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It's the crown that's won it for apple

mojolicious said:
A crown the size of the pinhead isn't going to be much use to me: I've got fingers like sausages.
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A lot of people think it it, but you don't grab the crown and twist it like a knob. Instead it is fluid enough to simply push up with the tip of your finger. It makes it a lot easier to use.

I think that's what has a lot of people confused with the orientation and backwards scrolling talk. It's just like touching to scroll, you grab a point on the screen and shift the content by that point; only instead of you dictating the location of the press, it's centered on the screen (or selected object). You will "push up" to shift the content down, but on the side, off the UI, and on the crown.
 
jmann said:
I love how the crown gets harder to turn when you reach the end of a scroll list. It feels like it's on a rubber band. It's a small but really nice tough. I haven't heard many people mention it.
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Does it actually do that? I didn't notice it.
 
Arran said:
...

Granted, It's a nice decoration, and a retro reference to old-fashioned watches - but isn't the goal of the Apple device to re-define what "watch" means?
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No, that is more like Microsoft thinking. Apple's goal is intuitive operation.

When you assert that the "goal of the Apple device to re-define what 'watch' means," you are defining an endpoint. That is much closer to the Microsoft way than the Apple way. What Apple does is to try all conceivable possibilities--"infinite variety in infinite combinations" in Star Trek Vulcan-speak. It chooses the combination that works best.
 
Arran said:
Does it actually do that? I didn't notice it.
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I don't know if it becomes harder to scroll, but hidden within the software headers was support for a digital detent which gives you a response when you hit the bottom of a list (like a small vibrate) to cause a similar sensation.
 
:apple:Watch II: The Trackening. You saw it here first.

APPLEWATCHII.jpg
 
MisterMe said:
No, that is more like Microsoft thinking. Apple's goal is intuitive operation.
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And since iPhone/iPad and all the other touchscreen devices emerged, direct onscreen manipulation has become the new "intuitive".

MisterMe said:
What Apple does is to try all conceivable possibilities--"infinite variety in infinite combinations" in Star Trek Vulcan-speak. It chooses the combination that works best.
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Historically, Apple may have done that or something like it. (I'm really not sure what you described is a viable process - considering the impossibility of evaluating infinite combinations.)

But whatever their design process was in the past, they seem to be straying from it now.

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Mascots said:
I don't know if it becomes harder to scroll, but hidden within the software headers was support for a digital detent which gives you a response when you hit the bottom of a list (like a small vibrate) to cause a similar sensation.
Click to expand...

Ah, the small vibrate makes sense. I couldn't see them trying to squeeze a small electromagnetic clutch or brake into the crown.
 
It'll soon be copied hard, it's inevitable. But I think the Apple Watch OS is already much better than Android Wear.
 
SchneiderMan said:
It'll soon be copied hard, it's inevitable. But I think the Apple Watch OS is already much better than Android Wear.
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It's been sort-of done already. Braun got there in 2012 with their bn10 watch

Recessed crown. Swipe to scroll through menus, press to action.
 

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Arran said:
It's been sort-of done already. Braun got there in 2012 with their bn10 watch

Recessed crown. Swipe to scroll through menus, press to action.
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Yes but the zoom functionality is really what makes it useful in a smartwatch interface.
 
SchneiderMan said:
Yes but the zoom functionality is really what makes it useful in a smartwatch interface.
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I'm sure I'd get the hang of zooming in time. It tried it, but it wasn't intuitive which way was zoom-in and which was zoom-out. There's no way to deduce it. You just have to learn it.

Pinch is more intuitive because you establish the mental model that you're stretching the content layer as you pinch out.
 
Yes. I completely agree with you. The digital crown is the best thing that happened in smart watch market.

Those people saying that pinch to zoom is more intuitive are right also. Because it is. But it honestly is incredibly impractical on a smart watch. And these people arguing for it won't get it untill they get their hands on the Watch. Digital crown is ultimately the right design choise by Apple.
 
shenfrey said:
Yeah the tach looks sick, the software is great and the functionality is terrific. But it's the fact that the crown makes it look and feel like a real watch, it's game over for the competition because you just know Apple is patenting the hell outta it.

You can bet that 99% of smart watch manufactures are kicking themselves right now.
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How can you patent something thats been in every traditional watch....
 
In 5 years, everyone will be going on about how "obvious" it was and how ridiculous Apple is for patenting something that everyone and their grandmother could come up with (yet strangely no one did before Apple started).
 
digbybare said:
In 5 years, everyone will be going on about how "obvious" it was and how ridiculous Apple is for patenting something that everyone and their grandmother could come up with (yet strangely no one did before Apple started).
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The functionality inside the Crown.
 
shenfrey said:
The functionality inside the Crown.
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Yes, I get that. I think it's a completely innovative idea. I'm saying that in 5 years, it'll feel so natural and normal to everyone that they'll forget that it took someone (Apple) to think of it.

It's like slide to unlock. Before the iPhone, no one had that and yet, now, because it feels so natural, everyone thinks it's just an obvious thing that Apple's ridiculous for patenting.
 
digbybare said:
Yes, I get that. I think it's a completely innovative idea. I'm saying that in 5 years, it'll feel so natural and normal to everyone that they'll forget that it took someone (Apple) to think of it.



It's like slide to unlock. Before the iPhone, no one had that and yet, now, because it feels so natural, everyone thinks it's just an obvious thing that Apple's ridiculous for patenting.
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Ah I see where your coming from now :)
 
Arran said:
It's been sort-of done already. Braun got there in 2012 with their bn10 watch

Recessed crown. Swipe to scroll through menus, press to action.
Click to expand...

And Braun lifted that technology from Ventura, circa 2003.

kat_w40_1.jpg
 
Arran said:
Sensing rotation of control knob (which is what the crown is) is as old as the hills. There's many ways to do it (opto-electronically or electromagnetically being the main ones) so I'm not sure how patentable it is.

Here's a good rundown: http://www.electronicproducts.com/E...ts/Choosing_a_sensor_to_measure_rotation.aspx

So expect to see the Samsung Crown/Tiara/Whatever ;) soon.
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A technology can be patented. An application of a technology to a particular device can also be patented. Apple probably can't patent control wheels, but they may be able to patent using a control wheel on the side of a watch to control movement in a software list on a wrist computer.
 
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