Rumours are an endless ouroboros of speculation. As soon as one device is announced/launched/shipped fresh gadget hearsay about The Next Generation begins. With some Apple Watch buyers still awaiting their precious wrist-strapped cargo, we’re already hearing more and more about the next one, and it sounds way better.
The famous purveyor of Apple rumours, Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, once again delivers some information that fleshes out what Apple Watch: The Sequel could look like. The biggest +1 is making the watch actually an autonomous gadget, rather than a watch handcuffed to the teeny computer in your pocket. Unlike the current Cupertino wearable, this new Apple Watch — with an improved wifi chip — would make it so you could text, email, and update weather without needing the iPhone altogether. According to Gurman, big updates that require large amounts of data would still require an iPhone, but your watch wouldn’t be almost completely useless if you decided to leave your smartphone behind.
This new Wi-Fi module would also make Find My Watch, an anti-theft measure for remotely bricking your device like Apple’s Find My iPhone feature, actually possible since the current hardware lacks the capability.
The Apple Watch may also go even more Dick Tracey with Apple mulling the idea of slapping a camera on the watch face’s bezel so you can FaceTime from your wrist (and take selfies too, I’d imagine). The Watch OS 2.0 software update will already be introducing audio-only FaceTime calls, but this would take it a step beyond.
And lastly, arguably the biggest let down of the Apple’s wearable — battery life — may NOT get the engineering TLC you would expect. Turns out, most people are chill with charging their watches nightly, and Apple might focus on improving other functions instead. So if you thought maybe some neat sleep-tracking features would be coming to an Apple Watch near you — think again.
Nonetheless, these are some neat new additions. And we’re still at least half a year from even getting to the juicy stuff. I have a feeling this is Apple’s first-gen curse repeating itself.