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Journalism of Courage
The “One More Thing” that Apple Ceo Tim Cook wanted to show us turned out to be a smart watch afterall. And Apple has managed to invoke interest in its version of the smartwatch, even as we are being bombarded by similar devices almost on a weekly basis.
The Apple Watch is different, primarily because it brings back to life the crown or the winder on traditional watches by making it the tool to interact with for scroll, zoom and navigate. It also serves as the Home button and a convenient way to access Siri. Apple is calling this Digital Crown the biggest Apple navigation innovation since the iPod Click Wheel and iPhone Multi-Touch, but only time will tell how effective users find it.
Actually there will be not one, but three Apple watches, an Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition available in 38 mm and 42 mm sizes. It actually looks like a watch and are crafted from custom alloys of polished or space black stainless steel, space gray or silver anodized aluminum and 18-karat rose or yellow gold. There ae multiple strap options too, based on the way you want to use your device. One unique feature is the charging system, something which has stumped a lot of smartwatch manufacturers. The Apple Watch comes with Apple’s MagSafe inductive charging technology which snaps the device into place on a charger.
Plus, on the watch, iOS has been tweaked specifically for a smaller device and to be controlled by the Digital Crown. For instance, the device features The Force Touch, which can sense the difference between a tap and a press to access controls within apps.
The Apple Watch also banks on Taptic Engine and a built-in speaker to together enable new alerts and notifications which you can both hear and feel. The Watch features Wi-Fi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 4.0 to pair seamlessly with your iPhone.
The watch features Smart Replies and dictation to respond quickly to messages as well as a Handoff feature that lets you start a message on the Watch and continue on the iPhone. Swipe up on the watchface shows information like current location, stocks or appointments. The side button brings up Friends, while Digital Touch lets you send a sketch, a gentle tap, an audio message or even your own heartbeat.
Above this is the Apple Pay feature which lets you pay usign the watch. As with most wearable devices these days, the Apple Watch too comes with an activity app that uses the accelerometer, a built-in heart rate sensor, GPS and Wi-Fi from your iPhone to provide a comprehensive picture of your daily activity.
Apple Watch will be available in early 2015 starting at $349. It is compatible with iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus running the latest version of iOS 8.
