Apple’s newly unveiled Apple Watch Series 3 will come with LTE connectivity making it unnecessary for owners to attach it to an iPhone in order to take advantage of most of its features. This is the latest in a series of efforts that Apple has been making with a view to ensuring that the smartwatch becomes less reliant on the iPhone. Last year basic GPS functionality was added to Apple Watch Series 2.
“Now you can go for a run with just your watch and be connected,” said the chief operating officer of Apple, Jeff Williams, while unveiling the smartwatch.
Wrist phone
To demonstrate the call-making capability of the Apple Watch Series 3, Williams phoned a work colleague who was not present during the launch right from the watch. The colleague who was enjoying the outdoors took the call from his watch and speak using the built-in-mic of the device.
Interested buyers can preorder the smartwatch starting on September 15. It will be launched officially for sale on September 22, ten days after its launch. According to Apple it will be possible for third party applications to work over cellular. And beginning October owners of the smartwatch will be able to stream music from Apple Music. The cellular-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 will cost $399 while a model without the LTE connectivity will be $70 cheaper.
Health and fitness
With Apple increasingly positioning its smartwatch as a fitness and health device, the Apple Watch Series 3 possesses a barometric altimeter that is used to measure an object’s altitude above a certain level. This is necessary when computing the number of stairs an individual has climbed in a given day.
One of the improvements that has been made in the new Apple Watch Series 3 is a dual core processor that is faster. According to Apple the processing speeds should increase by 70% with the new processor. The antenna of the watch is in the screen while in the place of a traditional SIM card Apple is using a tiny electronic SIM. The size of the new smartwatch model is therefore just the same as for the Apple Watch Series 2.
