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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.
"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.
Almost all of those sensors are useless.
Temperature, sure. But is that going to change between the watch and the phone it's tethered to significantly enough for you to care? Likely not. Unless you want to measure something specifically and then you'll need a probe anyway.
3D scanner? You're going to run your wrist around a 3D object? Then what are you going to do with that data? Oh, yeah, ask the phone to do something with it.
Geiger counter? Come on. Cheap $20 sensors in every electronics store. Pointless even 20 years ago except in a "Cor, this is above average" kind of way.
Gas sensors? Much better suited to life-saving equipment designed to life-saving standards... or not at all.
Facetime camera has exactly the problem you suggest, and was my immediate first "Really?!" thought.
I struggle to think of anything vaguely useful for a smartwatch while it's still tethered to the phone that's doing all the work anyway, and if you could miniaturise the phone down to the smartwatch size reliably enough, that's a product in itself and has nothing to do with the applications of watches.
That said, I think I'd still find a watch more inconvenient than a phone. Sure, it's "on you", but it's difficult to have a private conversation without straining your arm, it has to be pulled back from under clothing to look at it for six months a year (my bugbear with watches entirely), and they are in the most inconvenient place to use for any length of time (the reason we put watches in breast-pockets for many years before wrist watches, and wrist watches are - as I've contended for several years - impractical as they are!).
Sod all the fancy stuff.
Shrink the phone down to your wrist first so that it's entirely self-contained and yet competitive with the most basic of smartphones.
Then you'll find how practical the rest is.
Hell, the BATTERY in my smartphone is larger than any watch I'd be comfortable wearing. We have a long way to go before smartwatches get anywhere close.
What we have is not a smartwatch. It's a bluetooth dongle on your wrist. An incredibly expensive, and impractical, one.
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?
For watches that don't change very much, I've noticed they have changed without a ton of observation.
My wife gave me a Tag Heuer chronograph for my birthday. Now this is the fast food level of nice watches, but it was $2500 new in 2007. I'd like to tell you what it is new now, but they don't make a Tag with the same movement or features anymore. The most comparable chronograph (but without day) was close to $4000.
And when I was in the jewelry store to pick up my serviced Tag, I heard the jeweler telling a customer that her high-end Swiss watch no longer had a bracelet available for it from the manufacturer, if she wanted one they would have to try to find a third party bracelet and modify it to fit her watch.
IMHO, there may a couple of signature models (like the Submariner or the Omega Speedmaster) that are kept the same for brand identity purposes, but my take is that these brands are constantly revising their product line for fashion purposes and to align with whatever the Swiss movement consortium is putting out these days.
Maybe a handful of ultra-expensive watch brands are still the same as they ever were, probably those that make their own movements, hand assemble them and use a lot of precious metals, but overall the "nice watch" thing seems to be just another consumer product that changes with the whims of fashion.
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.
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.