Slashdot Mirror
The New Apple Watch Series 3 Has Cellular Built-In (techcrunch.com)
The first big product unveiling at Apple's Event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California was the Apple Watch Series 3 with built-in support for cellular. TechCrunch reports: Wireless cellular LTE connectivity provided by a built-in chip means the new Apple Watch will be able to stay connected even when it's not tethered to an iPhone, which is a huge step forward in terms of making it an independent mobile device. Pricing for the Series 3 Cellular starts at $399, and a version without cellular starts at $329. Pre-orders begin on September 15, and they'll be available on September 22. The new Apple Watch is visually quite similar to the existing version, with backwards compatibility with existing straps and bands. There's a new Blush Gold color to match the new iPhone color option, and a new ceramic Dark Gray for the higher-end models that joins the existing white. Plus, the cellular version sports that red crown for an extra bit of visual flare. The non-cellular version doesn't have the new red crown.
Inside, it has a new dual-core processor with 70 percent better performance, as well as a new W2 chip that improves Bluetooth and wireless connectivity and power efficiency. The cellular antenna is actually the display itself, and there's an electronic SIM card inside for connectivity. The device is the same physical size as the Series 2, despite adding everything needed for cellular and LTE connectivity -- though the back crystal is extended 0.25 mm, which is incredibly thin. It's still got GPS like Series 2, and it's swimproof, plus it packs in all-day battery life still.
Inside, it has a new dual-core processor with 70 percent better performance, as well as a new W2 chip that improves Bluetooth and wireless connectivity and power efficiency. The cellular antenna is actually the display itself, and there's an electronic SIM card inside for connectivity. The device is the same physical size as the Series 2, despite adding everything needed for cellular and LTE connectivity -- though the back crystal is extended 0.25 mm, which is incredibly thin. It's still got GPS like Series 2, and it's swimproof, plus it packs in all-day battery life still.
It shares your iPhone's number, so there's no "second monthly cell phone bill". It's possible the carriers might add some sort of additional device fee, though.
The demo was actually effective - not so much the dude on stage, but the fact that it worked well at the other end with the woman on a paddle board in the middle of a lake.
#DeleteChrome
Until these smart watches have a few days of battery life or wireless charging from ten feet away, I'll be going without. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are more diligent about charging their devices every night without fail, but I'm not one of them.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
i got one for free with my S7 and while it was kind of cool, the battery life when in use was cut in half, and it costs an extra 5 or 10 bucks a month from verizon at least. I wonder how much battery life has come in 2 years because thats the biggest dealbreaker against LTE on the watch right now
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Kids, ask your parents who "Dick Tracy" was.
No, not the guy banging Madonna.
Er, kids, ask your grandparents who Dick Tracy was.
Also: Get the hell off my lawn!
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
I love it when clueless morons post anonymously in all caps. Everything in your moronic post was wrong. Literally everything.
Basically you will pay for the watch again every year because of the added device charge. Do not want.
Then do not get, dumbass.
Yup indeed.
The whole premise when smart watches where successfully brought back to the spotlight by Pebble, was to have electronics as power-economic as possible.
Pebble had eInk among the considered technologies to make it cheaper.
Tethering to a phone was actually a *selling point* - leave as much works as possible to the phone, and use the smartwatch only as an interface in order to make the most out of its tiny power budget.
You ended-up with watches which could go a week or more between charges. (and currently you find smart watches which try to have even lower power requirement, such small fraction of watts that thermoelectric effect from the wearer is a valid method to boost battery life).
Then the big companies noticed the popularity and the tremendous success of pebble in crowd-funding, and panicked that they might miss a slice of the pie.
So they rushed in with what they have : ultra-brilliant marketing department able to sell anything by making it seem desirable, and boring soulless engineering department trained to cram bullet points on a list.
And you end up with products which are basically not smartwatches - i.e.: extensions giving a few useful extra functionnality on an otherwise nice watch - but instead are diminutive crippled phones. Things that try to be phones but with catastrophic performance.
It's "iPhone 1" and it's horrendous battery life all over again.
Apple Watch 3 will end up being a crappy iPhone strapped to you wrist, not a brillant device revolution that Apple is desperately in need to stay relevant.
The sad part is that Pebble started an interesting trend of low-power device that can hold a week,
but the whole concept of smartwatches seem to be dying due to over flooding the market with crappy power-hungry stuff.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
You're paying $35/month on mobile phone service and you're lecturing other people about financial responsibility?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News