Crown best feature, but wrong placement.

[mtmac]

The key for acceptance of smart watches lies in making them both necessary and less geeky. It may take a generation or two to make them functionally a must have accessory. Just having Apple in the market makes them less geeky, and I believe this to be a good first effort. Having interchangeable bands is mandatory for success on a device like this, for such a personal item.

The round vs. rectangular issue is a strange one. Rectangular watches are classic as well, so why try to migrate to a standard that is so detrimental for digital content? Look at the Moto 360. To facilitate it's circular face, it had to be so big that even Flavor Flav would think it was just plain tacky.

The digital crown is the best feature of the watch. Everyone who's ever worn a digital watch knows the buttons get destroyed shortly thereafter. Classic watches all have crowns and this is what helps make this watch look traditional. Why not put it dead center like all other crowns on all other conventional watches then? Either they could omit the lower button, or put a button on both sides of the crown. Then Left-handed people could reverse it without it looking upside down. The crown helps eliminate the geeky factor, will be a great UI, but why would Apple put it in such a non-traditional location?

Likely, I'll be a second or third generation adopter, when the device will be far more useful and by that time I would expect a more traditional location for the crown.

 

[zipa]

Why not put it dead center like all other crowns on all other conventional watches then? Either they could omit the lower button, or put a button on both sides of the crown. Then Left-handed people could reverse it without it looking upside down.

Because lefties are such a small amount of the market, and because the devotees will just buy whatever Apple releases.

 

[srsub3]

To be honest I get your point. Simmetry is what makes something looking good. The crown position makes the watch looking bad especially with that button , which I still don't understand. I don't understand why they didn' positioned the button on the other side or two buttons, one over and one down a centered crown, like a standard watch. To me it looks a bad design.

 

[epicnemesis]

I agree with you about the crown placement. And I think the button should be on the other side of the screen. No point in putting both elements on the same side.

 

[Julien]

I agree with you about the crown placement. And I think the button should be on the other side of the screen. No point in putting both elements on the same side.

I'm in agreement. (almost) All watch crowns are centered and Apple is emulating this look (is this the return of skeuomorphism? ). It seems a little non symmetrical towards the top (or bottom if a lefty),

 

[Matt Leaf]

And the button takes me to my 'friends'?

Is this button changeable to other functions?

I'd rather have that for a stopwatch than friends

 

[kmj2318]

I see your point. I think there are a few reasons why the placement they chose was the best solution.

They could have had the crown center, and made the shortcut button smaller. That would have looked even worse because of the asymmetry. And also, the button would have to be to small to be comfortable to press.

The could have added an extra button to make it symmetrical. But then they'd quickly overcomplicate it. Three buttons is more than anyone would expect an Apple Watch to have. Two different looking buttons clearly distinguished the two.

They could have committed the button completely. Apple wouldn't have just included a shortcut button if they didn't find it useful in their tests. If there was no shortcut button, it would take a few more steps to get to contacts, and they must have found that quickly getting to contacts is vital.

They could have put the shortcut button on the other side. I can see how Apple wouldn't want to do that because you'd be reaching overtop of the device and covering it. Also, your muscle memory to get to the buttons is the same for the crown and the shortcut button because they're right next to each other. It forces people to think less when reaching for a button.

Apple wouldn't take button placement lightly; they have definitely tried all of these solutions and more, and found what worked best through testing.

 

[FatMax]

And the button takes me to my 'friends'?

Is this button changeable to other functions?

I'd rather have that for a stopwatch than friends

Double clicking it brings up Pay, so it might actually be user defined too..

Hold to start something maybe? And then use it as a functional button in that app..?

Three clicks?

 

[mtmac]

I think there are a few reasons why the placement they chose was the best solution. Apple wouldn't take button placement lightly; they have definitely tried all of these solutions and more, and found what worked best through testing.

Tim Cook, is that you?

Most who have responded to this thread agree with me. Wether it's 3 buttons or one button, both symmetry and tradition would have made this a more attractive devise.

I think the LG G watch R coming out soon will be the best looking one on the market, though only available for Android. If that bezel rotated to switch between screens, that would be awesome.

It's great to see so many options out there, and hopefully gen 2 will be more useful and to my liking. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple different shapes on gen 2 as well.

 

[Kiju]

If it is really that big of an issue, I wouldn't put it past them to have a "left-handed" option. I'm sure there are lefties that work for apple so they have to be well aware of the issue. It's a simple fix, and would help benefit a lot of people.