B. Introduction to Apple Watch
In This Appendix
Overview of the new Apple Watch
Discover some of the ways Apple Watch can integrate with your iPhone
Learn about Apple Watch’s core features and functions
As this all-new fourth edition of iPad and iPhone Tips and Tricks was being written, Apple announced the Apple Watch (also referred to as 
Watch). Available starting in early 2015 at a starting price of $349, Apple Watch will revolutionize how technology can be worn and utilized in our daily lives. While Apple Watch will be a wearable device that offers a wide range of features and functions, beyond just telling time, it is designed to seamlessly integrate and communicate wirelessly with your iPhone to exchange information and access the Internet. In fact, being an iPhone 5 (or higher) owner is a prerequisite for using Apple Watch.
This appendix discusses some of the ways you’ll be able to use the Apple Watch as a standalone device, as well as with your iPhone. In early 2015, when the Apple Watch is actually released and readily available to the public, this appendix will be updated with tips and tricks on how to use the Apple Watch. This updated content will be made available as a free download online from Que Publishing’s website. To access this content after it’s published, please visit www.informit.com/title/9780789753557.
Apple Watch Utilizes Apps, Just Like Your iPhone
Just like the iPhone and iPad, Apple Watch will come with a handful of preinstalled apps. However, additional apps from Apple and third parties can be installed onto the wearable device to greatly expand its capabilities. Ultimately, how you utilize the Apple Watch in your daily life depends on what apps you ultimately install, how you personalize the device, and what other equipment you use the watch to exchange data with.
Tip
Starting in early 2015, with the launch of Apple Watch, the author of this book will expand his blog, called “Jason Rich’s Featured App of the Week” (www.FeaturedAppOfTheWeek.com) to include in-depth Apple Watch app reviews. To access “Jason Rich’s Featured Watch App of the Week,” visit www.WatchAppReview.com.
Apple Watch Offers Multiple Models, with Dozens of Style Configurations
Apple Watch comes in three models: Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition. All three models offer exactly the same functionality. The differences are the outside watch casing, casing size, and the watchband options that are offered with each model.
Apple Watch is the basic watch model. The casing for this watch is constructed from cold-forged stainless steel or space black stainless steel, and it has a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal covering over the Retina Multi-Touch display. This watch model is durable, but it’s designed to coordinate perfectly with everyday casual wear or more formal business attire. For the band, you can choose from 18 fashionable unisex options, including three different leather bands, a link bracelet, a Milanese loop, or one made from what Apple refers to as “high-performance fluoroelastomer” (which is a rubber-like material that’s soft, durable, and comfortable to wear).
Apple Watch Sport is designed for people who are athletic and need a more durable watch design that matches their active lifestyle. These watch casings are constructed from lightweight and extra strong anodized aluminum and are available in a silver or space gray finish.
The displays on this watch are protected using a strong and scratch-resistant Ion-X glass, and the fluoroelastomer bands come in five colors: white, blue, green, pink, and black. Thus, between the color and the two case size options, 10 different styles of the Apple Watch Sport are initially being offered.
For those who are more style-conscious than action-oriented, Apple Watch Edition is designed to resemble a stylized luxury designer timepiece that’s made from 18-karat yellow and rose gold that Apple’s metallurgists developed to be twice as hard as traditional gold. Six versions of this higher-end version of the watch are available, with several different color accent options that are built in to the casing and that compliment the available band options.
Each of these unisex Apple Watch models is available in two case sizes (38mm and 42mm). While the outer construction materials of each watch model differs, it’s important to understand that the technology built in to all the Apple Watch models, including the actual Retina Multi-Touch display and the proprietary Apple S1 processor chip, along with the multifunction digital crown and the Taptic Engine, are identical. Thus, the functionality of the Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition is the same, and the watches all utilize apps in the same way.
Beyond just choosing the design of your Apple Watch, however, the watch face can be fully customized to display your personality, as well as the time and date, plus additional information you want at your fingertips.
Note
The Taptic Engine that’s built in to the Apple Watch enables the watch to provide the wearer with physical feedback that feels like a light tap on the wrist. This is in addition to a wide range of visual and audio feedback that’s possible. This Taptic Engine will be utilized by app developers in a variety of different ways, as will the watch’s built-in heart rate monitor and accelerometer. The watch can also utilize your iPhone’s GPS and Location Services functionality to keep tabs on your exact location, and utilize that information as it’s needed.
Prior to the release of Apple Watch, Apple indicated that the watch could be used in and around water but did not make any announcements about whether the watch is water resistant or fully waterproof.
Discover Apple Watch’s Features and Functions
Like the iPhones and iPad, the Apple Watch has the equivalent of a Home button that takes you to the Home screen, which is displayed on the watch’s full-color multitouch screen. From the Home screen, you can launch apps by tapping on the screen. By default, your watch displays the time, date, and other information you select. The Home screen, which displays your installed app options as well as access to other watch functionality, is only one touch away.
Note
One really nice feature of the Apple Watch is that you never need to manually set the time and date. The watch automatically adjusts to the time zone you’re in and, when necessary, takes daylight saving time into account.
What’s interesting about the Apple Watch is that it has a handful of sensors built in. It can monitor your activity and heart rate, for example. Thus, the watch can collect this data, figure out things such as calories burned, and then wirelessly transfer this data to the new Health app that comes preinstalled with iOS 8 on the iPhone. However, the watch itself is designed to be a full-featured exercise and workout tool unto itself, thanks to the Workout app and other built-in apps.
Plus, in addition to collecting and sharing information, Apple Watch is designed to receive all sorts of information from the iPhone. As a result, the watch notifies you of incoming calls to your iPhone and enables you to answer those calls or send them to voicemail without touching the iPhone.
The watch can also display incoming emails and text messages and utilize your iPhone’s Internet connection in order for you to respond to these incoming communications directly from your watch, or even initiate a call, email, or text message from the watch. Apple Watch has Siri and Dictation functionality, so you don’t need access to a virtual keyboard to compose messages.
The watch can be set up to offer stopwatch and timer functionality, display stock quotes, keep you up to date with sports scores, show the weather forecast, or update you about breaking news headlines, based on how you set up the main customizable watch face.
It’s possible to control a wide range of other iPhone functions directly from the watch, such as the Music, Maps, and Camera apps. Plus, Apple Watch can be used to wirelessly control or exchange information with a wide range of Bluetooth devices, ranging from external speakers and wireless headphones to fitness equipment. It can also be used as a remote control for Apple TV and the iTunes software that’s running on your Mac or PC.
The built-in Photos app is fully compatible with the Photos app that comes preinstalled on the iPhone, iPad, and that will be replacing iPhoto on Macs in early 2015. Thus, you can use the watch to view your favorite digital photos.
Yet another cutting-edge function of the Apple Watch involves its compatibility with Apple Pay, which by the time you read this chapter will already be supported by hundreds of thousands of retail stores and dining establishments throughout the United States. Instead of using your traditional debit or credit card to make purchases, you’ll be able to pay for purchases at participating retailers and restaurants (including popular fast food establishments) by tapping your watch while using the Apple Pay app when you approach the cash resister. Your purchases will be charged to your existing debit or credit card; however, each secure transaction will be handled wirelessly by your Apple Watch.
Apple Watch’s Evolution Has Already Begun
When Apple Watch is officially made available to consumers in early 2015, it will be capable of handling a wide range of functions right out of the box. However, just as the iPhone and iPad have evolved over time, so will Apple Watch, from hardware, operating system, and app standpoints.