When Apple introduced us to the iPhone , there was a lot to take in : Inertia scrolling , pinch to zoom , coast to unlock , predictive text edition , not to mention desktop - calibre web browse , email , and map on a 3.5 - column inch cover . But even with 15 apps , advanced sensor and the greatest iPod the earthly concern had ever seen , Steve Jobs was most gallant of its most basic function : “ What ’s the killer app ? The cause of death app is making call ! ”
As I watched Tim Cook put the finishing touches on the Apple Watch demo he started in September , I half - expected to hear him say , “ What ’s the killer app ? The killer app is state time ! ” Everything you’re able to do on Apple Watch — from the presentment glances to the heart rate monitor and answer calls — is meaningless if it ’s not an exceeding timekeeper . It ’s far more important to Apple Watch ’s success than the iPhone ’s dialing capability ever were . I can go daylight without using my iPhone to talk to someone , but I await the king of beasts ’s share of my interactions with Apple Watch will be no unlike than they are with the watch I already fatigue : check over the clip .
Precision movement
For the salutary part of two class , Apple ’s competitors have all been doing their best Jony I ve impressions . Ever since we first starting hear rumblings that Apple was play on some form of wrist - wearable machine , we ’ve been inundate with a unfaltering stream of smartwatches , all essay to stick Apple at its own game .
The customizable Modular aspect shows the sentence in a few interesting slipway .
The first out of the gate wasSamsung ’s Galaxy Gear , a clunky , bulbous involvement that tried to shrink a 5 - in Galaxy S4 into a 1.63 - in screen . It was satisfy with the sort of things we expected a habiliment to do , like fitness apps and notification , but none of them really improved on the usual wrist watch . Case in compass point : Its heroic initiation was a photographic camera build into a shoulder strap , and one of the marquis software features was its ability to remotely see to it your Galaxy phone .
It was a definitive showcase of doing too much . Apple ’s philosophy has always been “ a thousand no ’s for every yes , ” but a quite a little of the smartwatches on the food market taste to cram as many functions as possible without focusing on the one that matters : the clock . Even Motorola and LG , which went with classic circular conception for theirMoto 360andUrbanesmartwatches , do n’t offer as rectify an experience as their enclosures would hint .
Apple Watch is dissimilar . It might not have as many watch face up asPebble Timeor evenAndroid Wear , but the ones Apple has craft really take horology to a new level . Apple is n’t just do an iPhone familiar ; it wants to gage out a claim in the annals of watchmaking story . Apple Watch does n’t have the handcrafted unremitting motion mechanics of aRolex Oyster , but in place of those tiny wheels and gears is a precision and customization not possible on a traditional timepiece .
About face
Unlike most smartwatches out there , Apple built a watch and worked backwards . Everywhere you go , time is never more than a touch aside . When you ’re face at notifications , the time bide in the top good corner . It ’s at the shopping mall of the nursing home screen . And when you lift your wrist joint it outright appear .
The prison term hang in all over the lookout man ’s interface .
It might seem unusual that Apple has n’t open up a clock time - telling API as part of WatchKit , but Apple Watch ’s faces are its identity , much more than apps or glance . Just appear at how proud the party is ofits chronograph human face : “ pose on the very first analog stopwatches , this brass assess sentence in incredibly accurate increments . It uses two hand : one for total time and a s for lap time . A customizable timescale criterion tenacious and short time periods . ”
Apple has even made it simple to swap out face on a caprice , but unlike Pebble or Android Wear , it is keeping a tight control over them . A multifariousness of faces is the crowing advantage Apple Watch has over traditional timepieces , but rather than boast tons of subscript brass , there are but nine to choose from . Most of them are refined innovative spins on classic figure , like the dab - trip the light fantastic Mickey Mouse or theMovado - like reductivism , and none of them are over the top . Perhaps the fonts will get more futuristic and the animations wilder down the road , but for the launching , Apple is give tremendous regard to the art of timekeeping while still embracing what sets Apple Watch apart . It ’s New elegance at its finest .
Infinite loupe
Even the customizable elements — complications , as Apple calls them , another nod to the serious existence of watchmaking — hark back to a time when wrist watch were a staple fibre of our lives . Somewhat ironically , the proliferation of the iPhone has made watches somewhat irrelevant , but Apple see and respects the chronicle of the industriousness it is entering . The small details are all impeccably project and thoughtfully placed , and none of them distract from the centerpiece .
A swish smartwatch has to be a good spotter .
We were all waiting for Tim to root for out some killer Apple Watch feature it was keeping under wraps , but that here and now never came . As developers slump their dentition into WatchKit and set out calculate out how to well utilize the screen and new seafaring methods , multitude are surely going to find all form of uses for the late Apple gadget — but first and foremost , there will always be timekeeping . With Watch , Apple is standing on the shoulders of monster , maintain in the exquisite tradition of Rolex , Tag Heuer , and Breitling to rekindle people ’s sexual love of order time .
The iPhone did n’t call for to be a great sound to succeed , but Apple Watch needs to be a great timepiece , especially if Apple expect to trade many of those five - figure Edition models .
