“A few months ago Thomas Bogner posted an iWatch mockup on Dribbble that looked like a marriage between a Nike Fuelband and an iPhone. It was an impressive concept that got a lot of people excited including myself,” Todd Hamilton, a San Franciscan user interface designer, blogs. “However, it had a major flaw: the orientation of the interface made it impossible to use.”
“I had some free time over the holidays so I decided to take a stab at the problem and create a more user friendly concept. I wanted to retain a slim form factor like the Fuelband and incorporate familiar UI components from iOS 7,” Hamilton writes. “It needed to feel natural on the wrist and look like something Apple would actually produce.”
“I started with a few sketches then worked my way towards a rough 3D mesh of the device,” Hamilton writes.
Hamilton writes, “I kept the band simple with a curved touchscreen display on the front. For physical controls I placed a single button on the left to act as the home button, and two more on the other side for volume controls.”
[protected-iframe id=”e8db6a9024d5aa1bac66fd3ee1efa574-17146794-18685410″ info=”//player.vimeo.com/video/84381995?portrait=0″ width=”590″ height=”443″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen=”” mozallowfullscreen=”” allowfullscreen=””]
Read more, and see the images, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If Apple’s iWatch is anything like that, Samsung’s POS stupidwatch tank is going to garner even more laughter than it already has (tough to believe, we know)!
And, oh yeah, we’ll take several iWatches, ASAP!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Judge Bork” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple iWatch to sport 1.52-inch curved OLED, set for summer launch, report claims – January 20, 2014
Apple’s iWatch suffering weak yield rates due to metal injection molded chassis issues, sources say – January 2, 2014
Apple to make two iWatch models: 1.7-inch display for men, 1.3-inch for women, sources say – November 13, 2013
This reminds me of when the iPhone was going to be announced and there were all these wild ideas of what it would look like. Many of them were very cool, but of course, they were no where near the mark (and I suspect this one isn’t either). Still, nice idea…
I bet Samsung is busy copying Bogner right now.
Bee-yoo-ti-ful.
I just have one problem – my wrist, in spite of being awesome, is not circular.
It’s flexible.
So is it square or triangular?
It’s an oblate spheroid.
everytime i pictured an iwatch in my head i imagined exactly this…
The Apple iBand will look less like a charm bracelet than this.
Cool design. I like it. But in terms of practicality, I’m not so sure it’ll work for everyday use. I’m liking the iPod nano 6th gen. concept better. You have access to the whole screen without turning the watch on its wristband. This is more like a Nike Fuel design.
Why would I have to turn the watch on its wristband? The screen doesn’t go completely around the band, just about 1/3 of it.
This is probably the best design I’ve seen for a touchscreen watch, my goodness. I’d definitely buy this. No joke.
I have been an Apple fan since 1981, but I would not buy one of those. It has a volume control so I assume an audible output. How to you place this near your ear. Please pretend you have on on your wrist and try it. You will replace the Google Glasses guys in geeky-ness! If it has a bluetooth earpiece…been there done that.
Get a Plantronics BackBeat Go Bluetooth wireless headset. Every problem you have with listening to music on a small device is solved.
That’s how I imagined the screen would be, long and narrow, at about 1.5 inches. Not a “square.” What is displayed on it, and how it is displayed, I’ll leave that to Apple… 🙂
It’s like Nike’s FuelBand fitness device, with a real screen and broader functionality. I heard Tim Cook is a fan of FuelBand, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the real iWatch looks something like this guess.
Unlike Samsung’s stupidwatch, that tries to do everything and fails to be desirable, Apple’s device will be highly focused on does a few things really well. As a result, it will be light, small, and convenient, with long battery life and a reasonably price.
Funny, the icons don’t seem as “horrid” on the band as they do in a grid on a flat screen. Perhaps removing a dimension robs them of their girlification power. 🙂
I think designer Todd shows a bit of symmetry worship by placing the two volume buttons centred opposite the home button. Too natural, I think, to touch the band on both sides at once, switching it off inadvertently when intending to lower the sound volume.
That’s because the curvature of the screen gives an implied depth to the otherwise flat icons giving lie to the fact that flat icons are better than 3-D ones.
Ive should go back to UI design school and educate himself. Cook should bring Forstall back and all this controversy will end. To say that Ive is clueless about software design is being charitable.
Several problems. What sort of information is this band supposed to display? The Fuel band has the kind of display it has, because it’s not conducive to show a lot of information. It seems Apple supports the FUEL band, in a complimentary way, and typically Apple would not supplant a vendor like Nike, by producing a FUEL band of it’s own.
The second problem is with touch. How does it know when a touch is the right kind of touch? And with that said, there needs to be room for sensors to make that determination. The face detection sensor is pretty good, but not perfect, so I suspect this is going to be an issue on a wrist band.
Am I the only person not jumping in the iWant bandwagon? I don’t want an iWatch or iBand or anything that I wear on my wrist. Why would I? I have a phone that fits perfectly in my pocket. It’s sleek, responds well, works hands free in the car and with many other Bluetooth devices. Why the hell would I ever wear a watch — which is a dying market by the way (thanks to the smartphones)
Apple isn’t a me too company, and they won’t do the obvious if they did make such a thing. Their r&d money would be better spent making the iPhone waterproof up to n meters of depth.
Ok buddy, no problem. I’ll solve that for you – don’t buy one.
The Samsung stupid watch standing next to this will be like Jeff Bozos (wrenching in kidney stone anguish) standing next to Minka Kelly.
Mmmmmminka! Mmmmm…just like M&M’s……they melt in your mouth not in your hands.
They melt in your pants too.
Watches are not a dying market, because sensible, intelligent people realise that a mobile phone/pocket computer is no real substitute for a watch, which, if chosen properly, does what it does perfectly; it tells you the time pretty much instantly.
Which a phone clearly does not do, as you have to first take it out of your pocket, then orientate it, then wake it up, in order to do something that takes maybe a second to do with a wristwatch. Using a phone takes twenty times as long, at least, and is a total waste of effort.
I like the concept . . . I’d be more likely to wear it if the band were a silver color and the screen background exactly matched the rest of the band.
That could be how they handle the styles . . . gold with a gold screen background, silver with silver, etc. And if it’s really high res the background could be made to very closely mimic the metal/color used in the rest of the band.
And what would make it even cooler is if somehow there was a way to make it so that it looked like a solid band even when turned off (not sure how that would be done but would be extremely cool).
Minimalist jewelry is what it needs to look like, lest only the tech geeks want one. And Apple doesn’t cater to niche markets like that.
The background is just wallpaper and can be any color you choose.
Yeah, I get that. But would be cool if one exactly matched the band.
If the iWatch is anything like this with a bendable wrist wrapping touch screen if will totally make Shamdung look like the dufusy, inept, oafish, design think-inside- the- box unnovators they are.
I hope Apple can get that agreement with Samestuff to stop automatically and blatantly following Apple’s design lead or you know 3-4 months later suddenly their watch will look the same and they’ll say “well it’s an obvious form factor (uhhh, we didn’t think of).”
In a heart beat !
I think the iWatch will be more like the original concept, but with the screen on the underside of your wrist. I also think the iWatch will have some kind of notification indicator on the top of your wrist, like the Razer Nabu.
Awesome design. If Apple doesn’t make something like this, I hope someone does.
Wait a minute…..Rosie Funk?
Sounds like someone needs some hand sanitizer…..
That is brilliant much more like such a device should be like and the first actual logical reason for having a curved screen.
Looks nice and I would love one but you will not need the buttons on the side. iWatch volume to 5 please. If they supply this with a wireless earbud with my bad hearing I would be all over this thing.
Kudos on that look. Seems viable.
So that takes care of the “LOOK.” Whattabout the “FEEL”? Cover that protective rubber inner layer with a rich soft LEATHER and I’ll buy one. Geez, what ID ten “T” wants to wear a sweaty 3/4 inch rubber band 16/7 ?
But, but, where’s the keyboard? 😉
Sweet, nice job. Apple should hire this guy. I’d buy one of these in a heart beat. Can’t wait to see what Apple has up their sleeve, but this guy really hit it out of the Ball Park. Kudos’ to him.
I would love it if Apple could build something like this, but is it is technically possible considering the size constraints and battery needs? That’s the bigger question.
I played with Samsung’s watch today. I was actually impressed. *stunned that I just said that*
That’s good to hear, I actually don’t wish for people to wind up with junk.
Over time is when you find out if a computer type item has real depth.
I wonder where can i buy it . how much and give me an Email