The Digital Crown as a Joystick

[Dekema2]

I think Apple could've done more if they had made the crown into a very small joystick. That way, if say you were on a map and didn't want to touch the screen, you can pan around the map, zoom in, tilt, etc. Same with the home screen; panning around apps. I were to give an example, I believe there were Toshiba remotes awhile ago that would have joysticks that were about the size of the crown and could rotate, move around etc. But of course I'm sure whatever is on the Watch will be enough for now.

 

[sportello]

I think the crown is kind of a bizarre inclusion here. It's never been comfortable to operate those accurately on old-school watches. I'm waiting to reserve judgment, but at the moment, I do think it looks like an overly sentimental design decision and maybe a rash reaction to other smartwatches' obviousness.

 

[roxics]

I agree. You always had to dig into your arm to control those or take it off your wrist to adjust them. But then I've never owned a "nice" timepiece so maybe it's different on those then the cheapo watches I had. But I can't see it being an everyday navigation control in the position it's in.

It also seems a tad gimmicky in that Tim Cook explained that its purpose is to keep your fingers from blocking the screen, then in the live demo it was pretty much all touch screen being used.

I'll have to use it to see see how well it works. But right now I'm skeptical. I think it would have been positioned better at a 45 degree angle between the top face and the strap, bottom center. Definitely more usable if you are right or left handed. Kind of like the home button on the iphone but tilted. Then add the button on the other side above the other end of the strap. Maybe a better choice would have been a metal roller ball that is multi-directional and could be pushed in as a button.