It’s been a long time coming, but the Apple Watch is now available for pre-order on Apple’s website, out to try in Apple stores and a select number of boutique shops, and shipping on the 24th April. We went down to the Covent Garden Apple Store to try the watch on in person and see how the sale of this product differs to that of other products. We also got a chance to have a hands-on go with the Watch.
The in-store experience
The Apple Watch is quite a different product for Apple, as much fashion statement as it is a bit of technology. It’s also available in three different versions (Watch Sport, Watch and the gold Watch Edition), with each available in two different sizes for different wrist sizes (38mm and 42mm) and comes with a ton of different band options. That adds up to a massive 38 varieties of the watch, so getting the right one isn’t that easy.
For this reason, the Apple Stores have all been converted to have special Apple Watch demo tables, where you can turn up to try on everything. Well, everything except for the Watch Edition, where you have to make an appointment to try the £8,000+ watch.
As well as being able to see every version of the Watch in a glass cabinet, each demo station carries a drawer full of every regular edition and strap options. It gives you the chance to try on everything and find the model that best suits you, and to make sure that you buy the one that’s the correct size.
All of the watches that you can try run a special demo mode of the software, taking you through all of the features. There are also demo watches on the floor that let you dive into the interface to give the Watch a proper workout yourself.
On launch day, the store was packed with prospective customers taking a look at the Watch and trying on the band. What struck us about the experience, after trying it ourselves, was that Apple has made the smartwatch a lot more personal. The attention you get makes it feel like a more special purchase than just buying an off-the-shelf Pebble Steel or Android Wear device. It’s hard to say how much this experience is worth and it’s easy enough to mock, but the truth is a lot of people like this more personal touch and it elevates the Watch above its rivals.
Our first impressions
As well as being able to look at how the Watch is sold, we also managed to get our first hands-on experience. The first thing we noticed was that it’s not as big as we’d been expecting. Stock photography is notoriously bad at giving a sense of scale and, in the flesh, the Watch is sleeker and neater than we believed it would be from the initial photos.
Unlike most other smart watches, when the Watch is on someone’s wrist, it looks far more like a watch than a piece of wearable technology. It helps that there are so many band options for it, as it means that not everybody ends up wearing exactly the same thing.
One of the issues we had with the Sports model was that the photos made the rubber straps look a little cheap. However, in real life the opposite is true, and the Sports version actually looks classy, with the soft-touch rubber feeling tough and well made.
We also saw how easy it is to change straps: you just press down on the release button and slide the retaining clips, before sliding the replacement strap in place. Not all straps are available for all model sizes, but straps are compatible with different versions of the Watch: you can remove the rubber strap from the Sports version and clip in the metal band if you prefer.
As the Sports version has an aluminium body and the Watch has a stainless steel body, there’s a slight variation in colour between the two; it means that certain straps are designed to work with one body, although you can mix and match if this doesn’t bother you.
We got a chance to play with the Watch to see how it interacts with the phone, as well as using the UI. We have to say that Apple’s decision to use the Digital Crown dial and a select button, as well as touchscreen, was the right way to go. Button controls are one of the main reasons that we like the Pebble so much, as a touchscreen only interface just doesn’t work on a device this small.
The Digital Crown has a few functions, depending on where you are: on the home screen it zooms into the last-used app; on the favourite contacts screen, it rotates around the list; on Maps it zooms in and out; and in other apps it scrolls through lists. It also acts as a back button, while the larger button underneath is there to select options.
From the home screen, you use the touchscreen to choose which app you want to launch. The icons are small, but the sensitivity was high enough that we never accidentally launched the wrong app by mistake. Force touch, which is now available on the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina, is an addition to the touchscreen, giving you another way to interact with the Watch. You use it by pressing harder than for a normal tap, with a pressure sensor picking up the different interaction. For example, in Apple Maps, a Force Touch brings up a screen with Search and Contacts options. As we’ve come to expect from Apple, the interface is slick and smooth, with the Watch ably displaying silky-smooth transitions and animations.
As the Watch is tightly integrated with the iPhone, you can do more with it than you can with a Pebble. For starters, there’s Siri integration, so you can use voice commands to search for a location, make a phone call or to write a reply to a message. Apple’s also built in several shortcuts: you can reply with a pre-written message to an incoming SMS or iMessage, for example.
We’ll need to spend more time with a review sample to find out what the product is really capable of, but at this point, the Watch was way more attractive in the flesh, a lot slicker to use and capable of more than we had originally thought.
The Apple Watch WILL launch on April 24th
Tim cook promised us the Apple Watch in April, and the company has delivered, with the watch going on sale on the 24th of April. However, if you want to buy one then you'd better plan ahead. The Apple Watch will be available to pre-order online from the 10th of April. Or if you're not yet entirely convinced that it's for you then you can get a hands-on with the watch and a preview of its features in Apple stores from the same date.
We're a little disappointed that after such a long wait since the initial unveiling that we now have to wait another six and-a-half weeks before the Apple Watch goes on sale. it's not a worldwide launch, with the following countries getting the watch on that date.
The Apple Watch will be available in TWO different sizes
One of the big problems with a lot of smartwatches is that they're too big and won't fit all wrists, as you can see from big models, such as the Motorola Moto 360 and LG G Watch R. Apple counters that by making its watch in two different sizes, with 38mm and 42mm screens.
Nominally that means watches specifically for men and women, with Apple catering for a wider part of the market than other smartwatch manufacturers. We have to say that this feels like the right way to go and a watch has to be comfortable to wear as well as providing the best technology.
Prices vary a little between the two sizes, with the larger version simply costing £40 more on most models.
The THREE versions have wildly varying PRICES
As well as the size options, Apple will sell the watch in three different versions. There's the standard Watch, which will have a stainless steel case; the Sport version that has an aluminium case; and the Watch Edition, which will be made from 18 karat gold and will be suitably expensive to match.
The Apple Watch Sport starts from £299, the Apple Watch costs from £479 and the Apple Watch Edition starts at £8,000.
As well as the differences in build material, each model also uses different glass on the watch face. The standard Apple Watch and Gold Apple Watch Edition both use sapphire crystal glass, which should be able to withstand serious scrapes and scratches (sapphire is second only to diamond in hardness and has long been used for watch faces), while the Apple Watch Sport uses Ion-X Glass. Because sapphire glass isn't particularly resistant to drops, ion-strengthened glass makes more sense on a watch that will be worn when exercising.
Disappointingly, the Apple Watch is not waterproof, not even the Sport version, although according to Yahoo it is water resistant and "Sweating, wearing it in the rain, washing your hands, or cooking with it are fine".
There are LOTS of colour and strap choices
The square Apple Watch is a beautiful-looking wearable with plenty of choices of colour and straps to suit different people. Apple has designed six different straps along with a mechanism for making it easy to swap between them. The Sport band is made from sweat-resistant plastic, but people will be able to choose between a leather quilted loop, stainless steel link bracelet and Milanese loop.
It's good to see this level of customisation as, combined with the choice of models, it means that not everybody will be wearing exactly the same watch in exactly the same colour.
PRICES vary according to your strap - A LOT
However, your choice of strap hugely affect the pricing of your final watch. The Apple Watch Sport comes in different colours, but they all cost the same, so that's simple: £299 or £339.
The Apple Watch though is available with the Sports Band for £479, with a classic buckle strap or milanese loop for £559, a leather loop for £599, a 'modern buckle' for £649, and then a whopping £819 for a stainless steel link bracelet. Add another £80 for the black finish, plus £40 for the bigger 42mm version, and the top model here comes to £949 inc VAT.
^ £819 is a lot more than we'd hoped to pay for a full stainless steel Apple Watch
The Apple Watch Edition maybe only exists to make you feel better about buying a £949 smartwatch. Prices range from £8,000 for an 18-carat rose gold case and smart band, up to £13,500 for a yellow gold model with a red buckle strap. With no idea on how many years your watch will last, battery replacement, software support, or simple technical obsolescence, it's a lot to pay.
Battery life could be an ISSUE
Apple's already said that the Apple Watch will need to be charged daily, with it now claiming a simple battery life figure of 18 hours. it's very vague on what that figure actually represents, but you'll certainly be charging it on a daily basis.
Some detail was leaked though, with 9to5Mac obtaining Apple's estimated battery life targets from its sources close to the project. At first, Apple was reportedly aiming for a battery life of one day of mixed usage, which combined a small amount of active use with longer periods of passive use. More recently, Apple changed this goal to roughly 2.5-to-4 hours of active application use, 19 hours of combined active and passive use, three days of pure standby time or four days of sleep.
This may come as a disappointment to anyone hoping that Apple might be able to solve the battery life problem that's been plaguing smartwatches such as the Motorola Moto 360 and LG G Watch R, but 9to5Mac suggested that the 2.5 hours figure of 'heavy' use will likely mean intense, processor-heavy gameplay, while standard app use will likely garner around 3.5 hours of continuous use. Strangely, Apple seems to be expecting better battery life figures when using its fitness tracking software, which is targeted for nearly 4 hours of straight exercise tracking.
If you're not interested in using apps and only want to use it as a time piece, then Apple's figures suggest that it will be able to display its watch face and ticking animations for three straight hours as long as you don't use it for anything else. However, like most smartwatches, you're unlikely to be looking at it this long, as the display will turn itself off when it's not in use, prolonging the battery much further. Therefore, it seems most likely you'll be able to squeeze a full day out of the Apple Watch under normal use, but you're less likely to be able to stretch it over multiple days.
9to5Mac says that the ongoing battery concerns were one of the main reasons why Apple pushed back the launch of the Apple Watch from late 2014 to early this year. As Apple continue testing the device, it's believed that around 3,000 watches are currently in circulation for real-world testing, mostly consisting of the stainless steel model.
Apple is using OLED for the first time
According to AppleInsider, Apple is said to be using an OLED panel for the first time in one of its products, rather than the company's usual LCD technology. The plastic-backed OLED screen is said to be one of the most expensive mobile displays, but the technology gives design flexibility, excellent contrast and uses less power than LCD: all three things that are incredibly important with a smartwatch.
We still don't know the resolution of the screen, as Apple hasn't released that information. All we know is that this is a Retina display, which means, according to Apple's definition, that you can't see individual pixels when viewed at normal distances. As there's no set PPI for Retina, we can't work out how that translates to the 1.5in screen.
It is a touchscreen, but the DIGITAL CROWN gives more control
The touchscreen display can recognise swipe gestures and can also sense force, so a hard tap can bring up more options than a soft tap. This kind of touch integration is useful for interacting with apps, but controlling smartwatches purely with a touchscreen is impractical, according to Apple, which is why the Apple Watch will be using the oddly-named Digital Crown in addition to touch inputs. The company described this as a "multifunctional input device that lets you zoom, scroll and select without covering the screen". In practical terms this means you can turn a small knob on the side of the watch to zoom in and out when looking at a map, with the same action also used for scrolling up and down through websites. It also doubles up as a home button. There's a second button under the Digital Crown that gives users instant access to their contacts. Press the Friends button and select a contact to send a message, make a call or carry out other functions. You can even send a friend a 'tap', which will make their Apple Watch vibrate.
Of course, there's Siri
Of course, Apple has integrated Siri into its watch. Just as on the iPhone, you'll be able to speak to the smart assistant to ask questions, perform tasks and more. This means that you'll be able to do more with the Apple Watch than the Pebble, which is really just a second screen for your iPhone and doesn't let you interact with your handset to this degree.
You can monitor your heart rate
On the back of the watch is a heart-rate monitor, which is useful for fitness tracking. As you'd expect, this data can be pulled into the Apple Health app, which was introduced with iOS 8. If you really want to, you can also send your current heart rate to another Apple Watch user, although we're not entirely sure why you'd want to do this.
Apple uses the CUSTOM S1 SoC
the Apple Watch will run a cut down version of iOS, currently code-named SkiHill, and will be powered by an Apple S1 chip. This will allegedly be able to deliver the same kind of performance levels as Apple's A5 processor, which is currently found in the iPod Touch. Full specs and clock speeds have not been released and we don't know if this CPU is 32-bit or 64-bit.
Features and apps
Apple's Kevin Lynch took to the stage to demo these new features at its Spring Forward event in San Francisco, with Glances taking top priority.
In Glances, you'll be able to swipe up from the bottom to quickly access the information that's most important to you, such as weather forecasts, calendar notifications, music controls and your heart rate. To see more information or launch the full app, all you need to do is tap that particular Glance screen.
You'll also be able to read full emails, which you can then flag, mark as unread or delete, receive and reply to text messages and take or receive calls straight from your wrist thanks to its built-in speaker and microphone. To make sure you don't miss any notifications, the Apple Watch will tap you on the wrist with a small buzz.
The Apple Watch will also be able to receive any notifications from your iPhone, so you'll be able to keep track of sports teams, news and social media updates, such as trending topics on Twitter, just like you would on your phone.
If you're away on a trip, for example, you'll get notifications when you get near your hotel, which will give you your reservation details and room number. You'll even be able to use the Apple Watch as your own personal room key. Likewise, you can control any home security apps with the Apple Watch, such as opening your garage door if your kid's locked themselves out.
Digital Touch, meanwhile, is accessed by tapping the crown. This will bring up a wheel of your friends, which you can then select to send messages and notes too, either as an audio dictation recording or as ordinary text. If they have an Apple Watch as well, you'll also be able to send them your heart rate readings, sketches you've drawn on the main watch face and virtually 'tap' their own Watch to get their attention.
Health plays an important role in the Apple Watch, too. In a simple three-ring graphic, you'll be able to see your daily movements, how long you've been exercising and how long you've been idle. To help combat the last metric, the Apple Watch will remind you if you've been sitting down too long. At the end of the week, you'll also receive a report about your week's activities.
The Work Out app, on the other hand, can track your workouts in the gym, detecting when you're running, cycling or using gym machines. You'll be able to see how many calories you've burned, the distance you've travelled and the time.
To access Siri, just hold down the crown. While we didn't hear any voice replies to questions asked during the demo, Siri's text answers seemed to be as accurate as ever. Just like Siri on the iPhone, you'll be able to use Siri on the Apple Watch to help set reminders as well.
Alternatively, double-tap the crown to bring up Apple Pay. You don't even have to touch it to the machine either, as you'll get a small bit of haptic feedback once the Apple Watch is close enough and the transaction's taken place.
You won't be downloading apps straight from the Apple Watch, though, as you'll need to use Apple's new Apple Watch app on your iPhone (available with iOS 8.2) to push the apps to your new smartwatch.
Apple will include a range of its own watch faces with third party developers expected to add many more. There's even a Mickey Mouse watch face, presumably so that Dan Brown can write a new book featuring Robert Langdon, whose only defining character trait is his original Mickey Mouse watch.
Watch faces will be customisable with onscreen monograms. This will allow users to embed their initials or any combination of up to four letters directly onto their chosen clockface. The companion app will allow users to tailor much of the Apple Watch interface, including the choice of clockface, the placement of app icons, and whether to enable phone notifications. A "subtle red dot" on the clockface can be switched on to alert users when a new notification is received on their iPhone.
Rather than customise the UI on the watch itself, it appears users will be able to tweak its appearance, install apps and adjust settings using an iOS companion app. Information leaked to 9to5Mac has revealed the app's existence, along with screenshots showing exactly what features can be customised. You'll be able to drag and drop apps around the screen to put them within easy reach on the Watch homescreen, install and uninstall third party Watch apps as you like and set a four digit PIN code for locking the watch - presumably to prevent Apple Pay payments from being taken from your credit card accidentally. Finally, you should be able to automatically unlock the watch when you unlock your iPhone.
Apple has also said the Apple Watch can be used to control Apple TV and act as a remote viewfinder for a paired iPhone camera. It will also support Apple Pay for contactless payments, without having to fish your smartphone out of a pocket or bag. The new iOS 8 Handoff feature extends to Apple Watch, letting users dismiss notifications from their wrists to remove them from all connected iOS and OS X devices.
