Apple announced their first smartwatch today, the Apple Watch. The fitness-focussed wearable is built for use with the new iPhone 6, whose announcement we covered here. The Apple Watch could well be the first smartwatch to break into the mainstream, with a stunning design, clever features and a bold new interface. The Apple Watch will be released in 2015, but Apple haven’t announced a specific date yet. It’ll cost around £300, with certain models costing much more. Let’s take a closer look!
Design
The Apple Watch has an interesting design with roots in both iPhone and classic watches. Unlike many smartwatches on the market, the Apple Watch will be sold in 18 different varieties: two sizes, three materials, six bands and multiple colours. Considering most smartwatches ship in two colour schemes, the Apple Watch will be vastly more diverse; a good thing for a fashion accessory.
The Apple Watch is available in two sizes, with a 1.5-inch or 1.65-inch display. The body can be made from stainless steel, aluminium and even 18-carat gold. Each material forms its own collection: ‘Apple Watch’, ‘Apple Watch Sport’ and ‘Apple Watch Edition’, respectively.
The right hand side of the Apple Watch includes two physical elements. There’s a dial called the ‘Digital Crown’, which is used for scrolling, zooming and selecting… and there’s a button below which is used to contact your friends for a call or brief message. On the back, you’ll find a heart-rate sensor covered with sapphire lenses. The rear of the phone also allows a magnetic inductive charging solution, where magnets provide perfect alignment for the wireless charging.
Interface
The Apple Watch has a rather unusual interface with a field of circular icons arranged arbitrarily. You can zoom into this field with the crown, or use the touchscreen to adjust the centre point. Once the app icons are large enough, you’re free to open the app by tapping on it. Apple are also measuring the force of your touches, so a hard tap is distinguishable from a light touch.
Of course, the heart of any watch are its faces. Apple have provided some really nice ones here, varying from incredibly minimal faces with large animated backgrounds, traditional analogue watch faces and very dense digital faces. Elements of these faces can be changed individually; for example you might choose to replace a weather read-out in the lower section for your daily calendar appointments.
Notifications are an important part of any smartwatch, and Apple haven’t forgotten them either. Notifications appear as you raise your watch to read it, with different apps offering different methods of replying. There are some clever touches here: if you’re asked whether you want to see Captain America or the LEGO Movie, two of your quick reply options will be the names of the films… and it’s not just films, any either/or question seems to work like this.
Conclusion
Apple are incredibly good at crafting products that move a developing category into the mainstream. They did it with MP3 players, they did it with smartphones, they did it with tablets and now they’re trying for watches. The Apple Watch seems to be the most complete smartwatch yet devised, thanks to a cunning blend of style, usability and features… and I’d be very surprised if Apple don’t sell millions of them.
Thanks for checking out our Apple Watch coverage! We’ll have much more on this wearable as it comes closer to market. To receive word of our latest blog posts, new products and promotions, follow us on Twitter @mobilefun or on Facebook at Love Your Mobile.