Apple Watch Hands-On

By far the highlight of Apple’s Spring Forward event was the Apple Watch. Though announced back in September, Apple has not allowed any hands-on time with the device until now. So along with finding out the full launch details today, this is the…

Apple Reveals Apple Watch Details And Availability

Apple’s Spring Forward event saw the launch of a new MacBook that greatly departs from the typical image of a notebook, the launch of iOS 8.2, and most importantly, the announcement of several details about the upcoming Apple Watch. Apple revealed the Apple Watch at their October event last year, but several things about it have remained a mystery until today. 

While Apple showed off some of the Apple Watch’s abilities at their earlier event, their demos from today went more in depth. Apple made note of the fact that the watch is accurate to within 50ms of UTC, which is probably a higher level of accuracy than most people will ever need, but it may increase appeal to those who value the accuracy of their watch. Apple also demonstrated its communication abilities, and showed how users can communicate using pictures drawn on the watch, voice dictated messages, audio recordings, and their heartbeat. 

The role of third party developers in expanding the abilities of Apple Watch was also highly emphasized. Apple demoed an app from CNN that reports headlines to users, and also made note of the availability of an Uber application.

There have also been several questions unrelated to the Apple Watch’s software and abilities. The biggest area of concern up until this point has been battery life. The battery capacity for wearable devices is almost always constrained due to the limited space available. There has been a great deal of speculation about whether or not the Apple Watch will last through an entire day, and whether it will need to be charged every night like a smartphone is. At the event, Apple revealed that the expected battery life for the Apple Watch will be somewhere in the realm of 18 hours. This means that it should last a user through the day, but that charging every night will be a necessity unless the watch has hardly been used.

The second big question was about pricing. Apple Watch is by far Apple’s most customizable product to date, and the number of combinations of bands and models and sizes is enormous. Because of this, Apple only provided price ranges for each model. At the October event the starting price for the Sport model was revealed to be $349, and this has not changed. That price is for the 38mm size, while the 42mm size bumps the price up to $399. The steel and sapphire Apple Watch will start at $549, and go all the way to $1099 for the most expensive model which is the 42mm body and the link bracelet. Finally, the Apple Watch Edition starts at $10,000, and goes up to $17,000 for the models with the red leather band and gold buckle. All of the bands are also available for purchase separately, and so users can outfit the Apple Watch Sport with a nicer band than the fluoroelastomer one it comes with. The pricing for the bands ranges from $50 to $500, and you can take a look at all of them on Apple’s website.

The final question is obviously about availability. The Apple Watch will be available for pre-order on April 10 in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US.  Users can also make appointments at select Apple Stores to preview and try on the watch.

HTC Announces VIVE, a Valve VR Headset, and Grip, a Fitness Band

In addition to the HTC One M9, HTC is also launching the VIVE, a VR headset. While it may seem a bit strange that HTC is doing this, it makes sense once one realizes that the VIVE isn’t designed as a mobile VR solution at all. Instead, this is a product of HTC’s connected devices division, which is the same group that made the HTC RE.

I was definitely quite skeptical of HTC doing a VR headset. But the key here is that HTC has partnered with Valve to be the first OEM to ship a consumer version of SteamVR which means that this is tethered to a PC rather than utilizing a phone or some other mobile device, and using Valve’s tracking and input technology. While they haven’t been able to discuss any real detail, they emphasized that the VR experience would be a whole-room experience rather than a sitting experience. Outside of these details, it was said that the developer kit would be available soon after launch in the spring, with consumer availability by the holidays at the end of the year.

While VR headsets are a type of wearable, the other wearable HTC is announcing today is the Grip, a sports band made in partnership with Under Armor. It seems that this is largely similar to the Microsoft Band, as it has a 1.8” PMOLED display, with a ST-M Cortex M3 MCU.

HTC states that they’re trying to target hardcore athletic trainers with this device, and have equipped it with a GPS tracker along with support for Bluetooth heart rate monitors for improved performance. The fitness band should last up to 2.5 days on its 100mAh battery, and will come in three sizes. The fitness band will be able to work with Under Armor Record, along with other fitness tracking applications. Outside of fitness applications the band also supports some basic features such as remote camera shutter, music controls, sleep tracking, and other similar phone companion applications. The Grip will be compatible with both iOS and Android as well.

The HTC Grip will cost $199 USD and go on sale in the near future.