In addition to the new iPhones, Apple’s finally taken the wraps off its highly-anticipated wearable device during the invite-only press event held Tuesday morning at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in its hometown of Cupertino, California.
Apple has officially announced the long rumored iWatch which will officially be called the Apple Watch. Accurate within 50 milliseconds and made of a sapphire crystal display, the Apple Watch is a comprehensive health and fitness device as well. Apple is calling it one of the most precise and remarkable innovations they've ever made.
The Apple Watch comes in three editions: the regular Watch, Watch Edition (made from 18k gold), and Watch Sport (made to be "light and durable"). It also has two face sizes — 1.5 and 1.65 inches. Though not explicitly announced as a men's and women's watch, those sizes in that way also mimic the non-smart watches many people are used to.
In addition, the range of strap choices allow the watch to vary in its look, from sporty to dressy. And a variety of watch faces will also make the watch infinitely customizable.
And just as Apple created the graphical user interface for the original Mac, the click-wheel on the iPod and the Multitouch user interface on the iPhone, they have now rethought what interacting with wearable devices should be like.
“What we didn’t do was take the iPhone and shrink the user interface and strap it on your wrist.,” said Cook. Featuring the crown which doubles as a dial, the “digital crown” — as Apple is calling it — is the primary interface controller for the Apple Watch
As is standard with smartwatches, the Apple Watch doesn't do much without a smartphone. And this being Apple, the Apple Watch will only work with the iPhone. At the very least, you might not need a new iPhone to use it; it will work with iPhone 6 but also iPhone 5 models.
Apple spent a lot of time at its press event talking about how the Apple Watch is the most personal device it’s ever created. Case in point: a user can “send” someone else their heartbeat by pressing two fingers to the Apple Watch screen to allow it to measure a pulse. Users can also share sketches, sound recordings and wrist-based love-taps for other forms of 21st-century flirtation.
But that's not all. The new "digital touch" system allows you to draw small pictures to send to friends; during the presentation, Apple's Kevin Lynch sent a drawing of a fish to a friend to ask him if he wanted to get sushi for lunch. It also has walkie-talkie capabilities, allowing a person to communicate with another watch-wearer. The watch also includes its own system of animated emojis.
Apple Watches can communicate between themselves, allowing you to send content to a friend’s device, like drawings (yes, you can jot down notes on this thing), medical data such as your heart rates (with the receiver actually feeling vibrations which match your pulse), etc.
As expected, Siri is one of the defining features of the device, allowing you to ask all sorts of questions, dictate to the watch to reply to messages and more. Messaging capabilities rely heavily on new iOS 8 features allowing you to send voice replies through iMessage, quick reply with dictation or custom animated emojis or by choosing between tappable answers based on the message itself.
The wearable device starts at $349 and will be available in early-2015.
