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Apple Watch 2 Said to Feature FaceTime Camera, Expanded Wi-Fi Capabilities and New Models

peterdevries said:
Since when is the US the only country on the planet? It is not even Apple's largest market anymore.

I'm not making broad assumptions. Apple's whole smartphone roll-out schedule is geared towards the common 24 month financing model. And sure maybe you can upgrade early, but that costs you. You either pay more for a 12 month period or pay a penalty for upgrading early. Whatever the structure of the contract, you pay for the iPhone. Of course carriers stimulate early upgrades because it makes them money.

Still, most people do not upgrade yearly because the phone does not degrade that fast both in terms of quality and performance and simply because for many people it is just plainly too expensive. You can do a poll even on this board and would find that the majority of people here follow the 24 month model.
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Don't remember saying the U.S. was the only country on the planet. My anecdotal evidence is just as valid as your speculation. Should make a poll, it would be interesting to see. BTW, it hardly costs me anything to upgrade as the sale of my year old iPhone pretty much pays for the new one.
 
Trius said:
Don't remember saying the U.S. was the only country on the planet. My anecdotal evidence is just as valid as your speculation. Should make a poll, it would be interesting to see. BTW, it hardly costs me anything to upgrade as the sale of my year old iPhone pretty much pays for the new one.
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I was not speculating. My reasoning is based on the fact that the entire global iPhone market was based on a two year contract form up until maybe 1,5 years ago. That this is now changing in the U.S. doesn't mean that suddenly the majority of iPhone owners globally upgrade their phone each year.
 
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peterdevries said:
I was not speculating. My reasoning is based on the fact that the entire global iPhone market was based on a two year contract form up until maybe 1,5 years ago. That this is now changing in the U.S. doesn't mean that suddenly the majority of iPhone owners globally upgrade their phone each year.
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Just to play Devils advocAte China is iPhones biggest market n there is no contract system or subsidy for iPhones in China. It's just all cash transactions to buy the phones.

(Forgive my punctuation. Typing on a phone)
 
SHNXX said:
Unless you are Tim Cook or one of the execs, I doubt you know what the hell you are talking about either.
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The new transit directions are one of few things that didn't start out as 100% US. Now it's just a 50/50 between US and China. As a European I very well know what I'm talking about, because I can only talk about features, but I have to wait months and years to get them.
 
Yup. This is exactly why you don't buy 1st gen apple products. They give you the prototype and then release the final product the following year.
 
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peterdevries said:
I was not speculating. My reasoning is based on the fact that the entire global iPhone market was based on a two year contract form up until maybe 1,5 years ago. That this is now changing in the U.S. doesn't mean that suddenly the majority of iPhone owners globally upgrade their phone each year.
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Ok
 
My biggest drivers to update my gen 1 would be longer battery life, making apps faster (so memory/processor) and a GPS.

It seems at least two won't get fulfilled in the v2 so my idea to keeping v3 as my next upgrade may still be a plan...
 
I ended up returning my Apple Watch Sport afterall. Decided to stick to my Pebble Steel and wait for the 2nd gen Apple Watch. I decided to return it simply because the Apple watch was not notifying me properly, it was not very consistent in terms of email notification (and yes, I set it up properly and I was still missing some important emails). All in all, the Apple Watch is an interesting product, but it is too buggy for the price they are asking for. I'll be waiting for this 2nd gen while my Pebble Steel gets the job done for now.


After one week without it, I realised I miss the Apple Watch for fitness tracking so I bought an used one on Gumtree. Happy so far
 
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If that FaceTime thing is true, I will not buy an Apple product ever again.

Seriously, Apple under Tim Cook thinks putting a FaceTime camera on the watch as innovation? This is the most ridiculous idea ever. This is innovation for the sake of innovation.
 
Armen said:
So in your mind adding a Facetime camera makes the Apple watch a "Final product"?
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Yes. They could have easily added a camera with the current iwatch but they didn't because Apple holding on to these features for the next upgrade cycle. It's like the iPad 1. That thing was ugly and thick and it looked like a prototype. But with iPad 2. It was sleek and it looked like an actual finished product.

There is no logical reason why the current gen iwatch didn't come with a FaceTime camera.
 
I don't get what is so broken about the apple watch 1 that it can't have expanded wireless capability with its existing chipset.
 
oopsroger said:
If that FaceTime thing is true, I will not buy an Apple product ever again.

Seriously, Apple under Tim Cook thinks putting a FaceTime camera on the watch as innovation? This is the most ridiculous idea ever. This is innovation for the sake of innovation.
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I loathe FaceTime myself. My daughter and her friends use it and I find it very intrusive and annoying. And when I've used it myself I've gotten no enjoyment out of looking at familiar faces at awkward angles in a fisheye view. It would be worse on a watch camera. But having said that, I can simply avoid using it. And the people who do like it at least have the option.

Where it's going to really cause people problems is at many jobs that forbid devices with cameras. Apple needs to consider what to do with this subset of customers.
 
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nia820 said:
Yes. They could have easily added a camera with the current iwatch but they didn't because Apple holding on to these features for the next upgrade cycle. It's like the iPad 1. That thing was ugly and thick and it looked like a prototype. But with iPad 2. It was sleek and it looked like an actual finished product.

There is no logical reason why the current gen iwatch didn't come with a FaceTime camera.
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It makes no sense whatsoever to add a Facetime Camera to the Apple watch because:

- Why would anyone Facetime on a 1" screen? I facetime on my Mac because its the best experience. I don't even facetime on my phone unless I have no other option.

- If you were to Facetime on the watch how would you hold your watch? If you held it up your arm would get tired after a few minutes. If you held it at a lower angle like you are looking at the time the person on the other end would be seeing your nostrils.

If Apple goes through with this I'm going to be disappointed. Instead of something useful like additional Bio Sensors or a GPS module they are going to play the same old boring "add a camera" strategy?

I guess if you get lost in the forest and have no signal on your iPhone you can just take Selfies of yourself because that comes in more handy than a stand alone GPS.
 
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Armen said:
It makes no sense whatsoever to add a Facetime Camera to the Apple watch because:

- Why would anyone Facetime on a 1" screen? I facetime on my Mac because its the best experience. I don't even facetime on my phone unless I have no other option.

- If you were to Facetime on the watch how would you hold your watch? If you held it up your arm would get tired after a few minutes. If you held it at a lower angle like you are looking at the time the person on the other end would be seeing your nostrils.

If Apple goes through with this I'm going to be disappointed. Instead of something useful like additional Bio Sensors or a GPS module they are going to play the same old boring "add a camera" strategy?

I guess if you get lost in the forest and have no signal on your iPhone you can just take Selfies of yourself because that comes in more handy than a stand alone GPS.
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Its not about whether its a necessary feature or not. Most features on devices are unnecessary. If you think about it having a camera on a phone is unnecessary. But its nice to have these features.

Apple has a track record of being stingy with first gen products.
 
nia820 said:
Its not about whether its a necessary feature or not. Most features on devices are unnecessary. If you think about it having a camera on a phone is unnecessary. But its nice to have these features.

Apple has a track record of being stingy with first gen products.
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That's the thing though, it really would not be "nice" to have a camera on a device that would give a suboptimal experience of camera usage. Especially not when it would take up space that could be utilized by sensors and extra battery capacity or even water proofing features that would give a greater return on a Watch than a camera would.

It's not just a matter of necessary vs. unnecessary. It's what makes sense. A camera on a phone makes sense. A phone nowadays takes the place of point and shoots for a lot of people. The form of the iPhone works well with the function of a camera.

A camera on a wearable doesn't make sense. It's unwieldy--how do you frame a shot on a watch? Talk about a mismatch between form and function. Besides FaceTime, it would only be good for selfies that make your face look distorted. It's intrusive. It's forbidden in many places of work, so that also makes it in inconvenient for a lot of people who want to wear the Apple Watch as a watch at work.

Apple has only so much chassis space to work with. Probably less than we currently have if they want to go thinner. We know they want to get into the promising and lucrative field of health monitoring. And to expand their fitness monitoring capabilities. What makes more sense, dedicating that chassis space and battery capacity to more sensors or to a camera module?Even Samsung, which likes to pack everything but the kitchen sink into their devices, dropped the camera idea for its most recent release.

If they can manage it I think they are more likely to try and get a GPS in there before a camera.

But I could be wrong. I often am. However I stand by my assertion that it's not nice to have a camera on the watch if it costs us a feature more useful and appropriate for a watch form factor.
 
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nia820 said:
Its not about whether its a necessary feature or not. Most features on devices are unnecessary. If you think about it having a camera on a phone is unnecessary. But its nice to have these features.

Apple has a track record of being stingy with first gen products.
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So Apple is becoming Samsung by throwing in random features in their devices without much thought behind it?
 
I'm glad I passed on the first gen. The first iPhone was so radically different from other smart phones at the time that it was worth every penny but with the iPad I was happy I waited and I think the Apple Watch will be the same. I'm glad supplies were short at launch because I might have bought one if I didn't have to wait several weeks to actually get it but what's the point of buying one now when the second gen will be out in 9 months?
 
nia820 said:
Its not about whether its a necessary feature or not. Most features on devices are unnecessary. If you think about it having a camera on a phone is unnecessary. But its nice to have these features.

Apple has a track record of being stingy with first gen products.
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Having a camera on a phone is unnecessary? With all due respect, this has to be one of the most idiotic statement ever. Evidence all around you tells you otherwise.

Because a camera on a phone is usable (not only in terms of the quality of the cam per se, but also how one use it), and it's on par with, or better than, most standalone digital cameras from 10 years ago.

On the other hand, a camera on a watch is... (I'm literally speechless), not to mention the precious space that will be wasted on such a ridiculous feature.
 
oopsroger said:
Having a camera on a phone is unnecessary? With all due respect, this has to be one of the most idiotic statement ever. Evidence all around you tells you otherwise.

Because a camera on a phone is usable (not only in terms of the quality of the cam per se, but also how one use it), and it's on par with, or better than, most standalone digital cameras from 10 years ago.

On the other hand, a camera on a watch is... (I'm literally speechless), not to mention the precious space that will be wasted on such a ridiculous feature.
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The function of a mobile phone is to make calls and maybe text. Having a camera on a phone really isn't necessary. There are digital cameras all over the place for cheap price and they are small and portable.
 
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