The latest rumors surrounding Apple’s yet to be officially announced iWatch refer to the charging options this smartwatch could come with.
Not long ago, it was rumored that Apple hired a team of medical tech experts to work on a health-focusing Fuelband-inspired iWatch. Now, the company is reportedly analyzing the ways their smartwatch could charge, and the options include induction, motion and solar charging. If these rumors were true, it would mean that Apple is finally bringing something revolutionary to the table. All of these charging methods take a turn from the traditional ways that typically involve cables and power sockets, and suggest that Apple could be thinking of a waterproof design.
Battery life is indeed one of the greatest concerns of anyone buying a mobile product, be it a smartwatch or a tablet. From this point of view, Samsung Galaxy Gear turned out to be a disappointment, and maybe this is exactly what Apple stakes on. Pebble’s e-Ink display is at the other end of the specter, but I doubt that such a fancy company as Apple would ever make a smartwatch with an e-Ink display. Still, considering last year’s patent application, it’s pretty certain that the iWatch will have a curved screen. Knowing how power hungry todays gadgets are, minimizing the power consumption of the display would be a great deal that could help Apple differentiate itself from the competition.
Inductive, motion and solar charging would mean that people could actually forget about charging their iWatch. On top of that, data collected by the motion sensors would be entered in Healthbook, an app that Apple is reportedly working on. This means that the iWatch could determine our fitness levels by the way we move our hands. Rumor has it that this app will be integrated in the next mobile operating system made by Apple, iOS 8.
Considering that back in 2008, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told The Telegraph that “Apple’s future could lie in an ‘iWatch’,” and six years later that product has yet to materialize, I’d say that this company is moving at a snail’s pace. In April 2013, a board member brought up the word “watch”, but I’m pretty certain that the context was something among the lines: “Man, look at that [insert name of tech company that launched a smartwatch here] watch!”
If you liked this post, please check the initial rumors about the iWatch and the VACHEN app powered Android smartwatch.
