Hands On With The Apple Watch

Apple’s wearable strategy is out there, and the way they’re looking to distance themselves from the crowd is by introducing a smooth, highly usable interface with unique control mechanisms, and creating a device that embraces apps and features beyond notifications, but in a way that makes sense for a small-screened device. The Apple Watch also cozies up to mobile payments, with NFC and Apple’s new ‘Secure Element’ for storing payment information embedded within.That means the Apple Watch can enable Apple Pay on any device it works with, which includes the iPhone 5 and later. But with this pre-release version, we were only able to check out basic features, including a demo reel while we wore the watch on our own wrists, and functioning devices operated by Apple employees to show us more advanced functionality.Features will require more time to assess – the notifications and quick replies seem very interesting and worthwhile, but the new paired communication mode that Apple demoed, which allows one user to connect directly to another for real-time sharing of hand-drawn messages, customized animated smileys, heartbeats and more, initially strikes as a bit of a strange concept. Apple’s messaging is all about the novelty of the feature, however, which means that whether it catches on or not, it’ll take some acclimation.