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Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

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Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#101

Post by fredley »

newscracker wrote: post #92

I'm hoping that in 10-15 years, existing smartphones with giant screens will seem like a thing of the past, and that we'd have tiny devices that look "dumb" for a third person from 2017, but are much smarter and have AR capabilities just like we've seen in Sci-Fi movies and video games for a long time. We don't need large screens to consume more content - we need content to look larger and more content to be seen in…

All this is possible now, the big thing holding back this sort of approach, and many other tech advances is batteries. Once we can get batteries with 10x current energy density, the game really will change. Smart Eyewear becomes actually feasible, as do many other form factors. I'm interested in this potential Apple device, but given the current model only really lasts a day, I'm not not sure how they plan to integrate radios and maintain that, and the form factor.

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#102

Post by yladiz »

fredley wrote: post #101
newscracker wrote: post #92

I'm hoping that in 10-15 years, existing smartphones with giant screens will seem like a thing of the past, and that we'd have tiny devices that look "dumb" for a third person from 2017, but are much smarter and have AR capabilities just like we've seen in Sci-Fi movies and video games for a long time. We don't need large screens to consume more content - we need content to look larger and more content to be seen in…

All this is possible now, the big thing holding back this sort of approach, and many other tech advances is batteries. Once we can get batteries with 10x current energy density, the game really will change. Smart Eyewear becomes actually feasible, as do many other form factors. I'm interested in this potential Apple device, but given the current model only really lasts a day, I'm not not sure how they plan to integra…

How long does a charge for a Google Glass last? I think energy density is a factor but I think getting it to fit into the shape of a normal-ish glasses frame is the bigger challenge, along with the camera tech and the tech to project onto a lens in a discrete manner.

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#104

Post by keymone »

owenwil wrote: post #93
keymone wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if it could pair with air pods and function as a proper phone?

What do you mean what if? This is something you can already do for calling + streaming music direct from the watch.

you can't call without carrying iphone with you

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#105

Post by amiga-workbench »

2_listerine_pls wrote: post #90
MBCook wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the all metal cases make it quite difficult (ignoring all other factors).

A black shinny ceramic casing would solve it.

And would make me more likely to buy one.

The silver is too sterile.

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#106

Post by amiga-workbench »

MBCook wrote: post #65
amiga-workbench wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had a 3G macbook prototype years ago, never went with it. The integrated 3G & GPS in my ThinkPad is very convenient.

I imagine the all metal cases make it quite difficult (ignoring all other factors).

If you take a look at the prototype, it had a slide-out antenna on the side of the lid.

They could have done what they did with the iPhone (And what HTC did first on the M7), injected plastic isolating part of the casing as an antenna but that would have been aesthetically odd.

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#107

Post by jrs95 »

fredley wrote: post #101
newscracker wrote: post #92

I'm hoping that in 10-15 years, existing smartphones with giant screens will seem like a thing of the past, and that we'd have tiny devices that look "dumb" for a third person from 2017, but are much smarter and have AR capabilities just like we've seen in Sci-Fi movies and video games for a long time. We don't need large screens to consume more content - we need content to look larger and more content to be seen in…

All this is possible now, the big thing holding back this sort of approach, and many other tech advances is batteries. Once we can get batteries with 10x current energy density, the game really will change. Smart Eyewear becomes actually feasible, as do many other form factors. I'm interested in this potential Apple device, but given the current model only really lasts a day, I'm not not sure how they plan to integra…

And batteries are definitely one of Apple's strengths. I always thought that may have been what was drawing them to a potential electric car project.

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#108

Post by 4ad »

jwilliams wrote: post #23
apocalyptic0n3 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is that it would have to be completely decoupled from your phone since Project Fi only supports the Pixel and Apple Watch only supports iOS. If you don't want the watch to interact with your phone at all, then you would be fine. But you'd presumably be losing quite a bit of functionality by doing so.

Project Fi works fine with Apple iOS Devices. You need a Pixel/Nexus device to activate. I've got several Apple devices on extra Project Fi SIM cards (including an iPhone). All work fine. I've also tested on the primary SIM succesfully.

Works fine is a bit of a stretch: https://medium.com/aaronn/project-fi-on-iphone-7-2564acd9604...

Re: Apple Plans to Release a Cellular-Capable Watch to Break iPhone Ties

#109

Post by newscracker »

fredley wrote: post #101
newscracker wrote: post #92

I'm hoping that in 10-15 years, existing smartphones with giant screens will seem like a thing of the past, and that we'd have tiny devices that look "dumb" for a third person from 2017, but are much smarter and have AR capabilities just like we've seen in Sci-Fi movies and video games for a long time. We don't need large screens to consume more content - we need content to look larger and more content to be seen in…

All this is possible now, the big thing holding back this sort of approach, and many other tech advances is batteries. Once we can get batteries with 10x current energy density, the game really will change. Smart Eyewear becomes actually feasible, as do many other form factors. I'm interested in this potential Apple device, but given the current model only really lasts a day, I'm not not sure how they plan to integra…

In my observation, promises of battery energy density exploding way beyond current designs still seem a long way away for mass produced gadgets. The "attack", if you will, has to be from both sides - higher energy density of batteries (allowing them to be smaller), as well as lower energy consumption by the gadgets. The latter gets easier when you don't have to power a large screen and (comparatively) large speakers. I have a stronger belief in the latter than in the former for the next two decades.

Another possibility for low energy devices is to have them use energy from outside the physical batteries in them. They could be light powered and use ambient light (for powering the gadget and recharging batteries), kind of like "solar powered" calculators that we've had for decades (that could be used for hours and still work with very less ambient light). The batteries would then act more like stand-in backups when ambient light isn't enough. This would require great gains in low energy processing (so I'm not comparing a calculator with a smartphone here). But I'm guessing this will also be an approach that'd be tried while we're on the way to getting significantly higher battery energy densities.

Whoever gets to do eyewear with AR without it looking dorky and without it being bulky will be the pioneer in making it widespread. These cannot be like how the Apple Watch is today, requiring an almost daily recharge when the device is no longer worn. The bigger challenge for Apple, as the devices become more feature rich, would be to continue keeping as much computation as possible on-device for enhancing privacy (and using differential privacy wherever apt), instead of offloading it to the cloud like its competitors look at things.

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