Apple last night announced the Apple Watch, combining an accurate timepiece with an intimate and immediate communication device and a health and fitness companion.
“Apple Watch begins a new chapter in the way we relate to technology and we think our customers are going to love it,” says Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait for people to start wearing Apple Watch to easily access information that matters, to interact with the world, and to live a better day by being more aware of their daily activity than ever before.”
“Conceived, designed and developed as a singular product, Apple Watch merges hardware and software like never before,” says Jony Ive, Apple’s senior vice-president of design.
“In Apple Watch, we’ve created three beautifully curated collections with a software architecture that together enable unparalleled personalization in a wearable device.”
Apple Watch introduces the Digital Crown, a new way to scroll, zoom and navigate fluidly without obstructing the display. The Retina display with Force Touch on Apple Watch senses the difference between a tap and a press, providing a new way to quickly and easily access relevant controls. The new Taptic Engine discreetly delivers a gentle tap on the wrist whenever the user receives a notification or message.
Apple Watch keeps time to within 50 milliseconds of UTC, the universal time standard.
It can be personalised with watch faces ranging from traditional analog such as the Chronograph face, to the Modular face, or beautifully animated butterflies and jellyfish on the Motion face. Apple Watch goes beyond telling time with specialised functions on the watch face – known in watchmaking as complications – such as the sunrise/sunset, upcoming calendar events or daily activity level.
Apple Watch lets users send messages, read e-mail and answer calls to the iPhone right from their wrist. The Taptic Engine alerts the user with a gentle tap so they won’t miss important notifications.
With Digital Touch, Apple Watch allows users to communicate by sending a sketch, a tap or even the rhythm of their own heartbeat.
Users can interact with the world around by paying for coffee using Apple Pay, boarding a plane with a Passboo boarding pass, or raising their wrist to ask Siri for turn-by-turn directions in Maps.
Apple Watch encourages users to sit less, move more and get some exercise every day. The Activity app provides a simple visual snapshot of the user’s daily activity with three rings that measure active calories burned, brisk activity and how often they stood up to take a break from sitting during the day.
Apple Watch provides the detailed metrics users need during dedicated workout sessions for the most popular activities, such as walking, running and cycling through the Workout app.
With an accelerometer, a built-in heart rate sensor, GPS and Wi-Fi from the iPhone, Apple Watch uses the best sensors for different types of motion and provides a comprehensive picture of all-day activity and workouts. The Activity app on iPhone collects activity and workout data from Apple Watch so users can see their history in greater detail. Apple Watch uses this history to suggest personalised activity goals, reward fitness milestones and keep users motivated.
Apple Watch is available in two different sizes, 38 mm and 42 mm, and in three distinct collections: Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition. Apple Watch Sport features a lightweight anodised aluminum case in silver and space gray with a Retina display protected by strengthened Ion-X glass and matching high-performance fluoroelastomer Sport Band in five colors.
The Apple Watch collection features highly polished stainless steel and space black stainless steel cases with a Retina display protected by sapphire crystal. The Apple Watch collection comes with a choice of three different leather straps, a stainless steel link bracelet and Milanese loop, and a black or white Sport Band.
Apple Watch Edition features cases specially crafted from custom rose or yellow 18-carat gold alloys developed to be twice as hard as standard gold, a Retina display protected by polished sapphire crystal and a choice of uniquely designed straps and bands with 18-karat gold clasps, buckles or pins.
Apple Watch delivers up to 18-hour all-day battery life and comes with a charging solution that combines Apple’s MagSafe technology with inductive charging for a quick connection that simply snaps into place.
