For a few months now, I’ve been using PCalc as my only calculator and currency converter on iOS. As I wrote last year after the release of the app’s iOS 8 update, the ability to customize layouts and have fast access from Notification Center lets me launch PCalc quickly from anywhere and come up with my own custom buttons for frequent calculations and conversions.
Posts tagged with "apple watch"
PCalc for Apple Watch
The Accessibility of Apple Watch Bands
Last summer, I wrote an article for iMore in which I stress the importance of looking at hardware in accessibility terms. I wrote, in part:
Assessing the kinesthetic, tactile value of using an iPhone or iPad is just as important as assessing the software it runs. Speaking from personal experience, not only am I visually impaired but I also suffer from a mild form of cerebral palsy. What this means is, for me, the strength in my hands and fingers are substantially less than that of a fully-abled person. Hence, it takes much more effort to hold things — in this case, my iOS devices — as well as do things on my devices, like typing. Because of this, my approach to buying a new iPhone or iPad depends not only on 64-bit systems-on-a-chip and improved cameras, but also how the device feels in my hands: the weight, width, thinness, etc.
What applies to iPhones and iPads also applies to Apple Watch. In the context of the Watch, the hardware that is most crucial, accessibility-wise, are the bands. To folks like me who suffer from motor delays, the ability to successfully get the Apple Watch on and off is as key to a positive user experience as the quality of the software it runs.
“For the Apple Watch, There’s No Place Like Home”→
Imagine trying to explain this to your grandmother: if you want to get back home, press this button, unless you’re reading an email or listening to a voicemail, in which case you should press the same button three times, but slowly. (But not so slowly that you accidentally launch Siri, which is triggered by pressing and holding the Digital Crown button.) My hunch is that most of the confusion navigating the Watch comes from Apple’s decision to overload the Digital Crown with too much functionality. You press it if you want to check the time, launch an app, re-orient the app view, or go back in a nested set of screens. Once you get the hang of it, there is some logic to each action on its own, but as a group it’s far too muddied. The side button, by contrast, is the very picture of consistency: no matter where you are in the Watch interface, if you press it you launch the “friends view” where you can call or text your favorite contacts.
Good piece by Steven Johnson on the somewhat confusing Digital Crown options available on Apple Watch.
I was initially confused by the behavior of double-clicks and zooming to launch apps, but I got the hang of it relatively quickly. It’s undeniable, though, that the combination of click and zoom input in a single knob can be tricky to explain.
Compare that with the beautiful simplicity of the side button: it always brings up the Friends UI, even in views such as Notification Center and Glances. When these types of modal views are shown on the iPhone, for instance, not even the Home button can immediately go back to the Home screen (it’ll dismiss Notification Center and Control Center, but it’ll remain in the foreground app, requiring another click).
This says a lot about the importance of communication features in Watch OS 1.0: the hardware and software of the Friends interface can supersede everything else with a single click.
The Discreet Watch→
Your Apple Watch becomes the most discreet way to stay connected when at fancy events, or anywhere really. My wife and I no longer need to check if the babysitter is trying to reach us — our Apple Watch will tap us if she is. There’s essentially no reason to use our iPhones, and no anxiety felt for fear of missing something “important”.
Ben Brooks (via Shawn Blanc) makes a good point about the discreet nature of Apple Watch. While I have a bunch of first impressions I want to let simmer before rushing to write a “review”, one thing is already clear to me: not pulling out my iPhone every few minutes helps me be less rude to people around me.
It’s not that I’m shutting off notifications completely; rather, I’m letting the important ones come to me on a device that doesn’t block me from the outside world.
Stephen Hackett on Apple Watch Faces→
I’ve been wearing my Apple Watch for a couple of weeks, and while I’m still churning on my review, I wanted to share my thoughts on the ten watch faces that come with the device. While having so many options is great, many of the faces have frustrating limitations in the ways they can be customized or used.
Stephen Hackett has a nice rundown of the watch faces included in Watch OS 1.0. I’m still experimenting with my Apple Watch Sport (which I received a few days ago) and playing around with watch faces and complications.
Here’s Stephen’s take on the Modular face:
On the face of it (sigh), Modular seems like a huge winner. Why take up space faking being a real timepiece when the watch is digital?
Pros: Big, easy-to-read text with lots of flexibility.
Cons: The time is locked to the upper-right corner; I’d love to have it be the biggest thing on the Watch face. Having three complications across the bottom is nice, but can feel a bit cramped.
While I can read an analog watch, it still takes me a second of parsing, and I don’t want that on a device I’m supposed to quickly look at every day. Even if small, the cognitive load required to understand time on an analog face adds up over time, and, more importantly, I need a watch to show me the precise time (down to the minute) for work purposes.
That said, I do wish that Apple offered more personalization for the position of complications on the Modular face. It’d be nice to have time in the middle of the watch face and a smaller calendar complication in the upper right corner.
Apple Details ‘Made for Apple Watch’ Bands Program, Posts Updated HIG→
Last night, Apple published a webpage detailing the ‘Made for Apple Watch’ program, which will allow third-party companies to make custom bands for the Watch.
Apple Watch bands are easily changed with simple release buttons and lugs that secure the band to the Apple Watch case. When creating your custom bands, refer to the band design guidelines and lug profile. Apple Watch lugs will be available soon through the Made for Apple Watch program.
In two documents available on the page, Apple has detailed band design guidelines and the Apple Watch lug profile. If you’re curious to know more, the band design guidelines include some interesting tidbits on the materials, measures, and design Apple recommends for third-party bands.
Also, Apple posted an update to the Apple Watch Human Interface Guidelines first released in November 2014. If you’re a designer or developer making apps for the Apple Watch, make sure to check out the updated document (and downloadable PSD/Sketch files) here.
Molly Watt’s Apple Watch Review→
Molly Watt, who has Usher Syndrome Type 2a, published a unique, personal series of Apple Watch first impressions unlike anything I’ve read to date.
I am fortunate to have a few friends who also have the Apple Watch and together have devised ways of communicating in ‘Code’ when out, particularly when out at night and in dark situations when I am completely blind.
Useful codes in the event I need help of any kind, for instance if I am in a badly lit and noisy environment and struggling to be included in something I can get message to friend I’m uncomfortable or I need assistance or help of some kind or “I’m bored” can we do something else!
Many have reviewed Apple Watch as a gadget or a fashion companion. And that’s fine, but make sure you also read Molly Watt’s take for an idea of how wearable technology can truly impact other people’s lives in meaningful ways.
Christy Turlington Burns’ Big Finish→
Following Christy Turlington Burns’ blog on Apple.com has been a fascinating and educational experience. After setting a new personal record at the London Marathon last week, Apple has published the final installment of Christy’s blog posts with her thoughts and photos from the event.
They also produced a new video, which you can watch below. And, check out Every Mother Counts here.
Apple to Reject Watch Apps ‘Whose Primary Function Is Telling Time’→
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple updated their App Store Review Guidelines to state that Watch apps built primarily to tell time will be rejected.
Got our first Watch App Review guideline: 10.7: Watch Apps whose primary function is telling time will be rejected https://t.co/EbsKqsuCJN
— David Smith (@_DavidSmith) April 28, 2015
In the past few weeks, I’ve heard about a few timezone apps primarily designed to show world clocks that were rejected for unknown reasons, with developers annoyed about the lack of official guidelines. Today’s change is better than approving and then rejecting an app, I guess, but maybe Apple could have shared this piece of information sooner. I don’t know if those timezone apps ended up being approved or not, and there could be other developers with a different experience from the ones I talked to.
From Apple’s standpoint, however, I can see why it makes sense to avoid confusion with apps that replicate a watch face UI – at least initially. It’s not too dissimilar from Apple’s stance on third-party apps that replicated native functionalities with the original iPhone App Store.