The Apple Watch will be Apple’s first foray into the smartwatch field, fending off well-entrenched competitors who’ve had a few years of experience in the space.
And the competition is stiff. The LG G Watch R is one of the top contenders, sporting an attractive design you might actually want to wear on your wrist. Ditto for the Motorola Moto 360 , which is bundled with a clever inductive charging cradle. Both of those devices run on Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, which to date is still a bit awkward to use. The Samsung Gear S runs Tizen OS and also offers 3G connectivity, so you could potentially leave your phone at home.
The apps that come with the Apple Watch (pictures)
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Preorders for the Apple Watch start April 10 and it becomes available April 24. To find out how it stacks up against the rest of the smartwatch space, check out our chart below. Also check out our complete coverage of today’s Apple news.
Apple Watch vs. the competition
Apple Watch | Moto 360 | Samsung Gear S | LG G Watch R | |
Shape | Square | Round | Square | Round |
OS | iOS | Android Wear | Tizen | Android Wear |
Display | Unknown | 1.56-inch LCD | 2-inch AMOLED | 1.2-inch P-OLED |
Resolution | Retina Display | 320×290 pixels, 205ppi | 360×480 pixels, 300ppi | 320×320 pixels |
Dimensions | 38×33.3×10.5mm / 42×35.9×10.5mm | 46mm diameter by 11.5mm | 39.8×58.3×12.5mm | 46.4×53.6×9.7mm |
Weight | 1.41 oz / 1.7 oz / 1.9 oz (40g/48g/53g) | 1.7 oz (48g) | 2.36 oz (67g) | 2.18 oz (62g) |
Processor | Apple S1 | TI OMAP 3 | 1GHz dual-core | 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 |
Memory | Unknown | 512MB RAM | 512MB RAM | 512MB RAM |
Battery | Unknown | 320mAh | 300mAh | 410mAh |
Storage | Unknown | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 | WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, A-GPS/Glonass, Bluetooth 4.0 | WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, A-GPS/Glonass, Bluetooth 4.1, 3G | Bluetooth 4.0 |
Water-resistant | 30 minutes, 3 feet | 30 minutes, 3 feet | 30 minutes, 3 feet | 30 minutes, 3 feet |
US starting price | $349 / $549 / $10,000 | $250 | $299 (on contract) | $299 |
UK starting price | £299 / £479 / £8,000 | £190 | £380 | £225 |
Aus starting price | AU$499 / AU$799 / AU$14,000 | AU$250 | AU$449 | AU$359 |