There’s a big Apple announcement coming Monday, apparently about the Apple Watch, and the rumor/leak mill is in full flower. Here’s what we people claim to know:
TechCrunch says the Watch will automatically check your heart rate periodically. You will get notifications on your Watch only when you’re wearing it and the strap is locked. If it’s lying on your desk, the watch won’t get pinged. In fact, TechCrunch has lots of interesting reading about the how the Watch’s UI will function.
9to5Mac says battery life under heavy use is 5 hours, which should get a normal user through the day. Both it and the New York Times say there’s a low-power mode, which give priority to basic features (like displaying the time) at the expense of things like notifications. Think of it as an electric car’s limp-home mode. A full charge will take 4 to 5 hours.
All reports say that the screen is highly detailed, that the watch faces are beautiful, and that the available level of customizations of the watch faces is remarkable.
What no one seems to know are the prices, which bands will be available at launch (and what they’ll cost), who the launch app developers will be, how the inevitable App Store will run on a watch (if at all), and when ordering and delivery will start. We’re also wondering which games will be available on the Watch — because you just know there’ll be games, whether or not that’s in Apple’s plans — and how badly they’ll hammer battery life. We also want to know if any of the batteries or electronics will be replaceable, or if purchasers of the top-shelf gold edition will be left with a pricey brick after five years or so.
The news conference starts at 1PM Eastern Time, and it will be streamed. (If the company holds to past practice, you’ll have to use Safari to see it.) We’ll let you know what they say — and what it means.