Apple Watch 3 Won't Have 'Obvious Change' to Form Factor, LTE to Be Main Selling Point

[thekeyring]

Sign me up for the LTE version. I've been skipping the AW since launch, waiting for the opportunity to occasionally ditch my phone.

It will be my first watch in decades.

I think there's a good chance that when people start to realize they can go without a phone sometimes, several billion LTE AWatches will be sold.

We'll see I guess.

What I'm excited to see is if the LTE Watch really is independent from iPhone, whether carriers start offering it on contract. Say $99 down then $25 a month. Or even that as an add-on to your iPhone contract.

 

[ineedamac]

Would be great to see low cost plans. $10/month for an iPad is one thing, but watches are going to use a tiny fraction of the data that tablets use. $10/month for a watch isn't reasonable.

I know that companies are in business to make money. However, I'd like to see the Apple Watch data plan added to your existing plan and it just counts towards existing monthly usage amounts.

 

[zhugzug]

Looks the same? Guess i'm keeping my Gen 1 apple watch. Not gonna do this swapping every freaking 2 years for a watch. Until they come out with round face, my Gen 1 does everything i want.

 

[kdarling]

If I’m sat on my backside for most of the day and don’t use the Watch then, I fully agree, I have battery left over at the end of the day. If I try to use the Watch for it’s advertised purposes then it will not last.

I'm always amused by some of the Apple execs going on stage talking about fitness applications for their devices. There's a reason why they like to wear their shirt tails out. It hides their bellies.

If they actually used their own stuff for serious running etc, they'd know that it doesn't last. I gave an Apple Watch to two daughters who like to run marathons, and they stopped using them in favor of Garmins.

 

[skinned66]

I think battery life is fine. I want a round version of Apple Watch!

Why not, if a notched rectangle is fine a circle really shouldn’t be much of a stretch.

 

[profets]

Does anyone else find it amazing that a tiny wrist-mounted device has the power and electronics to communicate with radio towers? Mind blown.

Any link to that episode? Def appears to be some animosity there. I think Apple probably despises Gurman because of his accurate reporting of unreleased products and Gruber acts as an attack dog. Gruber's a bit of an ******* anyway.

https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2015/06/06/ep-122

I don't think it was too bad between them on that episode, but definitely interesting. I can't recall exactly when - maybe late spring 2014, they got into it a bit on twitter at one point too. I think around pre-iOS 8 rumours of "HealthBook" leaked by Gurman, which later turned into the Health app (much different than Gurman had reported & was expecting). Gurman went on to say it definitely was HealthBook with a more PassBook like UI, and that Apple changed it because of the leak, but Gruber pushing back and saying something to the effect "that's not how it works Mark".

 

[geoff5093]

it might be feasible at $1/mo, but even then i still wouldn't pay for it. maybe apple will offer a free 2 year service.

Would be great to see low cost plans. $10/month for an iPad is one thing, but watches are going to use a tiny fraction of the data that tablets use. $10/month for a watch isn't reasonable.

I'm not sure why everyone us speculating so much on pricing, since Android/Samsung has had LTE smartwatches for years, and the prices range from $5-$10/mo depending on your carrier (I think most are $10), I'm not sure why that would change with the Apple Watch.

 

[Syk]

Notes for the crowd:

1) Shape. If the watch was going to be round it would have already been round. You can now go into a public space and pick out who has an Apple watch from some distance due to it's design. I don't see them wanting to give that up.

I think the Samsung S3 round watch is very well done but you do make a good point about being able to pick out an Apple Watch at a small distance just at a glance.

2)Watch faces. The android watch face situation ended this forever. No one has shown any true initiative faces that Apple could not do. What did they do? Illegal rip offs of major watch brands. This is also about control. Imagine Jony Ive's reaction if he saw my watch light up with some Rolex clone face on it. Another brand on his watch? The incoming lawsuits? Yes the battery life drain. Even a app store does not fix this problem. Apple would need a fleet of reviewers just to kill off the copyright nock offs. Never going to happen.

I've seen some very nice Watch Faces on the Samsung watch. Yes there would have to be someone to review faces so you don't get crappy or copyrighted faces or Apple could just license only certain companies to design faces. Nike already has a face. Why not offer it for a couple of dollars if someone would want to have that face. At the very least Apple should offer watch faces that aren't just kiddie images and the kaleidoscope option that's in Watch OS4 IMO isn't an option as far as customizing, I could make my own and make it a photo and have it as a background that way. I also don't see watch faces draining battery no more than having Micky dancing on your screen when you look at it

3) Medical devices. Doesn't seem likely. Apple has been clear- they do not want to have to deal with FDA approval. Not mentioned but a factor, how many other countries have their version of an FDA that would need to approve. Someone mentioned glucose metering. Dexcom is Apples glucose solution. No need for Apple to deal with the negatives that an in-house solution requires. They won't even turn on the already built in Pulse Oximeter (my dream- Asthma).

4) Thicker or thinner. Apple design is just that- Apple design. It is clear that Jony and co are going to do what they think is best and not worry what anyone else thinks. If you don't like it, they say simple don't buy it. Also it does affect functionality- thinner case = less room for batteries- no one wants that.

The watch thickness doesn't bother me. Just the nature of the beast when dealing with a smart watch. Also the Apple watch and Samsung watch are no thicker than my G-Shock. Right now it's battery life or thinness. Pickone. In the future there may be the option for a thinner battery with longer battery life.

5) LTE. Some want it, some like me could care less. Have no desire to give ATT more money to provide, what for me, would be a tiny improvement in watch functionality. I always have my phone with me. I know others have a different use case, so providing LTE as a choice seems wise.

If I was allowed to add it as an option for free I would probably get one but really even at $5/$10 the carrier will charge a month it's not worth it to me. I have my phone with me the majority of the time. It would be nice to have a LTE device if you're out running, swimming or the gym. It would also be nice when going to amusement parks. Just leave the phone in the car and if the park took NFC payments, leave your wallet in the car and then the only thing you'd have to keep up with would be you car keys.

6) Charging. What the Apple watch truly needs in my opinion is RF based wireless charging. Then I would not need to take it off. You know like a watch. This might allow for sleep tracking, which does seem to be in Apples list of interests. Due time I'm sure.

 

[Donsabai]

Want Slimmer. Don't care about battery. Just don't want a block sitting on my wrist. If the form factor, does not change, I will just wait for a slimmer unit. I like the tech but don't want to wear the woman's version.

 

[jhfenton]

What about including sensors that the iPhone already has so it can be an actual fitness device?

Serious question: what sensors do you want on the Apple Watch? It has accelerometers. Once it learns your running mechanics, the Apple Watch can do a credible job judging distance run on a treadmill based on how you swing your arm.

I'm always amused by some of the Apple execs going on stage talking about fitness applications for their devices. There's a reason why they like to wear their shirt tails out. It hides their bellies.

If they actually used their own stuff for serious running etc, they'd know that it doesn't last. I gave an Apple Watch to two daughters who like to run marathons, and they stopped using them in favor of Garmins.

If you are serious about running marathons, the battery life is fine. The battery is good for a solid five hours of GPS-based exercise tracking, more than enough time to finish. (Serious runners don't listen to music while racing marathons.)

The battery is more of a limitation in training, when I do listen to music. I can't safely get a 20-22 mile training run (2h20m-2h40m) in with GPS+AirPods-iPhone. I end up having to take my iPhone on long runs. With the GPS and music off-loaded to the iPhone, the battery on the Watch goes back to not being an issue (even on 5-6 hour bike rides).

Where the Apple Watch is lacking for running (and swimming) is in interval training. I was briefly excited about the new interval workout (HIIT), but it's just a generic indoor workout. There is no way to program running or swimming interval workouts. Garmins have been able to handle those for more than a decade.

I have an old Garmin 315xt and a Garmin 910xt, and I haven't used either since I got my AW2.

 

[tkukoc]

Tee hee. This seems likely. Seriously, those who want LTE connectivity will pay for the service. Those who don't want LTE will get the regular AW3. Those who want LTE but don't want to pay for the service, they'll just have to get the regular AW3 or suck it up and pay for the service. Choice is good thing.

Apple offering 2 years free service...

There's zero reason to pay for a service like this.. it's obvious it can be linked to your sim card with no additional issues. But of course this is carriers we are talking about here.. which means greed so of course they'll charge for it. Personally I won't pay a month fee for something this easy to do.

 

[The Game 161]

don't see much point in LTE personally but i'm sure many will love it

 

[kdarling]

If you are serious about running marathons, the battery life is fine. The battery is good for a solid five hours of GPS-based exercise tracking, more than enough time to finish.

That might be true for the larger 42mm Watch model, especially for the series two.

But these were series one 38mm Watches. Besides the lower life of series one, the smaller Watch had a 20% smaller battery.

 

[rjp1]

Do you have the GPS version. I have G1 and charge at night, and good for the next day.
To be fair I keep putting off my health kick though. So sedentary for me at present.

I have the original. If I only do ~60 minutes of activity a day then it is fine. It makes me think it is more for fashion than activity tracking :-/

 

[jhfenton]

That might be true for the larger 42mm Watch model, especially for the series two.

But these were series one 38mm Watches. They had a much smaller battery with less life.

Fair enough, especially if by "series one," you mean the first gen. I can attest that battery life on the first gen was less than satisfactory, even with the 42mm.

Series 1 (second generation, non-GPS) watches have excellent battery life, particularly since they don't have a GPS to drain the battery.

 

[coolbreeze]

Whew, saved me a couple hundred dollars. No need to update now. Thanks!
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Fair enough, especially if by "series one," you mean the first gen. I can attest that battery life on the first gen was less than satisfactory, even with the 42mm.

Series 1 (second generation, non-GPS) watches have excellent battery life, particularly since they don't have a GPS to drain the battery.

GPS only "drains the battery" when you explicitly enable it via an activity you opted in to utilize GPS.

It's not like the Series 2 battery life is trash because the GPS is on 24x7. Entirely in the user's control. Just clarifying your comment as it seems a bit like FUD.

 

[Lioness~]

I think the battery life is fine if you are an inactive person. If you use it for fitness tracking, then you quickly find out how ****** the battery life is on the Apple Watch. I won't be buying another until they improve it - A LOT.

That's the issue of AW in a nutshell. I will have it foremost to workout, and that's probably not the device to choose if you're an active person.

See if I have the patience to wait to just see that  have increased the battery up to 36 hour
Also doubt that it won't be enough for my exercises plans.
I don't want to charge it at night, I want to track my sleep too.
So doubt nothing will change since last time they released AW2.

So sorry that  can't to a good watch for exercising, but maybe just have to realize, they are not a fitness company. (Even if Tim seem to run quite a bit these days - he looked fitter att WWDC)

Looking at a Polar A370 with color screen which is much more appealing then the other trackers I've seen.
https://www.polar.com/us-en/products/sport/A370-fitness-tracker

Don't know if it's wort to wait for AW just to realize what I've already realized.
They are not making a watch for fitness

But maybe I wait a month anyway....IF they come up with some surprising improvement.
Maybe I can be patient with the Polar Loop for a month, maybe....

 

[jhfenton]

GPS only "drains the battery" when you explicitly enable it via an activity you opted in to utilize GPS.

It's not like the Series 2 battery life is trash because the GPS is on 24x7. Entirely in the user's control. Just clarifying your comment as it seems a bit like FUD.

It should all be read in the context of my posts just above mostly defending the battery life.

 

[Donsabai]

wait, I thought people were saying screw slimmer, we want more battery!?!? im so confused

Will Safari at least be snappier?

I am just not sure it is enough yet. Maybe my expectations are too big. For me the watch is too BIG, still. I don't care about battery life if I have to wear a brick on my wrist. Have looked at all the watches I am interested in and all the cool ones are HUGE (at least for me).

 

[ChrisCW11]

No obvious reason to buy it then. I also don't need a cell data plan for my watch only, while running or biking enjoy a disconnect from reality for a little while before the watch starts buzzing off your wrist with Twitter updates the moment it syncs with your phone again. Nobody is going to use a watch exclusively without their iPhone nearby for the most part.

Another vapid update from Apple for a product that if you don't like version 1, there is still no reason to buy version 3.

 

[lowendlinux]

If Android Wear plays well with the iPhone some of you guys ought to turn your attention there, some of you also need a fitness tool which none of the smart watches we're talking about are.

 

[Brian Clifford]

If the ownership of multiple Cellular/LTE devices by one individual becomes popular Data plans will need to catch-up.

Add-ons with a SIM only plan are okay if I want the option to choose extra data for my selected amount of credit. But, what do I do if I want to choose extra data to use on my iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch?

It will be really interesting to see what Apple has in mind for the LTE Apple Watch. Because at the moment, we really don't know.

 

[jhfenton]

If Android Wear plays well with the iPhone some of you guys ought to turn your attention there, some of you also need a fitness tool which none of the smart watches we're talking about are.

Of course the Apple Watch is a fitness tool. It provides near round-the-clock HR tracking (with occasional breaks for charging) and lets me comfortably complete all but my longest runs with GPS+AirPods-iPhone. (It will use 60-65% for two hours of GPS+AirPods-iPhone.) If I care about steps, it tracks steps. (I do sleep with my Apple Watch 2 on every night. In AirPlane and Theater mode, it uses almost no power, but still records HR all night.)

 

[azBoB]

Great that this will have LTE - but I'm sure AT$T is already building plans to get yet another add on for 'only' $20 a month to use LTE on your watch..

What do cell companies charge for Android connected smart watches? That should give us an idea...

 

[Mike MA]

The form factor is okay. I hoped they would implement scratch proof material on bottom side of the watch.

Well, nobody is asking for a complete redesign, but some facelifting or tweaking is always appreciated. Especially in this price range.