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Report: Apple Watch 2 Coming Late 2016 With GPS, Faster Processor and Better Waterproofing (9to5mac.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apple analyst KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo says the Apple Watch 2 is right around the corner. The analyst says the Watch will arrive in late 2016 and will likely be announced alongside the iPhone 7 in September. It will reportedly feature a GPS, barometer, better waterproofing, as well as a new internal SoC for faster performance. Those looking for a fresh new design may be disappointed as KGI does not expect the physical design of the watch to change at all. The Apple Watch 2 will essentially be an 'iPhone S' update, where it keeps the same physical design with improved internal specifications. In addition to the updated Apple Watch 2, Apple is expected to update the original Apple Watch with a new SoC to improve CPU and GPU performance. The price of the Apple Watch in general should be cut even further than it already has. The original Apple Watch could receive more than a $50 reduction in its pricing, possibly pushing it below the $200 mark. We should know more in early September when Apple unveils the iPhone 7.
It would be interesting if they could add a camera for a facetime on the wrist experience, something that seemed utterly SF not that long ago.
But the true killer app for this kind of device will be the eventual addition of more health related sensors. Probably not in this release though.
Unreliable heart rate detection, GPS and fitness tracking, voice recording on command, what else? In the future a smart watch will be able to project directions on the ground to somewhere or someone you're trying to find; to remind you in the grocery store that you wanted to pick up some milk; to answer arbitrary questions from the internet; to alert emergency services when you've suffered a stroke or car collision; an many other things.
But for now the functionality is so low as to put them in the category of "ornament".
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
GPS, great way to halve the battery life.
"Proof" is an absolute. It's either waterproof or its not.
Otherwise it's water-resistant.
It might be water-resistant at a greater depth, but if you're claiming water-resistance, it should at least be resistant to any reasonable depth the average (non-diver) might use to in anyway.
"Better waterproofing" just means it wasn't waterproof before.
When I use the GPS on my iPhone5 it gets hot. (And it eats the battery.)
The last thing I want is something hot on my wrist unless it's 0C. (Which is hardly ever.)
And will /. ever enter the 21st Century and let me enter a fricken degree sign?
Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
We all know the iPod had zero affect on anything.
How does a Apple fanboy know when it's 12 o clock? He looks at his wrist and sees his Apple watch has run out of battery.
maybe the killer applications will also be external sensors
A wrist watch really only has two things that it is valuable for. 1) portable notification of concise pieces of information (time, short messages, notifications, appointments, temperature readings, etc) and 2) a portable sensor suite and data logger (thermometer, barometer, altimeter, gps, accelerometer, compass, etc) . And these things are really only useful if they come in a package with substantial battery life (1 week minimum) and an interface that isn't absurd. The key word in all that is portable. It's only for applications where carrying something bigger like a cell phone makes no sense. Workouts, sloppy conditions, swimming, certain social situations, and the like. Any situation where carrying a smartphone makes sense the watch becomes redundant. So any watch that isn't useful without a cell phone is de-facto pointless.
My concern with the Apple watch is that they are trying to turn it into another smartphone rather than a device that makes sense by itself within its own design constraints. It's like they are trying to stuff 10 pounds of crap into a 5 pound bag. I own a smartphone because it doesn't tether me to a PC and it provides a ton of value by itself. In fact it made it so that I can carry fewer devices since it consolidated my MP3 player, PDA, point and shoot camera and cell phone into one device. I don't own a smartwatch because A) I don't like wearing a wrist watch and B) it isn't useful as a standalone product for anything I need and C) it doesn't replace or consolidate anything for me. I already have an old school wrist mounted chronometer (which I rarely use) and also a fitbit for the rare occasions when I need that sort of data logging. The smartphone I carry does almost everything an Apple watch does and does most of it better except in the rare cases where I need extreme portability. If I have to carry both anyway what is the point of the watch?
I'm not opposed to the idea of a smartwatch but nobody has hit the magic formula yet I think.
How is this news related to Windows 10?
Be or ben't
Nobody? There are more than 1 person who has an Apple watch and cares about it.
Sometimes we put Apple on a different set of standard for success.
the iPod, and iPhone were huge and changed how we dealt with mobile hardware.
the iPad and iWatch are mostly toys based off of the success of the iPod and iPhone. Being that they didn't completely change the industry doesn't mean it is a failure. I personally don't see the iWatch worth the money. However some do. And I am not going judge them on that. Because there are things I get for myself that are just as silly but makes me feel good. Like my mechanical keyboard.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
As you can see, a T model is a very advanced iteration of a car, no wonder it looks quite similar to a modern car conceptually.
It's IPX7 under IEC standard 60529.