Lightning Port

[Nicklaus]

Like the ones in the white box on the table that you can touch? Did they have one on the back or is the power going thru the band?

 

[Julien]

Like the ones in the white box on the table that you can touch? Did they have one on the back or is the power going thru the band?

Image

I bet they are wired directly to the Watch pins from the iPad mini Lightning port. If so then it would be a Lightning interface.

 

[urda]

Gunk likes to accumulate inside "safe havens", not on exposed, rubbed and washed surfaces. As I said, we'll see...

That watch was clearly not taken care of, at all. Not related but thanks.

 

[fs454]

They might get rid of it for the retail units, I wouldn't count on the store displays being what ships in a couple weeks.

It's pretty final at this point. It shows up in their materials promo videos (for the Edition model, no less):
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/09/apple-watch-diagnostic-port-spotted/

It shows up on the watch try-on models if you take the band off, and the explorable mounted display model with the running OS is functional, screen-on, all day in the store, without a magsafe charging puck underneath. They are probably powering it through that port.


It's definitely interesting, because things don't exist for no reason in Apple world. When is the last time an Apple device had a very well-designed port that was either only for store display situations or only for diagnostics? The thing shows up prominently in their showcasing of the manufacturing process of the $10,000 model.

If Apple doesn't do anything with the port, you can bet that someone will. And with 6 pins, you've most definitely got power and data.

 

[DreamPod]

It's pretty final at this point. It shows up in their materials promo videos (for the Edition model, no less):
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/09/apple-watch-diagnostic-port-spotted/

It shows up on the watch try-on models if you take the band off, and the explorable mounted display model with the running OS is functional, screen-on, all day in the store, without a magsafe charging puck underneath. They are probably powering it through that port.

Right, they are showing up on the videos that were probably made weeks ago, and are showing up on demo units in stores. Those are not retail units. As you said, they are probably using that port to at least power the demo units, so they could very well be specially made for that purpose, and the ones for trying on aren't functional but running a demo loop.

We won't know if retail units have this port until the 24th.

 

[fs454]

Right, they are showing up on the videos that were probably made weeks ago, and are showing up on demo units in stores. Those are not retail units. As you said, they are probably using that port to at least power the demo units, so they could very well be specially made for that purpose, and the ones for trying on aren't functional but running a demo loop.

We won't know if retail units have this port until the 24th.

Gruber's review unit has the port with a small metal cover over it.
https://twitter.com/gruber/status/585829578624671744

I believe that to be the final retail existence of the port.


Also, the models for trying on are actually fully functional, but are running a specialized video loop for the specific model that matches the watch face of its respective promotional image / default band color. All of the loops are loaded on all of the watches, and the employees boot them up, store display firmware allows them into a dev menu that contains a massive scroll list of numbered video loops, and tap the one that corresponds to the model. It's then loaded and ready to trigger with the double press of the lower button. The discussion on the front page article has further on this.

 

[goobot]

Port is probably the wrong word, since a port would be a water problem. It is just pin connectors. They are probably USB.

EDIT: It is not USB since USB is only 4. I bet it is a Lightning interface. This way Apple has proprietary use and no one else can use it for nefarious reasons (like Jailbreaking).

Just cause it's lighting (which I'm pretty sure it's not) doesn't mean someone can't connect to it for jailbreaking.

 

[DreamPod]

Gruber's review unit has the port with a small metal cover over it.

Right, an early review unit they got at least a couple weeks ago. Not a retail unit. Apple even announced that retail units would be different from review units (they wouldnt have as much lag)

 

[fs454]

Right, an early review unit they got at least a couple weeks ago. Not a retail unit. Apple even announced that retail units would be different from review units (they wouldnt have as much lag)

They said the software wasn't final, not that the watches weren't final. No way they're closing that thing off.

We're having this same discussion on /r/Apple and imagine a band that has a toggle to push the connector into the port, much like how you turn a Mophie battery case on, or some other brand battery cases which have an actual slide-up Lightning connector.