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First impressions: going hands-on with Apple Watch

Sébastien Page ∙ April 10, 2015

Apple opened up pre-orders for Apple Watch earlier this morning, and although these won't ship until April 24, the company has outfitted its store with hands on areas where you can try on Apple Watch, and get to have a feel for what it's like to hold the future on your wrist.

After making an appointment at my local Apple Store, I was able to try two different models, and play with one of the Apple Watches that were available for everybody to play with. These are my first impressions of Apple Watch after going hands on with a Stainless Steel with Leather Loop band, and a Space Gray aluminum with white sport band, as well as the various working units they had on display.

Beats launches new iPhone colorways for its Solo2 wireless headphones

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Apple's Beats Electronics announced new colorways for its popular Solo2 wireless headphone line on Friday. The 3 new colors are Gold, Silver, and Space Gray— the same offered on iPhones, iPads and the just-launched ultra slim MacBook.

While Solo2s already came in a variety of colors, these new options will allow customers to buy headphones to match their favorite Apple devices. Other than that, however, these new headphones are identical to other Solo2 wireless models.

Android Wear Utility tries its best to bring Android Wear compatibility to iPhone jailbreakers

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Android Wear Utility has been out on the Cydia Store for about a week, and it hopes to bring Android Wear pairing to iPhone users. This isn't the first time that a developer has tried. If you remember a few weeks ago, we went hands-on with MuhammadAG's Android Wear solution and had fairly good success.

But with Muhammad's Android Wear solution still not yet usable by the general public, the developer of Android Wear Utility saw an opportunity, and brought his solution to Cydia. Does it work? Does it make Android Wear devices a real Apple Watch competitor in the Apple eco system?

Tim Cook: Apple Watch pre-orders have been ‘great’

Cody Lee ∙ April 10, 2015

Tim Cook took time out of his day on Friday to visit his local Palo Alto Apple Store, to greet folks trying on the Apple Watch. The CEO shook hands, posed for photos, and fielded questions regarding Apple's highly anticipated wearable.

CNBC was on hand for the meet-and-greet and managed to speak with Cook for a moment about the Watch, and what he's seen in terms of initial response. Unsurprisingly, he says the company has been "impressed" with consumer enthusiasm.

Apple approaching Taylor Swift and other artists for deals to promote Beats Music

Cody Lee ∙ April 10, 2015

Apple has asked Taylor Swift and more than a dozen other artists for exclusive deals to promote its incoming revamped Beats Music service, reports Bloomberg. The company hopes that such deals, particularly with Swift—who has pulled her music from other services—will help attract new users in the increasingly crowded streaming music space.

The move is similar to that of Tidal, the Jay-Z-owned cloud music service that launched earlier this month, and could be the start of a new trend in the space. Artists have long been fed-up with tech firms like Spotify, Pandora and others who pay them the minimum royalty rate, and seem to finally be ready to take matters into their own hands.

New MacBook limited to online purchases, shipping times slip to 4-6 weeks across many markets

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2015

It's not just the Apple Watch, Apple's one-port $1,299 twelve-inch MacBook with a Retina screen is seeing limited availability across online and brick-and-mortar Apple Stores, with shipping times for gold models in both 256 and 512GB flavors now having slipped to 3-4 weeks. And across many international markets at availability of the new machine has already slipped to 4-6 weeks.

Worse, the sexy new notebook appears to be limited to online purchases in many locations around the world at launch. Indeed, as some users have reported on Twitter, customizing your MacBook may prompt the Online Apple Store to put up a “This customized Mac takes a bit longer to build” message.

AppleCare+ pricing for Watches revealed: $1,500 for extended Edition coverage + $1,000 per-incident fee

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2015

The full AppleCare+ extended warranty pricing for the Apple Watch is now live on the Online Apple Store. All Watch models include Apple's standard 1-year warranty and up to 90 days of complimentary support, but now these extended warranty plans are optionally available.

For the entry-level aluminum Apple Watch Sport, the AppleCare+ coverage costs $49. The mid-tier stainless steel Apple Watch models command a cost of $69 for the extended AppleCare+ coverage, while owners of the gold Edition models will need to fork out a whopping $1,500.

But that's not all.

Apple Watch selling out fast, shipping times slipping into June

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2015

At 12:01am PT Apple started taking pre-orders for the Apple Watch models through its online store and the Apple Store iOS shopping app. If you've managed to reserve your device for in-store pickup or home delivery on April 24, consider yourself lucky.

As MacRumors points out, pre-order shipping estimates for many Watch models have slipped to 4-6 weeks or later in less than six hours, with some models such as the 42mm Black Link Bracelet now set to ship in July. This means folks who just woke up and pre-ordered the device won't get it until late next month or June.

All Star Wars movies now available on iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

Monday, The Walt Disney Studios, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox announced bringing all six Star Wars movies in their high-definition digital form to Apple's iTunes Store, Google's Play Store and other services, including Amazon's Instant Video and Microsoft's Xbox Video.

Having been available for pre-order on iTunes at $19.99 each, all six movies became available for download across platforms today, April 10.

The six-movie saga is comprised of the “Star Wars,” “Return of the Jedi,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” films and includes new bonus extras and can be bought or all at once as part of the “Star Wars Digital Movie Collection”.

You can now pre-order your Apple Watch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Heads up everyone, the Apple Watch is now available for pre-order. You can grab yours from either Apple's online store or the Apple Store app on your iPhone or iPad. Some of us are able to get through, while others aren't, so be patient. As usual, it seems the Apple Store app is your best bet.

As a quick reminder, the Apple Watch comes in three models: Sport, Apple Watch and Edition; two sizes: 38mm and 42mm; and with various bands. The Sport is aluminum and starts at $349, the Apple Watch is stainless steel and starts at $549, and the 18K gold Edition starts at $10,000.

Apple has spent $38 million on Apple Watch ads since March

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple has spent $38 million on its "Watch Reimagined" television campaign, according to US ad-tracking firm iSpot.tv. Reuters points to the report, and notes that the company spent just under $42 million on TV ads for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus over the past 5 months.

iSpot.tv says that there has been more than 300 airings of the Apple Watch commercial within the last month, almost half of which have been in primetime spots. The ad played during the NCAA Championship game, AMC's "The Walking Dead," and other hit TV shows.

Poll: will you be pre-ordering Apple Watch?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

With less than six hours until Apple Watch pre-orders open, we're curious if you'll be reserving one for yourself. Our January poll asked if you planned on getting the device and nearly half of the respondents said 'yes'. But that was more than three months ago, at a time when details about the gizmo were still scarce.

Since then, Apple's held a second media conference and released more details in the form of videos and various other tidbits. And now that you've read the reviews and watched hands-on videos of the wearable device in action, some of you may have changed your mind while others may still be on the fence about putting a Watch for your wrist. With that in mind, is your wrist ready for the Watch and will you be pre-ordering it come Friday 12:01am PT?