REVIEW: APPLE SMART WATCH

“This is unashamedly a fashion gizmo, designed with gleaming styling and high-end materials. Its square-with-rounded-corners display is familiar to Apple products and the screen is bright and pin-sharp. It works as a fitness tracker, message notifier, navigation device and more. The watch can vibrate to give feedback to its wearer and can even be used to send the wearer’s heartbeat to another person. Tells the time, too.”

This words were the what new Apple chief executive Tim Cook had to say about Apple’s new smart gadget – the Apple Smartwatch, which was launched this month alongside the new Apple iPhone6 and 6 Plus.

Other smart watches have been geeky and unattractive but Apple has aimed for beauty first, tech second. Unlike previous gadgets it comes in multiple looks using six straps in different materials to coloured metal finishes. The side-mounted crown — which Cook compared to the invention of the mouse — is used to zoom screen images in and out, scroll through lists and more while rear sensors provide pulse measurement and inductive charging.

It aims to make wearable technology mainstream where rival gizmos have failed.

Personal taste, usability and above all battery life will be key. It’s more premium than its rivals and like some other smart watches, it only works with a smartphone (an iPhone, as you might have guessed). It will cost from $349 (about £215), but it’s not out until next year.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

The Apple Watch will need to be paired with an iPhone — versions going back to the iPhone 5 are compatible with the device — and is controlled by a dial on the side of the watch. The company has created a new operating system that would stop users having to pinch on a small screen, as with other smartwatches. The dial on the phone does different things according to what app is being used, such as zooming within the maps app or scrolling through lists.

Wearers to reply to messages from in the watch using dictation and smart replies — in-built quick messages that users can choose from. Wearers can also select from emojis — with controllable eyes and mouth — within the watch.

The watch can vibrate to give feedback to its wearer. Friends can send messages to others’ Apple Watches, making their watch vibrate, and can also let them ‘feel’ another’s heartbeat.

Sensors in the watch can measure wearers’ activity, including their heartbeat, which will be fed into Apple’s Healthbook, which stores information about users’ bodies and health in iOS 8. It measures how much wearers have walked around and stood up, as well as activity during workouts.

It can share that information with other iOS apps, measuring activity through the day.

Apple also announced a series of partnerships using the software in the app, including apps that can control lighting in houses and check on the battery levels in cars.

It will include new versions of the iPhone apps, including stripped-down versions of its voice-activated digital assistant, Siri, and mail and messages. A button on the side of the device allows users to get in touch with friends quickly.

Apple executives emphasised the accuracy of the watch, which uses what it said were new technologies to always be within 50ms of time.

The watch can sense the force with which the face is being pressed, and can sense where it is in space, so that it will wake up when it is brought towards the user.

The watch will come in a range of faces and straps, helping users customise their watches. Apple will also sell a smaller watch with different straps. There will be three different versions of the watch. A sports version is made for active use, and the ‘Apple Watch Edition’ is made using 18-carat gold.

The watch includes a number of digital faces, which include more spectacular images like a face that shows users’ positions on earth. Those faces can be customised, including changing colours. The watch has a sapphire display — the second toughest material on earth, as noted by designer Jony Ive during the keynote — to stop it being broken or scratched. The faces can also pull information from apps including the calendar, stocks and weather.

PRODUCT REVIEW:

Although this gadget is yet to be publicly released early next year, here are some initial observations:

Apple’s first wearable gadget beams messages, Facebook updates, simplified apps and Siri to our wrists, eliminating the all-too-common need to take out our devices to constantly check notifications. This is going to be especially convenient – instead of taking the much-bigger 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and even bigger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, or the next 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 out of your pocket or bag.

However, it is merely capable of sending alerts of text messages and calls, still necessitating the whipping out of your compatible partner iPhone. This kind of eliminates a major supposedly “convenience” factor. If only Apple was able to solve this problem, then it would have been extremely useful and convenient as compared to similar smartwatches out in the market.

It is however, capable of some “secret-code” conversation via the conversation button on its side. The button below the digital crown allows you to start a conversation with friends. Pushing it brings up their contact info photos and zooming into a specific person with the digital crown gets things started.

Beyond calling and messaging them, you can get their attention with a gentle tap. It vibrates the “taptic” feedback on their smartwatch. What’s intriguing about this taptic feedback system is that it’s said to be more precise and subtle than a vibration everyone can hear. Want to ditch a party? Your friends’ secret sign may be three taps on the Apple Watch before bailing. It’s an interesting way to get someone’s attention.

The watch will be charged using similar technology to the Magsafe charger found in Apple’s laptops, changed using inductive charging so that there are no exposed contacts on the back of the watch, where it plugs in. This is great because it eliminates the possibility of encountering any funky malfunctioning – especially since it will be strapped onto a person’s wrist where it will be exposed to sweat and constant movement and jarring.

Aesthetically, it is beautiful, not just functional. Apple Watch’s screen is surrounded by casing made of custom alloys of stainless steel and aluminum that, according to the company, stands up physical demands of daily wear. They have even come out with a special “Apple Watch Edition” which mixes in 18-karat yellow or rose gold for a premium look – perfect for more professionals and the older, more serious market.

The casing does feature a circular knob known as the “digital crown.” This input is unique among smartwatches, but a true classic derived from traditional watches. Apple has of course put a modern-day twist on its twist functionality: it replaces the pinch-to-zoom touchscreen mechanic used on everything from iPhones to MacBooks. It’s too impractical on such a small display, according to Apple.

Rotating it allows you to zoom into your app selection, your location on Apple Maps and a photo from a gallery. Scrolling through dates and stopwatch times is handled by this knob too.

The digital crown also acts as the Apple Watch home button. There’s no Touch ID sensor here, but Apple is smartly locks the wristwatch with an anti-theft passcode whenever it’s taken off. So, there’s a major plus – the inability of the thief to actually access your personal data on your iPhone – since it requires the input of the passcode prior to use. However, entering the passcode is yet another extra step which is necessary to operation of the watch, but hey – anything to protect the owner from crooks and/or cyber thieves preying on hapless victims.

We are not yet too sure about the battery life, but Apple head Tim Cook did hint that the smartwatch is designed to be “worn all day” and is “simple to charge at night.”

That had led us to believe that the Apple Watch will approximately have one day battery life. An Apple spokesperson backs up this perception, more or less confirming that the smartwatch requires a daily charge. The person also reportedly said Apple is working on modifications to eek out more battery life.

For fitness enthusiasts and athletes, this may be the best smartwatch to consider. The smartwatch also takes cues from the Nike FuelBand SE and other fitness trackers with health sensors and apps, a must for any serious wearable gadget these days. Of course there are fitness apps on your smartphone, but you’re not always carrying your iPhone while tracking your steps and activity. The Apple Watch is better suited for your everyday workout. This is one of the best features, in our opinion.

Other apps seen in the Apple Watch video include iMessages, Health, Calendar, Weather, Mail, Photos, Camera’s shutter button, Passbook that now include Apple Pay and even Apple Maps for navigation.

CONCLUSION:

Over-all, the Apple Smartwatch seems to be a great new product, pending of course actual release where other issues will most probably come to surface. After all, it takes a lot of use to fully review any product accurately.

Do we recommend it? We’ll reserve that for the time it is actually ours – a companion 24/7.