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As for privacy concerns, rubbish, they are the same as those concerns that can be levelled at current devices hidden in a shirt pocket, or glasses with an embedded camera,
Not entirely rubbish. Some people work in an environment that bans devices with cameras. This means that an iPhone can be locked up in another room and the watch can still be worn in the work environment and receive and respond to many different types of notifications. A camera as a standard feature means that many will then be forced to lock up their watch and phone, or be relegated to older hardware and fewer features.

So if you can dismiss our concerns as rubbish, I think it's fair to point out your flippant disregard of the opinions for whom this is a genuine concern.​
 
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Not entirely rubbish. Some people work in an environment that bans devices with cameras. This means that an iPhone can be locked up in another room and the watch can still be worn in the work environment and receive and respond to many different types of notifications. A camera as a standard feature means that many will then be forced to lock up their watch and phone, or be relegated to older hardware and fewer features.

So if you can dismiss our concerns as rubbish, I think it's fair to point out your flippant disregard of the opinions for whom this is a genuine concern.​
Lock the watch up then too. The watch isn't low tech, it's also able to transmit sensitive information even with no camera. I'm not dismissing people, but highlighting how a camera in a watch is the least of everyone's privacy concerns and is misplaced. If privacy is an issue, lock away all those devices. Just keep an eye out for someone concealing a micro camera in their shirt button, or in their spectacles.
https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Button-Camera-Hidden-Camcorder/dp/B0083F7VEC
 
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Lock the watch up then too. The watch isn't low tech, it's also able to transmit sensitive information even with no camera. I'm not dismissing people, but highlighting how a camera in a watch is the least of everyone's privacy concerns and is misplaced. If privacy is an issue, lock away all those devices. Just keep an eye out for someone concealing a micro camera in their shirt button, or in their spectacles.
https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Button-Camera-Hidden-Camcorder/dp/B0083F7VEC

Places like the Department of Defense do allow phones, but the camera lenses must be drilled out and filled with epoxy. I.e., those places care only about the presence of a camera, in which case the AW is no different as it's camera-less.
 
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Places like the Department of Defense do allow phones, but the camera lenses must be drilled out and filled with epoxy. I.e., those places care only about the presence of a camera, in which case the AW is no different as it's camera-less.
*Walks in with the shirt button camera with no epoxy.* :eek:
 
*Walks in with the shirt button camera with no epoxy.* :eek:

It seems all of your arguments are predicated on the assumption that people willfully ignore rules set in place by their employers. That might be how you operate, but please don't assume the rest of us are as unscrupulous.
 
It seems all of your arguments are predicated on the assumption that people willfully ignore rules set in place by their employers. That might be how you operate, but please don't assume the rest of us are as unscrupulous.
Thanks for accusing me of being "unscrupulous". I'm not. But I'm saying that you'd have to be naive that there aren't other methods to record videos other than a phone or watch. A simple Google search would have uncovered that fact.
 
Thanks for accusing me of being "unscrupulous". I'm not. But I'm saying that you'd have to be naive that there aren't other methods to record videos other than a phone or watch. A simple Google search would have uncovered that fact.

I can't believe you're still missing the point. No one is saying that there aren't other ways to sneak cameras into secure workplaces. What we're saying is that we don't want a camera in our watch so that we can keep our AW on while we're at work. You act like just because anyone can sneak a pen cam into their office, companies shouldn't make a reasonable effort to protect IP or its customers' information. As long as the Apple Watch is tethered to the phone (and it sounds like Gen 2 will be), it doesn't make a lot of sense to put a crappy camera sensor in a device that depends on a phone with a much better camera to fully function.
 
The problem (as I see it), is that the three current versions, Sport, Watch and Edition are all the same design with the same internals, even if they're made of different materials and colors. Frankly, there is not enough differentiation between them, because they all look the same and function the same. When you look at the traditional watch market, there are thousands, tens of thousands, of watch case designs, yet Apple can only come up with one basic design and then think they're in the fashion business?

Another thing is that their not offering any round designs, even if the shape challenges the rectangular design standard of iOS (WatchOS could have been anything they wanted it to be), is short-sighted thinking. I only say this in the context of Apple thinking they're part of the fashion industry. Fashion always pushes design, more so than most other product categories, and the changes happen quickly and frequently, yet all Apple can do is have one basic watch design and add a few watch band options over the course of a year?

It's actually been 2 years in the public eye at this point. Apple introduced the Watch in September 2014. The design at this point is actually quite dated. Hard to believe they aren't going to update the case design at all. If this turns out to be the case, I'll bet there will be a much lower key push into the fashion world at this point. No more giving Karl Lagerfeld $25,000 gold Editions. I doubt the fashion world will receive it as well this time around, since it's rumored to be essentially the same identical design to the one showcased 2 years ago. That's eons in the fashion industry.

I was sure they'd have introduced a new model before this, possibly even a round one by now. If Apple really does want to press the fashion angle, they'll really need to offer more than one design. I was really expecting that the 2nd Gen watch would have a different enough design that it would allow the gen 1 watch to sell as a totally different looking model, just with less tech, at a lower price. But if rumors are correct, they will be offering internal hardware updates rather than stylistic ones -- not exactly the fashionable thing to do, more like something a technology company would do. And what's even more surprising is that a different design would set the new watch apart from the old, just like with the iPhones, and might actually attract new customers with a whole new marketing campaign. The same old design, with a barometer isn't really going to be as exciting to those interested in new wrist wear, who didn't buy the first one because of the way it looked in the first place. It also gives customers a reason to buy a second watch now that multiple watches can be easily paired with the same phone.

I suppose the one expectation that becomes more likely in keeping the Watch 2 essentially the same design, is the next model may come in both round and square, in the same way the 2017 iPhone is rumored to be a radical redesign.
 
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I still don't get this obsession with round smartwatches.

For some it looks a whole lot better. I can see the appeal of square watches, but for me, the style of a round watch is the standard, and square is more niche. I understand other people feel similar but the other way around - but I feel like I'm in the majority with this thought process.
 
For some it looks a whole lot better. I can see the appeal of square watches, but for me, the style of a round watch is the standard, and square is more niche. I understand other people feel similar but the other way around - but I feel like I'm in the majority with this thought process.
Sure, but does it work better?

Maybe people should post mockups of round versions of all the apps if they want a round display. The hourly forecast view in Weather, the weekly summary in Activity, a conversation in Messages, etc.

I think a round display would make all these apps worse, not better. And this is before putting myself in the seat of a developer who'd have to consider the possibility of writing an additional interface layout.
 
You know what would make the lives of developers for eye glasses easier? Have all eye glasses be the same shape. Just offer two sizes of the same frames, rounded rectangles to accommodate all face shapes and genders, and then standardize the lenses for every pair of glasses in existence.

Customers still have lots of style choices, they can chose different frame colors, they can even choose removable temples to allow them to dress up their frames, or tone them down to be more sporty.

It doesn't really make sense to offer any other shape of eye glasses, since the rectangle offers the best field of view for the way people see. Do round frames work better? No, different shaped frames just makes it harder for developers to come up with lenses that provide effective vision when they have to account for so many different shapes.

And mostly because fashion doesn't matter for a product a customer wears ... right? /s

iSight-.jpg
 
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Sure, but does it work better?

Maybe people should post mockups of round versions of all the apps if they want a round display. The hourly forecast view in Weather, the weekly summary in Activity, a conversation in Messages, etc.

I think a round display would make all these apps worse, not better. And this is before putting myself in the seat of a developer who'd have to consider the possibility of writing an additional interface layout.

To be honest, strictly text based interfaces, like an email or calendar (where it might be mostly text on the screen, I completely agree - due to the rounded screen, things would need to be changed dramatically - in order to not get abruptly cut off. However, if they actually designed the software be built around the shape, I don't think it would be that bad at all.

smartwatch-1.png

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Marginally worse at text only screens, but aside from that I think it could account for a better overall experience due to the aesthetic design (personal preference), and also being able to utilize a more rounded design also adds a large amount of uniqueness to it, I think - which is probably why the Moto 360 is so highly regarded, despite the flat tire.
 
Making the AW round like the Moto360 and LG R and Gear S won't make it more unique.

As a smartwatch, I feel like it gives it something extra. I can't quite explain what that is, but it feels more significant - maybe the combination of what is aesthetically pleasing to me, with tech functionality encompassing it. While I'm sure to really enjoy my SB watch, it'll never really be my "style".
 
As a smartwatch, I feel like it gives it something extra. I can't quite explain what that is, but it feels more significant - maybe the combination of what is aesthetically pleasing to me, with tech functionality encompassing it. While I'm sure to really enjoy my SB watch, it'll never really be my "style".

Exactly, a round watch will make it more unique from the other Watch customers who already have a square watch and the new ones who chose square as well. It will stand out against a sea of featureless black glass and metal squares on the wrists of smartwatch users, giving the individual some degree of individual identity over the pack of Apple conformists.

I walked into a particular Apple Store in LA in which most of the employees that day were wearing Watches, and it was kind of creepy, all wearing generally the same outfits, right down to what was on their wrists -- the vast majority even wearing the same bands. Now granted that's anecdotal, but imagine once the Watch achieves a certain threshold of installed users, and every wrist a person looks at has the identical featureless square. Watches used to be a conversation started, and a measure of stylistic self expression. Apple has turned it into conformity.

And it's not like this is some new phenomenon -- whatever new color options Apple offers on the iPhone tends to outsell all other previous colors, especially in "S" years where the new phone is otherwise identical to the old. People like to set themselves apart, and with a watch, there are only so many ways to do that. Shape is one of the major ways to so that.
 
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Exactly, a round watch will make it more unique from the other Watch customers who already have a square watch and the new ones who chose square as well. It will stand out against a sea of featureless black glass and metal squares on the wrists of smartwatch users, giving the individual some degree of individual identity over the pack of Apple conformists.

I walked into a particular Apple Store in LA in which most of the employees that day were wearing Watches, and it was kind of creepy, all wearing generally the same outfits, right down to what was on their wrists -- the vast majority even wearing the same bands. Now granted that's anecdotal, but imagine once the Watch achieves a certain threshold of installed users, and every wrist a person looks at has the identical featureless square. Watches used to be a conversation started, and a measure of stylistic self expression. Apple has turned it into conformity.

And it's not like this is some new phenomenon -- whatever new color options Apple offers on the iPhone tends to outsell all other previous colors, especially in "S" years where the new phone is otherwise identical to the old. People like to set themselves apart, and with a watch, there are only so many ways to do that. Shape is one of the major ways to so that.
I think this is a valid point. Would be nice to have different designs for the watch. However, on a typical day, I see far more smartphones than watches if any kind and they all look the same. Hard to even tell which brand without looking closely. I don't buy a flip phone because everyone's phone looks the same.

It's what becomes the norm versus what was the norm. People get stuck on what "was" versus what "is". People get stuck waiting for the way it used to be to return instead of moving to the next. So many companies laughed at Apple for making the iPhone. The quotes from CEO's from major companies got stuck in the past thinking no one would want the iPhone.

Still, more shapes and more sizes may come if they sell enough, but round would be nice and a good idea. Master one and then move on to another. :)
 
I think this is a valid point. Would be nice to have different designs for the watch. However, on a typical day, I see far more smartphones than watches if any kind and they all look the same. Hard to even tell which brand without looking closely. I don't buy a flip phone because everyone's phone looks the same.

It's what becomes the norm versus what was the norm. People get stuck on what "was" versus what "is". People get stuck waiting for the way it used to be to return instead of moving to the next. So many companies laughed at Apple for making the iPhone. The quotes from CEO's from major companies got stuck in the past thinking no one would want the iPhone.

Still, more shapes and more sizes may come if they sell enough, but round would be nice and a good idea. Master one and then move on to another. :)

It's true about buying a phone -- but that doesn't mean that people don't buy them for bragging rights. Many still personalize even their phones with a multitude of different cases -- an option that doesn't really apply for the watch. Right now, the only way to set the Watch apart from another is with different colored bands, or watch metals. But from a distance, they pretty much all look the same. In fact I routinely mistake square LG, Asus, Sony Fitbit, and Garmin watches for the Watch all the time at the gym.

But the again, people don't wear smartphones. They do wear watches (and eyeglasses). A phone is a utilitarian tool. A watch is an adornment, that happens to be a tool. People put their phones in their pockets, and bags, or leave them behind. A watch is always there -- broadcasting individual taste and style (like eyeglasses).
 
So...

You want one of the few square(ish) smartwatches out there (besides the Fitbit Blaze) to look like the other dozen-ish round smartwatches.

Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't see how it makes any sense.
 
Well next week we shall see whose rumors were right. I'd like to float this suggestion. GPS is great for sports and exercise but I don't need it for a work or dress watch. How bout a 42mm model sport that comes with GPS and a 38 mm model without for work or dress. I'd happily buy a 38mm with bigger battery, thinner screen, more powerfull processor, better waterproofing and watch O3S.
 
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