The Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE support is expected to launch at the Apple event tomorrow. Will we finally get a standalone, iPhone-free device in the form of the new Apple Watch? More importantly will you buy it? Here’ what we expect
Let’s face it. Smartwatches never really made it to the tech hall of fame. The devices have been losing steam to cheaper fitness bands that offer free health advice. Why? Because there truly is no concrete reason to own a smartwatch. Period.
Manufacturers are not giving up just yet though. At IFA 2017, we saw the Garmin Vivoactive 3 with Garmin Pay make its debut. Just a few days back, Fitbit also launched the Ionic smartwatch running on the Fitbit OS and incorporating fitness features like heart-rate monitoring and built-in GPS. Samsung is still standing by its smartwatch category and unveiled the NFC and GPS enabled Gear Sport at IFA Berlin. So clearly, the category is still not dead, although, touch-based digital payments seems like the only useful feature these gadgets bring to the table as of now.
Nevertheless, Apple is expected to upgrade the Apple Watch this year and we hope it can give us a reason to desire it. Besides the three iPhones, here are three things we expect from Apple’s smartwatch department at the September 12 launch event.
LTE
The Apple Watch Series 3, if that is what Apple is calling it, will add LTE capabilities this year. Yes, it is expected that the Apple Watch will finally become a standalone, iPhone-free device. Apple might make this a runner-focussed watch and improve music storage on the device. The addition of cellular connectivity may also improve the watch’s efficiency and it may pave the way for features such as messaging, music streaming, and more.
WatchOS 4
Apple announced WatchOS 4 back in June and the same is expected to arrive later this year. With WatchOS, Apple added GymKit, an NFC-enabled way to sync the Apple Watch with Gym equipment. Apple may introduce a new tap-to-connect feature with Watch Series 3, and may extend support for connectivity with IoT devices. Other features of WatchOS 4 are also expected to be detailed at the event.
New Watch Faces
The Apple Watch Series 3 may include a Siri Watch face, another feature that was announced with WatchOS 4. The Siri watch face offers personalised cards that change with the time of the day. There is another cool watch face, called the Kaleidoscope watch face, which turns photos into animations.
Apart from all this, not much has been outed about the Apple Watch Series 3. We don’t expect the sky from Apple when it comes to Watch Series 3 and it might just be an iterative update instead of a major overhaul.
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