Apple Watch 2 May Arrive in Mid- to Late-2016

[Aston441]

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

I don't need LTE, just GPRS would do.

I will buy one when it lets me leave my phone and everything still works.

 

[Norcal.]

If they make it thinner, I'd consider getting one. It's WAY too thick and bulky now to wear comfortably.

I agree. I honestly didnt notice it much with my first watch, a 38mm sport, but really notice it now with my 42mm SS

 

[Manatlt]

Give me waterproof and 100% iPhone-free watch and I'm sold.

I don't think it will ever be a 100% iPhone-free watch. How are you going to receive apps? Expanded settings found in the watch app including Apple Pay?

Also it's almost impossible to make an iPhone free watch without making the watch bulky.

And the price for it will rise.

 

[Manatlt]

I don't need LTE, just GPRS would do.

I will buy one when it lets me leave my phone and everything still works.

GPRS will be terrible for the watch. You'll wait 20-30 seconds for each online request. EDGE will be slightly better, but 3G really should be the bare minimum.

4G/LTE is totally unnecessary for the watch.

 

[RJCP]

Should I return the one I have now?

Either it was going to have Wi-Fi or it wasn't. They should've put it on there the first time. How do they expect people to keep buying if they leave out obvious stuff? It's like they're releasing prototypes and selling them as the real thing

It's got wifi. It just doesn't have a setting to switch it on and off but the connectivity has been very improved in OS2. I frequently leave my phone in one floor of my work place and move around in the other and as long as the phone is connected to wifi to start with, the watch switches from Bluetooth to wifi when I move around the building.

 

[brinary001]

So they can kill sales for a couple months? No way. They'd announce a few weeks before release.

They had no problem killing sales for over seven months when they announced the first one.

 

[Denmac1]

I don't think it will ever be a 100% iPhone-free watch. How are you going to receive apps? Expanded settings found in the watch app including Apple Pay?

Also it's almost impossible to make an iPhone free watch without making the watch bulky.

And the price for it will rise.

Don't forget about battery life.....

 

[brinary001]

I hope you're right. It's going to be a long wait for Gen 2 (which I intend to buy, and know at least one other person who's holding out for) otherwise.

Then again, with no October event this year, I assumed Apple was clearing the decks to allow a Spring event every year, like we used to have with iPads.

Right. Apple is trying to lay out a predictable schedule for the next several years which I think will be welcomed by many of us who only want to be left guessing about the products themselves instead of when and where they'll be debuted.

The Watch's customer base seems pretty evenly divided on the topic of a next-gen update. Most of us are dedicated Apple fans, of course, because we bought a new product in its risky and experimental stage. So we'd have no problem (and would even welcome) a new generation of Watch. However, there's an equally large group out there who dropped a grand on a steel version with leather buckle, or even the gold Edition for many thousands more who would definitely like to see the update held off as long as possible to protect their investment.

This is certainly a unique product with unique customers, so both points are valid.

 

[KdParker]

If any of this is true, then the Apple Watch is getting closer to what I thought it would be all along. A replacement for my phone or at the very least be able to function without being connected to my phone.

 

[KdParker]

I don't think it will ever be a 100% iPhone-free watch. How are you going to receive apps? Expanded settings found in the watch app including Apple Pay?

Also it's almost impossible to make an iPhone free watch without making the watch bulky.

And the price for it will rise.

they could make it more like a flat bracelet instead of bulkier.

Heading towards a wearable iPhone

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I don't need LTE, just GPRS would do.

I will buy one when it lets me leave my phone and everything still works.

GPRS will be terrible for the watch. You'll wait 20-30 seconds for each online request. EDGE will be slightly better, but 3G really should be the bare minimum.

4G/LTE is totally unnecessary for the watch.

Are you saying you want GPRS for cellular phone conversations while away from your phone? Because I agree for anything else it'd be pretty worthless. Maybe it'd be good for keeping complications updated, but that'd be about it.

 

[LordQ]

I don't think it will ever be a 100% iPhone-free watch. How are you going to receive apps? Expanded settings found in the watch app including Apple Pay?

Also it's almost impossible to make an iPhone free watch without making the watch bulky.

And the price for it will rise.

Hopefully a "Watch App Store" with WatchOS 3, with a workaround for those other two things you mention. And it doesn't necessarily have to be bulky, Apple will find a way to make it thinner.

A man can dream.

 

[Manatlt]

they could make it more like a flat bracelet instead of bulkier.

Heading towards a wearable iPhone

Then it becomes more of a bracelet or band, not a watch.

Hopefully a "Watch App Store" with WatchOS 3, with a workaround for those other two things you mention. And it doesn't necessarily have to be bulky, Apple will find a way to make it thinner.

A man can dream.

It is difficult to browse a huge Watch App Store on the watch, unless, you are prepared to use Siri all the time for searching.

 

[boomer0001]

WIFI will drain that battery like hell. Apple Watch like all other products from la pomme ...Gen 1 is like a pre-release of the real thing, where the must-haves and latest and greatest geeks finance the real thing which always shows up in 2.0 or in some cases V3. Not for me ....yet;

I tried my wifes watch yesterday because she forgot it when she left for work. Worked 100% without her phone over wifi and when i got home and took it off to charge it was at 73%. So by your measurements it should have been much more worse, but actually wasn't horrid at all.

And I think most of you are overlooking something. Most products have been in development for 1-2 years as is. The iPhone 7 is probably in final stages and they're starting to transition or , the 2nd gen watch was/is probably approved to go by this summer so next years watch is probably floating around in the labs doing fine and 3rd gen is starting design or something

 

[wesk702]

45 million shipped in 2016?

How? Unless Apple has Blood Glucose level detection in Apple Watch 2, I don't know how that number is remotely attainable?

Same as usual. Unleash a new product for the early adopters. Then absolutely blow away with some necessary tech. Will probably be the equivalent health sensor tech equivalent of 3G in the 2nd gen iPhone. The body better not follow the tick-rock schedule of the iphones though.

 

[friedmud]

Should I return the one I have now?

Either it was going to have Wi-Fi or it wasn't. They should've put it on there the first time. How do they expect people to keep buying if they leave out obvious stuff? It's like they're releasing prototypes and selling them as the real thing

WIFI will drain that battery like hell. Apple Watch like all other products from la pomme ...Gen 1 is like a pre-release of the real thing, where the must-haves and latest and greatest geeks finance the real thing which always shows up in 2.0 or in some cases V3. Not for me ....yet;

Exactly what it does or how it works is something of a mystery to me, however. When my iPhone battery dies, Siri still works on my watch. But when I walk too far from my iPhone when it's on, I get the red no phone icon and nothing works.

The Apple Watch DOES definitely have Wifi right now and with watchOS2 it gained a lot of capability (including Wifi calling on T-Mobile)

Here is my write up on the Wifi capabilities of the Watch with watchOS2: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/watchos2-wifi-without-an-iphone.1919646/

 

[bqchamps]

Same size watch but bigger battery? Do people read the comments they vote up around here? Goes to show it's so much easier to throw out an arbitrary comment, than to design an actual product.



This is one Apple product lineup I don't expect the external case to change too drastically for second gen. Expect faster processor, longer battery life etc. And probably GPS: can GPS work without a cell data connection? Round watches can make for attractive jewellery, but they are fundenetally not good for displaying content. And content is what a smartwatch is about.



You can't have it both ways.

I wouldn't mind if it could simply have the time always on. And then the rest of the complications would come alive when you raise your wrist.

 

[Polaroid]

Hopefully the battery is better. But who am i kidding, it's apple...

But i'll most likely buy one next year.

What lmao the battery is incredible - the battery doesn't need to be changed

 

[oghowie]

They had no problem killing sales for over seven months when they announced the first one.

The Apple Watch was a 1st gen product, so there were no sales to kill except that of competitors. They did the same for the 1st gen models of the iPhone and iPad. It's pretty obvious if you look at their launch history.

 

[birnando]

Who are you? Andre the Giant?

Granted, I'm perhaps a tad on the tall side, standing six feet six above ground, but come on, the current offerings are tiny!

 

[AppleMark]

I am really looking forwards to not buying this when it comes out. It will be a great upgrade to the original iWatch I never bought!! This is sooooo cool

Seriously..., although I think the iWatch is a bulbous and useless gimmick, I feel it is an insult to change the physical design 1 year on.

At least they keep the same iPhone design for 2-years right now, fixing all the 'beta' bugs and internal design fixes in the 'S' version.

 

[anomie]

Seriously Apple, please no FaceTime camera. Or thinner. Here's an actual example of a product that you keep the same size, and increase the battery size.

Here's what you do:

Make the home screen icons bigger, give it an e-sim, give it an all day ambient mode, more shots of the jellyfish (try 40 instead of 4) and please, I beg you, for the love of God fix that damn delay that happens every single time I push "Reply". That's it, I'll buy one.

You can even save GPS/two day battery/screen lamination for version three and milk me a third time.

Omg I couldn't agree less.
Please apple, do the camera!

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Thinner?
Who needs that?
No, what they need to do is make it bigger. 47-55mm would suit me perfectly.
The two sizes available now is for women and pygmees..

Ha. Sounds like you are looking for a size suitable for Amazons & Lumberjacks.

 

[thekeyring]

I don't think it will ever be a 100% iPhone-free watch. How are you going to receive apps? Expanded settings found in the watch app including Apple Pay?

Also it's almost impossible to make an iPhone free watch without making the watch bulky.

And the price for it will rise.

Perhaps the Apple Watch could be set up and synced with any wi-fi/bluetooth enabled product. So if you only have an iPad, or a Windows PC, you can sync apps and Apple Pay info, then go. Rather than now where you - pretty much - have to have your iPhone within range for the Watch to function.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Here is my write up on the Wifi capabilities of the Watch with watchOS2: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/watchos2-wifi-without-an-iphone.1919646/

Thanks for that writeup. Confirms that my watch should be doing a lot more than it is. I have an old Airport Extreme, and basically nothing works except in rare occasions when I let the battery on my iPhone die.

 

[Manatlt]

Perhaps the Apple Watch could be set up and synced with any wi-fi/bluetooth enabled product. So if you only have an iPad, or a Windows PC, you can sync apps and Apple Pay info, then go. Rather than now where you - pretty much - have to have your iPhone within range for the Watch to function.

iPad, Mac and iPod Touch are possible to setting up Apple Pay on the watch without iPhone but anything else? Nope, not gonna happen. Apple wants to make sure any card info added to Apple Pay is secure and under their control.