>The watch is not marketed as a dedicated fitness device for athletes.
The Watch Sport would make your statement bullshit: https://www.apple.com/watch/apple-watch-sport/
From https://www.apple.com/watch/health-and-fitness/
"Any activity performed at the level of a brisk walk or above is considered exercise. And Apple Watch keeps track of how much you do each day, even when it’s not in the context of a dedicated workout. You close the Exercise ring when you reach the globally recommended 30 minutes of exercise per day. And you don’t even have to do it all at once, which means you’re more likely to fit it into your day."
> The Exercise ring shows how many minutes of brisk activity you’ve completed.
The workout app tracked your 27 minute walk, but the activity was below-brisk.
Try interval training. You can do it in the same 27 minutes as you're walking, and Watch is likely to give you creds.
What a cool system! I looked it up because I'd never heard of the three rings, and I was curious what they were. And fantastic job on meeting all of your goals!!
I love the stand piece - it seems like a great way to get you up a little at a time. I think that's the one I have the most trouble with, but that would make a world of difference.
Apple has not dropped any health features in the watch. At all. Everything that they announced in September at the official unveiling still holds true. Every feature that was advertised on their website back then is still advertised right now: here is the page with all the health features described.
This completely false story was written by highly uneducated and deliberately obtuse Amanda Schupak.
Here's the truth: when developing any product, Apple tries out many things. During the development of the Watch, Apple probably tried incorporating dozens of sensors that they ended up not using in the final version because further refinement was needed. However: every sensor that they announced in September will be shipping in April.
Amanda Schupak deliberately obfuscated this story by trying to frame as it as if Apple had announced health and fitness features that it was now dropping. Apple did not such thing. Every feature they announced in September is going to be shipping in April.
So to answer your question: no, the Apple Watch will not be thinner than previously announced and demoed in September, because none of the sensors or features are getting removed. I would highly expect the second version to be at least one millimetre thinner, based on common sense of how Apple refines their products across generations.
Moral of the story: don't trust everything you read, especially anything written by Amanda Schupak, who deliberately wrote the false story in order to attract traffic and page views.
It doesn't have the motion sensors the iPhone 5s, 6, and 6 Plus have. A fitness band would provide similar features, though, perhaps not stairs.
The Watch would provide these features as well as heart rate automatically, including others like Pay too. It's going to be compatible with the iPhone 5 and later.