The highly anticipated Apple Watch has yet to arrive in stores, but Pipes, a popular news feed app, created a special demo page for interested buyers to try out the watch virtually.
The page offers a close-up of the smartwatch complete with an interactive display. You can click on each app circle to see what it looks like on the watch display. Click on the central watch hand to find the time. To the right of the central watch hand is a play button which can be clicked on to play a video about how the Pipes app works. The actual Pipes App is just to the right. There are also clickable apps for email, music, maps, stocks, Yahoo News, Shazam and more. Users can easily return to the home screen in the demo by clicking the digital crown on the upper right.
The limits of the Apple Watch demo
The demo offers a glimpse of what the watch looks like, but it is still very limited. You can’t really scroll or zoom in/out with the demo like you can with the actual watch. You can view the demo here.
Apple is expected to debut the Apple Watch sometime in latter March. Previous rumors pointed toward a Valentine’s Day release, but that is unlikely.
What to expect from the upcoming smartwatch
Last November, Apple released the WatchKit to app developers in hopes they would create apps for the watch. The kit revealed some things that were not announced during Apple’s official unveiling. Some of those features and specs include static non-interactive maps and limited capabilities that require the iPhone to do much of the heavy work.
The iPhone app that works with the watch enables customization, map controls and notifications. It’s evident Apple really wants to make its first smartwatch one of the most personalized tech gadgets on the market.
