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

[DreamPod]

Understood. But iPhone/Pad has trained us all to directly manipulate on-screen objects. Heck, there's even times I'll try to pinch-zoom a paper magazine.

So, IMHO, the crown seems redundant if it simply lets you achieve the same end-result should you chose not to use the gestures you already know well. Why would anyone do that?

Because the screen is so tiny, you could use the crown to scroll the screen much farther in one smooth motion than you could do in one swipe. The crown keeps you from having to do a bazillion tiny little swipes to scroll down any list larger than one screen. They could theoretically let you scroll faster with a swipe than the actual distance your finger moves on the screen to achieve the same affect, but as you said, we've been trained to directly manipulate on-screen objects, so making the screen scroll faster than your finger moves would just feel strange.

Like others, I do see a future where they eventually make the side of the watch case something you can swipe to simulate a digital crown.

 

[sulpfiction]

How about sliding your finger along the side of the case to achieve the same result?

Exactly what I was thinking. A live bezel that performed the exact same functions by sliding ur finger up and down on the side bezel. Could even have all 4 sides perform different functions.

 

[McCool71]

But it's the fact that the crown makes it look and feel like a real watch

This puzzles me in a big way. Smartwatches are not watches. They are small computers with a screen.

Why lots of people insist that it has to look like a traditional watch instead of the very cool piece of technology it could be if it was not shoehorned into an odd physical format (for what it is) I will never understand.

Give me a smart watch with a huge screen and great battery life and I would love it. No one has really done that yet, the Gear S is the closest to what I personally really want - which is a device that removes the need for actually having a cell phone in your pocket.

 

[kdarling]

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.

Yep, and a colored tip, like the Apple Watch Edition has. Jon Ive always copies a piece of Braun somewhere. It's like his shtick, along with using rounded rectangles.

And Braun lifted that technology from Ventura, circa 2003.

My favorite Ventura digital crown is this one. Not only is the crown used to set the time and scroll through menus, it can also be used to spin its onboard tiny generator to juice up the battery... just like "winding" a mechanical watch:

 

[Oppressed]

Samsung's next watch will be round and the circular bezel around the face will turn to scroll items. Basing this on a patent design they filed a few months ago.

But yes the crown design is genius in its simplicity.

 

[kdarling]

Samsung's next watch will be round and the circular bezel around the face will turn to scroll items. Basing this on a patent design they filed a few months ago.

Yep. Supposedly that's the "Orbis" project.

 

[roland.g]

Does the crown act as a button. Can you push it? If so, why is there a button too. If not, why not use the crown as a button and eliminate the button and center the crown.

 

[jk4lebron23]

Does the crown act as a button. Can you push it? If so, why is there a button too. If not, why not use the crown as a button and eliminate the button and center the crown.

Yes it is a button.
Trust me, until you try it then you will not understand how great it is.

 

[chfilm]

Using a crown is only possible because the Watch is as thick as a brick, allowing the crown to stand a few millimetres off the wrist.

What will replace the crown if/when battery tech facilitates a significantly slimmer Watch?

Just sliding a finger on the side of the watch maybe

 

[roland.g]

Yes it is a button.
Trust me, until you try it then you will not understand how great it is.

If the crown is a button, why do they need the second button?

 

[jk4lebron23]

If the crown is a button, why do they need the second button?

one takes you to your friends and the other to the home screen, plus they do different things for double tapping features

 

[Dhonk]

today I spoke with two of my high school students that have demo'd and pre-ordered the Apple Watches. One concern they had was navigating as they said the digital crown only zooms in on the app directly centered. I asked if the watch allowed the double-tap-to-zoom like other Macs and iOS devices. They said they didn't think so. But I think that would be a nice feature

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I would have preferred the crown to be centred on the side of the case.

For some reason Apple saw an urgent need for another button, I hope their reason is good enough. It could be that they believe accessing the people view is super important and needs its own hardware control, or it could be that two physical buttons are required for some things (screenshots?).

I totally second this. Why is the crown off centre? I know for the second button which has not a lot of functionality. I would have prefer it a lot if the crown was in the center no second button

 

[mightyjabba]

It's interesting that the Moto 360 actually has a crown, but they don't use it for anything other than a button. Maybe that's more a limitation of Android Wear than a failing of Motorola's imagination. There are probably limits to what the manufacturers can do in terms of real innovation when they have to use Google's existing OS.

 

[MH01]

You don't think there's more in the making by other companies now that apple is creating a market? I think "99%" makes perfect sense and your just acting, like you said, nitpicky.

99% ....... You are on the wrong side of the scale. I'd advise you do some research and find out how many companies makes watches, your underestimating it by a huge amount. The companies that produce smartwatches are closer to the 1%

And as someone has stated, it's only due to the thickness of the Apple watch the crown is useful as navigation, a crown is not suppose to be used on a watch when worn.

If it works for you great!

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It's interesting that the Moto 360 actually has a crown, but they don't use it for anything other than a button. Maybe that's more a limitation of Android Wear than a failing of Motorola's imagination. There are probably limits to what the manufacturers can do in terms of real innovation when they have to use Google's existing OS.

It's a button, not a crown. That would be the limitation.

 

[mightyjabba]

It's a button, not a crown. That would be the limitation.

Well yeah. But my point is that they probably couldn't have enabled Apple Watch-style digital crown functionality even if they had wanted to since they have to use Android Wear.

 

[Che Castro]

I admit at first I thought it was really gimmicky, and didn't need it at all. Even when I played with the Watch in the store, it felt... foreign. But, just after about 10-15 minutes of playing with the crown, I started getting the hang of it and was making much more sense. I can't say for sure, but I think after we get through the learning curve it will be like second nature.

If this matters, I brought my girl friend to the Apple Store with me, and she doesn't use a single Apple product and is not tech savvy at all. When we went over to the watches, the thing she was most excited about was the crown. She just thought it was "cool". I think she had a bit too much customizing the watch faces using the crown.

Although that's just an isolated case, perhaps the crown is also targeted at drawing in the less tech-savvy? Would be interesting to hear how other non-Apple-geeks reacted to using the Watch.

Does she use an android phone or no smartphone at all

 

[MH01]

Well yeah. But my point is that they probably couldn't have enabled Apple Watch-style digital crown functionality even if they had wanted to since they have to use Android Wear.

You said the moto360 has a crown, though it's a limitation of Android that it cannot scroll etc. No. Its a Button, given it not a crown, how do you come to a conclusion that its androids fault.

Or are you saying that android does not allow scrolling or zooming? Cause you would be incorrect. The crown is just an input device.

 

[mightyjabba]

You said the moto360 has a crown, though it's a limitation of Android that it cannot scroll etc. No. Its a Button, given it not a crown, how do you come to a conclusion that its androids fault.

Or are you saying that android does not allow scrolling or zooming? Cause you would be incorrect. The crown is just an input device.

I'm just saying that I don't think an Android Wear manufacturer could duplicate all of the functionality of the digital crown even if it wanted to, since they can't just rewrite the OS to suit their hardware. The digital crown does more than just scroll, after all.

 

[MH01]

I'm just saying that I don't think an Android Wear manufacturer could duplicate all of the functionality of the digital crown even if it wanted to, since they can't just rewrite the OS to suit their hardware. The digital crown does more than just scroll, after all.

Would the Apple watch work if the crown was replaced with a button?

Also apart from being a home button what does the crown do? Already assuming it zooms etc. Just read the Apple site, am I missing something?

 

[mightyjabba]

Would the Apple watch work if the crown was replaced with a button?

Would it work? Mostly, I think. I'm not sure if there are parts of the OS where you have no option but to scroll with the crown to make a selection, etc. But it wouldn't be as nice to use. It's a button and a scroll wheel, but I think it's the way the the OS uses it that's the real selling point for it.

The point I was trying to make is that Android Wear is a lot less open than Android itself, which is making it difficult for manufacturers to differentiate their smartwatches from each other. Take the article below, in which Huawei complains that they aren't able to do much to customize the OS compared to what they can do with phones.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/huawei-calls-on-google-to-allow-freedom-to-customise-android-wear

 

[MH01]

Would it work? Mostly, I think. I'm not sure if there are parts of the OS where you have no option but to scroll with the crown to make a selection, etc. But it wouldn't be as nice to use. It's a button and a scroll wheel, but I think it's the way the the OS uses it that's the real selling point for it.

The point I was trying to make is that Android Wear is a lot less open than Android itself, which is making it difficult for manufacturers to differentiate their smartwatches from each other. Take the article below, in which Huawei complains that they aren't able to do much to customize the OS compared to what they can do with phones.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/huawei-calls-on-google-to-allow-freedom-to-customise-android-wear

Android wear allows for scrolling and zooming, it also has a home button. It would work. Though for a crown to work you need a thick devive. As I stated previously, crowns are not used on watches when worn for traditional watches.

 

[shenfrey]

99% ....... You are on the wrong side of the scale. I'd advise you do some research and find out how many companies makes watches, your underestimating it by a huge amount. The companies that produce smartwatches are closer to the 1%



And as someone has stated, it's only due to the thickness of the Apple watch the crown is useful as navigation, a crown is not suppose to be used on a watch when worn.



If it works for you great!

----------





It's a button, not a crown. That would be the limitation.

But having a crown on the Apple watch makes it look more appealing. The button on the moto 360, looks like a button. I think apple tried their best to mimic traditional watches and I'm sure it will help sales.

 

[MH01]

But having a crown on the Apple watch makes it look more appealing. The button on the moto 360, looks like a button. I think apple tried their best to mimic traditional watches and I'm sure it will help sales.

You do realize that on traditional watches, the crown is not used while the watch is on the wrist? With the apple watch being thicker, it allows it to be used for scrolling.

Its a nice option to have. Its effectively a big home button.

 

[SHNXX]

this was an absolutely brilliant design detail that is inspired by traditional watches.