for it. According to Apple, fully native apps for the Watch should come later next year, so in the future calculations should also take place on the watch. Apparently, there is nothing to worry about, just remember that when the first iPhone was launched, there was no App Store at all, which was launched only a year later. Until iOS 4, the iPhone could not multitask. A similar iterative development can be expected for the Watch as well.
Two sizes, two resolutions
As has been known since the introduction of the Watch, the Apple Watch will be available in two sizes. The smaller variant with a 1,5-inch display will have dimensions of 32,9 x 38 mm (referred to as 38 mm), a larger variant with a 1,65-inch display then 36,2 × 42 mm (referred to as 42 mm). The display resolution could not be known until WatchKit was released, and as it turns out, it will be dual - 272 x 340 pixels for the smaller variant, 312 x 390 pixels for the larger variant. Both displays have a 4:5 aspect ratio.
Small differences in the size of the icons are also related to this. The notification center icon will be 29 pixels in size for the smaller model, 36 pixels for the larger model. Similar is the case with Long Look notification icons – 80 vs. 88 pixels, or for application icons and Short Look notification icons – 172 vs. 196 pixels. It's a bit more work for the developers, but on the other hand, from the user's point of view, everything will be perfectly consistent regardless of the size of the Watch.
Two types of notifications
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Apple Watch will be able to receive two types of notifications. The initial First Look notification appears when you briefly raise your wrist and look at the display. Next to the application icon, its name and short information is displayed. If a person stays in this position for a long enough time (probably a few seconds), a secondary Long Look notification will appear. The icon and name of the application will move to the top edge of the display and the user can scroll down to the action menu (for example, "I like" on Facebook).
Helvetica? No, San Francisco
On iOS devices, Apple has always used the Helvetica font, starting with iOS 4 Helvetica Neue and switching to the thinner Helvetica Neue Light in iOS 7. The transition to slightly modified Helvetica also took place this year with the arrival of OS X Yosemite and its flatter graphical interface. One would automatically assume that this familiar font would also be used in the Watch. Bridge bug - Apple has created a brand new font for the Watch called San Francisco.
A small display makes different demands on the font in terms of its readability. In larger sizes, San Francisco is slightly condensed, saving horizontal space. Conversely, at smaller sizes, the letters are further apart and have larger eyes (e.g. for the letters a a e), so they are easily recognizable even at a quick glance at the display. San Francisco has two versions - "Regular" and "Display". Coincidentally, the first Macintosh also contained a font with the name San Francisco on it.
Glances
This functionality was already discussed at the keynote – it is a kind of bulletin board in which you move from left to right between information from installed applications, whether it is the weather, sports results, the weather, the number of remaining tasks or anything else. A condition for Glances is the necessity to fit all information to the size of the display, vertical scrolling is not allowed.
No custom gestures
The entire interface is essentially locked into the state Apple wants it to be in – consistent. Scrolling vertically scrolls the content of the application, scrolling horizontally allows you to switch between application panels, tapping confirms a selection, pressing opens a context menu, and the digital crown enables faster movement between panels. Swiping from the left over the edge of the display is used to navigate back, but the same from below the Glances opening. This is how the Watch is controlled and all developers must follow these rules.
Static map previews
Developers have the option to place a map section in their application, or place a pin or label in it. However, such a view is not interactive and you cannot move around on the map. Only when you click on the map does the location appear in the native Maps app. Here it is possible to observe the limitations of the product of the first version, which, instead of enabling everything, can only do something, but at 100%. We can probably expect improvement in this direction in the future.
Thanks for the article, well done, finally quality information!
Quality information, but this combination of HW and SW cannot be said... I don't want to fan the flames, but the "biggest copier in the world" is at least a year ahead... He definitely wants to feel it in his hand, but already the parameters and this information can be guessed enough ... Tributes don't last forever, not even parasitizing Jobs...
In what way is he ahead?
I don't like Samsung watches at all, but it seems to me that these are about 10 years ahead http://moto360.motorola.com/
they look really cool. It's a shame that it's only on Android...
In everything?! In hardware equipment, software support or communication with a mobile phone... S-phones are now completely usable without a mobile phone. After all, take a look and you will see... And the not inconsiderable thing about what they are ahead of, that they have actually been available for some months...
The Samsung sheep has spoken :D
As soon as the Apple Watch is on the market, I will be able to compare it with others. No smartwatch suits me yet.
Dealing with hardware equipment, software support and communication with the mobile phone is currently ridiculous with the Apple Watch, because no one outside of Apple knows about it.
I want fitness functions such as measuring heart rate, blood pressure, body fat and blood sugar from this watch. And, of course, they must also be able to work in the pool and must have mobile, tablet and computer applications.
When you think You don't really know what you're writing about, a watch for measuring blood pressure, fat and sugar... erm... never mind, it will definitely happen one day.
I wrote based on the info in this article
I don't know, I think the Samsung is disgusting, big, HW not much, I don't see anything extra in the SW either. I wouldn't really buy that. It's more of a Microsoft Band, if that. He's ahead. Samsung no.
Although I'm an apple fan, they really didn't manage this. The device is completely useless... well, maybe again and better :)
The watch is suitable for people who are too lazy to take their iPhone out of their backpack, otherwise it's an overpriced piece of junk that basically can't do anything without a phone. I expected that there would be charged sensors for measuring parameters from the body, more aimed at sports and various activities, unfortunately I was very disappointed and now I can buy with a calm heart from the competition, which offers more options at an acceptable price. It seems to me that Apple has been lagging behind the competition lately, I don't like System Android, that's why I've always bought from Apple, but with the arrival of Microsoft and its "rebirth" I'll say goodbye to Apple, their overpriced new products are starting to annoy me.
Sorry for asking off topic now but I need some advice. I have an iPhone 6 and when someone calls me or texts me on SKYPE, it doesn't call me at all, it doesn't alert me, nothing. I don't know what to do anymore and it annoys me :(. I have to go to the application to see if I'm missing something there. I'm so stupid and I can't change it in the settings, or is it the same for you guys? Thank you very much for the answer :).
I feel the same way. skype simply does not run in the background like on android, so it is not fully active.
do you have skype enabled in "settings/notifications"? … check “enable notifications” and specify notification style etc… this works absolutely perfectly for me
Great, I already have it. thank you very much
"Here it is possible to observe the limitations of the product of the first version, which, instead of enabling everything, can only do something, but at 100%" - On the one hand, I am not sure if it will be 100% in the case of current Apple, and secondly, yes, it can only do something , but that 'something' is completely unnecessary.
all of you babbling here - no one is telling you to buy them. do you have to have all apple products? I don't think so. if you don't like them, simply don't buy them and that's all. in my opinion, apple has gone in the right direction as far as the consumer is concerned. example: Samsung and similar smart watches. who will buy them? only geeks. I will always wear a regular watch. because those watches don't really look pretty. but apple watch - since it is first and foremost a good drop-out watch, people who care a lot about what I will have on my hand and how it looks will also buy it. imagine a lady who tries to dress fashionably and wears a samsung watch. probably hard. apple watch already and what about the function? zial, you could have gotten used to that by now. I'm gaining slowly...
I tried to play with WatchKit in XCode and I'm not sure if I understood it correctly - the whole application runs on the iPhone and I only push the "image" - view of the application - to the watch anyway. On the one hand, it's well thought out, but I'm curious how it will work in real life, because the watch is just an external display for the iPhone?