Apple Watch starts at $349 and launches on April 24

Apple has reintroduced us to its Apple Watch, and in the process, has revealed a ton of new information.

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Apple’s “Spring Forward” event took place today, and one of the main focuses on this particular event was to focus on their recently announced Apple Watch. We already had some basic information regarding the smartwatch, but Apple wanted to give us a better look at their first entry into the smartwatch world.

The Apple Watch is highly customizable in both its watchband and watchfaces, features a built-in speaker and microphone that allows its user to take calls directly from their wrist. Apple is including a new Glance feature with the Apple Watch, that allows the wearer to check weather, calendar, music, and their heart rate at a quick glance. The watch will also allow the wearer to read full emails, and interact with them in a number of ways that includes marking it unread, flagging it, or deleting it.

A new digital touch feature allows friends to interact with one another using their Apple Watch in a number of ways. Apple Watch owners can send one another fun, little sketches, tap their watchface to gain the other person's attention, and even send their heart beat to let the other person know they're thinking of them.

For health nuts, Apple Watch delivers weekly reports to the wearer that not only acts as a digital journal of their activies throughout the week, but also offers suggestions on how to improve yourself the following week, acting as a digital coach.

Apple Watch will support Apple Pay, allow photos to be viewable, control music and your iOS device's camera, and Siri and you'll also be able to receive any notifications that you receive already receive on your iOS device.

Apple promises all-day battery life across a range of activities, saying the Apple Watch will last at around 18 hours.

There will be three seperate collections for the Apple Watch: the first is the Apple Watch Sport, which will be available in either silver or space grey as well as colorful bands and will cost $349 for the 38mm model and $399 for the 42mm model. The next is the Apple Watch, which for the 38mm version, costs $549 - $1049, depending on your watchband selection. The 42mm model will cost only $50 more. The last is the Apple Watch Edition, which features an 18k solid gold body and custom-designed bands and will retail for $10,000 at select retail stores.

The Apple Watch will be available for pre-order on April 10 with previews available to check out at Apple Store retailers with its worldwide official release taking place on April 24.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 9, 2015 11:14 AM

    Daniel Perez posted a new article, New Apple Watch details revealed

    • reply
      March 9, 2015 11:58 AM

      I think you forgot to add "Apple reinvents the watch."

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        March 9, 2015 1:02 PM

        "Apple invents the world's first timekeeping device."

    • reply
      March 9, 2015 12:26 PM

      Apple Watch owners can send one another fun, little sketches, tap their watchface to gain the other person's attention, and even send their heart beat to let the other person know they're thinking of them.

      I just can't get excited about smartwatches. Probably because I gave up wearing a watch over a decade a go. Having a speaker on the phone for the purposes of taking phone calls seems like a really bad idea. People having 'mostly' learned how to talk on the phone in public; 'mostly', but this seems like it'll just make people stooooopid all over again. I'm talking about any smartwatch, not just Apple. But in this case Apple's vision just seems ostentatious. With tablets we got new touch interfaces and smaller formfactors. Not sure smartwatches give us anything new; other than the promise of Dick Tracey's watch phone. *IF* they can actually do a bunch of the health stuff Apple tried to do, those things would be groundbreaking; that glucose monitoring for sure. Otherwise it's pretty meh to me. YMMV.

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        March 9, 2015 12:51 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 9, 2015 12:53 PM

          Yeah. Also I'm sure someone will make a Kik-like app that can buzz another user so that you only have to send one 'alert' message.

          Hi5 for those of us with ADD/distracted partners. :)

          My husband picked up an Asus Zenwatch and just having the little buzz for texts has made things so much better.

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          March 9, 2015 12:58 PM

          Yeah, but she'll learn to ignore it. I have a fitness tracker band that gives me notifications that I can read on the band and when it buzzes, sometimes I look, sometimes I ignore it, and sometimes I'm so tuned out that I didn't even consciously realize it vibrated.

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          March 9, 2015 1:06 PM

          I see that being abused immediately. People will find a way to hack the feature so creeps/stalkers will be using on their prey. Also, it'll be the rave by the grindr style apps to alert you when a fellow app user is in close proximity.

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            March 9, 2015 1:12 PM

            [deleted]

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              March 9, 2015 1:23 PM

              If that's all it takes, then that just cements my creeper/stalker comment. Just like a pick-pocket will bump you to get into your pocket, they can bump you to touch watches even easier.

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                March 9, 2015 1:44 PM

                You have to accept the contact. It's not just bump and TIME TO STALK.

                You bump to share contact details, then confirm.

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          March 9, 2015 1:08 PM

          Now featuring Pavlovian training for your spouse!

          Just remember, this is not a Skinner box on your wrist, you must still provide/remove associative external stimuli.

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          March 9, 2015 1:13 PM

          Doing that is no less passive aggressive than sending texts. If you're that impatient while waiting just call her to interrupt her conversation.

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            March 9, 2015 10:04 PM

            Doing that is no less passive aggressive than tapping her wrist or sending texts. If you're that impatient while waiting just keep honking the horn.

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          March 9, 2015 1:41 PM

          So you are sending watch messages instead of phone messages

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      March 9, 2015 1:08 PM

      Still ugly and fat.

      I'm not really into watches, haven't worn one in years, but I won't get one until they get a little more svelte and have better battery life. I realize these are probably mutually exclusive, so it's not likely I will ever get one.

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      March 9, 2015 1:11 PM

      I look at this watch (and pretty much every smartwatch) and I visualize the following scene:

      A silver Aston Martin races down an Alpine road. Suddenly, it is passed by an orange Nissan Cube.

      A pair of pipes emerge from the back of the Cube and spray oil onto the road behind it. The Aston Martin loses control, sliding off the road and plummeting 300 feet to its driver's presumed death.

      The Cube pulls into an opulent mountain resort, the door opens, the driver's Air Jordans hit the pavement and the camera pans up.

      Joggers, tank top, Apple watch, gold chain.

      Justin Bieber tosses the keys to the valet. "Yo, don't scratch it!" he says over his shoulder as he saunters into the resort, a Kardashian on his arm.

      BIEBER. IS. BOND.

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      March 9, 2015 7:16 PM

      This watch will be the perfect gift for someone who has given up on life.

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      March 9, 2015 7:41 PM

      i don't get it. it will sell like hotcakes.

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        March 9, 2015 8:34 PM

        i don't get it. it says apple. it will sell like hotcakes.

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      March 9, 2015 8:43 PM

      One thing I hope the Apple Watch inspires is easily swappable watch bands. It's something companies occasionally toy with but it would be great to see entire lines of watches with interchangeable bands.

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      March 9, 2015 9:19 PM

      Lol theres a $10k+ one?

    • reply
      March 9, 2015 9:24 PM

      18 hour battery life on a watch?

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