Logical watch improvements?

dabigkahuna · May 31, 2015

Figured I'd make some suggestions to Apple but, first, post here to see if others agree or can point out reasons my ideas aren't so good after all! And if you agree, maybe others can make the same suggestions.

So, my big idea at the moment concerns how you cover the watch face with your hand to quickly turn off the screen or silence an alarm on it or the iPhone it is paired with.

The problem to me is that it takes 3 seconds to turn off the alarm. I can't imagine any reason it should take that long. Personally, I'd like it to shut off an alarm as quickly as it turns off the screen. In 3 seconds, I could grab the phone and press the button. With the watch, I can cover the screen in less than half a second should an alarm go off at an inconvenient time.

Heck, even an alarm I want to go off during the day, I have no need to have it last more than an instant. I have no idea why Apple makes it last so long (maybe someone here has ideas). If there is some reason for it not to be instantly stopped, isn't 3 seconds still kinda long so some reduction would help? Or an option to set it for the time each user wants.

zmunkz · May 31, 2015

Probably to account for unintentional "covering"... what interval would you want to see?

dabigkahuna · May 31, 2015

zmunkz said: ↑

Probably to account for unintentional "covering"... what interval would you want to see?
Click to expand...

I guess unintentional covering could be a factor, especially for people who wear long sleeves (I'm in Hawaii - we don't do long sleeves!), but I have a solution for that. Shouldn't be a problem to have the software only turn off the alarm only if it is first NOT covered. So if I had it covered, I would first have to uncover it and then cover it again. Still would just take a moment. Another variation would be have it only turn off any sound but let it keep tapping. Though I'd still reduce the time on that. For my own preferences, I'd prefer instant!

I've never received a phone call on the watch so I'm not positive how that works - but if covering the watch does the same as pressing the power button on the iPhone (sends the call to voicemail), then maybe phone calls could keep the 3 second deal or, again, simply stop any audio but let it keep tapping for 3 seconds.

I happen to have a lot of alarms, set to go off 2 minutes before any class I teach so I can make sure I finish on time. Mine are all silent (set up on the watch) but it just feels silly to have to cover the watch that long just to stop the alarm. I have audio alarms on the phone for things which are absolutely critical I don't miss, but I want to be able to shut those off right away too.

NovemberWhiskey · May 31, 2015

1. Alarms across all devices should be synced, so that you can turn off your phone alarm from your watch and vice versa. I was stuck in the...well, let's say, shower...the other day, and my phone alarm went off. I would be "preoccupied" for another 15 minutes before I could go turn it off. Annoying for me, and anyone within earshot. Should also be able to turn on/off for each device from any device. Ex: Turn on/off iphone alarm, but leave on iPad alarm. Or, turn on/off all.

2. Let the digicrown scroll through the calender dates in month view. Don't know why they didn't implement that.

3. Siri needs voice feedback at least as robust as the iphone. I hate how sometimes you trigger Siri, and you start talking thinking it is listening, but you look down and see the microphone button. Why does it start listening automatically sometimes, whereas other times you have to manually press the mic button to start?

Also need Siri to be able to do things like start/stop the stopwatch/countdown timer. Right now it only opens the app as far as I know. Also no way to trigger shazam to ID songs. Siri is really critical to the watch's utility, and right now, it's pretty crippled for reasons I do not understand as they have a better version on the iphone.

4. Pages for the watch face. I get there are glances, but they should allow us to swipe left/right for different watch face "pages". I like the one with all the info in digital/written text for utility, and the clock faces for aesthetics. I'd like to just be able to swipe quickly left/right to get to different faces. Or maybe have it "flip" through complications or something else that you use often. Or maybe let is "pin" a certain app that we use frequently to a "page"

flur · May 31, 2015

dabigkahuna said: ↑

I guess unintentional covering could be a factor, especially for people who wear long sleeves (I'm in Hawaii - we don't do long sleeves!), but I have a solution for that. Shouldn't be a problem to have the software only turn off the alarm only if it is first NOT covered. So if I had it covered, I would first have to uncover it and then cover it again. Still would just take a moment. Another variation would be have it only turn off any sound but let it keep tapping. Though I'd still reduce the time on that. For my own preferences, I'd prefer instant!

I've never received a phone call on the watch so I'm not positive how that works - but if covering the watch does the same as pressing the power button on the iPhone (sends the call to voicemail), then maybe phone calls could keep the 3 second deal or, again, simply stop any audio but let it keep tapping for 3 seconds.

I happen to have a lot of alarms, set to go off 2 minutes before any class I teach so I can make sure I finish on time. Mine are all silent (set up on the watch) but it just feels silly to have to cover the watch that long just to stop the alarm. I have audio alarms on the phone for things which are absolutely critical I don't miss, but I want to be able to shut those off right away too.
Click to expand...

"Covered" requires you to press your hand to the screen. A shirt sleeve won't count as "covered". But I do believe that unintentional covering is the reason it's 3 seconds.

I haven't found the amount of time to be too long. IMO it's the perfect amount - the watch (and phone, in the case of calls) mutes pretty quickly, but I also know I'm not going to accidentally cancel a call I'm trying to answer.

docprego · May 31, 2015

1. Make the small buttons easier to tap. I often tap them without them registering the tap. Examples are the microphone and dismiss buttons.

2. Add a notes app and Siri tie in.

3. Enable image zooming with the digital crown. Only double tap currently zooms at all. Pinch to zoom is not present which the digital crown is supposed to replace the functionality of.

4. Make dismissal of notifications more consistent. Some can be dismissed by swiping them down, others require a swipe left and then you have to click clear.

5. Change the icon screen to something more logical akin to the iPhone layout. Or at least offer an option for a more grid like organized layout.

6. Incorporate a way to correct errors in Siri text dictation. Maybe something like. "correct swan to swap"

7. Enable Siri to display the watch face by voice command.

8. Enable watch faces with more complications. Only a few faces now offer multiple complications.

9. New watch faces, but this is most certainly just a matter of time and I fully expect this to be opened to 3rd party developers very soon. (WWDC?)

dabigkahuna · May 31, 2015

NovemberWhiskey said: ↑

4. Pages for the watch face. I get there are glances, but they should allow us to swipe left/right for different watch face "pages". I like the one with all the info in digital/written text for utility, and the clock faces for aesthetics. I'd like to just be able to swipe quickly left/right to get to different faces. Or maybe have it "flip" through complications or something else that you use often. Or maybe let is "pin" a certain app that we use frequently to a "page"
Click to expand...

Speaking of watch faces, we need digital ones that include seconds. Makes no sense to have accuracy to milliseconds but only be able to see minutes!

I'd also like to see more flexibility in at least some faces - call them "nerd faces" - where you can put more stuff on and even leave off the time if you wish. Ideally I'd like to even be able to resize items.

I could see myself sometimes using a watch face that shows time (with digital seconds), day, date, weather (the larger version that gives more than temperature), lunar phase, battery (this is often too small so I want to slightly increase the number size), stop-watch. Probably more when you can add third party stuff. All this can fit rather easily, in my opinion. Won't look pretty, but when using a watch face like this, I'm not interested in pretty - just usefulness. I might even want to see the heart rate at last check. I think some may want multiple world times as well.

dabigkahuna · May 31, 2015

flur said: ↑

"Covered" requires you to press your hand to the screen. A shirt sleeve won't count as "covered". But I do believe that unintentional covering is the reason it's 3 seconds.

I haven't found the amount of time to be too long. IMO it's the perfect amount - the watch (and phone, in the case of calls) mutes pretty quickly, but I also know I'm not going to accidentally cancel a call I'm trying to answer.
Click to expand...

I don't think it needs 3 seconds to be sure you aren't accidentally covering it - especially if clothing won't do it. The call cancel could be a problem but, like I said, just make calls take longer but alarms take less. Of course, ideally just let there be option settings so people can make it fit their needs.

NovemberWhiskey · Jun 1, 2015

Also have the ability to start the stopwatch or countdown timer just by tapping on the complications. And maybe open the apps by force touching or some other interaction to change the time.

For the countdown timer, start the countdown timer by tapping the complication, but allow you to adjust the time (without resetting the timer) on the fly after it has started. For example: you tapped it to start counting time, but it started at your last timer of 40 min. You want to change it to 50 minutes. Instead of resetting it, and starting fresh, you just say "change countdown timer to 50 minutes" but it keeps counting where you left off with the new total countdown time.

tivoboy · Jun 1, 2015

REMINDERS on watch faces please.
Sleep tracking (probably with and without HR monitoring)
Ability to reply to email with siri

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