14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is hard at work to get the second-generation Watch ready for general availability in the first quarter of this year, and a new report claims the company is very close to pushing the new model to trial production this month.
Taiwan-based Commercial Times (via AI) reports that Quanta could start a short production trial of the second-generation Apple Watch by the end of the month, as the Cupertino-based firm is trying to identify any existing problems and fix them in time for a March debut.
Specifics on the new model are not yet available, but previous reports on this claimed the new smartwatch would not be very different as compared to the current version and would adopt a similar look with better battery life and possibly new sensors.
If this trial production process goes according to plan, Apple would then boost production capacity in February with help from its existing partners, including Foxconn, Inventec, and Wistron. If the Apple Watch indeed sees daylight in March, sales should start in April, so all these companies would have approximately 60 months to manufacture the necessary units to cope with the initial demand.
Software updates
But as we’ve told you in our Apple Watch review, the biggest problem of the device isn’t necessarily the hardware, but rather the software. And in particular, it’s the software limitations that Apple implemented.
Right now, there’s very little to customize about the watch, and this is why it tends to get boring at certain times, whereas rival platforms, such as Android Wear, offer an impressive lineup of personalization options that also include custom faces. At this point, watchOS only allows owners to replace the default watch face with one of the few offered by Apple or create a custom one with a static photo and the time placed in the top right corner.
Unfortunately, no changes in this regard seem to be planned for the moment, but with a little luck, Apple might lift some of its restrictions and let third-party devs create custom faces with the second-generation Watch.