Round vs Rectangle Apple Watch Display

[metllicamilitia]

To me, saying a watch should be round is like saying a TV should be square (or 4:3 to be precise). It's a digital world.

Just a timepiece, standard watch is best suited a round device to mimic the clock which it is and uses a series of (round) gears to move the hands. It makes sense for a standard watch to be round. I believe smart watches shouldn't be round for the sole purpose that a round Watch face on a smart watch reduces the amount of the information that you can easily see. Rectangular may not be the most popular, however it matches the shape of an arm better while giving you more screen real estate and more information at once.

 

[opiapr]

I would definitely consider a round watch. Aren't watches historically round?

They have also been historically dumb. Why do a smarwatch limit itself so that it looks more like an old dumb watch.

 

[LaLamoto]

We've been hearing for some time that users (well some, anyway) have wanted a ROUND display on their Apple Watch.

Do you think a) that'll ever happen? and b) if a round variant was available, would you buy it?

Great question. I previously owned the Motorola 360 and I round display wasn't very appealing in my opinion. (Given to me as a gift) At times letters from text messages were missing and or cut off. However I may consider because I absolutely LOVE my apple products!!

 

[Mac Guy]

Octagon? That's it, I'm getting you an octagon shaped watch.

Apple is working on that for the Chuck Norris Edition.

 

[Mac Guy]

Just a timepiece, standard watch is best suited a round device to mimic the clock which it is

This is and has been for decades, square and rectangular mechanical watches. I'm pretty sure they've use round gears as well. And shape doesn't matter at all when quartz movements are used. Round is traditional for the vast majority of watches but certainly square/rectangular watch are the preferred shape for a lot of people. There have been a couple of triangular mechs over the year.

 

[Mac Guy]

Rectangular may not be the most popular, however it matches the shape of an arm better

I'd say that's pretty fast and loose definition of 'match' and that 'matches' is more subjective than objective.

Great question. I previously owned the Motorola 360 and I round display wasn't very appealing in my opinion. (Given to me as a gift) At times letters from text messages were missing and or cut off.

And that's the problem with and result of poor implementation. There are compromises to be may when making any product, but that's a bad one. The OS could easily be written to wrap words and lines of text to shape themselves accordingly when scrolled up or down a round shape. It only takes work.

I almost wonder if Apple was testing a round version at some point.

I'd bet money that they've done a prototype or two. For Apple's first product and being 'late' to the game as haters like to say, they had to offer something the competition didn't have so as not to be a 'me too' knock-off. One thing was the look— a rectangle. The other was efficiency as a selling point.

Now that that the Watch is gaining some traction, a different model could be successful. Just as there are different categories of Macs and MacBooks, there could be more than one for Watches. It doesn't have to be one or the other. But I agree that it won't be soon. If and when there is, I'll be checking it out.

 

[AlienTrailer]

Mechanical clocks and watches are round for the mechanisms. There is no reason for the Apple Watch, with its square display, to offer so many round watch faces. They should offer watch faces that take advantage of the square display. Also, the display of the Apple Watch should be(/stay) square so that it can be used by other apps on the watch.

 

[Mac Guy]

For watches, the mechanisms are shaped for the shape of watch. You want to design a rectangular watch, you'll use or design a rectangular mechanism to fit. The gears are round, but other than that the movement shape is subject to the shape of the watch.

They should offer watch faces that take advantage of the square display.

I've been saying this since the Watch first shipped. It's only a guess, but I bet that Apple has a deal with Hermès not to use any rectangular faces for some time, similar to giving ATT the five-year exclusive on the iPhone. But the continual parade of specifically round faces is getting boring. A round face does make room for more complications than a rectangular face, but that's not a deal breaker for me.

If Apple were to make a round Watch, and they should, no doubt most devs would design a separate app especially for the round Watches, and justifiably, sell it as a separate app. No reason it couldn't, and more importantly— shouldn't be done.

 

[eyecrispy]

Mechanical clocks and watches are round for the mechanisms. There is no reason for the Apple Watch, with its square display, to offer so many round watch faces. They should offer watch faces that take advantage of the square display. Also, the display of the Apple Watch should be(/stay) square so that it can be used by other apps on the watch.

That's a good point. I wish they would offer more faces in general. There really aren't many faces overall, which is disappointing.

 

[BatN8]

I've given this thought for some time and annoyed I don't see the right answer here. Howling into the wind, there's a logical and truthful reason why the Apple Watch is square and why a circular display would be the incorrect decision. The reason people associate watches with circles is because they are small wearable clocks. This technology and machines have traditionally been circular to accommodate the visual communication of time displayed by mechanical hands in a circle. That wouldn't be best communicated with a square, or a rectangle, or a triangle or whatever shape you please. So clocks thus watches are round.

The Apple Watch is not a clock... It is a computer. There is a difference. This technology and machine have traditionally displayed digital data. This could be the time, or weather, or the sports score. This digital data is best displayed in a square display as it may contain not only the time but text and visual icons. When displayed in a circle, and I'm sure Apple's prototyped this to death, this digital data appears to be cut-off or partially show or shrinking in the vertical space. This does not best communicate this digital data. The very idea of a circular smartwatch display is contradictory to the use it provides.

You may like or prefer a circular display, and okay whatever it's just smartwatches, but if you're designing and making one to be the absolute best, which Apple does, it would be square.

 

[ralphelliott]

I think for a smartwatch with fitness functionality a round face is fine. For content-rich apps it feels more intuitive to go for a square face. Maybe that's just because it's how it's always been done but then again that's probably for a reason.

 

[Mac Guy]

Maybe that's just because it's how it's always been done but then again that's probably for a reason.

Times and style change. Advances in technology can facilitate changes in style there weren't previously possible. Just because that's the way it's always been doesn't always mean that's the way it always has to be.

Very few things in life are the best for everybody. Fashion and utility are the same in that respect. I can see Apple producing a round Watch down the road, when Jony can say 'We took what's typically been a less efficient shape for text and made it better than it was. We have the technology...'

But they still have work to do on the current Watches, and while I think they're selling better than most people and analysts give them credit, I don't think they're selling as well as Apple would like.

it would be square.

This just in— neither the Watch or it's display are square(s). I guess it's easier to type.

I wonder what prompted Apple's design decision to eschew their far more efficient and traditional use of square shaped app icons on the Watch's Home screen for round ones.

 

[scruffypig]

Not all watch faces are historically round. Especially, Casio calculator watches.

 

[eyecrispy]

Not all watch faces are historically round. Especially, Casio calculator watches.

I used to think those Casio calculator watches were awesome!

 

[Mac Guy]

Not all watch faces are historically round. Especially, Casio calculator watches.

All the Casio calculator watches I had were square or rectangular. In fact I probably still have one in a drawer somewhere.

Whether historically or traditionally, I'd wager that most watches had a face that was similar in shape to the case of the watch. Where or not triangular or other non-round or non-square/triangular watch faces follows suit. I'd also wager that historically there have been more round watches produced than non-round ones. FWTMBWIA.

 

[Mac Guy]

I used to think those Casio calculator watches were awesome!

Me, too, until the resin bands start rotting off them. I don't think I had one with a metal band.

 

[cwbcpa]

If done right, a round Watch could work well. I really liked my Samsung S2 when I had it. I really liked the way you turn the bezel to select things. I prefer that to the Digital Crown in some ways. Both work though. Both displays have their pluses and minuses.

 

[Mac Guy]

. I really liked the way you turn the bezel to select things.

I've always used the bezel on my dive watches as a timer. This would be a very quick and efficient way to set a timer, especially if you were somewhere that invoking Siri would be gauche. Press the bezel to select the Timer function, spins the dial for the interval, press the bezel again to start the countdown. Or have a complication on the Watch face to select Timer and spin the bezel, similar to turning the crown. No reason at all that Apple couldn't or shouldn't make a round Watch.

 

[scruffypig]

All the Casio calculator watches I had were square or rectangular. In fact I probably still have one in a drawer somewhere.

Whether historically or traditionally, I'd wager that most watches had a face that was similar in shape to the case of the watch. Where or not triangular or other non-round or non-square/triangular watch faces follows suit. I'd also wager that historically there have been more round watches produced than non-round ones. FWTMBWIA.

My first Seiko watch was rectangular. There are a lot of dress watches that are rectangular, though I agree that most watches produced are round, to match the circular dial of the clock.

 

[zhelf]

Frankly I dont see them doing a round display simply because square is different. Most standard watches and even Android watches are round and blend in but I can clearly identify an apple watch on anyone. And we know apple loves that brand recognition.they don't want to blend in to the crowd they want to be the crowd.

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