If square is so great...

[bunnspecial]

Oh, so the square shape is for the youngsters and the round ones are for the elders ? Funny how the history repeats itself. How about your "elders" who used to wear these square touch screen watches in 1984 - so 30 years ago ?

Stretching even further back, you'd be hard pressed to find a round wristwatch from sometime in the mid-1920s to the 1940s and even on up to the 1950s. The '50s even gave us a triangular watch (Hamilton Ventura)

Round wristwatches really didn't become popular(again) until the 1960s.

 

[fewlio]

Stretching even further back, you'd be hard pressed to find a round wristwatch from sometime in the mid-1920s to the 1940s and even on up to the 1950s. The '50s even gave us a triangular watch (Hamilton Ventura)

Round wristwatches really didn't become popular(again) until the 1960s.

Total Bull. Always the most popular, since the pocket watch.

 

[SHNXX]

Total Bull. Always the most popular, since the pocket watch.

Sure but it's true that there have been desirable watches, which are not round.

 

[dugbug]

Man that 360 is a dog

 

[Wayfarer]

I don't know about everyone else but I know which watch I'd prefer on my wrist.

Image

Image

Thanks. A picture's worth a thousand words.

 

[Wayfarer]

Also ...(sorry for double post) ...There is a huge problem with round displays for smartwatches, smartphones, computers, or anything else that needs to display text, images, video, etc…

The problem is that if you look at a Web page, read email, look at a photo, watch a video, play a game, or almost anything else on a round display, the corners of what you are looking at (a good portion of what should be displayed) are cut off.

Apple made the right choice by making the Apple Watch’s display rectangular instead of round.

Watches should be round. Displays on mobile devices should not be round.

 

[bunnspecial]

Total Bull. Always the most popular, since the pocket watch.

Find me a round wristwatch made in the 1930s

Look at a Hamilton, or Longines, or whatever other brand catalog you want to pick from that era, and see how many round wristwatches they catalog.

Here's a 1935 Hamilton catalog. They show 49 different wristwatch models, and 5 of them are round

http://vintagewatchforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=562

Here's one from 1946. Again, 45 wristwatches, 4 round ones

http://vintagewatchforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=158

And, in 1955, with a staggering 201 wristwatches cataloged, 53 were round.

http://vintagewatchforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=130

Hamilton was likely the most popular watch brand in America through those years, so represents a good metric of market tastes(at least in America) through those years.

 

[Piggie]

Also ...(sorry for double post) ...There is a huge problem with round displays for smartwatches, smartphones, computers, or anything else that needs to display text, images, video, etc…

The problem is that if you look at a Web page, read email, look at a photo, watch a video, play a game, or almost anything else on a round display, the corners of what you are looking at (a good portion of what should be displayed) are cut off.

Apple made the right choice by making the Apple Watch’s display rectangular instead of round.

Watches should be round. Displays on mobile devices should not be round.

Must be a bugger having to put up with your human eyes with their round view.
Bet you've be happier if the human field of vision was a nice crisp clean box shape

One COULD argue round is amazing, and Apple COULD of shown off a round display that was amazing.
A circle, in the middle was the normal square for text type items, and touch area/icons on all 4 sides around the display to control it with, so there was never any need for any controls to use the screen area, they were always on the 4 areas of the circle.
You could build a UI based on that concept

 

[akm3]

...Apple has had several plastic phones... 3G, 3GS, 5C.
Was the rear of iPad 1 plastic?

Rear of iPad 1 was wonderful, cool, curved aluminum.

 

[iCarabma]

is a round watch better than a square one?

- probably. I mean clock faces are traditionally circular. Less wasted space. That said I've owed several rectangular watches.

Is a round computer better than a rectangle one?

- no... God no. Think of all the wasted space.

Well, then which shape makes the most sense for a "smart watch"?

- If you want it to have a small screen that displays rows of text then not a circle.

Could someone make a great smart watch that's a circle at some point in the future?

- maybe. That's how innovation works. Somebody solves a problem once thought unsolvable. But we can't even make circular screens on a watch now. And even if you'd argue that the "Moto 360" is a circle, which it's not, it's running software in no way optimized for a round screen.

 

[diamond.g]

is a round watch better than a square one?

- probably. I mean clock faces are traditionally circular. Less wasted space. That said I've owed several rectangular watches.

Is a round computer better than a rectangle one?

- no... God no. Think of all the wasted space.

Well, then which shape makes the most sense for a "smart watch"?

- If you want it to have a small screen that displays rows of text then not a circle.

Could someone make a great smart watch that's a circle at some point in the future?

- maybe. That's how innovation works. Somebody solves a problem once thought unsolvable. But we can't even make circular screens on a watch now. And even if you'd argue that the "Moto 360" is a circle, which it's not, it's running software in no way optimized for a round screen.

I guess the next logical question is how much data (text) do you want to see on your wrist? Android Wear seems really designed around small bits of texts. The wall of text that my wife likes to send me is annoying to read on the watch (much smaller display), so it gets dismissed to be looked at later on the phone. Glance-able information should be the focus, imo.

 

[LeeM]

my favourite watch is below, so I'm happy with the square

 

[iCarabma]

I guess the next logical question is how much data (text) do you want to see on your wrist? Android Wear seems really designed around small bits of texts. The wall of text that my wife likes to send me is annoying to read on the watch (much smaller display), so it gets dismissed to be looked at later on the phone. Glance-able information should be the focus, imo.

You can argue that Android wear is designed for small bits of text. I would argue that it's just a miniaturized cell phone interface. But I could be wrong, I don't have any experience first hand with one.

What you can't argue though is that Android Wear is designed for a round screen. It's not. And the version that runs on the Moto's round(ish) screen is in no way optimized for it.

You will be able to see more info without scrolling on a square/rectangle. That's my only point.

 

[Jimmy James]

If round is so great why isn't the iPhone. Or my laptop?

 

[Piggie]

If round is so great why isn't the iPhone. Or my laptop?

http://epicthings.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Gaming-3D.jpg

 

[diamond.g]

You can argue that Android wear is designed for small bits of text. I would argue that it's just a miniaturized cell phone interface. But I could be wrong, I don't have any experience first hand with one.

What you can't argue though is that Android Wear is designed for a round screen. It's not. And the version that runs on the Moto's round(ish) screen is in no way optimized for it.

You will be able to see more info without scrolling on a square/rectangle. That's my only point.

I don't think it is a miniaturized cellphone interface. Not any more so than Apple Watches OS. But maybe that is an issue of perception/functionality.

Wear probably wasn't designed for a round display, especially since square ones are earlier to make.

 

[KurtWilde]

I argue that its as much fashion and jewelry as anything, that apples approach to the device confirms they agree, that it should have been round or one version round, and that a round device can do all the extras u reference. Fit more txt on square for crying out loud....u gonna read war and peace on this little thing?

The device needs to be functional and make users proud to wear it. Right now a lotofpeople are unhappy with the looks. Apple has a problem and fanboys apologizing and making excuses fixes nothing. U need to get on board and join the call for an additional round version.

This is the dumbest argument for why YOU want it to be round, that anyone could make. Plenty of mechanical watches have a more squared body and watch face. Apple decided to make a square watch, end of story.