Jony Ive on Apple Watch: 'Everything We Did Was in the Pursuit of What We Thought Was the Best Solution'

[bopajuice]

I prefer the Garmin Fenix. I get two weeks on a single charge. It has GPS, HR, receives texts, notifications for calls, tracking, etc. Tells me the Altitude, has a Barometer, and tracks the whether. Even has a find my phone feature, I can download golf course maps and use it to determine the distance to the flag on each hole. I can use it to track my mountain bike rides and save the data on the watch with the built in GPS. I do not need to take my phone with me. I just sync after a ride when I get home. Much of what I want a smart watch to do and more. Yet it is rugged, waterproof, and looks good. I can't send texts or answer calls, but considering my phone is in my pocket or next to me, that is not too important. Besides I don't have an interest in answering my phone or responding to a text when I am outdoors enjoying nature.

On the other hand, the Apple Watch is a beautiful device, very elegant. The screen is very clear, and does a lot more than my Garmin can do, but it just does not suit my lifestyle.

 

[Mac 128]

Interesting reading your comments. I’ve only used the s3 in the shops and didn’t see the rotating bezel as an advantage and the GUI pissed me off. I prob just need to get used to it. But I get it during workouts.

Personally I’m a fan of the crown. It’s easy to scroll text messages without touching the screen.

Great you found a watch that works for you. It’s an emerging tech area and is only going to get better from here.

I don't understand why there needs to be a separate control to scroll the screen. It's counterintuitive to all other iOS devices. If the argument is to keep from blocking the text as you scroll, the watch has a ridiculously large built bezel, perfect for scrolling off the display itself, and far more efficient.

I personally find the crown to be fiddly to use, and requires an awkward perch of the hand to facilitate its delicate mount on the side of the watch.

The only reason I can see to justify the crown is for fashion -- Jony Ive thought it looked cool, and so there it is. So the main argument against making it round is encapsulated in an anachronistic throwback to the 19th century, with is a primary feature of the thing. Talk about your irony.

 

[convergent]

Interesting reading your comments. I’ve only used the s3 in the shops and didn’t see the rotating bezel as an advantage and the GUI pissed me off. I prob just need to get used to it. But I get it during workouts.

Personally I’m a fan of the crown. It’s easy to scroll text messages without touching the screen.

Great you found a watch that works for you. It’s an emerging tech area and is only going to get better from here.

Yes, I'm just glad we have choices that are good.

I had played with the Gear S3 a long time before I bought one... actually at a point in time where I had no intention to move from Apple gear. I didn't find it that easy in that few minute play. My basis for saying it was more intuitive was how long it took me as an owner to be comfortable with it. After one day, I found it to be easier to use for me than the AW that I'd used for 2 years.

 

[spinedoc77]

I completely disagree with you on this. I owned and wore daily an AW for 2 years. But after getting a Gear S3, in my opinion, the round watch face serves a tremendous function in allowing a rotating dial for navigation. Its way better than the crown or screen swiping that the AW uses. This is especially true with sweaty hands during a workout. It also looks way better, and there is no loss of screen real estate because the apps end up using the curved areas to put things.

To me, the AW is one of those things that is so ugly that its cute... so how Ives claims they did it all in pursuit of the best is just bunk.

I bought the Gear S3 fully expecting to be very disappointed and the experience is just the opposite. A huge part of that is the rotating bezel which wouldn't be functionally possible with a square screen.

Cool, I knew there would be some functionality. I suppose it depends on how many users value that app and functionality, I'd rather have the square face for everyday things like my watch face information, text messages, etc. But I get and agree with your point that there are some uses for a round face, I even said so much in my last post. I can't imagine ever using my watch for navigation though, if I'm walking I'd just pop out my phone and if I was driving, well I wouldn't want to kill myself looking at my watch. But that's just me. Plus I still opine a rectangle is better for navigation in general. Of course I'm not sure if you aren't referring to some obscure navigation, maybe mountain climbing? I'm also not sure about apps using the curved areas to put things, I guess I would have to see that on an app by app basis. If anything a curved screen seems to cut things off, in particular things that have text, lists, etc., which is virtually inclusive of how I use my smartwatch. I actually took a few minutes to go through my apps on my watch and feel they would be inferior on a round screen.

OF COURSE this all just references one users personal preference, which does not mean I am right in the least. I respect how you use your watch and appreciate learning something new. I don't really think either way makes enough of a difference, I guess I don't rely on my smartwatch that much. Fashion is probably a better marker for spending your money than true functionality at this point.

I also agree that the AW is quite ugly, in an 80s casio watch sort of way. It's way too thick, the bezels are too large and the fact that Apple tries to make them look smaller with black/dark apps is obvious. But I haven't really seen an Android watch I thought was attractive either, with some of them being worse than the AW. I think the Tag Heuer is not bad looking at all, but I'm a fan of larger bulky analog watches and that would definitely be a fashion over functionality choice.

 

[Mac 128]

Cool, I knew there would be some functionality. I suppose it depends on how many users value that app and functionality, I'd rather have the square face for everyday things like my watch face information, text messages, etc. But I get and agree with your point that there are some uses for a round face, I even said so much in my last post. I can't imagine ever using my watch for navigation though, if I'm walking I'd just pop out my phone and if I was driving, well I wouldn't want to kill myself looking at my watch. But that's just me. Plus I still opine a rectangle is better for navigation in general. Of course I'm not sure if you aren't referring to some obscure navigation, maybe mountain climbing? I'm also not sure about apps using the curved areas to put things, I guess I would have to see that on an app by app basis. If anything a curved screen seems to cut things off, in particular things that have text, lists, etc., which is virtually inclusive of how I use my smartwatch. I actually took a few minutes to go through my apps on my watch and feel they would be inferior on a round screen.

OF COURSE this all just references one users personal preference, which does not mean I am right in the least. I respect how you use your watch and appreciate learning something new. I don't really think either way makes enough of a difference, I guess I don't rely on my smartwatch that much. Fashion is probably a better marker for spending your money than true functionality at this point.

I also agree that the AW is quite ugly, in an 80s casio watch sort of way. It's way too thick, the bezels are too large and the fact that Apple tries to make them look smaller with black/dark apps is obvious. But I haven't really seen an Android watch I thought was attractive either, with some of them being worse than the AW. I think the Tag Heuer is not bad looking at all, but I'm a fan of larger bulky analog watches and that would definitely be a fashion over functionality choice.

I'm really not sure how round is worse for navigation than square. Indeed, round makes far more use of the current space available to display more of the map to give a better sense of relative location:

And, it's not like the Apple watch doesn't cut things off as well:

Indeed, the round format based on current display options at the same size offers significantly more display area without sacrificing anything:

And remember that's an ACTUAL Huawei 42mm watch compared to an actual 42mm Apple Watch (38mm is an extrapolation). There are no thick bezels on the Huawei, unlike the Apple Watch. Of course that may change if the rumors are correct and Apple intends to go bezel free, edge-to-edge, as the round watch makers have been doing for several years:

But even if Apple goes for an edge-to-edge display like the Huawei, without increasing the total watch dimensions, the round shape still has a comparable amount of space, merely allocated differently, though Apple will admittedly have the edge:

Some apps would actually benefit from it, like being able to frame the landscape view remotely from your camera:

EVEN in portrait mode such that you can actually see it on such a small display:

And I guess putting things in the curved areas works better or worse depending on the app, which is true for putting things in the corners as well, but one of the main functions of the watch seems to be all the better for it, offering a larger text display in the process:

But to each his own!

 

[ErikGrim]

I love how your round mockups magically doesn't need bezels.

 

[convergent]

I love how your round mockups magically doesn't need bezels.

My Gear S3 has nearly no bezel because I presume its sticking under the frame, while the AW has a curved display so the bezel is exposed. The frame in the picture does seem a little small to be able to hide all the bezel though.

 

[Mac 128]

My Gear S3 has nearly no bezel because I presume its sticking under the frame, while the AW has a curved display so the bezel is exposed. The frame in the picture does seem a little small to be able to hide all the bezel though.

The Huawei pictured in my examples is the actual display area from the actual commercially available watch. The bottom three examples are the actual Moto, which all contain the flat tire at the bottom. But the Huawei and other recent models overcame that issue. The Gear S3 is a different animal with different control surfaces required by the rotating bezel.

Keep in mind, the 42mm Apple Watch has a larger battery and greater battery life than the 38mm, yet they kept the bezel proportionately the same rather than enlarge the display area and take advantage of the greater battery life. This was almost certainly a stylistic choice to keep the 38 and 42mm sizes identical. Even with the cureved glass, the bezel is far larger than similar sized watches -- presumably a compromise to conserve power.

 

[spinedoc77]

My Gear S3 has nearly no bezel because I presume its sticking under the frame, while the AW has a curved display so the bezel is exposed. The frame in the picture does seem a little small to be able to hide all the bezel though.

Don't forget about the hardware bezels though, none of the smartwatches are truly edge to edge. A bezel is a bezel IMO.

 

[kdarling]

History validates what I say, not later Jon Ive self-serving PR hype. Anyone can easily see for themselves where the Apple Watch design came from... and it sure wasn't the Cartier Santos or Tank or any other square watch that reporters tried to compare it to.

All that, plus I forgot about the other design piece that J. Ive got from somewhere else: the dot on the Edition crown.

I love how your round mockups magically doesn't need bezels.

Motorola loved to point out how much bezel the Apple Watch had... with a bit less than half its frontal area being actual display.

I measured it as well. If the 360 hadn't had a flat bottom, and the AW didn't have curved edges, the disparity would've been even greater.

 

[convergent]

Don't forget about the hardware bezels though, none of the smartwatches are truly edge to edge. A bezel is a bezel IMO.

I totally agree with you, but just trying to explain the pictures. The round are going into a frame.

But that said, the Gear S3 has an attractive look like a normal watch... which all have hardware "bezels". Its expected. And in the case of the Gear S3, its functional. With the AW, its just dead space that doesn't look good and serves no purpose. Which back to the thread subject... means there wasn't any "everything we did was for the best", or at least many years later the tech is there to do better but Apple continues to milk this design.

 

[spinedoc77]

I totally agree with you, but just trying to explain the pictures. The round are going into a frame.

But that said, the Gear S3 has an attractive look like a normal watch... which all have hardware "bezels". Its expected. And in the case of the Gear S3, its functional. With the AW, its just dead space that doesn't look good and serves no purpose. Which back to the thread subject... means there wasn't any "everything we did was for the best", or at least many years later the tech is there to do better but Apple continues to milk this design.

Maybe, but this is only personal preference. The S3's dial is pretty big IMO, and I'm still not convinced of its usefulness, once again just my own personal use (I also don't think I've ever used the crown on my AW). The AW flows better between the screen and the hardware IMO, still an ugly watch, but it just has a very nice transition. That's ignoring the huge bezels for a second.

I think Apple's stance on believing what was best was based off of battery life. The AW has piss poor battery life, and to make the screen larger or make it thinner would have made it even worse. If a round smartwatch has better battery life because it can fit in a larger battery then I will definitely change my mind that a round watch is more functional. Since that's definitely the case (ignoring OS differences) then I'll go ahead and do that. You don't get much more functional than battery life. I definitely don't want anyone thinking I'm saying round smartwatches are useless, that's not the case at all and you guys have convinced me they are just as useful, and more in some cases, than a rectangular watch. I guess on some level I still think of things in terms of a rectangle, a sheet of paper, my computer screen, my smart phone, etc., but it's good to get out of that paradigm once in a while.

 

[Mac 128]

Don't forget about the hardware bezels though, none of the smartwatches are truly edge to edge. A bezel is a bezel IMO.

No, but Apple is wasting a much larger amount of space on bezels than most of its competitors.

It will be interesting to see how much larger Apple makes the display area if the rumors pan out. But you're right, I doubt it will go edge-to-edge like the iPhone X. It will likely be somewhere in between, which will at least put it into parity with the display area of many round watches of the same size.

 

[Donoban]

I don't understand why there needs to be a separate control to scroll the screen. It's counterintuitive to all other iOS devices. If the argument is to keep from blocking the text as you scroll, the watch has a ridiculously large built bezel, perfect for scrolling off the display itself, and far more efficient.

I personally find the crown to be fiddly to use, and requires an awkward perch of the hand to facilitate its delicate mount on the side of the watch.

The only reason I can see to justify the crown is for fashion -- Jony Ive thought it looked cool, and so there it is. So the main argument against making it round is encapsulated in an anachronistic throwback to the 19th century, with is a primary feature of the thing. Talk about your irony.

Lol. Love the last para.

You’re right. A nod to the history of timepieces.

But I kinda like that it looks like a watch.