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LA montre. Apple’s first wearable gadget beams messages, Facebook updates, simplified apps and Siri to our wrists, eliminating the all-too-common need to take out our devices to constantly check notifications.

It’s going to become especially convenient to pocket the all-but-confirmed 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and even bigger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus in your jeans, or to always stow the new 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 in a bag.

A handful of the Apple Watch apps being demoed

Other apps seen in the Apple Watch video include iMessages, Health, Calendar, Weather, Mail, Photos, Camera’s shutter button, Passbook that now include Apple Pay and even Apple Maps for navigation.

The smartwatch also takes cues from the Nike FuelBand SE and other fitness tracker with health sensors and apps, a must for any serious wearable gadget these days.

Sure there are fitness apps on your smartphone, but you’re not always carrying your iPhone while tracking your steps and activity. The Apple Watch is better suited for your everyday workout.

Design

The final Apple Watch design isn’t too far from the made-up renders that we’ve seen in recent weeks. Its sports a rectangular-shaped design, one knob and a single button.

The smartwatch display comes in two sizes measured by height: 38mm and 42mm. Both are slightly smaller than the entire Pebble Steel watch height, which measures 46mm.

Apple Watch’s screen is surrounded by casing made of custom alloys of stainless steel and aluminum that, according to the company, stands up physical demands of daily wear.

Beyond the « Apple Watch » and « Apple Watch Sport » versions, a special « Apple Watch Edition » mixes in 18-karat yellow or rose gold for a premium look. It goes well with that gold iPhone 5S for sure.

That brings the metal colors to six: stainless steel, silver aluminum, space black stainless steel, space gray aluminum, 18-karat yellow gold and 18-karat rose gold.

Digital crown

Apple Watch doesn’t have a unique round display like Moto 360, but the casing does feature a circular knob known as the « digital crown. »

This input is unique among smartwatches, but a true classic derived from traditional watches. Apple has of course put a modern-day twist on its twist functionality.

The Apple Watch digital crown replaces the pinch-to-zoom touchscreen mechanic used on everything from iPhones to MacBooks. It’s too impractical on such a small display, according to Apple.

Rotating it allows you to zoom into your app selection, your locations on Apple Maps and a photo from a gallery. Scrolling through dates and stopwatch times handled by this knob too.

The digital crown also acts as the Apple Watch home button. There’s no Touch ID here – I guess Apple assumed it’s a wrist-worn gadget we’re not supposed lose. It’d be surprised.

Friendship button

The button below the digital crown allows you to connect with friends. Pushing it brings up a their contact info photos and zooming into a specific person with the digital crown gets things started.

Beyond calling and messaging them, you can get their attention with a gentle tap. It vibrates the « taptic » feedback on their smartwatch.

From there, Apple Watch goes all Drawesome on us with a bizarre sketch function for light messaging on the wrist. You can also share your hearbeat with someone.

Apple Watch bands

The variety of Apple Watch bands played better than U2 at the today press conference, giving consumers a way to personalize their smartwatch.

Standard straps include Leather Loop that conceals magnets for easy fastening, the leather Modern Buckle and the leather Classic Buckle. There’s also a gym-friendly elastomer Sport Band.

Higher-end metal straps include the Milanese Loop with flexible magnetic stainless steel mesh and the stainless steel Link Bracelet.

Apple Watch faces

Apple is promising customizable watch faces with « millions of different appearances. » It brings everything to its timepieces, from time lapse backgrounds to classic Mickey Mouse arms as dials.

However, just to be clear, the smartwatch comes with a base of 11 watch faces, according to the official Apple Watch press release. Most allow you to change the colors, design elements and add functionality.

The Apple Watch face gallery shows off an Astronomy design with an interactive, real-time 3D model of the earth, moon and planets. Likewise, the Solar acts as a contemporary sundial.

If you want a moving background, there’s the Motion watch face, or still image, there’s the Photo face. Utility, Chronograph, Color, Modular and Simple exhibit more contemporary designs.

Apple Watch Battery Life

Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t go into great detail about the Apple Watch battery life, but he did hint that the smartwatch is designed to be « worn all day » and is « simple to charge at night. »

That leads us to believe that the Apple Watch will approximately have one day battery life, sort of like the Moto 360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live we’ve reviewed.

Previously, when it was known as the Apple iWatch, it was rumored to have a 400mAh battery, but Cook is saving that announcement for a later date.

He did, however, call attention to the unique recharging method. The Apple Watch’s back crystal houses a magnetic inductive wireless charging solution similar to the MagSafe design. Again, Apple bucks another trend – this time it’s the popular Qi wireless charging method – in favor of its own standard.

Release date

For a gadget that supposedly keeps the time, the Apple Watch release date speculation has been all over the place. It highlighted the fact that no one outside of Apple had the full scoop until today.

Just don’t expect that to be the iPhone-compatible watch’s release date this year. Tim Cook and company won’t deliver the the Apple Watch until early 2015, as we previously reported.

Today’s early Apple Watch unveiling makes sense. Google’s first smartwatches just released care of the Samsung Gear Live, LG G Watchand newly launched Moto 360. None work with iPhones.

A sneak peek at the iPhone 6 event makes the watch right on time, enough to distract people from even prettier Android Wear watches to come, like the LG G Watch R.

Apple won’t start Apple Watch production until later this month, according to reports. That’s not enough time to manufacturer the targeted 10 million smartwatches it may want for the launch window.

The later-than-expected early 2015 release date would allow the company to avoid the limited supply problems that it faced when introducing the hot, but hard-to-find gold iPhone 5S last year.