Slashdot Mirror
Apple's "Spring Forward" Event Debuts Apple Watch and More
samzenpus (5) writes There was a lot of news at Apple's Spring Forward keynote today. Here's a list of some of the most eye-catching announcements.
- HBO Now standalone streaming service coming to Apple TV and iOS apps in early April for $14.99 a month.
- Lowered price of Apple TV to $69.
- Apple Pay accepted at up to 100,000 Coca-Cola machines by the end of the year.
- ResearchKit Announced: Is open source and allows medical researchers to create apps, and use the iPhone as a diagnostic tool.
- New MacBook: Lightest ever at 2 pounds, 13.1mm at its thickest point. 2304x1440 display, consumes 30% less energy. Fanless, powered with Intel's Core M processor. 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0. and 9 hours of web browsing battery life. Supports many protocols through one connector USB-C. Ships April 10, starting at $1,299.
- iOS 8.2 is available today
- Apple Watch: Accurate within 50ms of UTC. Read and delete email, built-in speaker and mic so you can receive calls. It tracks your movement and exercise. Use Apple Pay, play your music, use Siri and get any notification you get on iPhone today. 18 hour battery life in a typical day. Sport model starting at $349, stainless steel price: $549-$1049 for 38mm, 42mm is $599-$1099, and gold edition starting at $10k. Pre-orders begin April 10th, available April 24th.
Sounds like a perfect match.
more seriously, I'm shocked at how low the price is on the stainless steel watch is. 549/599? I was expecting near 1k.
Sadly I was expecting a lower price for this. When the accessory costs far more than the primary device it supports, the pricing model is rather broken regardless of features.
People also need to realize that in less than three years, they'll likely be replacing that $600 watch due to battery death or software/hardware attrition. By comparison, someone who spends $600 on a traditional timepiece expects to pass that down through generations.
Sure, but regular watches don't become obsolete in 3 years.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
The one thing I found concerning about the new MacBook is that it does away with Thunderbolt. So will there ever be a 5K supporting Thunderbolt connector, or will this be handled by USB-C? And will the charger for the new MacBook have ports on it? Like a mini-display port, USB, or even Ethernet?
It will be really cool to wear in a three years time, when the device is no longer supported for updates. Or in 5 years time, when the batteries are dead, the charger is no longer produced, and the owner realises that it would have been a better investment to buy a real watch for that money. 10k for a watch with a one year warranty, hopefully the owners can afford applecare. Bring out Nelson!
Fancy watches are jewelry. Jewelry doesn't become obsolete in 2 years.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
That's like saying a sports car should have more luggage space for that price.
Number of ports isn't the new MacBook's purpose. Thinness and lightness is. And more ports would have prevented that. If you want ports, then you buy a new MacBook Pro.
And the real kick in the ass is that apple will immediately slash prices 80% once an android competitor comes out and hangs around in this artificial market long enough until people realize singing talking wrist watches are about as practical as google glass.
o.O
When has Apple ever slashed prices in response to competition? Their playbook on competition reads "we have no competition, all similar products are inferior". They might decide that the hardware specs (which are traditionally very modest in every Apple rev1 product) need a bump, to keep the price point the same and satisfy their aforementioned competitive mantra. That's the kick in the ass; 12 months from now the rev2 product will have a screen with twice the resolution, it will have a CPU capable of full motion video, enough ram to run iOS 9.0, etc. and all the early adopters will be left with an outdated relic.
They've given themselves a guaranteed six months with no DST issues.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
It isn't a good idea to completely deplete a lithium-ion battery on a regular basis. Keeping its charge above 25% makes makes an 18-hour battery a 13.5-hour battery, which means it must be charged 1.8 times a day, unless you charge it overnight while you sleep.
Still, its battery life is a step back from conventional watches. If you're going to invent a new mousetrap, you should try to make it at least as good as the old one in every way--no regressions.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
You're basically comparing an iPad to an Amazon Kindle.
Perl Programmer for hire