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What a New Design Could Mean for Apple Watch Series 4
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In fairness, if they could crack the blood glucose monitoring and it was accurate enough clinically, that would push the sales of these things to new heights I think.
No notch, but a Home Button finallyShould be a nice update.
I wonder if Series 5 will have a notch.
It would be great to see a redesigned case (the concept is pretty much the same case with a larger screen packed in). But knowing what's been happening on the iPhone front in terms of design evolution, I do not have much hopes. But that still won't stop Apple from calling it an all-new design.
Sleep Tracking. Our generation needs it with all of our screen time, and other devices have had it for years. Would love to incorporate that wake up alarm feature that Jawbone’s UP had where it would wake you up at the most optimal time in your sleep cycle for you not to feel groggy. (Within a 30 min window of when you set your desired wake up time).
They would have to get FDA approval which would take far far longer than Apple would want to wait.
Keeping the square form is not really a design change as it still looks look ie previous year designs. Larger face screen is a minor design tweak. Overall, the change is not a big deal if this minor design change materializes. We shall see what will really happen in September.
The Apple Watch Series 4 expected this fall will feature a new design and a display that's 15 percent larger, according to the latest reports from respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Additional details have yet to emerge, but the Series 4 could mark the first design change introduced in the Apple Watch since its debut three years ago.
Kuo expects the two new Apple Watch models will measure 1.57 inches (39.9mm) and 1.78 inches (45.2mm), compared to the current 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch sizes. Rumors remain unclear on whether the casings themselves will be larger or if a reduction in bezel size will allow for larger OLED displays, but that hasn't stopped designers from sharing their own Series 4 concepts.
Rumored Apple Watch Series 4 design (left) alongside Series 3 (right)
Venya Geskin created the above mockups envisioning what a larger display could look like on a new Apple Watch while retaining the existing physical dimensions. In this design, the Series 4 screen adopts rounded corners to align with the reduced bezels and maximize the display area, similar to the display on the iPhone X.
Developer Ryan Jones calculates that the larger screens could provide a 35 and 38 percent larger display area for the 38mm and 42mm models, respectively. Such a change would significantly enhance user interaction with the Force Touch display, allowing for bigger clock faces and virtual buttons, and more space for viewing text, equating to less scrolling. In addition, watchOS 5 promises to bring rich HTML content to Apple Watch devices, so a larger screen would enhance the experience of navigating websites and interacting with them.
According to separate industry sources, there's an outside chance that the upcoming Apple Watch models could use micro-LED screens, which have the potential to be thinner and lighter, with improved color gamut, increased brightness, and support for higher resolutions. If micro-LED is adopted this year, it could potentially free up space for other hardware improvements.
Kuo believes the next Apple Watch will feature improved health monitoring capabilities, including improved heart rate features. The analyst doesn't explain whether these improvements would be based on software or hardware, but some combination of the two is one possibility.
The heart rate sensor in the current Apple Watch uses rapidly flashing green LED lights paired with light-sensitive photodiodes to continuously monitor heart rate during workouts and Breathe sessions. However, the device switches to infrared light to measure heart rate in the background at intervals that vary, depending on your activity level.
Unlike some smartwatches, currently it's not possible to configure Apple Watch to monitor your heart rate continuously all of the time. Such a feature in the Series 4 would be a welcome addition, but whether it could be battery-efficient without adopting a different sensor array than the current one is unclear.
That said, Kuo also believes that the Apple Watch will feature a higher-capacity battery for better battery life. The adoption of solid state buttons that don't physically click but instead use a Taptic Engine to provide haptic feedback to users could also potentially provide extra room for a larger battery.
Another possibility Apple is said to be testing is an EKG feature that records the electrical activity of the heart using two fingers on either side of the Apple Watch. This would detect electrical changes in the skin caused by the rhythm of the heartbeat - and potentially identify any irregularities.
Concept design by Benjamin Geskin
Whatever comes with Apple Watch Series 4, we should know for certain in just a couple of months. Apple is expected to announce the device at its annual September event, which is typically held during the first or second week of September. What changes are you hoping for in the new Apple Watch? Let us know in the comments below.
Article Link: What a New Design Could Mean for Apple Watch Series 4
My top requests would be:
- Speed! Why does it take so bloody long to turn on!! Also Apps take a long time to load.
- Battery life
- Make it easier for App development. I can't be the only one who has lost apps (ebay I'm looking at you) off the watch since I got mine.
- Speed! Why does it take so bloody long to turn on!! Also Apps take a long time to load.
- Battery life
- Make it easier for App development. I can't be the only one who has lost apps (ebay I'm looking at you) off the watch since I got mine.
(Much) thinner bezels, and a thinner body. An always on screen would be nice too. And a bottle opener.
I feel that without wrapping or stretching the screen to the very edge of the watch makes this watch continue to look more like a Timex rather then a "luxury" smart watch the way Apple wants to try to market it as. Personally I find the square screen to be completely boring and old looking, more akin to the digital watch craze o the 80's rather then defining what smart watches should look like moving into the future. The fact that "value" brands like Pebble, Garmin and FitBit all have square screen lumps Apple into that category, while round screens feel more like premium for smart watches considering the increased difficulty not only in manufacturing a non-rectangular screen but also making the UI work well on a round screen.
I think Apple has dabbled too long with the current Apple Watch design and should bring more design innovation and pizzazz to this brand instead of just slightly shrinking the bezels a few millimeters and maintaining, basically, an iPod Nano design.
I think Apple has dabbled too long with the current Apple Watch design and should bring more design innovation and pizzazz to this brand instead of just slightly shrinking the bezels a few millimeters and maintaining, basically, an iPod Nano design.
It seriously can be, and is that important. There are, in fact, also rumors about updates to the Mac. I'm pretty sure there are different teams at Apple. Some work on the Watch, some the Mac...
Mine is too. I'll definitely take the one with saphire glass next time around.
I’m using an app called Sleep Watch on my AW Series 2. It automatically starts tracking my sleep every time I fall asleep. It’s been very accurate in helping me to discover that I repeatedly woke up during the night when I was pregnant and helped my doctor to diagnose me with sleep apnea. Along with the app Sleep Better (which I only use when my AW is charging at night), I have a pretty good idea how much sleep I get.
I got one of those "military film" protectors on mine. Easy application with water and once it dries it even curves around the outside of the glass. Pretty resillient and even heals scratches unlike glass. I hardly even know it's there.
[doublepost=1531399161][/doublepost]I held off a few years getting the watch hoping for a different form factor, but caved in and got the series 3 last month. I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. I mainly held out because I thought, hey, I have my phone on me all the time, I can just take it out of my pocket. Little did I realize how useful the watch is, especailly as a replacement to my older garmin fitness tracker.
My only complaint to this day is that I can't code my own watch face. I've grown accustomed to 24-hour analog watches where the hour hand only goes around once a day. Hard to get used to 12:00 being at the top of the watch again lol.