I totally disagree with those who think this watch is ugly. I much prefer a round watch so I was massively disappointed when the Apple Watch turned out to be rectangular. This Huawei looks to be one of the best round smart watches so far - with iOS support coming I may even be tempted by a silver coloured one. I'll need to check it out in the flesh.
That having been said, I assume that Android Wear iOS support won't stretch to Apple Pay. For me, Apple Pay may just be the "killer" smart watch function. I wonder if Apple has any intention of bringing out a round Apple Watch model?
Something these guys still get wrong: making smartwatch look like a traditional watch; smartwatch is no longer regular watch or a timepiece only but a real computer on your wrist or at least a multifunctional tracking device, communicator and music player.... Therefore, if you try to make the watch look like the traditional watch, you do it wrong. Apple figured it out and did it right in the first time...Android watches? None of them.
There are many people that will buy a Android Wear watch for the iPhone. Not everyone has the same small scope of thinking that you do.
No copying being done at all.
many means you and your family because I don't see any iPhone owner would want to do that. Why would they want to get a pos device which is not compatible with their existing ecosystem?
There are many people that will buy a Android Wear watch for the iPhone. Not everyone has the same small scope of thinking that you do.
No copying being done at all.
I can't see why many iPhone owners would buy an Android Wear watch because the integration won't be nearly as good. If someone likes the look of this Huawei watch just get a real mechanical watch. No doubt will be better quality.
Something these guys still get wrong: making smartwatch look like a traditional watch; smartwatch is no longer regular watch or a timepiece only but a real computer on your wrist or at least a multifunctional tracking device, communicator and music player.... Therefore, if you try to make the watch look like the traditional watch, you do it wrong. Apple figured it out and did it right in the first time...Android watches? None of them.
Referencing the design language of traditional round watches for a wrist computer strikes me as very... steampunk. Like dressing Capt. Kirk in Victorian era clothes to better fit in when time traveling. These watch designs try not to frighten anyone from the 20th Century. Beauty? I suppose. People seem to like retro designs in cars (VW bugs, Minis, Rolls). Why not watches?
Android Wear itself is supposedly being made iOS compatible. In fact I'm pretty sure I mentioned it here a few months ago. It's not a secret. If accurate Huawei won't be the only option. IMO 3 years from now decent smartwatches will be commonly available under $150. The components just won't be that expensive at scale.
This is probably good for Google, making Android Wearables an accessory for the iPhone, and might work out well in the short term for those traditional watch makers shut out of the Apple ecosystem, but likely won't bolster the market for premium Android smartphones. I expect the Android Wearables market to flourish for a few years and collapse in a race to the bottom even faster than the smartphone market.
Apple wins by redefining style; not sure that Android Wearbables mimicking traditional watches is a great strategy for profit.
Referencing the design language of traditional round watches for a wrist computer strikes me as very... steampunk. Like dressing Capt. Kirk in Victorian era clothes to better fit in when time traveling. These watch designs try not to frighten anyone from the 20th Century. Beauty? I suppose. People seem to like retro designs in cars (VW bugs, Minis, Rolls). Why not watches?
I'm kind of surprised that so many people are surprised Apple didn't go the traditional route. Honestly I think what Apple has done is much braver. Huawei and others are basically saying no one will wear a smart watch if it doesn't mimic a traditional watch. Apple is proving that theory wrong. But I don't think Apple was ever really trying to nab those who wear expensive mechanical watches. Heck Jony Ive even said at that Condé Nast luxury summit that ?Watch is not competing with luxury watches. Ans he's right. I find it laughable that these Android Wear OEMs think these cheap looking imitations will somehow be passed off as a luxury watch.
I'm kind of surprised that so many people are surprised Apple didn't go the traditional route. Honestly I think what Apple has done is much braver. Huawei and others are basically saying no one will wear a smart watch if it doesn't mimic a traditional watch. Apple is proving that theory wrong. But I don't think Apple was ever really trying to nab those who wear expensive mechanical watches. Heck Jony Ive even said at that Condé Nast luxury summit that ?Watch is not competing with luxury watches. Ans he's right. I find it laughable that these Android Wear OEMs think these cheap looking imitations will somehow be passed off as a luxury watch.
If Apple isn't competing with luxury watches, why charge $17K for the identical device in gold?
You keep changing this mantra of yours that the Android-based watches are trying to pass themselves off as luxury watches. Has one of these companies officially stated that? You can buy a $100 Fossil that looks like a luxury watch, but that doesn't make it so, nor does it mean Fossil had any intention of competing with luxury brands.
Referencing the design language of traditional round watches for a wrist computer strikes me as very... steampunk. Like dressing Capt. Kirk in Victorian era clothes to better fit in when time traveling. These watch designs try not to frighten anyone from the 20th Century. Beauty? I suppose. People seem to like retro designs in cars (VW bugs, Minis, Rolls). Why not watches?
There are other square/rectangular smartwatches besides Apple's. It's not as tho no one else thought of doing something other than round. Somehow I think a whole lot of folks here have the mistaken impression everyone else is mimicking round traditional watches.
Something these guys still get wrong: making smartwatch look like a traditional watch; smartwatch is no longer regular watch or a timepiece only but a real computer on your wrist or at least a multifunctional tracking device, communicator and music player.... Therefore, if you try to make the watch look like the traditional watch, you do it wrong. Apple figured it out and did it right in the first time...Android watches? None of them.
So why then even offer a traditional round watch face at all? That's just tradition of how we kept track of time before the digital era. Nothing is easier than wondering what time it is and having a display tell you exactly using numbers, without having to look for hand positions as they relate to a round representation of time inside a square case.
And since when has any Android licensee gotten anything right, much less the first time out of the box?
I'm kind of surprised that so many people are surprised Apple didn't go the traditional route. Honestly I think what Apple has done is much braver. Huawei and others are basically saying no one will wear a smart watch if it doesn't mimic a traditional watch.
You're a little off-base I think. The very first Android Wear watch was rectangular, not round, and came out months before the Apple Watch was even revealed late last year. Was it brave of them too? Not IMHO. Simply a design choice. There's room for lots of different ones.
Geez, I had no idea how accurate that statement was when I made it. Some of the hardware must be ridiculously cheap already. A "smartwatch" for less than $40??
You're a little off-base I think. The very first Android Wear watch was rectangular, not round, and came out months before the Apple Watch was even revealed late last year. Was it brave of them too? Not IMHO. Simply a design choice.]
I would go so far as to say the digital "smart" watch has been traditionally square from the beginning, starting with the first LED watches in the 70s. Who knows why. Since then square has typicaly been associated with digital and smart watches, and has also taken on a bit of a tech-geek reputation. Apple pretty much went down the path most travelled as far as the square shape. And it that sense it was brave considering how most square digital watches have been perceived in pop culture.
Referencing the design language of traditional round watches for a wrist computer strikes me as very... steampunk. Like dressing Capt. Kirk in Victorian era clothes to better fit in when time traveling. These watch designs try not to frighten anyone from the 20th Century. Beauty? I suppose. People seem to like retro designs in cars (VW bugs, Minis, Rolls). Why not watches?
The funny thing is that from the 1920s to the mid 1930s, rectangular watches were very popular (art deco influence), rectangular, bracelet like watches remained popular in women's watches well past that time. So, it's retro, but not too retro.... Retro to the 1940-1970 period, the heyday of the mechanical watch. Selective nostalgia maybe?
Patek Phillipe 1925
Welsa 1920s
I think the popularity of round watches for men had more to do with the fact that making them rectangular made the watch look too much like a bracelet and "real men"tm couldn't be seen wearing bracelets. Making round cases is also simpler than the more complex shapes in women's watches and the Apple watch. Before the war, watches were still expensive.
The rise of the aviator, millitary watch, which needed to be relatively cheap, easily produced and robust while large enough to be seen in adverse conditions led to the rising popularity of round watches from the late 1930s onward. By the 1950s, the rectangular watch had almost completely disapeered except for certain women's watches.
You're a little off-base I think. The very first Android Wear watch was rectangular, not round, and came out months before the Apple Watch was even revealed late last year. Was it brave of them too? Not IMHO. Simply a design choice. There's room for lots of different ones.
I know this argument has been had before and people don't always agree but I think a round smart watch is 100% about aesthetics. Looking at that new Samsung Watch UI you have to adjust your wrist in uncomfortable positions in order to easily read the text. If I'm looking to see the weather forecast or when my next meeting is I don't want the text curving in the shape of a circle.
The way I see it is the first batch Android Wear watches didn't take off and the OEMs (wrongly IMO) assumed it was because of aesthetics. And then when Apple came out with a rounded rec they doubled down on round to be different than ?Watch. This morning on the Food Network Geoffrey Zakarian was wearing the SS ?Watch with dark blue leather loop band. It didn't look geeky at all. It didn't remind me of smartwatch at all. It actually looked quite nice.
IMO the problem with some of the early Android Wear watches is not that they were square but that they didn't look nice. The Samsung ones had visible screws, the LG ones had ugly bezels (at least ?Watch tries to hide the bezels by using a mostly black UI) and the Sony ones were cheap plastic. It's great to have choice but I'm not convinced round is better from a user experience standpoint.
There are other square/rectangular smartwatches besides Apple's. It's not as tho no one else thought of doing something other than round. Somehow I think a whole lot of folks here have the mistaken impression everyone else is mimicking round traditional watches.
< irrelevant photos deleted >
Uh, no. What the heck are you talking about? I don't know how you extrapolate such a statement from anything anyone has posted here.
Comments
That having been said, I assume that Android Wear iOS support won't stretch to Apple Pay. For me, Apple Pay may just be the "killer" smart watch function. I wonder if Apple has any intention of bringing out a round Apple Watch model?
There are many people that will buy a Android Wear watch for the iPhone. Not everyone has the same small scope of thinking that you do.
No copying being done at all.
I can't see why many iPhone owners would buy an Android Wear watch because the integration won't be nearly as good. If someone likes the look of this Huawei watch just get a real mechanical watch. No doubt will be better quality.
Skimp on the Au molecules.
Referencing the design language of traditional round watches for a wrist computer strikes me as very... steampunk. Like dressing Capt. Kirk in Victorian era clothes to better fit in when time traveling. These watch designs try not to frighten anyone from the 20th Century. Beauty? I suppose. People seem to like retro designs in cars (VW bugs, Minis, Rolls). Why not watches?
Android Wear itself is supposedly being made iOS compatible. In fact I'm pretty sure I mentioned it here a few months ago. It's not a secret. If accurate Huawei won't be the only option. IMO 3 years from now decent smartwatches will be commonly available under $150. The components just won't be that expensive at scale.
This is probably good for Google, making Android Wearables an accessory for the iPhone, and might work out well in the short term for those traditional watch makers shut out of the Apple ecosystem, but likely won't bolster the market for premium Android smartphones. I expect the Android Wearables market to flourish for a few years and collapse in a race to the bottom even faster than the smartphone market.
Apple wins by redefining style; not sure that Android Wearbables mimicking traditional watches is a great strategy for profit.
I'm kind of surprised that so many people are surprised Apple didn't go the traditional route. Honestly I think what Apple has done is much braver. Huawei and others are basically saying no one will wear a smart watch if it doesn't mimic a traditional watch. Apple is proving that theory wrong. But I don't think Apple was ever really trying to nab those who wear expensive mechanical watches. Heck Jony Ive even said at that Condé Nast luxury summit that ?Watch is not competing with luxury watches. Ans he's right. I find it laughable that these Android Wear OEMs think these cheap looking imitations will somehow be passed off as a luxury watch.
You keep changing this mantra of yours that the Android-based watches are trying to pass themselves off as luxury watches. Has one of these companies officially stated that? You can buy a $100 Fossil that looks like a luxury watch, but that doesn't make it so, nor does it mean Fossil had any intention of competing with luxury brands.
So why then even offer a traditional round watch face at all? That's just tradition of how we kept track of time before the digital era. Nothing is easier than wondering what time it is and having a display tell you exactly using numbers, without having to look for hand positions as they relate to a round representation of time inside a square case.
And since when has any Android licensee gotten anything right, much less the first time out of the box?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/321807116965?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82
http://goo.gl/m7NHJt
Geez, I had no idea how accurate that statement was when I made it. Some of the hardware must be ridiculously cheap already. A "smartwatch" for less than $40??
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/321807116965?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82
http://goo.gl/m7NHJt
I'm thinking that the race to the bottom starts with that watch, assuming it actually has a decent build.
I would go so far as to say the digital "smart" watch has been traditionally square from the beginning, starting with the first LED watches in the 70s. Who knows why. Since then square has typicaly been associated with digital and smart watches, and has also taken on a bit of a tech-geek reputation. Apple pretty much went down the path most travelled as far as the square shape. And it that sense it was brave considering how most square digital watches have been perceived in pop culture.
Referencing the design language of traditional round watches for a wrist computer strikes me as very... steampunk. Like dressing Capt. Kirk in Victorian era clothes to better fit in when time traveling. These watch designs try not to frighten anyone from the 20th Century. Beauty? I suppose. People seem to like retro designs in cars (VW bugs, Minis, Rolls). Why not watches?
The funny thing is that from the 1920s to the mid 1930s, rectangular watches were very popular (art deco influence), rectangular, bracelet like watches remained popular in women's watches well past that time. So, it's retro, but not too retro.... Retro to the 1940-1970 period, the heyday of the mechanical watch. Selective nostalgia maybe?
Patek Phillipe 1925
Welsa 1920s
I think the popularity of round watches for men had more to do with the fact that making them rectangular made the watch look too much like a bracelet and "real men"tm couldn't be seen wearing bracelets. Making round cases is also simpler than the more complex shapes in women's watches and the Apple watch. Before the war, watches were still expensive.
The rise of the aviator, millitary watch, which needed to be relatively cheap, easily produced and robust while large enough to be seen in adverse conditions led to the rising popularity of round watches from the late 1930s onward. By the 1950s, the rectangular watch had almost completely disapeered except for certain women's watches.
I know this argument has been had before and people don't always agree but I think a round smart watch is 100% about aesthetics. Looking at that new Samsung Watch UI you have to adjust your wrist in uncomfortable positions in order to easily read the text. If I'm looking to see the weather forecast or when my next meeting is I don't want the text curving in the shape of a circle.
The way I see it is the first batch Android Wear watches didn't take off and the OEMs (wrongly IMO) assumed it was because of aesthetics. And then when Apple came out with a rounded rec they doubled down on round to be different than ?Watch. This morning on the Food Network Geoffrey Zakarian was wearing the SS ?Watch with dark blue leather loop band. It didn't look geeky at all. It didn't remind me of smartwatch at all. It actually looked quite nice.
IMO the problem with some of the early Android Wear watches is not that they were square but that they didn't look nice. The Samsung ones had visible screws, the LG ones had ugly bezels (at least ?Watch tries to hide the bezels by using a mostly black UI) and the Sony ones were cheap plastic. It's great to have choice but I'm not convinced round is better from a user experience standpoint.
Uh, no. What the heck are you talking about? I don't know how you extrapolate such a statement from anything anyone has posted here.