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Future Apple Watch to Adopt Solid State Buttons With Haptic Feedback
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I was responding to the use of solid state haptic trackpad and touchscreens on those devices, as that is the technology this article is referring to on a future Apple Watch. Not the keyboard.
Fair point, but they do seem very hostile to physical interfaces as of the past few years. I can understand the appeal, but I for one still think they're important in certain places. The trackpads and iOS home buttons do a remarkable job of mimicking physical movement, for sure, but I don't believe it always translates. What they tried to do with that butterfly keyboard is a great example of that. They tried to all but eliminate key travel, and it's just awful for human fingers to use.
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I can't imagine this happening if only because there's no way to force a restart if there's a software issue that's preventing the solid state buttons from functioning.
When the home button on the iPhone 7/7 Plus and beyond went solid state, they re-mapped the force restart command to the volume and side buttons because you *need* physical hardware buttons that will always be reliable (so longs they are functioning) and are not controlled by software that could much more easily stop working for whatever reason.
You already have to mail in an Apple Watch for a lot of software related issues (failure during updates causing the dreaded "!" message, etc) and that would drastically increase if you couldn't fix simple issues by forcing a restart with physical hardware buttons.
I don't see it happening for that reason alone. There needs to be at least 1 physical button on any product like this so you can override malfunctioning software when necessary.
When the home button on the iPhone 7/7 Plus and beyond went solid state, they re-mapped the force restart command to the volume and side buttons because you *need* physical hardware buttons that will always be reliable (so longs they are functioning) and are not controlled by software that could much more easily stop working for whatever reason.
You already have to mail in an Apple Watch for a lot of software related issues (failure during updates causing the dreaded "!" message, etc) and that would drastically increase if you couldn't fix simple issues by forcing a restart with physical hardware buttons.
I don't see it happening for that reason alone. There needs to be at least 1 physical button on any product like this so you can override malfunctioning software when necessary.
I think we all know it won’t be a bigger battery.
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Add one of the paper clip-size holes like for SIM cards?
Forcing a restart is really not a problem because the Watch has an inductive charger.
The Watch can be designed in a way to force a reset if it receives a particular voltage or frequency. This would be no different than AirPods. It's a software upgradable device with no physical buttons. The AirPod resets if it receives a unique signal across the charging pins.
I don’t even get it now. When I scroll, it’s like I’m just rubbing my finger on the edge of the bezel, or lift and place, but no real sense that the crown is spinning. That’s why it’s kind of a pointless, stylistic throwback to analogue watches.
Raise to wake is not always an option. Try slight twist to wake and it’s almost a 98% fail rate.
I agree moving the screen around would defeat the whole point we want it, and wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem as you speculate. New technology is needed.
I didn’t forget the camera has a bigger mechanism than the lens and even stated as much, in that the bigger concern was whether there was room for it INSIDE the watch case, it whether there was room on the watch face.
Notching the display is no more going to be “failtown” than it was on the iPhone X. The interface guidelines will just be designed to incorporate it just like on the iPhone. And it will be inconsequential if Apple actually enlarges the display as rumored — users will still have more space than they do now.
Again I don’t agree with your assumption of what’s possible with cameras. I’ve actually done video chats with people who had android watches and it worked fine. As for the quality, well it’s a convenience isn’t it? There will be trade offs as there have been in all Apple products. The connection can ruin a good quality camera image too. Again, I don’t agree with you having both experienced video chats with those who have watch cameras. Add to that FaceTime is simply a fatiguing activity whether one has to hold up and iPad or an iPhone. I rest those devices on a surface, just like I probably would with a watch for a lengthy conversation, so I don’t know why this objection keeps coming up. Again it’s a convenience, so just like the Apple Watch has been able to take phone calls since S0 and drain the battery incredibly fast, so people just don’t do it. The same would be true for FaceTime.
Facial recognition can be used for more than ID purposes, it can also be used for eye detection — is a user still looking at the watch to know whether to keep the display backlight on or turn it off quicker. It also solves part of the problem with raise to wake when that’s not a reliable situation. And I’d rather not have to poke my code in whenever I take the watch on and off which is several times throughout the day. It makes the experience less convenient.
Finally, while I appreciate your concern, I’m not going to “forget cameras” as I see too many benefits to having it. But you’re entitled to your opinion. We’ll see how it ultimately turns out. I remember chatting with people who made similar passionate arguments about not needing a cellular radio in the watch, despite Android wear having them, and now look.
If I had to guess, the Apple Watch will eventually replace the iPhone, and as such it will do most of the things we expect from it too, including a camera.
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Try turning the watch around then flipping the display in Settings. (‘Left-handed mode’ on the right hand, so to speak.)
They should take about half the thickness off the Apple Watch and give it to the new MacBook Pro
It seems reading articles is optional now. Read title and “quick...to the comments!!”
IMHO have a smartwatch with touchscreen and no buttons or no touchscreen and a few buttons/dials. The combination never made sense for me. I mean with a gyro, accelerometer and touchscreen there should be plenty of options to navigate that don't involve physical buttons...
Also, please bring an AW light that skips HRV sensor, vibration (I'll take a nano electric shock instead... much simpler to implement) and all other stuff that makes it thick. The AW is the one and only Apple device that needs slimming down. A lot.
Also, please bring an AW light that skips HRV sensor, vibration (I'll take a nano electric shock instead... much simpler to implement) and all other stuff that makes it thick. The AW is the one and only Apple device that needs slimming down. A lot.
Presumably, the button wouldn't be multitouch or capacitive so standard gloves would work fine.
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Do you use Time Travel or change the volume on your watch? I don't even know how to adjust those things without the digital crown.
It's all about increasing Apple's battery's.
"Solid state buttons will improve water resistance in the Apple Watch and also take up less space, leaving more room for a bigger battery or other components."
I wonder what these 'other components' will be.
I usually reckon, once its starts one, the rest won't be far behind.
"Solid state buttons will improve water resistance in the Apple Watch and also take up less space, leaving more room for a bigger battery or other components."
I wonder what these 'other components' will be.
I usually reckon, once its starts one, the rest won't be far behind.
I love them. Unlike their predecessors, you can press-click anywhere on the trackpad surface, and with the same amount of force.
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Force-click detection on an Apple trackpad works fine with a bandaid on. The phone is different requiring detection of a finger via capacitance touch.
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This is one of the reasons I think they should get rid of the Digital Crown. The idea that it’s an asymmetrical design, which was initially only ever shown in right-handed mode in all of the marketing and advertising, cementing that it was designed for that specific look by Jony Ive, and then telling left-handed customers just to flip it was just silly. Apple should have offered a proper left-handed watch with the Digital Crown in the upper left.
There’s no reason to keep it now really, especially when they didn’t even bother to design it properly. Everything it does can be handled by a touch bar down the side of the bezel.
I know. thats why I said home button and q
I know. thats why I said home button and replied to your post saying it is like the trackpads. They aren't. And gloves dont work with the button on the phones.
What’s so great about taptic engine is when you click either the flashlight or the camera button in the iPhone X’s homescreen, it feels like I’m clicking real physical buttons. It blows my mind.
Neither do I but this is a killer app situation.
Killer app: the function made possible by the hardware that alone makes buying the hardware worth it.
The KA of the orginal watches was time. This carried watches forward for generations but cell phones (with their own killer app of portable calls) took over that role.
The KA of the AW is health monitoring. Get enough scans of enough vital signs and it won’t matter what else the watch does, it will be worth buying (and wearing) the hardware.