Apple's 'iWatch' Said to Arrive in October 2014 with Wireless Charging

Wearable tech should have kinetic charging or use body heat to generate energy.

This looks pointless, and I don't want one unless it has a lot of really badass integrated sensors (read: NOT just accelerometers) that can be used to monitor my health etc.

Apparently Nokia is making one too, I'm very curious to see how they'll compare.

Menel said:

Would anyone need a phone with more features than a Nokia, if so, why?

7 days battery life, color display. Not sure why you would want something flashier than that.

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My Mom is visiting and she has a Samsung feature phone. She charged it last Thursday and it has more than half of the battery left. Can't wait when finally our smartphones will have battery life like this.

This will be a huge win for consumers who do want this kind of technology to compliment their suite of iOS devices.

Take my money now Apple!!!

I'm glad to see that they haven't rushed a product to market that's not ready (cough cough Galaxy Gear). Apple is good at doing the seemingly impossible with battery life. I think they can make it work with around 100 mah battery using LE Bluetooth or some kind of ad hoc connection to your phone. Maybe the wireless charging capability will come from the iPhone as well if the power consumption was low enough?

acfusion29 said:

seems like a useless device to me.

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Seems like a kid's toy to me. I definitely would not be flashing it around at work. Would just look unprofessional.

ElTorro said:

My Mom is visiting and she has a Samsung feature phone. She charged it last Thursday and it has more than half of the battery left. Can't wait when finally our smartphones will have battery life like this.

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If people would be happy with iPhone 4 A4 single core performance, tweaked for power efficiency, and built on the small 28nm scale that A7 is. And the thickness of a iPhone 3GS for battery space.

You might get close. But people MUST have their processing power boost, and ever thinner...

I still think we jumped the shark with the A5. There seems to be little point in the A6/A7. The iPhone 4S with it's dual core A5... apps don't seem to phase it, even now after 2 full generations later.

I really hope they don't name it iWatch for the love of everything...

D.T. said:

Wireless charging will require iShoes and iMat.

“Hey, can you come to lunch?”

“Nah, I need to stand here for another hour to charge my watch...”

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Require iShoes and iMat? I bet that it won't. Apple have been working on "true" wireless charging for some time now according to previous leaked info. Tim had previously mentioned that they were not interested in going the charging mat route. It would still require a cable (for the mat). Apple wants no wires at all.

Personally I'm not sold an an iWatch. Apple may do some sort of we able tech, but I doubt that it will look like anything we've seen so far from Samsung or Pebble.

I don't think the "iWatch" will be like the iPhone was for smartphones, but more like the iPod was for MP3 players. I think it will be a glorified version of Samsung's "smartwatch".

But, hey, who knows. Hopefully Apple will blow my mind if/whenever this is revealed.

Maybe Apple will take a leaf of of the Pebble book and make the iWatch a support item to the iPhone. That way it could have the same brilliant battery life as the Pebble and still control lots of features on the phone.

The Pebble does a small number of things but it does them well.

ElTorro said:

My Mom is visiting and she has a Samsung feature phone. She charged it last Thursday and it has more than half of the battery left. Can't wait when finally our smartphones will have battery life like this.

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Your mom probably doesn't use her phone at all. I can get two or three days from my Nokia 920 if I barely use it. ...standard usage however, I generally have 30-40% by the end of the day.

...oh wait, I remember what it was like to have an iPhone... I had to charge it during the day, every day. Yeah, that sucked. Good luck with your iWatches.

you could put the wireless charging adapter dongle next/under your keyboard at work/home and your iWatch would charge while you sit in front of the computer.
Maybe the next gen of keyboards (with a cable) have the chargers built-in.

littyboy said:

Seems like a kid's toy to me. I definitely would not be flashing it around at work. Would just look unprofessional.

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There's a rumored product with unspecified an design and features and you've already determined that you don't want it.

D.T. said:

Wireless charging will require iShoes and iMat.

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Or just nylon underwear and thick carpets...

troop231 said:

Exactly! the iShoes and iMat will create a static electricity buildup and will discharge into the iWatch's battery.

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I do not recommend using unauthorized 3rd party versions!

Iwatch =Pointless googleGlass sounds perfect

I find the naysayers of the iWatch funny, if Apple does indeed come out with one in Q2 or Q4 as reported, and have waited this long to do R&D on it, it's going to be a cool device and will sell like hotcakes. People will want this device in the same way they want anything Apple.

Look at the iPhone 5c, it's still either the 2nd or 3rd most sold smart phone by the 3 major carriers and everyone calls it a "flop." The iWatch will do just fine and even those who swore they would never buy one, will be in line to get one, is my guess...

I like the idea of wireless charging. Hopefully they bring that to the next iPhone, being able to charge it up to a meter away from the "base station" would be very convenient.

knewsom said:

Your mom probably doesn't use her phone at all. I can get two or three days from my Nokia 920 if I barely use it. ...standard usage however, I generally have 30-40% by the end of the day.

...oh wait, I remember what it was like to have an iPhone... I had to charge it during the day, every day. Yeah, that sucked. Good luck with your iWatches.

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The watch will be charging while working on your Mac, the new Mac will be "the charging station" for your iWatch, mouse, keyboard and iPhone 6!

This is my own rumour

acfusion29 said:

seems like a useless device to me.

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I don't see the "killer app" for it yet. I don't think Apple is going to release one until they figure out why you NEED one.

They could get a "watch" just by updating the iPod nano to the small size with BT 4.0 tech. Which they already have on the shelf. The iPod nano as a watch is just awkward without a headphone solution that is simple for calls and music, but practical because you can't wear it all the time as a normal person.

knewsom said:

Your mom probably doesn't use her phone at all. I can get two or three days from my Nokia 920 if I barely use it. ...standard usage however, I generally have 30-40% by the end of the day.

...oh wait, I remember what it was like to have an iPhone... I had to charge it during the day, every day. Yeah, that sucked. Good luck with your iWatches.

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LMAO. I can get more than a week from my iPhone 5S if I don't use it (disable push email etc). Kinda pointless having one, I have to be happy with 2 days to a full charge.


Of course, it could be could be worse, I could own a Windows Phone, normal usage? why even pick it up. PMSL.

I have a Casio Pathfinder.

It's solar powered and never dies.

It's survived Iraq, Afghanistan, jumping out of helicopters, IED's, mortar attacks, mountain biking, skiing, rock climbing, hikes, week long camping adventures, swimming, rafting...AND EVERYTHING.

That's a watch. Unless Apple's iWatch can approach that level of endurance and durability, I probably won't be in the market for an iWatch. A watch I have to baby and charge often has a low value in my world, even if it has music, messaging, or whatever. I can just as easily throw on a iPhone Lifeproof case, and use my headphones.

tootall said:

The watch will be charging while working on your Mac, the new Mac will be "the charging station" for your iWatch, mouse, keyboard and iPhone 6!

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Apple actually has a patent on that. Specifics are rather vague though iirc.

markieg said:

you would be a fool to buy first generation iWatch.

Just look at iPad 1, original iPhone, retina macbook pro ..

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check, check, check. yup. though maybe not so much on a toy watch. I mean I'm a grown a** man.

I'm actually looking forward to an apple watch. I wear one daily so it'd be great to have one that complements my phone and/or other Apple devices.