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Apple Watch's Hidden Diagnostic Port To Allow Battery Straps, Innovative Add-Ons
MojoKid writes: Apple's Watch launched two weeks ago to some unbelievable hype and coverage in the press. However, it appears one feature flew under the radar and Apple actually had just one more trick up its sleeve. You see, on one side of the watch face is a hidden door that exposes a 6-pin port. It's assumed that this could be used for diagnostic purposes, but with an Apple Watch in hand, a company by the name of Reserve Strap was able to verify that it could also be used for charging. This seems pretty huge and strange at the same time: why would Apple keep such a thing quiet, when the Apple Watch's battery-life isn't what most people would consider impressive? Even more interesting is the fact that Apple didn't make use of this port to release its own charging straps — watch straps that carry a charge themselves. Apple's lack of transparency here doesn't much matter, though, as the aforementioned Reserve Strap is planning to get such a product to market as soon as possible. The company says about its first offering: "The Reserve Strap will come in White, Gray and Black and will fit both the 38mm and 42mm case sizes. The first batch of straps will be shipped in the Fall.
And there hasn't been a day where I thought I'd run out of battery power. I've been wearing it at night, and most mornings I wake up with it still about 30% full. This is the 42mm model.
...until Apple breaks it for unlicensed third party hardware, that is.
well, its apple. so, not a JTAG port but a PRICETAG port, perhaps?
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
"Apple Watch's battery-life isn't what most people would consider impressive"
This is yet another bullshit clickbait statement. Never gotten below 30% on mine, even when my phone has run dry.
The diagnostic port is hidden by a cover. I'd be interested to see if removing the cover adversely affect's the watch's water resistance. Also, having those electrical connections directly exposed to water, sweat, etc. cannot be good.
Wait for Apple to sue them like they sued these guys.
Right now the watch can survive in relatively shallow depths for short amounts of time, but I wonder if it'll even survive getting dripped on with the diagnostic port exposed.
You are aware that sealed connectors are a thing, yes? I run a company that makes wire harnesses and it is a pretty straight forward exercise to make a water tight sealed connector good to reasonable depths. (It's very easy if you don't care about bulk) I don't know if this is the case here but I suspect it wouldn't be terribly hard for Apple to make a port water tight when open or connected. You could have corrosion of the pins over time, particularly with salt water but it would have to be pretty bad to compromise the seal.
I remember the first model of iMac had an undocumented card slot. People speculated that Apple used the card slot for factory diagnostics on the iMacs; third-party companies took advantage of the slot to add 3D accelerators; and then Apple revised the iMac design and left that port out.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1014902/imacboards.html
If Apple hasn't announced the port, the port may be gone from the next iWatch release.
Likely the problem is that there aren't enough patents on the port. Perhaps Apple will add a documented expansion port once they find some patents to encumber it.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Because it's a sealed diagnostic port for a non-end-user serviceable product, not a feature. They aren't wishing anything up, it's just not something they have a reason to publicise.
Actually, people's opinions on this are very mixed. Some people are reporting great battery life and improved battery life on their iPhone as well as they switch the screen on less. Some people report the opposite. Chances are, people who have just got a new gadget are playing with it all day, which obviously isn't representative of normal usage patterns or battery life.
Why are you describing lack of publicity about a sealed diagnostic port for non-end-user serviceable goods as a "lack of transparency"? That is bizarre. You wouldn't expect that for any other company, let alone Apple.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
So you have innovative straps and also adds ons. We'll call it the iStrapOn
One of the things I was thinking the port was there for, was probably when developers could build native apps for the phone - since it would be a little pokey to ship debug builds and running debug info over wireless to the watch, a development cable would be a great idea.
It's probably also for Apple Store employees to run diagnostics (not sure if they have equipment for that yet).
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