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Apple Watch 2 May Arrive in Mid- to Late-2016
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What cracks me up is all of these predictions and speculations about what Apple's strategy is when it comes to their products, and that they largely center around some master plan that Apple must have that involves holding back technology, and iterative releases of features in order to generate more sales for the next model. Like Apple has some big vat of magic compound that they just scoop out and pour into a mold to make whatever super excellent product they want whenever they want.
I have to believe that Apple would have put better wifi and better battery life and FaceTime cameras, etc. into the first gen watch if their engineers could have figured it out in time to ship this product. I read all of the posts on this forum, and I see peoples' comments about how the watch is a flop because Apple made it more expensive than it should have been for what it does. Doesn't anyone think that Apple would have loved to release a first gen watch that was Buck Rogers ahead of their competition, and take away people's hesitation to throw down the money?
At some point we just have to accept the fact that Apple's engineers are human, and that it's hard to put all of that tech into a product that fits on your wrist. And that they have a team of people who are working their a**es off to push the tech forward as fast as they can while keeping competitive products in the market and in the pipeline.
Frankly, this goes for all of their products.
I have to believe that Apple would have put better wifi and better battery life and FaceTime cameras, etc. into the first gen watch if their engineers could have figured it out in time to ship this product. I read all of the posts on this forum, and I see peoples' comments about how the watch is a flop because Apple made it more expensive than it should have been for what it does. Doesn't anyone think that Apple would have loved to release a first gen watch that was Buck Rogers ahead of their competition, and take away people's hesitation to throw down the money?
At some point we just have to accept the fact that Apple's engineers are human, and that it's hard to put all of that tech into a product that fits on your wrist. And that they have a team of people who are working their a**es off to push the tech forward as fast as they can while keeping competitive products in the market and in the pipeline.
Frankly, this goes for all of their products.
I still haven't bought one to tuck away for 10-20 years. I bought and resold two but barely made any money. Not sure it will be with it or not.
Not having enough traction is precisely the reason you launch a new Apple Watch. There won't be any compatibility issues between versions so the only thing you do by taking longer to release 2.0 is ensure that people waiting for 2.0 don't but your watch. Right now there are a lot more people waiting for new hardware than early adopters who've already bought in.
Without a second version to follow the first after a year it would flop. You need fresh product to keep people interested in buying. They need to continue to advance the hardware to create more reason for developers to get onboard and continue to push their product. A 2nd version is a much. They can't simply wait and hope it'll get traction. They must keep updating to help it gain better traction.
I agree, although I'd like Apple to do a couple of yearly updates on the watch first (getting the rapid technical advances and learning in the new form factor out of the way).
What's GPS going to give you that the phone's GPS doesn't already give you? It's not like the watch is going to be able to use cellular data without the phone so you still have o use your phone. And the accuracy differences between GPS and Appel Watch trained with GPS are minuscule.
Me too. I really like my Band. It's not exactly stylish but I don't care much for style anyway. I have it for the heart rate tracking and GPS primarily. It's a great device.
Naah, money trumps tech.
As evidenced by the basic iphone model still being released with 16GB storage.
The products are built to a cost/price/profit target, not the best tech they can bundle together.
They do have a roadmap of product updates and features/specs.. it's subject to change obviously, in line with production yields and costs, but they know what they're doing. their bank balance is proof of that..!!! ;-)
It needs to be slightly thinner (or same size and bigger battery), have more sensors, GPS, faster Wi-Fi, and be completely waterproof. Everything else is good.
Also, please, make it slightly cheaper. $349 for an entry model is preposterous. Hence why it's not selling as well as other smartwatches.
$249-299 would be a reasonable Apple price for the lowest end entry model. And don't give me that "but it's a preemiiiuumm product" crap.
Also, please, make it slightly cheaper. $349 for an entry model is preposterous. Hence why it's not selling as well as other smartwatches.
$249-299 would be a reasonable Apple price for the lowest end entry model. And don't give me that "but it's a preemiiiuumm product" crap.
The differences are still there and to make sure they are as accurate as possible, you have to do quite a bit of calibration: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516
You won't need cellular data on the Watch, although that would be nice at some point (e.g., for Spotify's running playlists). The Apple Watch has 2 GB of storage for music, which is great. Built in GPS would make it possible to run without a phone and still have your distance, pace, and speed more accurate than estimations. Grab the Watch and bluetooth headphones and you're set for a run. The estimations are good enough for many people but not ideal.
If it came down to more health sensors or GPS, I'd vote for the sensors but built in GPS would be awesome.
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I just hope we can use our current bands on future models!
It's selling better than all other smartwatches combined, according to estimates. I don't normally put much stock in estimates like this but this is one instance when general predictions about market share are close enough. Here's one: http://fortune.com/2015/09/14/apple-smartwatch-wearable-market/
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I actually find the battery to be pretty fantastic. After 13 hours of use I still had 70% battery life yesterday. Obviously more battery is great and I want that too but it isn't bad by any stretch.
they will announce it in the summer/fall 2016 and release it in the fall/winter. there's a reason apple announced the first watch before the holidays last year - so people waited to buy their watch, which wasn't ready at the time. someone else mentioned this, watches are a holiday product and apple will capitalize on version 2 next year the same way they are with ipad pro and apple tv this year.
If you look at Apple Watch in the same context as the iPhone history of releases, one can expect the 2nd or 3rd rev to have significant new features made possible by intense R&D efforts. There is a limit to what they can offer in terms of features because of technical limits like batteries and radios, as well as simply size. In theory the Watch could some day be a full fledged cell-phone, but considering the battery requirement for always on radio to begin with we are simply not there technically yet in terms of power density. Maybe a wire going to a battery in your pocket would do it. That's not very Apple-y.
Rocketman
Rocketman
Have you worn it for more than 5 minutes in an Apple Store? I don't find it to be too big at all. Many traditional watches are bigger and heavier. That said I'm sure it will be thinner in future generations but I hardly feel like it's too bulky and that was one of my main concerns.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Watch 2 will arrive March-Oct 2016 I can practically guarantee it.
What do I want in it?
-NO Camera (seems like a silly, niche concept and a waste of space at the moment, perhaps its inevitable eventually though)
-NOT thinner (let's work on improvements to battery life instead, especially thanks to my next request...)
-Built in GPS (Can't really be a standalone workout device without it)
-Faster processor (inevitable)
- 16gb storage (either default or option)
- Expanded wifi chip (I guess)
-LTE Capability (honestly, I don't see this possibly making it before gen 3, but listing here as a desire)
-Fully waterproof
The GPS is the biggest desire for me. That alone may convince me to upgrade
What do I want in it?
-NO Camera (seems like a silly, niche concept and a waste of space at the moment, perhaps its inevitable eventually though)
-NOT thinner (let's work on improvements to battery life instead, especially thanks to my next request...)
-Built in GPS (Can't really be a standalone workout device without it)
-Faster processor (inevitable)
- 16gb storage (either default or option)
- Expanded wifi chip (I guess)
-LTE Capability (honestly, I don't see this possibly making it before gen 3, but listing here as a desire)
-Fully waterproof
The GPS is the biggest desire for me. That alone may convince me to upgrade
This is what I would need to upgrade my Apple Watch:
- Blood pressure monitoring
- Glucose monitoring
- Much faster on-device app usage
- Faster wireless connection to my iPhone (is the BT 4.2 in the 6S faster?)
- Better movement detection. Sometimes when I'm pushing a stroller it doesn't count as many steps. Other days it will detect that I moved around a ton even though I was in my office most of the day (might just be a software bug as a reboot usually fixes that). It also needs improvement in knowing when to turn on the screen when quickly checking the time.
- A third new sensor, such as body temperature or hydration levels
- Bigger size option, perhaps 46mm (turns out my wrists aren't as thin as I thought)
- Improved continuous heart rate monitoring
- Longer battery life
- $50-100 cheaper
- Quick-reply to messages with a selfie. Perhaps it could even be a tiny live photo. Like 320x320 at 12fps. I bet a future Apple Watch spec'd similar to an iPhone 5/5s could handle that easily. The current one has internals roughly similar to a 4s.
