Apple Watch Series 3 announced at the Steve Jobs Theater

[Cal Jeffrey]

Apple held its special announcement event in its new Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park. While the big announcement was the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X, the company's COO, Jeff Williams took on the stage to announce the new Apple Watch Series 3.

The most significant change coming to the new Apple Watch is cellular capability. Now users will be able to make and take calls without tethering to their phones. The watch will have an electronic sim built in rather than a micro sim card. Williams did not mention whether carriers would charge you more for activating the watch, but he did say that it would use the same number as your current cell phone.

The Watch Series 3 has a few other improvements. A new processor is 70 percent faster, giving Siri more capabilities like the ability to talk. An upgraded wireless chip for Bluetooth and WiFi also improves power efficiency by 50 percent according to Apple. The power savings will help offset the cellular power consumption, so that the battery life will remain about the same.

Even with the addition of the additional hardware within the watch, the casing will remain the same size overall. However, the rear bezel will be slightly thicker.

The new Apple Watch will come with gold, silver, or “Space Gray” finishes. The high-priced ceramic version will also be on offer in the original white and the new ceramic gray. Apple is adding a variety of new bands to the mix as well.

To go along with the new hardware, Apple is introducing some new apps and functionality to watchOS 4. The improved operating system will have a new swimming app and will also be able to sync with compatible gym equipment to better track your workouts.

Thanks to the hardware improvements, users will also be able to stream music through the watch. Apple’s music streaming service now has over 40 million songs, which can stream directly through the watch. Music can be streamed from one's iCloud account as well.

The heart rate monitor has new functionality. The Series 3 will be able to track your heart rate throughout the day and display it on a graph to give you a better view of your workouts and overall heart health. It will also be able to alert you when your heart rate is unexpectedly high, like while you are at rest. Focusing even more on heart health, Apple has started a program to use the Series 3's heart monitor to spot signs of atrial fibrillation.

The new watchOS releases on September 19, while the Apple Watch Series 3 will be available to pre-order on September 15 and will start shipping September 22. The standard watch will sell for $329, and the cellular version will go for $399. Additionally, Apple is dropping the price of the Series 1 to $269.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70956-apple-watch-series-3-announced-steve-jobs-theater.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

So the short story is that it's only useful abilities is the ability to display the time and track activity. What's the big deal? Hundreds of other activity tracking devices do the same thing for far less. As for the Series 1 iWatch, it's still overpriced by $270.

 

[Mugsy]

The addition of "cellular" capability is a BIG deal. Being tethered to a separate iPhone was always a nasty design flaw. Kinda like not being able to buy your favorite chocolates w/o every one having a coconut center.
Two big advances are necessary before this device finally realizes the "phone on your wrist" meme:

1) Obviously, VIDEO phone support. From Day One, everyone thought of D!ck (censored? Seriously?) Tracy's video wrist phone and are still waiting for it. Someday, "FaceTIME" will be true to its name, but until that day, it's still "just another gadget".

2) Must be TOTALLY INDEPENDENT. No need to own a separate iPhone. I don't know if the new "cellular" support in the iW3 means you no longer need to own a separate full-fledged SmartPhone just for the Watch to operate. If so, great, we're half way there. But if part of the cost of owning a $1,200 watch is that you must ALSO own a $1,200 phone just to use it, you might as well just bundle them together so you don't need a watch to time your sales tanking twice as fast. :/

BTW: Regarding the built-in cellular... I hope the back of the watch is WELL shielded. Strapping an intense EMF emitter to your wrist day & night w/o proper shielding would be a SERIOUS problem.

 

[yukka]

So the short story is that it's only useful abilities is the ability to display the time and track activity. What's the big deal? Hundreds of other activity tracking devices do the same thing for far less. As for the Series 1 iWatch, it's still overpriced by $270.

That's the short story if you skip the start of the article. It works as a phone. So it's a wrist located comms device as opposed to a standard smart watch. Like star trek.

 

[hqxt1964]

So the short story is that it's only useful abilities is the ability to display the time and track activity. What's the big deal? Hundreds of other activity tracking devices do the same thing for far less. As for the Series 1 iWatch, it's still overpriced by $270.

Yes, the same function sells for $15 in China and $270 for the Apple Watch!

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Yes, the same function sells for $15 in China and $270 for the Apple Watch!

To be fair, Apple does make some nice products and the watch is a decent activity tracker. In fact I have nothing against the products themselves, it's the company and it's arrogance that I can't stand at any cost.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

That's the short story if you skip the start of the article. It works as a phone. So it's a wrist located comms device as opposed to a standard smart watch. Like star trek.

Or if you fancy yourself as the D!ck Tracy type

 

[yukka]

Or if you fancy yourself as the D!ck Tracy type

Yeah more **** Tracy than a Star Trek communicator. You can do the same thing with a standard smart watch and a concealed bluetooth earpiece if you want to pretend.


edit*** I can't believe it edited D!ck. Rubbish. It wasn't like I said C0ck. Or P3nis. T!ts. Pointless.