@ceciliahaig I really wanted it to be rounded. The little dial to the side seems hard to turn when it's on my hand. The circular UI seems troublesome. And I really just wanted it to be round. The Apple Watch (wish it was iWatch) just looks like a smartwatch rather than a watch.
Can't wait to start building apps for this. There are going to be completely new types of user behaviour and interactions to understand, and a whole new design language and constraints to go with it. Going to be fun.
Nothing about the Apple Watch screams "You need this!" Instant access to notifications, health tracking, and easier mobile payments are nice, but none of them make me desperate to buy it. Tech-savvy dumbwatch-wearers might dig it, but the third-party app it launches with in 2015 will have to really wow me to make me excited to pay $349 for it.
@joshconstine I think you will and so will eye. Its feels like a totally new and pretty amazing device. Do you exercise / run regularly? Garment devices are north of $400 and they are not even close in cool factor.
I keep thinking about how the ipod and iphone needed to be tethered to a PC to bootstrap the experience. I think this is just the beginning of a device thought-through to be wrist-first. Maybe or maybe not for everyone, but certainly just the start.
@andrewfarah Remembering what we saw isn't done..
This watch had a series of affordances (mechanisms, gestures, metaphors) that have not been used before and all are focused on the wrist form-factor. I was a little surprised to see just how many of these there were (contrast with just swipe/pinch zoom, or click/drag). Nevertheless, these are now and interesting and clearly thought about for the form factor. This hasn't been done as holistically on the wrist before -- I suspect we will see a lot of changes in the app/platform before we all get to wear the watch. At the same time, it is clear this is purpose built for the form factor in ways that others have not.
@NeerajT4 It's almost like they purposefully limit themselves on v1's. I like knowing this is the beginning of many iterations. To me, seems like a sound first step into wearables.
I need to play around with that dial...I'm not convinced by that interface decision at all!
I would have preferred a circular touch-activated bezel around the screen, which would allow touch gestures analogous to the iPod wheel dial. Swipe your finger clockwise or counterclockwise along the bezel to zoom in/out or make selections.
Furthermore this would have allowed the watch to be worn on either the left or right arm, without locking out left handed users.
With both interface elements (dial, button) on the right side only, it seems too unnatural to be worn on one's right arm. Controlling the dial with the thumb of your left hand or reaching over/around the display to control it with the other fingers is very uncomfortable.
The use of that dial undoubtedly wants to pick up on the language of the watch dials of classic wrist watches. But I think this was the wrong element to be chosen.
In the last decades you didn't have to wind up or reset your clock on a daily basis. Maybe you used the dial once per year? Or on occasion when traveling to a distinctively different timezone.
To me it would have made much more sense to have picked up on the symbolic character of the "tachymeter", the turnable scale around the rim of analog chronometers, which we all used to play around with constantly anyways.
@boettges "Maybe you used the dial once per year?" I wear a dumbwatch. I use the dial about once a month. Most common use case is to change the time (travel, day light savings) or change the date (skipping the 31 on months with only 30 days). So a bit more frequent then you suggested, but still not daily or weekly by any means.
I will say I use the tachymeter even less, as in not at all. Useful if you're a diver, but not much to use it for otherwise.
@eric3000 Oh right, I forgot about the bi-monthly day skip. That was my reason to switch to a watch without a calendar a couple of years ago.
Not saying that the tachymeter is actually used more often, it is rather a question of the message about it's accessibility that this element conveys.
Just having this rotary element on top of the watch seems more natural than on the side.
The crown was specifically placed on the side (sometimes even hidden under a ring) to make accessing it hard to avoid accidental misadjustment.
I'm super excited to see how product creators use Watch. As @nireyal has written about before, interface changes can lead to new opportunities and huge shifts in consumer behavior (eg facebook gaming to mobile gaming).
@rrhoover also seems like a huge opportunity to guide behavior change....when you don't even have to take the device out of your pocket, it's going to be very hard to ignore the buzzing updates the Watch delivers.
@zackshapiro In a novel, but relatively useless way, yes.
Its not a sexy, defining feature. It is the epitome of personal though. Haptic communication (touching) conveys physical intimacy. Think about sharing your heartbeat, one-to-one, with someone you love from far away. The technology adds nonverbal communication, where only words, pictures/videos, and emojis existed before.
@thomasmeagher@zackshapiro - I think it gets more interesting when you're sharing your heart beat (or alerts about problems with your heartbeat) with your doctor.
*as i currently understand it* - Apple Watch seems to me to be, most importantly, a technological bridge to allow Apple to offer Apple Pay via NFC to its iPhone 5/5s existing users. Ones who won't / cant' yet upgrade to iPhone 6 (believe it has the proper BTLE for the pairing - someone pls educate me if I am way off)
This helps address the immediately one of the chief obstacles to building a payment network: Metcalfe's Law. By putting a lower (ok - relatively lower lol) price point on the Apple Watch, Apple may have hacked its own adoption cycle for mobile payments through what almost amounts to backwards compatibility.
@kjemperud I'm not sure either - but I think that all of the "open your hotel door with your watch" stuff that is coming out almost definitely requires NFC - don't think that can reliably be accomplished yet with iBeacon/BTLE only
@basche42 Yes, that's what I thought. Making it compatible with the iPhone 5S, 5, 5C as well seems like a bridge to bring the payment system to existing customers. But how many will actually get the watch? 5% of existing customers?
Is TouchID required for the payment system? If so, the iPhone 5 and 5C will fall short.
Will you have to enter the "fallback"-password beforehand?
It's interesting to think about that inconvenience to enter the password as an incentive to upgrade your phone then.
@boettges Great questions. I believe there will be some redundancy and multiple ways to skin a cat. Lots you can do with software here to ease the hardware transition.
Things Apple got right:
- Personalization
- Price
- Crown interface (great way to manage the Apple Watch)
Things Apple got wrong:
- Battery (no mention = bad news)
- I can't find a killer feature that will make regular people buy this.
Overall, it's a product I'll get, but it's tough to say whether regular folks will covet it. I need to play to know.
@benparr Great breakdown, especially on the bad news about battery life (Re/Code reports that Apple reps told them it'll need a re-charge every night). I think this version of the watch will be a lot like the original iPhone. It'll be a device that draws a lot of attention in the wild, but it will take the second or third versions to really catch on with massive adoption.
Not a fan. iPod was, "all your CDs in your pocket" - a unique value - it made your CDs unnecessary. Then iPhone made iPods unnecessary. And iPhone made wearing a watch unnecessary too. But the Apple Watch is currently an accessory to your phone. Meh. You know what would've been cool? If Apple Watch made your iPhone unnecessary. That's the kind of vision I want from Apple - or at least the expectation they've built for me.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what the WatchKit SDK will allow. Definitely will allow custom notifications from existing apps like the Facebook and Twitter examples, but what will Watch-only apps look like?
Other questions on my mind:
- How do you download apps onto the Watch?
- What is the battery life like?
- Will there be a marketplace for watch faces? Potential side income website? Noticed someone just bought applewatchfaces.com today
@eriktorenberg i think elaboration would be really interesting here. i feel like for a lot of people it was the exact opposite, where google glass was the future and actually seemed innovative, whereas the watch wasn't all too different from the existing smartwatches out there, and didn't have any *must-have* features.
@krrishd Apple creates hardware, software, and peopleware. It cultivates, builds and eases us into new behavior, even when the particular technology(ies) have been around for some time. What results is Thiel's "Last Mover Advantage" as we wait for Apple to bless each new product category.
@basche42 agreed, but what would make it something someone "really wanted" in your opinion? a lot of the stuff has been around for a while, and I agree that Apple is innovative in that it'll bring it to the forefront, but what feature really makes it worth the price tag?
@krrishd Not sure - and great question. I suspect for mass market it will be the health aspect (they also can recruit a much richer app ecosystem at first than any of the android health wearables).
Battery life? Waterproof? Storage? Connectivity (besides BLE)? - This is stuff they will be working on in the next few months I think. Nothing major regarding today's presentation (ability to show it), but imho major regarding usability etc. when a gazillion people are going to buy this thing (including moi)
I liked the innovation of digital crown to replace pinch gestures. Yet, the demo seemed a bit confusing. There were times when using the crown would make sense to me, but Kevin Lynch swiped instead. And visa-versa. Swipe on a watch seems like a poor gesture, and I thought the crown would replace it. The crown plus the addition of haptic touches and voice I think makes most sense for main interactions.
I'm hoping a hands-on demo will alleviate my fears about this.
EDIT: Digital crown is the new iPod clickwheel
@eric3000 I noticed the same thing. I think it might have been because the demo watch was not on his wrist. It might make more sense to use the crown then.
Will be very interesting to see who cracks the code on the actual usage of these devices. Not convinced I need one yet, and am enjoying a watch-free lifestyle since I stopped wearing one a few years back. Holds a lot of promise. Also, no battery life announcements- that will be interesting to see too.
$349 is a steep starting point -- what will the 18-carat gold version cost? :) Also, is the Apple Watch just an accessory given that you still will need the iPhone nearby as you'll be using its GPS and WiFi capabilities?
Glances could be pretty cool, as a competitor to Google Now cards on Android Wear. Lots of fun stuff to hack together there. The card metaphor lives on! And then combine that with the Taptic Engine (not to be confused with the haptic one).
My biggest beef with Kevin Lynch's demo:
He should have been demoing the watch while it was on his wrist!!
iPod nano on a strap?
From what I've heard of the Moto 360, the round face creates issues with web content unless it's designed specifically for a round screen. I'm not buying a smart-watch until that's sorted and the fact that the iWatch is rectangle, to me means Apple have consciously backed off trying to make it work. Which in my eyes is a cop out.
I think the big feature in the watch will be payment. Your wallet on your wrist - that has some value.
@Simonatpaddle Rectangular watches have been a thing since even before digital faces. I own multiple rectangular watches, analog and digital. I think that design decision makes perfect sense given the vast majority of content to be shown on the screen.
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