7 Things you probably didn’t know about the Apple Watch

BY Gautam Prabhu

Published 10 Sep 2014

Apple Watch Edition

Apple unveiled its hotly anticipated wearable, the Apple Watch at the special event earlier today as its trademark “one more thing”.

A significant portion of today’s event was dedicated to the watch, where Apple explained in great detail about the revolutionary Digital Crown and its health and fitness capabilities.

However, as Tim Cook admitted, there were lots of things that couldn’t be covered at the event. We are slowly finding out those details. Here are some top things Apple didn’t tell us about the watch at today’s special event:

Screen Sizes

Apple told us at the event that the watch will be available in two sizes, but it didn’t tell us what sizes they would be. David Pogue of Yahoo Tech reports that the iWatch will be available in two screen sizes: 1.5-inch and 1.7-inch. This is slightly bigger than what the rumors had indicated.

Water Resistant

One of the most frequently asked question while I was liveblogging the iPhone 6 and Watch event was whether Apple Watch was water resistant. Pogue has got us an answer to that one as well. Apple Watch is water resistant. So you can wear it in the rain, wash your hands with it, and it is resistant to sweating, but you will have to take it off before going for a swim or while getting into a shower. That’s disappointing as I had hoped that it we won’t have to take it off while taking a shower, and it could be able to track activity like swimming.

Left-handed use

SlashGear reports that users will be able to chose which way the watch face should orient itself during the initial setup process when you start it for the first time. You will also be able to swap the bands to ensure the device is not facing in the opposite direction. But the Digital Crown will be on the bottom left side of the face for left hand users, which may not be the ideal position. For right hand users, it sits on the top right side of its face.

Installing and rearranging apps

You will be able to installs on the watch from your iPhone, though the workflow is not yet clear. Rearranging apps is also quite similar to the iPhone. You need to tap and hold on the screen for the apps to go in the wiggle mode, and then drag them around.

Jewelry box

The gold plated “Edition” version of the watch comes with a jewelry box that also doubles up as a charger. Pogue writes:

The fanciest model, the gold Apple Watch Edition, comes in a gorgeous jewelry box — which doubles as a charger. The back of the box has a Lightning connector, and the inside of the box has the watch’s magnetic round charger pad, standing vertically. So as you retire each night, you can just lay your gold watch into its case and let it charge.

Ping my Phone

Apple Watch comes with a “Ping my Phone” feature, which allows you to make your iPhone beep, just like the Find my iPhone feature, and can come in handy when you’ve lost or misplaced your iPhone.

Speaker and Microphone

This was kind of expected since the Apple Watch features Siri, but Pogue has confirmed that it does come with a speaker and microphone, and you can in fact make and receive calls from your wrist (which Apple did mention at the event). We’re assuming that it would be using iOS 8’s Continuity feature.

Things we still don’t know

There are still some questions unanswered such as Apple Watch’s tech specs (screen resolution, storage, chip and lots more), its battery life (though it looks like it will last for a day), any additional functionality of the big  pill-shaped button below the Digital crown (Apple has told us that it can be used to quickly access your friends icons or to pay for things).  It is also not clear if the iPhone will come with a new app to manage the watch, as it is not clear how you will be able to delete apps, how to change the settings, how to enable or disable Glance screens for apps.

We know the Apple Watch, which comes in three models with six different band styles in various materials starts at $350, but we don’t know how much each model will cost. We also don’t know what’s the storage capacity of the watch. I’m sure we will get answers to these questions as we get closer to the launch in early 2015.

As always, we’ll let you know as soon as we get any more details about Apple’s wearable, so don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or subscribe to our RSS or our Daily Newsletter.

[via Yahoo Tech, SlashGear]