INTRODUCTION
At the Apple event in Cupertino, Calif. Apple officially unveiled its entrance in the world of wearable with its first Apple Watch. It comes alongside the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the new larger screen Apple smartphone. The smart watch is set to go in the market in early 2015 with starting prices at $349 in the US.
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Apple proved itself wiser with the early revelation without actually launching the Apple Watch, it kept its watch in the competition against the Samsung Galaxy Gear, LG G Watch R and Motorola Moto 360 which has already covered the market. This will no doubt have its impacts over the selling season of Christmas, and Apple is going to secure its possible market.
It has not only focused the functions but also the interface. It’s made to be the simplest and most stylish among the smart watches in the market. It’s also a high accuracy time piece. It was claimed by Apple that it has accuracy within 50 milliseconds, with its high finish designs it shows everything beautifully from the notifications to messages and calendar appointments on the watch face.
After the iPad in 2010 it has been the first new-launch by Apple under its new CEO. This time it chooses the smart watch market, which has been already exploding with many of renowned brands. With the information revealed by Apple on its September event and later on here is a brief look over its key points and specs.
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Moto 360 prices are competitive as compared to other smartwatches. You can buy it for $249.99 here.
SIZE AND DESIGN
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The design is good and too much comfortable. The shape is although not much changed as compared with other smart watches but it has a redefined fit and finish and locks somehow a mini-iPhone or a curved iPod Nano.
It comes with three different styles, all in small and large sizes and six different bands that will bring out some amazing and surprising combinations of it. Among the three style variant the first one comes in stainless steel case with ceramic back and a sapphire crystal, the second is its sport edition that with an aluminum body, composite back, and Ion-X glass screen while the third called the Edition comes with 18-Karat gold in a ceramic back and sapphire crystal.
The larger size is “42mm” while the smaller one comes in “38mm” which can be the men’s and women’s or adult and kid size respectively. The bands designs includes a magnet Milanese loop of metal mesh, an auto attaching leather band, segmented metal, classic leather band and a bright color sport band.
Digital Crown
It has a scroll wheel called the Digital Crown that lets you zooming function and also the easy accessibility thought the apps. You can easily get back onto the home screen by tapping-in the crown. The touch also does a good job to interact with the apps. There are buttons below the Crown that will activate the online payment function of the Apple Watch.
FEATURES
It just not stops at mobile payments through Apple Pay but also its security assistance as it works as a digital key that can open a smart lock let it be the front door at home or the hotel room.
It has many features that look the same of the available smart watches. Its notifications, voice-activation and swipe features are already there in Google’s watches while its app focus mechanism and many built in features are there in the Samsung’s Gear.
With these, Apple tried to bring all the demanded but scattered features of smart watches in to a single piece therefore it put all the key features of already available devices in the market with some innovations and its own uniqueness in the Apple Watch.
The Communication device
It’s obviously the communications device with all the basic functions to assist the iPhone. It can send and receive messages; it makes and attends calls and also works with other apps. Its contacts app is interesting that let the user go beyond the normal messaging.
It Works offline
Apple Watch, like most of the smart watches fully functions and remains connected when it’s with the iPhone. But no mater if disconnected it is still a working device with big features like tracking activities, online payments, playing music.
Fitness Apps and sensors
It has also focused much on the fitness services making them advanced to build a standard. There are four sapphire lenses on the back promise to deliver more accurate heart-rate measurements. It is a good addition with respect to the other optical heart-rate monitors on Samsung’s Gear 2 or the Motorola Moto 360.
It has some intelligently designed fitness apps among those one works to tracks the amount of calories burned, another tracks time spent in different fitness activities, while one app workout for activities like cycling and walking.
NFC and Online Payment
It has the Near Field Communication NFC enabled. This wireless communication gives it the power to linkup with the Apple Ecosystem making it a essential part of the Apple customers. Through NFC the smart watch works with the Apple Pay system and makes certain online payments. This feature is going to be another edge to the Apple Watch over the other wearable in the market.
It supports the latest iPhone
Apple Watch supports only the latest iPhone 5, 5C, 6 and 6 Plus while the earlier iPhones are yet excluded. Like the other smart watches it also works with its particular phone platform that makes it an iPhone-owner’s product limiting it to the particular models of iPhones. It is much like Samsung’s Gear watches that only run on certain models of Samsung phones.
Charging the battery
Apple has already confirmed that to fully avail the functions it must be charged daily. Though its charging issue can reduce its potential market but it has got an attractive charger and a convenient charging system. It charges conveniently with magnets and inductive charging combination. The charging cable snaps on the back side of the watch. Ideally a watch is not something to be charged daily it least it should least for several days.
Use it with Left hand
It Digital Crown being on the right side may feels disappointing for the lefties but in actual it don’t needs to be worried. Apple has design it reversibly so it can be put on either wrist and you can easily set the way u want the screen to flip. It will change the orientation of buttons and the crown will be on the other side with the contact button om top.
SPECIFICATIONS
Apple Watch will ground with a processor 1.2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 and 512MB of RAM that may be from Samsung, Hynix and Micron. It will be available in 4GB standard model and an 8GB variant of flash storage from NAND. It comes with a Broadcom BCM43342 chipset as wireless combination chip that will include GPS radio functionality, though Apple have announced that the Watch will require to be paired with the iPhone for GPS data. Apple here might have used a modified version or has disabled the GPS functionality to save more battery power.
RELEASE DATE AND PRICE
Despite the rumors and speculations still it’s only the company which has the idea of its release dates. Though there are some key indications and also some sharp estimation which claims that Apple Watch will release in early 2015 might be in January, with prices starting from $349. There have been speculations that the company will start the mass production of the Watch soon in January. If this was made successfully the company might catch the rush season of sales in valentine 2015 that will help Apple to cover its missed target of 2014.
Initially it is priced at $349 in the United States that’s £217 in the UK and AU$379 in Australia, but this conversion is expected to be even higher. Also the hidden cost will play their parts that will higher the prices out side the US.
The prices for Apple Watch are still higher as compared with the other Android Wear’s already available in the smart watch market. Among these the cheaper are Samsung Gear Live at $200 and LG G Watch that is available at $230 in US and at £160 in UK and $250 in Australia. This might be much lower than to put Apple in a competition but being a high end it will face the biggest and most stylish competition from the Moto watches of Motorola, the Moto 360 that is available at $249 in US, £199 in UK.
With high end prices and an Apple Watch with 18k gold the company is aiming for the luxury market. It has given the glass-protected display and an imposing digital crown, that will give it a great look with high selling prices.
It is finally the smart watch of tomorrow, there is still time for it to come in the market but with the initial information and a glimpse Apple already provided putts it in to the middle of smart watches. It has some issues right now like its not enough charging capacity but it might be improved. Still it is the device the Apple users will love to have with their new iPhone 6 and 6 plus with that it will have a great matching.