Enis Younsi has sent in this video of a demo Apple Watch in the Apple Store. It shows the watch going from fully off to booted to the clock face, which takes just over a minute. Although it’s not really fair to make such comparisons, due to the differences in the software, modern iPhones take about 30 seconds to launch to the lock screen.
The S1 is currently expected to be similar to an A5 chip. Even iPhone’s powered by the A5 chip did not take this long to start up however. Until the Apple Watch is released, it will be impossible to explain the discrepancy. It is very likely that optimizations for better battery life are the culprit, however.
It’s also unclear how ‘custom’ the Apple Watch demo units in those acrylic cases are. This may affect startup time, although from inspection, they seem near identical to what will ship. Users will be able to test all of this stuff out from Friday, when Apple will start delivering devices to customers.
Apple Watch is currently only available online, with many models sold out. Ahrendts has said Apple doesn’t expect to have in-store stock until June.
Thanks Enis!
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
What a nice weather app.
It needs to be connected to an iPhone to function. Obviously, the sample units in Apple Stores are not paired with an iPhone — that’s why it crashes.
Yep, I know, but I expected that the store units would at least run some demo screens of the app.
Hmm.. looks like a technical glitch to me. The weather app worked when I tried it at the apple store.
Worth a grain of salt. These watched are booting up and loading demo software. Just not a fair comparison.
Edit: * These watches
I can’t wait till it can function independent of an iPhone. Then ill buy one.
They can already operate independently in a limited fashion. How much more would it take to get your interest? If you want better wifi and perhaps GPS that may not be too far off. But if you’re waiting for cellular connectivity I think you’ll have a very long wait.
To fully function independently from an iPhone It will mean an extra charge on your cell phone bill. You sure you want that?
Grossest thumbnail ever.
This.
Considering these watches have no internals I’m not sure that this says anything. They’re connected to and powered by a stripped down iPad Air.
This is not a clear representation of what the start up time will be due to all of the customer software and hardware running on these units. When I tried on my apple watch we played with the demo unit at the same time and he confirmed that those units are very customized. The display they are in is essentially a giant battery that charges goth the iPad mini and the apple watch. The apple watch is powered through the band, and is connected to the iPad in order to display the special screens on the iPad when triggered by the apple watch.
Nerd Junk