Best Apple Watch features and everything expected from the device

We are just hours away from the official release of the Apple Watch, something that has been awaited for years, since first discussions around an iWatch were first started. Today, the Spring Forward Event will tell us everything we need to know. At the Yerba Buena Center for Arts, we will finally find out what it will look like, what it will do and how much it will cost.

So what do we know so far?

• Three versions will be available, being a stainless steel, an aluminum Sport and an 18K rose or yellow gold Edition models.
• They will come in two sizes: 42mm and 38mm. We don’t know whether this will influence price.
• You will be able to interchange some of the bands, and you can choose from different materials and closures.
• It comes with a Digital Crown that allows to scroll, access Home and launch Siri. It will not have pinch-to-zoom.
• A new technology, Force Touch, will measure how hard someone taps, bringing up different elements in the device.
• It will be fitted with the S1 chip, which holds all the information.
• It comes with a heart rate sensor and an accelerometer to track how physically active the wearer is.
• It comes with Bluetooth connectivity and can stream to the iPhone and wireless headphones.
• It has a built-in NFC to access Apple Pay when paired with an iPhone 5 or above.
• It has a Taptic Engine, which means the wearer will receive a tap-like sensation when they have a notification.
• The battery should last for a full day under normal use. It uses a wireless charger like MagSafe.
• Ion-X-glass covers the Retina display on the Sport model. The regular Watch and the Edition use a sapphire crystal.
• We believe it will be waterproof, or at least splash proof.
• There will be a choice on nine customizable watch faces.
• The operating system includes various new types of communication.
• It can link to your iPhone to complete a number of different tasks.
• There is no keyboard, but it does have intelligent replies.
• You can receive and make phone calls by streaming the watch to your iPhone.
• You can receive emails, but you must use Mail for iOS to send or reply to mail.
• The goal is to track health and fitness, and the watch will remind you to exercise frequently.
• Various apps will be made available, including WatchKit and other third-party apps. However, you must have an iPhone in order to run this, although this is likely to change.
• It is believed that there will be 8HB of storage on the watch for media, including music.
• Much of the functionality of the device will go in sleep mode, showing just the time, when not in use. This conserves battery as well.
• We believe it will be a costly device, competing more closely with the likes of Rolex than with the Android watch.
• Shipping should start in April, but pre-orders may be accepted sooner.

If our predictions are right, and we believe they will be, then this proves that this device has been a long time coming. It would also explain developments such as Handoff and Continuity, which are available on iOS devices and that will allow an iPhone to communicate with the Apple Watch. Even predictive text may have been developed with the watch in mind. Apple has slowly been releasing a trickle of interesting apps that will allow the Watch to integrate directly with iOS 8. Clever thinking Apple!

Clearly, Apple has really been thinking about this device. They have a lot riding on today’s event, as it is the first time the company will release a wearable. It is likely that some real bombshells will be dropped today as well, to really tantalize the audience. The event today is going to be bigger and better than ever. We will get a fantastic keynote from Apple and we will probably seem some great refreshers on existing products. Most importantly, however, we will see Apple enter a brand new market. Experts predict that they will be hugely successful with this, but whether or not they will remains to be seen. Watch this space!