[gdubs]

You can still go on a run, for example, without the phone and listen to a few gigs worth of music. There's apparently a bit of machine learning that allows the watch to do all of its health metrics on your run, once it has gotten to know your patterns.

[orbitur]

No GPS though. I was hoping the watch would at least have that so I didn't have to put up with Garmin's terrible software anymore.

Maybe rev. 2.

[JohnBooty]

I've never seen a sleek, tiny watch that had GPS. The Fitbit Surge is the smallest I've seen and it's still pretty huge - more like a bracelet than a watch.

Pictures of it on actual wrists here: http://www.cnet.com/news/fitbit-charge-charge-hr-and-surge-h...

I don't know the nuts and bolts details but I think GPS has power/size requirements that preclude it from fitting in the size of something like a "normal" watch, at least until there's a major advance in battery technology.

[orbitur]

Well, the watch isn't all that tiny, and Garmin does make a line of GPS watches similar in size to the 38mm watch.

I have no comment on accuracy, as I bought the expensive and much larger Forerunner 910XT. The current top of the line Garmin is the Fenix 3, which again is similarly-sized.

[gdubs]

So, what I've heard -- and I'm not sure what the source was -- is that if you go for a few runs with your phone in your pocket, the Watch will be able to map the run without your phone, after it has learned your stride, etc.

[rickyc091]

I can't foresee GPS being a standalone component on watches due to battery drains. Garmin's watch currently gives me 10 hours on GPS, but that's also due to the fact that all it does is track my run.

[frik]

Maybe Apple can add a low-power GSM/2G phone modem to Apple Watch v2. Then one could do outdoor sport without carrying a smartphone in the pocket.