Meet Apple Watch, the new Apple smartwatch with a clever new navigation scheme

It’s called the Apple Watch, it looks like a luxurious synthesis of technology and traditional timepiece craftsmanship, and it uses a “digital crown” to navigate through lists and zoom in on data. Apple finally announced its long-awaited smartwatch on Tuesday, and, boom, just like that, the center of gravity of the shaky wearables market has shifted in a seismic reset.
No, not because the watch looks that revolutionary. It’s because this is an Apple smartwatch. And for better or worse, this is the new wearable’s most important feature.
The new Apple “this changes everything” device starts at $350, and will be available early next year. But here’s the kicker for potential fence sitters: Apple Watch supports the new Apple Pay system, so you can quickly purchase items from retailers ranging from Bloomingdales to Staples with a flick of your wrist.

Apple Watch will come in three different models—from a baseline version to an ultra-luxe 18K gold edition—and six different bands will allow a wide degree of personal customization. “Taptic” feedback puts pressure on your wrist for iPhone notifications, and can even send signals to turn left or right in the watch’s navigation app.
And, yes, this gadget requires an iPhone to work.
In many ways, the Apple Watch feature set looks like it was borrowed from other smartwatch companies. Dig: The gadget tracks your steps and heart rate. It displays smartphone notifications. But Apple’s message is that Apple Watch does all these things better than the competition. And with its perfectly contoured edges, luxury materials, and nifty new UI, it’s got all the visual trappings of another “God device” from Apple. That’s a potentially transcendent advantage that could send competing wearable-tech manufacturers back to their drafting tables.

A physical dial replaces some of your finger taps

Tim Cook proclaimed Apple Watch will “redefine what people expect from its category” and that the wearable is the “next chapter in Apple’s story.” To help achieve such lofty goals, the Apple Watch doesn’t ditch third-party apps—which are always so difficult to implement on wearables—but instead reimagines the smartwatch UI. The key is a new “Digital Crown” that’s used to navigate the teeny-tiny visual elements on the curved, sapphire display.

The new crown translates rotary movement into digital data. But that’s just tech speak for a new navigation scheme that might solve the problem of swiping through icons on a necessarily minuscule display. The crown can be used to zoom in on interface elements and scroll through content—actions that would otherwise require finger gestures in a less advanced UI.
The Apple Watch will come in two case sizes (38mm and 48mm heights), but Apple didn’t mention specifics about display dimensions or resolution, through we know the display is a flexible Retina display underneath a single crystal of sapphire. Regardless, anyone who’s ever used a smartwatch knows new navigation paradigms are welcome. 

It’s not so much a watch as an experience

Apple’s grand reveal was relatively light on details, and perhaps the Apple Watch’s most killer feature—Apple Pay support—was tacked on at the very end of the event, as if a last-minute afterthought. There were no details on internal specs, but we learned this wearable doesn’t include a camera, as its main photo feature is a scheme that turns your watchface into a slideshow for your iPhone photos.

That said, Apple did riff at length about industrial design, and highlighted some built-in software features and third-party apps.
Siri voice dictation will let you send iMessages to friends (among other common Siri tricks). There’s also a Digital Touch feature that lets you create something of a walkie-talkie-like connection with your pals. Its Apple’s new method for sending customized emoji and quick little finger doodles composed with digital ink. And—awwww—with Digital Touch you can even send a visual representation of your heart beat to loved ones.  

 

 

 

Original post: http://www.macworld.com/article/2604309/meet-apple-watch-the-new-apple-smartwatch-with-a-clever-new-navigation-scheme.html