First look: Digital Crown on Apple Watch ushers in new era of UI control
With Apple Watch, Apple was presented an opportunity to reimagine and improve upon the ways in which a user interacts with ultra-small format devices. It delivered in spades with Force Touch, haptic feedback, a custom UI and a keystone tactile technology called the Digital Crown.
Digital Crown takes its cues from traditional wristwatch design, but instead of a mechanical linkage of gears, Apple's version uses an electro-optical system to translate rotation into UI data. As seen in the video below, Apple's solution offers stepless operation for fluid control of a range of functions.
Instead of using multitouch gestures like iOS devices, Apple tapped Digital Crown for zooming, scrolling and general user interface navigation. This not only brings tactile feedback to the Watch experience, but affords users an unobstructed view of the small screen.
Since dial turns are recognized and processed with software, Apple was able to bake in dynamic scrolling speeds. The faster the crown spins, the faster Watch's UI scrolls on screen. The feature can be used to quickly navigate long lists or lengthy emails, but is sensitive enough for detailed work like zooming in a map.
In addition to rotation-based input, Digital Crown is a button that can be used to call up Siri or return to Watch's home screen view. Like scrolling, button functionality is intuitively based on user interaction. For example, pressing once invokes the home screen, two clicks calls up recently used apps and three clicks toggles accessibility options. A press-and-hold gesture activates Siri.
Digital Crown takes its cues from traditional wristwatch design, but instead of a mechanical linkage of gears, Apple's version uses an electro-optical system to translate rotation into UI data. As seen in the video below, Apple's solution offers stepless operation for fluid control of a range of functions.
Instead of using multitouch gestures like iOS devices, Apple tapped Digital Crown for zooming, scrolling and general user interface navigation. This not only brings tactile feedback to the Watch experience, but affords users an unobstructed view of the small screen.
Since dial turns are recognized and processed with software, Apple was able to bake in dynamic scrolling speeds. The faster the crown spins, the faster Watch's UI scrolls on screen. The feature can be used to quickly navigate long lists or lengthy emails, but is sensitive enough for detailed work like zooming in a map.
In addition to rotation-based input, Digital Crown is a button that can be used to call up Siri or return to Watch's home screen view. Like scrolling, button functionality is intuitively based on user interaction. For example, pressing once invokes the home screen, two clicks calls up recently used apps and three clicks toggles accessibility options. A press-and-hold gesture activates Siri.
Comments
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....
Indeed, simplicity is a hallmark of usability. The idea of using the knob to affect the screen without obstructing it is truly so simple it is ingenious. I was on the fence before its release due to a preconceived lack of ease of use and practicality, but now seeing the ? Watch in use, and seeing how easy and effective it is to use, I am definitely strongly considering this purchase.
I love sarcasm wars
Indeed, simplicity is a hallmark of usability. The idea of using the knob to affect the screen without obstructing it is truly so simple it is ingenious. I was on the fence before its release due to a preconceived lack of ease of use and practicality, but now seeing the ? Watch in use, and seeing how easy and effective it is to use, I am definitely strongly considering this purchase.
Hardware wise, it's basically a 1 axis mouse. Software wise, they've clearly done a lot of work to optimize how it works. I imagine every wearable will be following Apple, now that they've blazed the trail. Now we'll hear about how the apple watch really got all it's ideas from the Moto360 and the FitBit etc.
I wonder how much they'll be able to protect it (seeing as many particulars of their iPhone work has been copied ad nausium.)
Hardware wise, it's basically a 1 axis mouse.
Hardware-wise, it's basically a rotary encoder, commonly found on car radios, home receivers, and music keyboards. But in this case, it's the tiny-ness that amazes.
Hardware-wise, it's basically a rotary encoder, commonly found on car radios, home receivers, and music keyboards. But in this case, it's the tiny-ness that amazes.
And in previous gen mice
[the kind with balls! ;-) ]
(click it to see full res)
[Looks to be pretty darn high resolution cog. The text says it has a dedicated processor, which probably accounts for the the buttery performance.]
[Looks to be pretty darn high resolution cog. The text says it has a dedicated processor, which probably accounts for the the buttery performance.]
This is not a processor. Just a decoder that converts the signal from the rotating crown into a digital representation for the software.
Hardware wise, it's basically a 1 axis mouse. Software wise, they've clearly done a lot of work to optimize how it works. I imagine every wearable will be following Apple, now that they've blazed the trail. Now we'll hear about how the apple watch really got all it's ideas from the Moto360 and the FitBit etc.
I wonder how much they'll be able to protect it (seeing as many particulars of their iPhone work has been copied ad nausium.)
Nope, it will be expressed as logical evolution of watches, hence not patentable.
I like how the original iOS 8.2 version used in the Watch is fluid, or at least in the watches in the store that I used. Odd that 8.2 runs less smoothly on the iPhone 4S, which is thought to have a similar A5 chip. Maybe Apple wrung some extra performance out of the S1 version of the A5.
Is the chip in the watch really an A5?
...no, it wasn't. Timex had a series of digital watches about fifteen years ago with an electromechanical crown for navigation, and they were brilliant.
I had my "try on" session earlier this week, and my impression of the crown is that it's features have been softened up too much. I have a number of mechanical watches, and the size of the Apple watch crown and depth of the gnurling seem insufficient. I'm sure I will adapt to the digital crown, and that they Apple adapt it over time to make it more substantial.