Apple Watch hands-on: Release date April 24, prices range from $349 to $17,000
March 9, 2015 1:23 PM
Back in September, Apple officially unveiled its smartwatch line, simply calledApple Watch, but omitted some crucial details, leaving them to be answered at a later date.
Well, that date has finally arrived and now Apple has filled in some of the blanks at its March 9 media event in San Francisco.
So, what did we learn about Apple Watch since last September? Not as much as you might think.
The new details as of March 9:
Apple Watch Sport is composed of customized aluminum alloy. Comes in silver or Space Gray. Color bands are made of high-performance plastic. $349 for 38mm, $399 for 42mm sizes. In Australia the pricing runs AU$499 and AU$579 and that's £299 and £339 in the UK.
Apple Watch (steel case) starts at $549 (38mm) and goes up to $1,049, depending on band. 42mm is $50 more. In Australia the pricing starts at AU$799 and goes to AU$1,629 depending on the band. The UK starts at £479 and runs up to £949.
Apple Watch Edition (18-karat gold case) starts at $10,000, with options ranging all the way to $17,000. That's AU$14,000 to AU$24,000 and from £8,000 up to £13,500 over in the UK.
You can preorder all models starting April 10. Shipping April 24.
Global launch. Will be available in several countries, including UK, Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany and France.
Communicates with iPhone over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Can be anywhere in house, not just in Bluetooth range.
iPhone will download apps for Watch via Apple Watch Store.
Designed it with "all-day battery life" across a range of uses. 18 hours in typical day.
You can connect an Apple Watch to another Apple Watch (direct communication). Draw a sketch and have it pop onto friends' watches. Or tap to get a friend's attention. Or send your heartbeat.
Impression Of watch-
Unlike the last time I saw Apple Watch, this time I could actually try its features myself. On my wrist, like before, the watch felt good: not too heavy, sleek, and a comfy band fit. You interact via tapping, swiping, and using the two side buttons: one's a sleek small button, the other's the Digital Crown, which is a button plus a scrolling wheel.
Tapping activates the display, while swiping up brings Glances, which are like mini-apps showing everything from weather to stock info to where your Uber car is. Like Google's Android Wear cards, these can be tapped to launch the full app. Click on an Instagram photo, and you get a mini Instagram app. Double clicking the smaller second button brings up Apple Pay, which works like the version on the iPhone minus the TouchID sensor. Sometimes it was hard to figure out whether to click the crown or bottom button, or whether to swipe or tap. But the interface in the demo room generally ran smooth.
What does it do?
The Apple Watch is a music player like an iPod; a fitness tracker with heart-rate measurements; a communications device that will send and receive messages, calls and audio recordings; and a handheld portal to other apps, too. It also makes payments via Apple Pay. It can also control your Apple TV and act as a remote for connected smart-home devices.
The Apple Watch seems intent on being a synthesis of many other smartwatches, trying to knit together all of these features into a coherent whole. In some ways, the Apple Watch's notifications, voice-activated controls, and swipe-to-glance features feel like a combination of what Google's Android Wear and Samsung's Gear smartwatches have strived for.
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But if you want the basic breakdown, in case you haven't used a smartwatch before: it keeps you
connected to your phone, acts like a mini iPod, works as a fitness tracker, and could even replace
your wallet. Apple has shown how the device could not just make mobile payments, but also act
as a digital key to open a smart lock on a front door at home. Apps will also allow you to access
other home-automation features, such as smart thermostats, using your iPhone's wireless
connection as a conduit.
And hey, it also tells the time; Apple actually claims high-precision accuracy within 50 milliseconds, and a variety of high-design customizable watch faces will do everything from show lunar cycles and weather to give quick-glance messages and calendar appointments.
