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"Announce" and "Ship" are not always the same with Apple these days as demonstrated by the Mac Pro launch. Even if they do announce it next month I would expect a long wait to actually get one.
 
Best designed based on what criteria? The ugly black bar at the bottom of the display? Circular watch faces are great if you're just telling time. But who needs a "smart" watch to tell time?

Notice in some cases the UI is slightly cut off or goes right up to the edge of the watch face. I don't know if I'd consider that best designed.

Moto-360.jpg
o-MOTO-360-570.jpg

I'm not a watch person so it won't make a difference to me, but even with the bottom blacked out it is still better looking than those hideous huge rectangle designs/concepts going around.
 
Best designed based on what criteria? The ugly black bar at the bottom of the display? Circular watch faces are great if you're just telling time. But who needs a "smart" watch to tell time?

Notice in some cases the UI is slightly cut off or goes right up to the edge of the watch face. I don't know if I'd consider that best designed.

Moto-360.jpg
o-MOTO-360-570.jpg

Round watches have been in style for 100 years. Pretty good criteria in my book. Many of the current regular digital watches are round for this reason even though there's no functional justification for it.
 
Absolutely, I'll be announced next month. It's going to be an iPhone accessory, not an iPad one. Therefore, it would make much more sense to be released at the iPhone event in September, not at the iPad/Mac event in October. However, as said, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't shop until late October/Early November.

It's an iOS device, not an accessory, it has important functionality as it's own device. If you think this is an accessory then you are way off. Yes, it will compliment other iOS devices well , just like they all do now with their interconnectivity, but it was not designed as an accessory. Apple would. Not. Do. That. Period. Hence why it has taken so long for them to perfect it. They could have released a piece of trash accessory like the Andriod smart watches, years ago.
 
That "stupid flat-tire display shape" happens to look real good. I like watches, and I like to wear watches. The ones I own are round. It simply looks better.

Except the Moto360 isn't round. That's where Gruber's flat tire comment comes from. It really is shaped more like a flat tire than a circle. They should have called it a Moto270.
 
Absolutely, I'll be announced next month. It's going to be an iPhone accessory, not an iPad one. Therefore, it would make much more sense to be released at the iPhone event in September, not at the iPad/Mac event in October. However, as said, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't shop until late October/Early November.


Their is no reason an iWatch can't be an accessory for any iOS device.
 
Yeah, lol, I agree.

Also, let's be objective here. Many, many people have said that the Moto 360 is the best looking smart watch seen thus far. Gruber's comments now have me hoping that the Apple watch has a similar design.

The Moto 360 is the best looking turd of the group of turds. Apparently no one has watched a video on it. It is SOOO thick, it is truly hideous, and so far from fashionable it's crazy. It also looks like it was made out of very cheap material, and the way the band attaches to it...so awful. Sorry I'm so critical of it though. Also it isn't even a fully round display... It's so bad.
 
I'm not a watch person so it won't make a difference to me, but even with the bottom blacked out it is still better looking than those hideous huge rectangle designs/concepts going around.

I'm not crazy about any of the current smart watches because they're all to big and bulky for my wrist. But I think the Android Wear UI looks better on a rectangular display. Renders don't accurately reflect how bulky these designs look on the wrist.

LG-G-Watch_main.jpg
LG-G-Watch.jpg
 
Round watches have been in style for 100 years. Pretty good criteria in my book. Many of the current regular digital watches are round for this reason even though there's no functional justification for it.

Which is precisely why it won't be round.
 
Except the Moto360 isn't round. That's where Gruber's flat tire comment comes from. It really is shaped more like a flat tire than a circle. They should have called it a Moto270.

That's why I call it Moto Almost 360. :D
 
Poor Cook...

Poor Cook...

He can't use the popular "One more thing..." set-up used by Jobs without sounding like a total putz. He'll have to come up with his own cute phraseology.
 
"Announce" and "Ship" are not always the same with Apple these days as demonstrated by the Mac Pro launch. Even if they do announce it next month I would expect a long wait to actually get one.

Well, the Mac Pro (and Apple TV before it) is an outlier. Generally Apple announces things close to their release. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see a month or two wait between announcement and release as Apple won't be killing any of their own sales by waiting.
 
That "stupid flat-tire display shape" happens to look real good. I like watches, and I like to wear watches. The ones I own are round. It simply looks better.

Gruber is making fun of the fact that the display isn't truly 360 degrees round. There's a small black lip at the bottom. And his post is making fun of Motorola for designing a charging indicator screen that runs along the perimeter of the display, but magically disappears and reappears where that dead space is at the bottom.

And he's not wrong. That's just poor design. I understand the need for the dead space, but moto is DRAWING your attention to it rather than away from it with the charging screen. It looks rather silly.
 
Which is precisely why it won't be round.

I suppose we'll see about that. I have zero interest in rectangular or "bracelet" style watches, no matter what advantage they may have in displaying characters on a screen. I have all kinds of Apple and Android gadgets, but I still wear an old school round watch with a leather band because I like the style. In fact, if I'm being honest, I really only wear a watch at all because I like the style. I suspect that's not uncommon, and it's a big reason why people like to spend hundreds and sometimes thousands on watches that are no more functionally useful than a $40 timex.

However, I will admit that Apple has a unique power in making things "cool". We'll see if they can pull it off in this category. So far I'm unconvinced.

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Gruber is making fun of the fact that the display isn't truly 360 degrees round. There's a small black lip at the bottom. And his post is making fun of Motorola for designing a charging indicator screen that runs along the perimeter of the display, but magically disappears and reappears where that dead space is at the bottom.

And he's not wrong. That's just poor design. I understand the need for the dead space, but moto is DRAWING your attention to it rather than away from it with the charging screen. It looks rather silly.

Who the hell cares. It'll be a matter of hours before someone figures out how to install a new charging screen.
 
Imagine if when Apple was designing the first iPhone they said "it has to have a physical keyboard or it won't sell" and they designed the phone to look like a Blackberry. That's what the Moto smart watch reminds me of. Hopefully Apple has more creativity than that.
 
Whenever it is released, it will be pre-announced like the original iPhone was, an Sdk and beta software will be made available to developers, as well as a few pre production models sent out to various developers before final release. Why unleash it into the wild to eager customers and reviewers without feild testing and adequate app support out of the box.
 
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Excuse my crude drawing here (not an artist clearly, and didn't take much time). This is what I think the display will look like. I think rectangular, and square look absolutely terrible, and I think round simply doesn't make sense for a device which is largely feeding you information. A round display is bad for reading information. A watch face is classically round because it is simply displaying the time, which a clock face is round... You don't make something which has a totally different purpose, copy what has classically been, simply for the classical sake of it...

I think there could be two different designs... a round display, but only targeted as a more, classical look, while there will also be a different display, possibly resembling the one I depict, but both will be highly fashionable with extremely polished sleek Apple look, with amazing materials.

Edit: sorry it's turned wrong, no idea how to change that haha
 

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To me, what Gruber said was completely hypothetical, and sites are taking his statement to imply something more to make a headline to get clicks.. Very disappointed.
 
He had been given scoops in the past, both officially and unofficially. And unlike some sites he never pretends to know something without actually knowing.

When he is guessing (which is often!) he makes that clear.

If finding new information and passing it on the public doesn't count as a journalism, what does?
I don't regard Gruber as a journalism as he is far to partisan. He is pro Apple above being fair in what be writes. The reason he gets scoops from Apple is that Apple, and he, know that he is not a journalism. If he got a scoop would Gruber publish it if he know that Apple would be furious at him for doing so?
 
Well, the Mac Pro (and Apple TV before it) is an outlier. Generally Apple announces things close to their release. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see a month or two wait between announcement and release as Apple won't be killing any of their own sales by waiting.

January, 2007: iPhone announcement. Release date: June, 2007.
January, 2010: iPad announcement. Release date: April, 2010.

If Apple believes the 'iWatch' is as big as the iPhone or the iPad, they're going to announce it early as a surprise, get everyone hyped up and excited for a few months so once it releases, people will arrive to Apple Stores in droves to get it.

I'll never forget the 3 months of sleepless nights I used to have watching every single video and read every tiny detail of the iPad before it got released. :p
 
It's an iOS device, not an accessory, it has important functionality as it's own device. If you think this is an accessory then you are way off. Yes, it will compliment other iOS devices well , just like they all do now with their interconnectivity, but it was not designed as an accessory. Apple would. Not. Do. That. Period. Hence why it has taken so long for them to perfect it. They could have released a piece of trash accessory like the Andriod smart watches, years ago.

What makes you think Apple won't make it as a peripheral device to the iPhone? Do you have some secret insider information that leads you to this? Apple could choose to release any bad device when they chose to, but that is very unlike them. Apple generally either completely makes a new market, or enters a market when it is more mature, but not in it's middle stages. This gives them enough time to see what works and what doesn't, and based on most smart watches they are a accessory device to a phone. If you wanted a device that just told time, get a watch, but most wanted information (things wanted on the go) will require an internet connection and unless these are getting a SIM card slot, a LTE chip, a 802.11 ac wifi chip, and a number of other things it won't be a standalone device.
 
John Gruber a Journalist? an Apple fan boy? yes. Blogger? Yes, but a Journalist? .....

HaHa you say this like Journalist is somehow above blogger. It's not about title, it's about access - there are maybe 4 people that have access to Apple, and Gruber is one of them. Most Journalists, yes, most, are absolute idiots.
 
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