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I have an insider in Apple who spilled the beans. AW2 will come in oval and in heart-shaped. The rumored 4K display from this thread is true, and the watch will also have a front and back facing camera. Because of the tattoo issues, the new version will include a very small pin on the back so it can prick the skin and directly sample blood flow. He didn't know the exact release date, but he said 100% it would be before 2020, possibly years before.

Don't tell anyone I told you guys this, it is obviously highly secret info.
 
I believe there is still a lot this current watch can do, that hasn't been said yet. I think it has potential with software updates and so on to be competitive for a while. So I'm thinking it won't be updated until they have a good amount of things to change on it. I don't know how much thinner it can be, the digital crown would look goofy on anything too thin. They made it the size it is for a reason. It's not like they don't have the technology to make it thinner at the current moment. There's a reason it's not crazy thin. Although most people don't want a little thin watch.
 
So what physical characteristics do they need to change?

I don't think any. It's not like an iPhone or an iPad.

Software advancement is the key.....
 
So what physical characteristics do they need to change?



I don't think any. It's not like an iPhone or an iPad.



Software advancement is the key.....


Yeah especially since, like someone mentioned, a lot of the processing power is handed off to the iPhone. As much as people have ragged on that aspect cause of lag and issued, I believe that to be one of the most brilliant features of the watch. Significantly decreases the need to constantly push updates.

I honestly wouldn't expect a redesign for about 2 years or so and would expect band compatibility for longer than that.

It seems that they planned this product with the idea of much longer lifetime than something like iPhone or iPad. Hell, even the watch battery is rated at about 1000 battery cycles. That's not very common for electronics at all nowadays.
 
There won't be a new device announced till the middle to end of 2016 with a 2017 release at best. There's still parts of this gen 1 that haven't been tapped yet and with WWDC announcement of apple pay rewards and additions to the watch itself for applications to run there's not a chance they release gen 2 within the next year. This product is a 2 to 3 year device in terms of turn over.
 
New colors and materials this fall, then a new model next March/April.

I just want the crown to be closer to center, and better sensors, that's all. I'm sold regardless:apple:Can I place my order yet?:D

Yes, exactly.

The fashion component is key here. Apple will likely continue to want to impress the fashion world with their taste and design prowess, and as such will need to keep the design fresh looking, whether that's a new way to attached the crystal, detailing on the edges, tapering, contouring, wider, different sizes, etc., thickness is certainly one way to approach it. From a hardware perspective, Apple had to freeze the design at some point during the development to meet their ship date. This means there's all kinds of things they discovered during development that they wanted to implement but couldn't. There are reports of features Apple dropped in the 11th hour the will likely be in Gen 2. And then there's the upgrade cycle. After the original watch has been on the streets for a year, and Apple knows how many they are selling each month, and depending on how successful it is, Apple may need to refresh the watch as often as possible to encourage the watch faithful to upgrade, buy a second watch to rotate with their original, and encourage new customers to buy the watch. Who wants to buy last year's watch? Anybody who's passed on the 1G watch, is not likely to decide to revisit it again next year without some new feature the original didn't have, even if it's only better battery life or a faster processor. This seems to be the pattern with every first gen to 2nd gen product Apple has released, the iPhone, and iPad both underwent major design changes within a year of release.

But the 2G will likely have a camera for FaceTime and selfies, as that's almost the first question everybody who sees the watch asks, and expresses dissapointment when they learn it doesn't have one. An IPX8 water rating would be a major improvement for many. GPS another plus. As well as new/better sensors, etc.

So, it will have at a minimum an annual upgrade cycle, with the previous year's model dropping in price to make it available to a larger customer base. People who might not buy the Watch for $400, might for $300. I don't see Apple keeping 3 models in the third year, but they could do worse than offer a 3 year old model for $200 which would effective compete as an alternative against lower-priced Fitbit and the other major fitness bands.
 
Yes, exactly.

The fashion component is key here. Apple will likely continue to want to impress the fashion world with their taste and design prowess, and as such will need to keep the design fresh looking, whether that's a new way to attached the crystal, detailing on the edges, tapering, contouring, wider, different sizes, etc., thickness is certainly one way to approach it. From a hardware perspective, Apple had to freeze the design at some point during the development to meet their ship date. This means there's all kinds of things they discovered during development that they wanted to implement but couldn't. There are reports of features Apple dropped in the 11th hour the will likely be in Gen 2. And then there's the upgrade cycle. After the original watch has been on the streets for a year, and Apple knows how many they are selling each month, and depending on how successful it is, Apple may need to refresh the watch as often as possible to encourage the watch faithful to upgrade, buy a second watch to rotate with their original, and encourage new customers to buy the watch. Who wants to buy last year's watch? Anybody who's passed on the 1G watch, is not likely to decide to revisit it again next year without some new feature the original didn't have, even if it's only better battery life or a faster processor. This seems to be the pattern with every first gen to 2nd gen product Apple has released, the iPhone, and iPad both underwent major design changes within a year of release.

But the 2G will likely have a camera for FaceTime and selfies, as that's almost the first question everybody who sees the watch asks, and expresses dissapointment when they learn it doesn't have one. An IPX8 water rating would be a major improvement for many. GPS another plus. As well as new/better sensors, etc.

So, it will have at a minimum an annual upgrade cycle, with the previous year's model dropping in price to make it available to a larger customer base. People who might not buy the Watch for $400, might for $300. I don't see Apple keeping 3 models in the third year, but they could do worse than offer a 3 year old model for $200 which would effective compete as an alternative against lower-priced Fitbit and the other major fitness bands.

2nd Gen plans to have a camera, GPS...etc...basically a real stand alone watch...not as realistic in my opinion. Battery consumption on these watches aren't great to start off with. Android wear has had a couple years to work on that but from what we hear...unless their watch has minimal functionality....then it's not that much better than the battery of the Apple Watch.

Only changes I see for 2G is that it'll have better processing power...but only just enough that it doesn't compromise the battery. Design will basically be the same...maybe slightly thinner.

I don't see a major change for Apple watch under 3 years.
 
I've only just got my Apple watch. Anyway the only thing I really want from Gen 2 is compatibility with my ever increasing band collection. That would definately be a deciding factor further down the road.

I cannot think at the moment of anything the Apple watch is seriously lacking. GPS would be useful, but I'll probably still use Garmin devices for proper exercise, and without better health apps would be pointless. (For me, it is still a mile behind Garmin connect, unless i'm missing something).
 
People shouldn't let the fact that there's an update cycle put them off. Anything you buy will eventually be updated (in tech anyway). Just be smart, learn when devices usually refresh, spot the trends and buy at the right time.

I like owning the first gen Apple watch and will keep this forever, even when it stops working. I
 
33% thinner is probably about as thin as I would realistically want it to be. I don't really think it is thick or bulky as is. I would like to see a built in GPS when it needs to work as a stand alone while using the phone's for most things. That way if it gets stolen you can track it down. That is about all I would care about. It isn't really slow right now. I would like to see them mature the WatchOS over the next couple years then release an update to the hardware. I don't care if they release new looks/bands every year or so. Most of their money will likely be made off bands.
 
It was quite obvious... pretty telling of some users here.

Geez I thought the joke was obvious enough that I wouldn't need to include an emoticon or sarcasm tag. I'm not seriously implying that the next Watch will have twice the pixels of the 6+.
 
My guess is, that they will update them less frequently, but will update the bands more often (speculating there could be a Product Red Sportband in December).
Samsung have churned out many varieties of their watch thingy with little success, so I think version 2 of Apple Watch will take more than a year to come out. Too many releases will put people off.
 
think of the big jump from the thick, heavy, underpowered, slow original iPad to iPad 2. that's where I see Apple Watch 2.
I saw very little difference between those two, had them both. It wasn't until version 3 that I noticed any meaningful difference. As someone else said the software and associated phones are the most critical to the watch's performance. There probably will be two more phone versions before a new watch version. But who knows. Speculating is fun but pointless in the end.
 
It would be a slap in the face to launch "Apple Watch 2" within a year or even two years of launch considering its a $400 ACCESSORY. That isn't even including the people who spent well above $400
 
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It would be a slap in the face to launch "Apple Watch 2" within a year or even two years of launch considering its a $400 ACCESSORY.

I'd say 2 years is reasonable. 1 year means they're previewing it this September and announcing it this coming Feb. That would be nuts considering the thing isn't even available in stores yet and many early orders won't be fulfilled until July. If we're on a yearly cycle, we'll be nearly halfway through that cycle before the watch is widely available to those who want it. That would be goofy.

A lot of people say "just because a new one is out doesn't mean yours doesn't work". This is true, but it's also snarky and ignores the fact that the new one will cost the same as the one you bought and if they are capable this fall or early 2016 of launching a vastly improved watch, then they certainly had the ability and tech to make this gen as good as whatever they can launch this coming March. It would make one feel as if one bought a pricey prototype only several months before the "real" one was launched.

They are also really pushing hard for this thing to be considered something you keep for a long long time. The apple store employees I talked to while looking at it kept stressing that it can be considered an heirloom. Seriously.. an heirloom isn't something you upgrade like your phone. My thinking is this thing has a good 3 years in it before the phone technology renders it obsolete. Apple TV is only updated every 4ish years, and maybe since this is basically a relay to the phone just as the Apple TV is just a relay to the TV, it could be that it likely doesn't need to be revised every single year like an iPhone. Of course Samsung will jump all over it and start making watches with 4K screens and 3D and USB ports and origami bands and whatever the ****, but Apple has already beat them at this game with more pre-sales in a couple weeks than Samsung has had in a couple years. And yeah, duh, this is all speculation... but it's fun to speculate and that's what forums like this are for. Don't get all the hostility aimed at speculation sometimes.
 
I'm thinking 18 months to two years. Any sooner and they'll still be fulfilling preorders of THIS gen when they start announcing the NEXT one.

Also, they'll probably call it The New Apple Watch, then Apple Watch (3rd gen), then Apple Watch Air.

The sapphire factory in Arizona caught on fire the other day, so that can't be good for watch production.
 
Ok i understand that battery is an isue yet.... but dont tell me that Apple couldnt have the know-how to make it 100m waterproof, include GPS, more excirsise programes etc.... i used for a couple of days Garmin fenix 3 and it has even a better BT connectivity.... apple watch looses signal after 10 to 20metres. I dont bite the excuse of battery life. As always Apple holded back some features for AWatch2 in order to create more reasons to upgrade. Garmin doesnt have the fancy screen of Awatch2 but for athletes it blows Awatch out of the water.....

http://fenix3.garmin.com/en-US/


 
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