Apple, on Tuesday, unveiled its long awaited wearable, the Apple Watch at a packed event in San Francisco. This is the first new product line that Apple has outed since the death of its founder Steve Jobs. The Apple Watch will be available in three models and cost between $349 to a whopping $17,000 and will go on sale in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US on April 24th. In this post we take a look at the features of Apple Watch and how it takes on its competitors the Moto 360, Samsung Gear S and LG G Watch R. First off here’s what we know about the Apple Watch.
Apple Watch Features and Tech Specs
Apple sure took its time to come up with “something special” in its wearable segment and we finally get to see what it has been working on all along. The Apple Watch comes with a pack of awesome features and options that should appeal to one and all.
The Apple Watch is designed to to keep accurate time (to within 50 milliseconds of the global standard) with options to customize the watch face to your convenience. It is designed to give you a light tap on the wrist (at least that’s how you’ll feel) when you receive incoming messages and alerts and lets you reply to people using taps, sketches, and even your heartbeat.
It also plays nice as a fitness tracker, showing you the daily progress of your exercise tasks and real time stats on your workouts. After monitoring your activities over a period of time, it suggests activity goals tailored to your needs. It will also provide timely alerts to encourage you to work on your goals.
The Apple Watch isn’t just a doer, it’s a looker as well. It comes in 3 models the Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition and all three of them can be bought as the 1.4-inch or 1.7-inch variant. The former is made of stainless steel, Sport comes with an aluminum body and the Edition is all 18-Karat Rose Gold and Yellow Gold.
Now lets take a look at the competition.
Apple Watch vs Moto 360
The Moto 360 is the more stylish of the smartwatches currently available in the market.
- It is cheaper than the Apple Watch at $250.
- It has just 12 hours of battery life, while the Apple Watch claims to hold up to 18 hours.
- Adapted to Android Wear in its early stages and still feels awkward to use.
- Has a circular 1.56 inch touchscreen unlike the rectangular 1.4-inch and 1.7-inch touchscreen on the Apple Watch.
- No details on storage of the Apple Watch while the Moto 360 comes with 4GB.
- Not the best display resolution at 320x290 pixels. Apple Watch wins this round with its Retina display.
- Dimensions: 46mm by 11.5mm. Apple Watch is available at 38x33.3x10.5mm and 42x35.9x10.5mm
- Weight: 48 g as against the Apple Watch’s 40g/48g/53g
Apple Watch vs Samsung Gear S
Samsung launched its first smartwatch way back in 2013, but despite the early lead failed to impress the market. In 2014 however, we saw the rather better looking Samsung Gear S. Here’s how it stacks up against the Apple Watch.
- It is the cheapest smartwatch in the market at $199.
- Its battery can last 2-3 days on a single charge, which is plenty more than what is Apple is offering.
- The smartwatch is running on the Tizen OS.
- Has a rectangular 2 inch touchscreen.
- Just like the Moto 360, the Samsung Gear S comes with 4 GB storage.
- Has a better resolution that the Moto 360 at 360x480 pixels.
- Dimensions: 39.8x58.3x12.5mm
- Weight: Bulky at 67g
Apple Watch vs LG G Watch R
This waterproof watch with a heart rate sensor was launched in September of 2014.
- It is costlier than the Moto 360 and the Samsung Gear S at $332, but cheaper than the Apple Watch.
- Its battery can last 36 hours but its always on LCD display means it may not make it through to the day.
- The smartwatch runs Android Wear, which critics have claimed to be awkward to use.
- Has a circular 1.3 inch touchscreen.
- Just like the Moto 360 and Samsung Gear S, this one comes with 4 GB storage.
- Has an unimpressive 320x320 pixel res.
- Dimensions: 46.4x53.6x9.7mm
- Weight: 62g
Apple Watch Reactions
The reactions to the announcement of the Apple Watch have ranged from being skeptical to one of amusement.
One twitter user had this to say:
Reviewing the new #AppleWatch today.... Can't say I'm impressed with it so far. pic.twitter.com/wQfLIR8pFw
— Karl Pilkington (@Ashleyybrewer) March 10, 2015
while CNN International had this to say:
The Apple watch is cool, but nothing could make these people trade in their timepieces: http://t.co/YYOeGhDedo pic.twitter.com/lnMUSHNHcu
— CNN International (@cnni) March 10, 2015
However most critics are of the opinion that the Apple Watch doesn’t have a killer app that could sway people to add it as their must have gadget accessory, but it will sell thousands if not more simply because its Apple.
Leave a Reply