The newest iDevice, the Apple Watch, will be released April 24, Tech Radar reports. The new wearable offers the clock, phone and text messaging functionalities that everyone knew would be included, but it also comes with a few unexpected features. Here’s a quick rundown of the top five:
1. Ping Your iPhone
Apple’s Find My iPhone app can help you narrow down where in the world your device has wound up using its built-in GPS. Once you’re close enough, actually finding your phone becomes more a game of chance and less of an exact science. BGR reports that Apple’s new watch will incorporate a new feature to make that process easier: Ping My iPhone. Using the watch, users can make their lost phone beep, offering an auditory location clue.
2. Toss Out Your Keys
As noted by Tom’s Guide, one innovative feature of the new smartwatch is keyless access. By downloading Starwood Hotel’s Preferred Guest app, you can open your hotel room door with just a tap of the watch’s face. Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Telegraph that it may be possible for the watch to replace car keys and “the clumsy, large fobs that are now used by many vehicles.”
3. Fully Native Apps
It stands to reason that most Apple Watch apps will be extensions of native iPhone or iPad applications, but Cook announced that it will be possible for developers to create standalone apps for the watch “later in the year,” according to Tom’s Guide. These apps may allow the device to be used solo instead of only while synced with another device. This opens the opportunity for a truly “killer app” for the watch, one that sets it apart from Android devices using stripped-down versions of full apps.
4. Digital Touch
The new Apple Watch allows you to connect in a new and unique way: You can draw shapes on the watch face and send them to a friend, or use the heart rate sensor to detect your pulse and send it as a vibration pattern to a friend’s device. What’s more, you can use the Tap function to send vibrations of your choice to other watch users.
5. Deeper Customization
Apple has never been very open to customization, frowning upon jailbreaking devices and limiting the apps accepted into the App Store. But they’re taking a different direction with their new watch, offering two face sizes — 38 mm and 42 mm — along with three “styles,” each one of which falls at a different price point.
Interested in buying the Apple Watch? Gazelle will be adding it to the catalog, available for trade-in and certified pre-owned.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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