Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Apple Watch to Launch in Fall 2017 With Improved Battery Life But No Major Design Changes

Channan said:
View attachment 681584
Click to expand...

Apple would not implement it this way. Notice how much bigger the round face is on the round watch with the greater display area compared to the smaller display on the equivalent sized Apple Watch -- they would keep the type face the same and populate the complications inside the, like all good chronometers do ...

Otaviano said:
It just makes no sense to me, and that Apple the company who drives forward and removes the headphone jack is going to make a round watch strictly because of the sentiment that watches need to be round when the only reason they were round was because of the machanics that made them work. Mechanics which are no longer a hinderance.
Click to expand...

What makes no sense is the assumption that a watch has to be round to accommodate the mechanics. Nothing of the kind is true. A bunch of round gears do not have to be arranged in a circular pattern. Have you ever looked inside a mechanical watch? Most actions are anything but round, and in fact one of the most popular Cartier watches is square.

musio said:
Saying you want a round watch because watches are round is like saying you want a rotary dial telephone shaped iPhone. I understand not everyone is saying that but 'round looks nice' is subjective due to round watches being common.
Click to expand...

Yeah, nobody is saying that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kdarling
Mac 128 said:
Apple would not implement it this way. Notice how much bigger the round face is on the round watch with the greater display area compared to the smaller display on the equivalent sized Apple Watch -- they would keep the type face the same and populate the complications inside the, like all good chronometers do ...
Click to expand...
Why is everyone getting so hung up on the face? That watch is a mockup of what a round Apple Watch could look like. Nobody is claiming it to be a leak so why is everyone acting like it is?
 
surfrider007 said:
Needs cellular. I want to dump my iPhone and go to watch/iPad only. Not gonna buy watch until it has that functionality
Click to expand...

That's what I'm waiting for. I have the original sport in space grey but until they release one with a data connection of its own, it's not really upgrading to me.
 
dumping phone completely? not sure that would even be possible. be a pain for people to text on the watch all the time
 
The Game 161 said:
dumping phone completely? not sure that would even be possible. be a pain for people to text on the watch all the time
Click to expand...

Depends on how much they text. I have to say I honestly have also been very impressed with dictation on the watch. I am able to dictate messages in multiple languages with very little errors. For all the crap Siri takes it's an area that really surprised me.

Also once the watch has a data connection a second screen could be often paired to it. Like an iPad mini, which would allow you to respond to texts with a little more comfort.

I am a big believer in putting 4G in the watch. Could be big disrupter in the smart phone space. Image if Apple released it alongside a new generation iPod Touch model.
 
Channan said:
Why is everyone getting so hung up on the face? That watch is a mockup of what a round Apple Watch could look like. Nobody is claiming it to be a leak so why is everyone acting like it is?
Click to expand...

You're missing the point. Your mock-up is inadvertently "proving" the superiority of the square face to some, because the four corner complications have no place to go. And that's what's being debated here. But Apple would never just enlarge their existing design to fit the larger area of a round watch relative to their bezel constricted rectangular design, they would design a new round watch face which was able to easily include complications on the interior of the face as many chronograph watches have been doing for years.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ErikGrim
Mac 128 said:
You're missing the point. Your mock-up is inadvertently "proving" the superiority of the square face to some, because the complications have no place to go. And that's what's being debated here. But Apple would never just enlarge their existing design to fit the larger area of a round watch relative to their bezel constricted rectangular design, they would design a new round watch face which was able to easily include complications on the interior of the face as many chronograph watches have been doing for years.
Click to expand...
Or they could put the complications over the face. Design some new faces that don't look bad with it or have standard faces for people who would rather a nicer looking watch than use complications, like me.
 
Mac 128 said:
Apple would not implement it this way. Notice how much bigger the round face is on the round watch with the greater display area compared to the smaller display on the equivalent sized Apple Watch -- they would keep the type face the same and populate the complications inside the, like all good chronometers do ...
Click to expand...

Umm, the picture he posted DOES have complications inside the large round watchface. Did he change the picture after you saw i?

What makes no sense is the assumption that a watch has to be round to accommodate the mechanics. Nothing of the kind is true.
Click to expand...

This times a thousand. I cringe whenever someone claims that clocks were round for mechanical reasons.

Not only is that not true, but almost all of the first few hundred years of clocks were housed in rectangular building faces or towers. Not to mention rectangular grandfather or wall clocks.

The reason pocket watch cases were round, was because it made them easier to pull in and out of pockets without catching on the fabric.

When the pocket watch moved to the wrist, the roundness mostly stayed for similar reasons, and for style.

Of course, it also didn't hurt that an analog face is round and fits perfectly inside a round case shape.
 
Jsameds said:
Thinner. Just looking at this reminds me of 1st gen iPhone, but if they can focus on improving battery life before they start shaving away at the thing then I'm all for it.

apple-watch-42mm-mega.jpg
Click to expand...
Wearing the watch on the wrist it doesn't make it look that thick at all. They are many watches out with the same thickness as the AW, and there are even thicker ones out there. I think it going to be hard to get it thinner
with longer battery life at the same time, there going to of to be some kind of compromise.
 
Otaviano said:
Depends on how much they text. I have to say I honestly have also been very impressed with dictation on the watch. I am able to dictate messages in multiple languages with very little errors. For all the crap Siri takes it's an area that really surprised me.

Also once the watch has a data connection a second screen could be often paired to it. Like an iPad mini, which would allow you to respond to texts with a little more comfort.

I am a big believer in putting 4G in the watch. Could be big disrupter in the smart phone space. Image if Apple released it alongside a new generation iPod Touch model.
Click to expand...
I had 3G/4G on my Gear watch and as nice as it was to have I felt I used it very little but If they had a way to have it link to your own number and not a separate number maybe that would be of interest
 
The Game 161 said:
I had 3G/4G on my Gear watch and as nice as it was to have I felt I used it very little but If they had a way to have it link to your own number and not a separate number maybe that would be of interest
Click to expand...

I want it to have a separate number because I do go places that T-Mobile doesn't work. It would be nice if I could get a data plan on the iWatch with AT&T or Verizon. That would be useful for things like GPS.
 
surfrider007 said:
I talk to text almost exclusively already. So it would be be much of a change for me.
Click to expand...

My experience with Siri on the Apple Watch is that it is still fairly accurate for short replies no longer than a single sentence of up to 10 words. Any longer, and you increase the risk of at least one word being transcribed incorrectly, and you then have to decide between repeating the dictation process or sending a message with typos.

And not all replies can be dictated this way. Even a simple request such as asking for the contact number of a friend would be impossible to comply with unless you have your phone on you.

Our smartphones have become incredibly personal computers which we use to interact with the world around us. Are people really willing to give that all up even if the Apple Watch came with 4g? Would you be fine with leaving your iPhone at home and not being able to browse the web, surf Facebook, scan documents, play games, and a myriad of other stuff people do on their smartphones these days?
 
Abazigal said:
Our smartphones have become incredibly personal computers which we use to interact with the world around us.
Click to expand...

They've also become barriers to normal social interaction, but that's a different topic.

Are people really willing to give that all up even if the Apple Watch came with 4g?
Click to expand...

We wouldn't be giving it all up. This would simply be an additional option, so we did not have to always lug around an entire smartphone just to have basic communications available.

Would you be fine with leaving your iPhone at home and not being able to browse the web, surf Facebook, scan documents, play games, and a myriad of other stuff people do on their smartphones these days?
Click to expand...

I'll answer for my own situation:

There are places I go each day where I am not going to browse the web, surf Facebook, scan docs, play games or any of that stuff we do on smartphones.

Getting groceries and going out to eat at our favorite restaurant, for example. Running or cycling, too. Walking the beach would be much more romantic with just a wrist phone ;)

Quite often it'd also be a lot easier if we didn't need an extra pocket to carry our phones. Especially during the summertime for women with no pockets at all.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: surfrider007
Yeah like stated above I don't always need it. And remember I said I'd migrate to watch/iPad. Right now between work and personal devices I lug 2 iPhones, a laptop and an iPad pretty much everywhere I go. For my situation it would be great to cut devices where I can.
 
kdarling said:
I don't recall anyone saying that per se.

Many people do say that it would look better to them if it was round.

Ah. Perhaps you mean the way that some people say that the current shape looks like a computer terminal (or iPhone/iPod) on your wrist?

Well, it does! :)

It sure doesn't look like a Tank or a Santos or any of those other famous rectangular watches people like to bring up. Those have pretty darned big watch lugs, for one thing. And a more squared off shape, instead of the Apple Watch's signature rounded pillow shape by J. Ive.

As already noted, it reminds me of the first iPhone. Or a lady's purse pill box:

View attachment 681944

It's an okay unoffensive shape, but it's just bland to me. Your impression may vary :)
Click to expand...


I think that the lugs are probably not going to ever come out of the watch body because switching bands easily is part of the sales model. I do agree that the style could use freshening up. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, but no matter, I think it'll always look like a terminal strapped to one's wrist as long as the thing goes black when not in use. Even if they put diamonds around the bezel. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: kdarling
Abazigal said:
Our smartphones have become incredibly personal computers which we use to interact with the world around us. Are people really willing to give that all up even if the Apple Watch came with 4g? Would you be fine with leaving your iPhone at home and not being able to browse the web, surf Facebook, scan documents, play games, and a myriad of other stuff people do on their smartphones these days?
Click to expand...

I think there are people who would make that trade off.

A watch with 4G could be marketed as kind of being connected without being addicted to a screen. It could give you just enough of your connected life: pay, directions, messsages, and so on.

I also believe in a future where everything is a dumb screen and it reacts to you. A watch could be central to that. Pick up an iPad and it serves your content.
 
kdarling said:
As for circular screens, they do just fine with text in the middle. We've already been over this bogus complaint many times before. Anyone who tries to bring up text display has to explain (1) why they're not using a bigger screen for it, if text is that important, and (2) why people buy the smaller Apple Watch which displays less.

And yeah, some things work great in circles.
Click to expand...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/android-wear-2-0-vs-apple-watch.2031867/#post-24294688

I disagree with you.
 
OneMike said:
Same. I wouldn't be surprised with Apple though if with the next is version they start limiting available features on gen 1.
Click to expand...
Possibly but I don't think your average consumer is going to buy a new Apple Watch at $300-$1200 on a yearly basis.

What they really need is a watch face store.
 
jimbo1mcm said:
I don't have a dog in this fight, but if they made a round, good looking, thin watch, that had a battery that lasted at least a week, I would be interested.
Click to expand...

Round so that something like this may happen...surely changes the whole meaning of the story! :D
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0245.JPG
    IMG_0245.JPG
    58.3 KB · Views: 83
Thai said:
Round so that something like this may happen...surely changes the whole meaning of the story! :D
Click to expand...
I must have more faith in Apple than you because I'm convinced they could easily make WatchOS work better than that with a circular screen if they wanted to. Of course some features are always going to be better suited to a rectangular screen but a lot of the WatchOS features are also circular based and would work better with a round display.

I'm not sure it will ever happen but adding the option of a circular watch could attract a even more customers because the current single design is divisive and it does put a lot of people off. My years of experience on this forum also make me confident enough to predict that many of the current "square is best" fans would be first in queue if Apple were to release a great looking round watch. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back