14 DAY TRIAL // The first thing that comes to mind when you see the Apple Watch is: This is beautiful. Apple has nailed it with the design! And then ten other questions come to mind, most of which remain unanswered. But there are some questions we can help you with so enjoy the ride.
Apple watch is the first category of products the Cupertino, California-based tech giant has released since the iPad. We're not talking about a redesigned product like the Mac Pro, but a brand new category. They are not the first to the game, but they surely have found the best way to put it in practice. This is not a smaller phone strapped to your wrist. This is a device with a new interface and... a lot of bracelets and styles.
Which one is yours?
Apple set to create the best watch for 2015 and they probably did. There are no apparent compromises and the device itself looks very good. For some reason, they didn't go with iTime or iWatch like everyone expected, but they chose Watch or Apple Watch. Yes, they call it both.
Apple brags about the fact that there is an Apple Watch for everyone. And indeed there is. You start with a clear choice: Apple Watch has a stainless steel or space black stainless steel case, sapphire crystal and some good-looking bands. Then there's the Apple Watch Sport made of anodized aluminum in silver or space grey. It has a strengthened Ion-X glass and some colorful bands. The last one is the Apple Watch Edition made of 18-karat gold in yellow or rose, sapphire crystal glass and some sober looking bands.
Now, it would be easy to choose your favorite, right? Well... no. Because there are over 30 different combinations of bracelets and bands.
And that's not all. The Apple Watch comes in two sizes – 38 mm and 42 mm height. So that makes about 60 models available. Wasn't it easier when Apple had one iPhone on the market and you could just get that? Good luck choosing one!
The design and specs
It's difficult to explain the Apple Watch interface. Some of the concepts from the iPhone moved over to the smartwatch, but Jony Ive has created new ways to interact with it. You can surely go full multi-touching on it, but you will not be able to see the tiny screen.
A better way to interact with it is to use the Digital Crown. It has the look and feel of a clock crown, but rotating it won't wind the mainspring, but it will magnify the content on the screen and set some of the times and date on watch faces. No matter in what app you are on the screen, you will be able to go to the home page just by pushing the same crown.
The Apple Watch comes with a retina display that knows the difference between a tap and a press. So, from now on, when you deep press, you will get a contextual menu.
In order to save battery, there's no need to keep the display ON. The Apple Watch knows when you raise your hand, so it will only turn the screen on at that moment.
And the best way to interact with it is Siri. The Apple Watch will have dictation and Siri built-in so you can just ask it to do something.
The device will have a Taptic Engine which is feels like someone is taping you on your wrist when you get a notification. It will also get you a heart monitorGPS, accelerometer so it can turn into your personal fitness trainer.
Charging the Apple Watch is done via a wireless connector that works like the MagSafe, but it is just a small round thing with no exposed connectors.
Glances, notifications, and features
The interface makes the difference between Glances and Notifications. You probably won't, in the beginning. Glances are scannable summaries of the information you need to know, while notifications are sent by apps like Calendar, Messages or third party apps.
You will get a lot of watch faces to suit your taste and developers can come up with thousands more. You can even combine pictures with weather updates, stock quotes or stopwatches on the same screen.
Apple invented a new way to communicate by doodling on the screen. It looks like what a 4th grader would do and probably that was the target for the device all along...
Anyway, if you need to use it for more serious stuff, you can just choose a few friends that you can call or send a message to. Apple says this can be used as a phone via the built-in speaker and microphone and it has an NFC chip in it so it's good for Apple Pay, too.
Apps on your wrist
The Apple Watch comes with a few built-in apps: Calendar, Maps, Passbook, Music, Apple TV and iTunes Remote, Camera Remote, Stopwatch, Timer, Alarm , World Clock, Stocks, Weather, Photos, Siri and Settings.
But this is just the beginning, because Apple will be giving developers a Watch SDK call WatchKit so everyone can get to your wrist. Want to see Twitter or Facebook messages? You will be able to do it. How about a Nike, WhatsApp or Pinterest app? That will come too. There's even a hotel chain in the USA who will use the Apple Watch as a contactless key opener.
The Apple watch will only show up in stores in early 2015 for about $350 (€271.59) and we still don't know the battery life or how much the bands will cost. Take a look at the first video that introduce the iWatch and let us know what you think.
