First look: Digital Crown on Apple Watch ushers in new era of UI control

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  • Reply 62 of 111
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    wp7mango wrote: »
    In that case, everyone innovates. Microsoft, Google, Apple - they all innovate. Some smart watches are more innovative than Apple's because they have better features and better looks. Although looks are clearly a matter of taste, I personally think that Apple's watch is ugly in comparison to LG's. I personally wouldn't buy any current smart-watch, at least not until the battery can last at least a month without charging, because short battery life is clearly not innovative when compared with classic watches.

    Nice find BTW!

    Unless some radically new battery comes about that's not ever going to happen.
  • Reply 63 of 111
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

     

    Can you cite any such commercially available watches that featured a digital crown? Link perhaps?


    Sure, here are some links to Omega and Tissot -

     

    http://www.watches.co.uk/archived-watch/1363/omega-seamaster-multifunction-25218100/

     

    http://www.manualslib.com/manual/402966/Tissot-Multifunction-Watches.html#manual

  • Reply 64 of 111
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
  • Reply 65 of 111
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

     

    Wow, that's an awful idea. It's the equivalent of designing a smartphone UI with a pointer and a trackpad. In other words, applying a solution that works in one context in another where it doesn't. There is no need for a digital crown on an iPhone since the large touchscreen allows you to interact directly with scrolling lists without obscuring the content. Also how are you going to implement Touch ID on a surface that's maybe 5mm wide?

     

    I looked up the designer's website and his portfolio seems like a collection of 3D renderings comprised of other people's designs cut and pasted together to form new products that don't make sense.

  • Reply 66 of 111
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by asdasd View Post





    Unless some radically new battery comes about that's not ever going to happen.



    We would have much longer battery life if smart watch screens used some kind of E-Ink technology.

     

    Perhaps solar charging built into the watch which also uses the infrared spectrum, so that it also charges from your own body heat and from any surrounding heat sources. The battery is only one part of the equation.

  • Reply 67 of 111
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    freediverx wrote: »
    Wow, that's an awful idea. It's the equivalent of designing a smartphone UI with a pointer and a trackpad. In other words, applying a solution that works in one context in another where it doesn't. There is no need for a digital crown on an iPhone since the large touchscreen allows you to interact directly with scrolling lists without obscuring the content. Also how are you going to implement Touch ID on a surface that's maybe 5mm wide?

    I looked up the designer's website and his portfolio seems like a collection of 3D renderings comprised of other people's designs cut and pasted together to form new products that don't make sense.

    Lol. Is cool but not practical. And yes there is no way to implement the Touch ID
  • Reply 68 of 111
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by idrey View Post



    Looks like Samsung what's to fight the digital crown



    https://gigaom.com/2015/01/14/samsungs-next-watch-no-digital-crown-but-maybe-a-rotating-bezel/



    A control based on a rotating bezel would be a natural on a round watch. Although I have to say the digital crown seems more efficient.

  • Reply 69 of 111
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
  • Reply 70 of 111
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by idrey View Post







    Woohoo my first image



    New window on my iPhone

     

     

    Sigh...

     

  • Reply 71 of 111
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    freediverx wrote: »

    Same date as my wife's. Wich is bs cause I order them with in minutes of available trough the Apple Store app. Got mine but not hers, can't wait for her to get it so I can try out the drawing thingy
  • Reply 72 of 111
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    freediverx wrote: »

    A control based on a rotating bezel would be a natural on a round watch. Although I have to say the digital crown seems more efficient.

    Agree, and I prefer square smart watches, but hey got to give them some credit for trying.
  • Reply 73 of 111
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by idrey View Post





    Agree, and I prefer square smart watches, but hey got to give them some credit for trying.



    Samsung is not devoid of good ideas. To be blunt, though, anyone can come up with a good idea. What they lack is a consistent and unifying vision that is aligned with the interests of their customers. 

     

    Apple's vision is to embrace the intersection of technology and humanities to produce the best possible products to enrich people's lives.

     

    Samsung's (apparent) vision is to identify lucrative markets, blatantly and rapidly copy the best work from leading competitors, leverage their vast resources to achieve economies of scale, and deflect legal challenges via a willingness to engage in long, drawn out court battles that can bankrupt most opponents.

     

    Both models can be immensely profitable but only one is admirable to anyone who cares about more than just money.

  • Reply 74 of 111
    frugality wrote: »
    A knob.  Absolute genius.  What won't those folks in Cupertino think up next?  Buttons, maybe?  Oh, what a joyous time to be alive.  If only our great-grandparents could have seen these days....

    Jony Ive said that watch makers already solved the user interface problem over a hundred years ago. Other smartwatch makers, in their rush to strap a crippled, shrunken Android phone on your wrist, overlooked the most obvious solution. Perhaps that's what you were mistaking for innovation to impress your great-grandparents. But hey, I hope you enjoy your Samsung nerd braclet: according to their advertisements, if you go to Aspen with one, all the cuties will swoon over you.
  • Reply 75 of 111
    freediverx wrote: »

    A control based on a rotating bezel would be a natural on a round watch. Although I have to say the digital crown seems more efficient.

    That occurred to me as well, when I was brainstorming ways to control a watch. The bezel on my traditional watches don't control the watch, but they do rotate. It could be used as a scroll wheel controller but if you want to scroll quickly and freely, you would do what Apple eventually did on the iPod: make the wheel a circular touch sensor. In other words, the bezel would be a non rotating touch sensor.
  • Reply 76 of 111
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by WP7Mango View Post

     



    We would have much longer battery life if smart watch screens used some kind of E-Ink technology.

     

    Perhaps solar charging built into the watch which also uses the infrared spectrum, so that it also charges from your own body heat and from any surrounding heat sources. The battery is only one part of the equation.


     

    E-ink has two attractive qualities, readability in bright light and low power consumption. But its limitations make it completely unsuitable as an LED replacement. Its refresh rate is painfully slow and it has nowhere near the resolution or color depth of other display technologies.

     

    It's tempting to imagine a smartwatch rechargeable with sunlight or kinetic energy but the amount of power necessary to drive modern electronics far exceeds the tiny trickle of power that can be captured by solar cells or form other "ambient" energy sources.

  • Reply 77 of 111
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    I discover that I can see video messages on the ?Watch. Nice
  • Reply 78 of 111
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by idrey View Post



    I discover that I can see video messages on the ?Watch. Nice



    How's the frame rate?

  • Reply 79 of 111
    idrey wrote: »
    Agree, and I prefer square smart watches, but hey got to give them some credit for trying.

    I do. That is an actually original approach to smartwatches, which is far better than their lets-shrink-an-Android-phone approach. (How well it works is an unanswered question at the moment, and requires an implementation.) And that is all Tim Cook said he wanted from Samsung: for them to compete with their own ideas. If Samsung wins using their own ideas, they can have all the credit. And consumers will have meaningful choices, instead of: Genuine Apple product, Apple Clone 1, Apple Clone 2, etc.
  • Reply 80 of 111
    freediverx wrote: »
    E-ink has two attractive qualities, readability in bright light and low power consumption. But its limitations make it completely unsuitable as an LED replacement. Its refresh rate is painfully slow and it has nowhere near the resolution or color depth of other display technologies.

    It's tempting to imagine a smartwatch rechargeable with sunlight or kinetic energy but the amount of power necessary to drive modern electronics far exceeds the tiny trickle of power that can be captured by solar cells or form other "ambient" energy sources.

    I'm also unimpressed by the clarity of addressable reflective display technology. Yes, I have a Kindle Paper, and it requires an LED front light to get the best contrast, unless you are reading under a bright, direct light source. Otherwise it is medium to low contrast: darker gray against lighter gray.

    If you want to drive pixels at the density and refresh rate that Apple Watch and Android Wear seem to require, it has to be OLED or LCD.
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