Load the Game

Apple Watch turns out to be the iWatch

• Egon Kilin
• September 9th, 2014

Are you disappointed that the iWatch is now the Apple Watch? I sure am, I liked the rumored name better. Apple has had a tendency of leting the “i” go at their event today, but we don’t know why. Anyhow, the iWatch, ehm, I mean Apple Watch is here! And it’s awesome.

I’ve said about the iPhone 6 and Iphone 6 Plus that they didn’t impress me, but something else about Apple’s event did. I was talking about the Apple Watch, naturally. With Apple Watch, many leaks have been confirmed, just as in the case of the iPhone 6 devices. The Apple Watch comes as an impressive device nonetheless, because Tim Cook has introduced some entirely new functions at the presentation.

When I first glimpsed at the Apple Watch, I didn’t like it. I still don’t like it as a matter of fact, because, truth be told, I prefer the round design of the Moto 360 or the LG G Watch R. The Apple Watch might be better, but I would still prefer the other ones. The design of the Apple Watch is not ugly, don’t misunderstand me, but it’s a bit generic for my taste. Flat screen, rounded edges, square shape… It’s getting kind of repetitive. Nonetheless, the build of the watch seems to be of a much higher quality than that of other wearable devices on the market. As expected of Apple. the company has also manufactured the straps for the Apple Watch. You can only use these straps with your Apple Watch because they use a unique click-type of attach-mechanism or whatnot.

The Apple watch is made of stainless steel and has a beautiful crown button on the side which makes the device pop. It also has a fair number of straps you can choose from and you can even choose whether you would like a 14 carat gold body, called the Apple Watch Edition, Apple Watch Sport made from aluminium and the Apple Watch. What’s more important is that you can get the Apple Watch in two sizes. So rumors were accurate. Two different versions of the same smartwatch. One is 38 mm while the other is 42 mm.

The Apple Watch has a few very interesting traits, so let’s start with those. The OS is not a smaller version of iOS 8. It’s a whole different OS. apparently, and it’s totally different. It’s not better than Android Wear, but it does have some advantages it gets from the hardware the watch uses. The watch has a sapphire screen which can also sense force. What that means is that the watch display can tell whether your are tapping or pressing. Now I’m not sure how accurate this function will be, but the fact that it exists adds a lot of use to the watch.

The crown of the watch is not only used to power it up or shut it down – it’s also used for scrolling, zooming, scaling and stuff like that and it’s brilliant. You can scroll your way to the future with it. On a more serious note, the UI seems a very well designed wearable OS which is paired with your iPhone. None other, though. Just the iPhone. Its interface seems easy to use and instead of using a homescreen like Android Wear does, it uses a cloud of icons through which you can scale to select neighborhoods and apps. It look like serious fun.

The Apple Watch is also waterproof, dust proof and it can be wirelessly charged, which is cool. The watch also has NFC built in for the enigmatic mobile payment platform. Apple has implemented a version of Google Now’s cards into the UI, calling it Glances. It does what Google Now does actually, Siri integration and information display on scrollable homescreens. The watch sports a taptic engine and a small speaker, so that it can send you sound alerts and vibrating alerts when taking turns in navigation for example. It has all the standard sensors found in a smartwatch, with a heart rate sensor included, naturally.

The widget interface of the UI has the same feel and function of Android Wear, except the fact that it incorporates the new force-tap gesture, which is essentially a “right-click”. What’s neat on the watch, and will be revolutionary if it works, is the messaging and writing technique. There’s none. I mean, you do have messaging, but either the watch suggests the response for you in a checklist type or you dictate the answer. Or use the animated emojis the UI has to offer. Now if this advanced message and text recognition system works as it should, this could be a great thing. Not much of the feature has been presented, but when a question was present in a message, like which phone would you choose, the iPhone 6 or the iPhone 6 Plus, the UI brought you a screen with four options to select: iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Not sure and record a message.

A photo app, airline information, Pinterest, maps and the digital touch app (with its own physical button under the crown) are available on the watch. The digital touch app is a communication app that works between Apple Watch users and allows them to send drawings and actual heartbeats via the taptic engine to each other. Crazy. A Fitness and a Workout app have been also added as part of Apple’s HealthKit platform. The apps measure everything from calories, to calories burnt, steps taken, miles walked, time spent exercising, heart rates and the likes.

The Watch can be used as a remote, thanks to the built in NFC and apparently, it can also double as a walkie talkie among Apple Watch users and as a viewfinder for the iPhone. Luckily, It works with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, and iPhone 5S so you don’t need to buy an iPhone 6 just to be able to use the Apple Watch. 

Retail price for the Apple Watch STARTS at $349. $349 for the Apple Watch with a strap. ow much will the Apple Watch Sport or the Apple Watch Edition cost? $1000? No chance. What was weird about the whole presentation of the Apple Watch is that nothing was said about battery life or connectivity. Nothing. That’s a tad suspicious. We wonder what that would mean… Anyway, the Apple Watch will be available at the start of next year. For at least $349.

Overall, the Apple Watch is an impressive device with features you won’t find in other wearable devices. Nonetheless, it does seem a little overpriced. and since battery life and connectivity wasn’t even mentioned, I’m not even sure it’s worth that amount of cash. But since launch will be delayed until next year, we hope Apple will provide us with the missing details. In the meantime, I’m ordering a Moto 360. What are you doing on the eve of Apple’s smartwatch launch?