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

[nia820]

So Apple is becoming Samsung by throwing in random features in their devices without much thought behind it?

Yeah samsung does have a habit of throwing random features out there but it works( well most of the time anyway).
Apple can afford to take risk. So even if the camera is crap people will still love it and buy it.

I really don't understand how so many people on this forum are resistant to change.

I bet you are part of the same crowd that is against apple adding a higher mp camera.

 

[5105973]

Yeah samsung does have a habit of throwing random features out there but it works( well most of the time anyway).
Apple can afford to take risk. So even if the camera is crap people will still love it and buy it.

I really don't understand how so many people on this forum are resistant to chance.

I bet you are part of the same crowd that is against apple adding a higher mp camera.

Not resistant to change at all, if it makes sense. If you do get a camera on your watch how do you plan to frame shots on it? What exactly do you want to do with the camera? Do you want the camera just for emergency FaceTime calls when you can't easily access your phone? Do you want it for selfies?

Do you think the still photo selfies and FaceTime views of your face or your caller's face will be okay to look at, or bad and unflattering, or on a par with the phone camera? I'm thinking they will be unflattering. That's based on comparisons of the images I get on the front facing camera vs the rear main camera on the phone. I imagine a watch camera will be of even lower quality and higher distortion than the current front facing camera on the latest iPhones. The current front facing camera can make the nose and center of the face look bowed out and larger than the forehead and chin at most angles commonly used in selfies and FaceTime. My daughter and her friends use FT a lot but they are only 10-13. They're probably not going to be fans when puberty and acne start kicking in!

But then again it might not bother most younger people. Or they wouldn't all be making duck faces all over the Internet already.

I'm not trying to pick on you or any desire you may have for a camera on the watch. I'm just wondering what your perception of its practicality is.

To me it seems very impractical and another feature would be more welcome taking up the resources and space a camera would.

 

[Armen]

I really don't understand how so many people on this forum are resistant to chance.

I bet you are part of the same crowd that is against apple adding a higher mp camera.

what "Change" am I resisting? Apple has been adding cameras to every 2nd gen product they make for a few years now. I'm hoping they don't add a camera to the Apple watch because it makes no sense to.

I'm actually disappointed that in 2015 Apple's camera is still 8MP. My buddy has a Note 4. He can take a picture of an object that's 100 feet away and then zoom in to that object in the pic afterwards and crop it and save the picture.

My iPhone 6+ just leaves behind a blurry mess.

 

[sallenthornton]

YOLO. This makes no sense man. Lolz. I bought a Ferrari on the weekend but I thought a new one would come out next year so I didn't accept it and got my money back. Zero regrets here man.

It makes perfect sense. By the time I received the watch, a few days later the new features were announced. It wasn't my fault that apple took almost 2 months to send it to me. Why wouldn't I send it back?

 

[Donoban]

It makes perfect sense. By the time I received the watch, a few days later the new features were announced. It wasn't my fault that apple took almost 2 months to send it to me. Why wouldn't I send it back?

A few days later new features were announced? What are these new features and where are they? So you're waiting another year for the next model? Mate, I have a spoiler for you, the watch after next year will have even more new features. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLZ. Zero regrets here brah.

 

[Arran]

Haha just got my Apple Watch yesterday and rumours about a 2nd gen come up straight away....

Yeah, but everyone is assuming that "generation" means 1 year.

The watch internals are so over-engineered for what they have to do, it doesn't need a yearly upgrade cycle like iPhone.

It could be more like the iPod shuffle cycle (several years with just color changes) or the original airport Express where every generation lasts 4 years. And even then, then gen 1 and 2 Express looked identical with only minor internal changes. The Express kept its original size and appearance for 8 years.

With that in mind, the generation 2 watch might be five years away.

 

[loon3y]

I love my Apple Watch, not only because of what it does, but what it doesn't do. It doesn't have facilities to surf the internet, to watch films, to FaceTime people, because it's just not a great experience.

I can see why a camera may be useful for apps like Snapchat, but seriously, who wants to take a FaceTime call on their watch? Hold your arm up to face-level for 30 seconds and see how it feels, and now imagine talking to someone for minutes like that. Madness.

Hope it offers improvements in other areas as well, as if the main selling point is a camera I for one won't be upgrading.

yeah sometimes i want to reply to my watch in public, but i feel a bit embarrassed.


not to say i care so much about what strangers think about me but, its just embarrassing, and a bit douchey

 

[The Game 161]

When's it out January time I'm guessing

 

[Zetaprime]

They should have had a camera in the thing right from the start. Just a way to get people who bought the first Apple watch to buy another one a year later.

 

[WordsmithMR]

There needs to be a GPS chip inside the watch to enable it to be used as a fitness monitor without the need to be tethered by Bluetooth to an iPhone. That's the most glaring change they need to make.

And access to contacts... I was surprised that when my phone was dead and wanted to make a quick call from a friends phone, I couldn't even view my contacts on my watch... I don't even understand why they gave us so much storage on the watch and yet not allow us to import our contacts (which would be negligible amounts of data for even several hundred contacts)... I can barely fill up my watch with all of the restrictions they impose on the watch.

And yes, we all knew, or at least should've have known, that the watch would get revamped with the FT camera... I was going to hold out for this, but I got a good deal for a barely used watch on eBay so I am not as bitter as some should be... Especially those who paid $10k for the watch lol... Wondering if there are going to offer any program for those.

 

[amirite]

And access to contacts... I was surprised that when my phone was dead and wanted to make a quick call from a friends phone, I couldn't even view my contacts on my watch... I don't even understand why they gave us so much storage on the watch and yet not allow us to import our contacts (which would be negligible amounts of data for even several hundred contacts)... I can barely fill up my watch with all of the restrictions they impose on the watch.

And yes, we all knew, or at least should've have known, that the watch would get revamped with the FT camera... I was going to hold out for this, but I got a good deal for a barely used watch on eBay so I am not as bitter as some should be... Especially those who paid $10k for the watch lol... Wondering if there are going to offer any program for those.

It's not a huge device like an iPad...shoving a camera in there isn't something easy considering how much they had to jam in there. It's also not even close to necessary for a first gen Watch when there are so many other things more important. Anyway I can view contacts on my Watch sans iPhone...

 

[WordsmithMR]

It's not a huge device like an iPad...shoving a camera in there isn't something easy considering how much they had to jam in there. It's also not even close to necessary for a first gen Watch when there are so many other things more important. Anyway I can view contacts on my Watch sans iPhone...

Yes. I didn't state it would be important or should've been. I said we all knew this would be the case. If we were to think otherwise it would've been very naive of us. I am not shocked or bitter at all. Well I am a tad bit shocked that they are planning annual hardware revisions, that I thought would've been every 2 years. But not shocked that they are adding FT and other features. This is Apple we are talking about.

How exactly are you accessing your full Contacts list from your watch without your phone? Unless you're using a third party app (which is something I hadn't thought/wanted to use yet) I don't see how that is possible. You can't even view contacts in general, aside from within apps like Messages or Phone and even those don't show me their numbers, and only allows me to select them to text or call. I must be missing something... Perhaps a force touch feature in some menu?

 

[Z3man]

Apple watch is pointless without GPS, but wasn't expecting that until the third generation anyway.

 

[Technarchy]

That's all good and fine but they need to double the battery life at least.

 

[Zetaprime]

Apple watch has a few more generations to go through before I'd actually want one.

 

[eastmanweb]

facetime..... dick tracy watch.... not sure about that.

While I share your concern, it's important to remember that image sensors can be used for other purposes besides FaceTime calls or photos. Imagine native watch apps that can scan barcodes and QR codes, for example.

 

[0970373]

Looks like folks who waited for Gen 2 of the Apple Watch made the right decision.

I bought one, returned it hoping for this kind of upgrade in v2.

 

[amirite]

Yes. I didn't state it would be important or should've been. I said we all knew this would be the case. If we were to think otherwise it would've been very naive of us. I am not shocked or bitter at all. Well I am a tad bit shocked that they are planning annual hardware revisions, that I thought would've been every 2 years. But not shocked that they are adding FT and other features. This is Apple we are talking about.

How exactly are you accessing your full Contacts list from your watch without your phone? Unless you're using a third party app (which is something I hadn't thought/wanted to use yet) I don't see how that is possible. You can't even view contacts in general, aside from within apps like Messages or Phone and even those don't show me their numbers, and only allows me to select them to text or call. I must be missing something... Perhaps a force touch feature in some menu?

In Phone I just select to call someone and their list of numbers pops up.

Apple watch is pointless without GPS

It's really not. It might be slightly less convenient for a small subset of people who want to:
a) run
b) and do so without their iPhone
c) and track the exact path of the run

It can still measure distance of your runs and so on. So what do you want GPS for? If it's simply to track the exact path of your runs for whatever reason then that certainly does not make the watch "useless without GPS". It just means it doesn't have a feature that you want.

The Watch has many other fitness and health tracking features, as well as all the other non-health features. Notifications and glances alone have made it worth it for me and I've found myself using my phone much, much less. I barely spend any time using the Watch either, and that's the point. All the other features are just a plus.

 

[Doffy86]

I love my Apple Watch, not only because of what it does, but what it doesn't do. It doesn't have facilities to surf the internet, to watch films, to FaceTime people, because it's just not a great experience.

I can see why a camera may be useful for apps like Snapchat, but seriously, who wants to take a FaceTime call on their watch? Hold your arm up to face-level for 30 seconds and see how it feels, and now imagine talking to someone for minutes like that. Madness.

Hope it offers improvements in other areas as well, as if the main selling point is a camera I for one won't be upgrading.

I don't think that's what it's mean I think it's more like answering a few questions and ending it right there.

Hmmmm - my Omega Automatic I got from my dad is 50 years old - and still working (with an overhal here and there). Good to go for another 50 years and strangely doesn't feel out of date like the Apple watch will be - every year.
Granted, it only shows time and date, but isn't that the purpose of a watch? Maybe Apple should rename it into "personal infometer" or something instead of "watch"...

Good news I don't think that was Apple competition in the first place but a company like Casio is another story.

I was wondering if anyone else would associate this with Dick Tracy. The wristwatch TV communicator:

I think in a all things d interview Tim Cook mention something about Dick Tracy when talking about wearables i could be wrong he said it somewhere I know that lol.

 

[Palladium SG]

Not interested, but I can see why Apple would. It's basically a license to print free money with those things.

 

[ksnell]

I think this is a mistake. What about those people who spent $10K on the first generation Apple Watch? They get obsolete just like that? Apple Watch 2 should come out in 2018. People are still finding about its existence. At the end, it's just a watch, not a smartphone which we need to be buying every now and then.

If you spent $10k on a smart watch just because it is gold plated, I am pretty sure you can afford another the next time one comes out.

Probably the same as an average Joe buying an Apple Watch Sport and then being in that upgrade dilemma.

 

[ConnYoungy]

If you spent $10k on a smart watch just because it is gold plated, I am pretty sure you can afford another the next time one comes out.

Probably the same as an average Joe buying an Apple Watch Sport and then being in that upgrade dilemma.

Agreed.
People spend thousands on designer coats and dresses - do they get angry when there's a new collection in six months? No.