Skip to main content

New iWatch concept brings iOS 7 to Nike Fuel Band-style accessory

(via Dribbble)
(via Dribbble)

A very cool iWatch concept made by Thomas Bogner takes a very different approach to the highly anticipated and rumored wearable computer by Apple: Bogner imagines the device borrowing influence from the Nike Fuel Band with iOS 7 design language and features.

We recently ran a poll asking readers to vote on the best of various iWatch concepts, most of which look more like a traditional watch than something Apple created, but a much smarter Nike Fueld Band-style wearable computer could just what the doctor ordered.

Bogner’s iWatch concept features Siri-style voice input for apps like Mail, Messages, and Calandar, and Music control, and features integrated Nike fitness software like Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch.

While it’s certainly just a product of the imagination to the public at least at this point, it’s important to note our report earlier this year that Tim Cook was organizing a team of fitness and sensor experts around the iWatch project.

Cook, also a Nike Director, is known to wear the fitness-focused Fuel Band. The executive has praised the product. “I think Nike did a really great job with this,” he said at AllThingsD’s D11 conference. “The [wearables] that do more than one thing… aren’t great,” he added. As a company that prides itself on complete, integrated experiences, the smart watch market is one that Apple likely believes it could dominate by way of iPhone and iPad-like innovation.

Perhaps a device that combines the health tracking features of the Nike Fuel Band with the mobile accessibility features of smart watches like the Pebble would be a compelling enough sell for Apple to redefine the wearable computing market.

Let us know what you think about this concept in the comments!

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. Avery Massenburg - 10 years ago

    Although it looks pretty clever there’s a big problem, in order to see what’s on the display we’d have to turn our wrists awkwardly to see any content properly.

    • Could you not also design it to sense which side of the wrist the screen is facing – so that users who wear it on the outside will see a column view, while those wearing it on the wrist side will see this landscape view?

  2. Joe Monaghan - 10 years ago

    Looks nice but not very practical.. The way watches fit on your arm would make this sideways to where your eyes are.

    • Paopao Wudi - 10 years ago

      I think the screen should toward inside of your arm instead of outside, then you can watch it when your hand towards up

  3. Azhar Vellore (@vazharv) - 10 years ago

    Although a very cool looking concept, it ignores the fact that when we look at our watch on the wrist, it is in portrait, not in landscape.

    • Brandon Cox - 10 years ago

      Hold your arm with your wrist facing you. That is how its intended to bed red, not on top.

      • mistergsf - 10 years ago

        My thoughts exactly.

  4. I was thinking, mainly when I saw this, but “We still have a lot to cover” could be about the wrist, meaning iWatch. I know it’s wishful thinking but still

  5. Walden Davis (@waldend) - 10 years ago

    Brilliant-looking concept, but I have a really hard time imagining how one would interact with this on one’s wrist, the screen is “horizontal” and would either point towards you, or away from you, meaning in order to read it, as is mocked up, you would have to have your hand perpendicular to your body, which seems incredibly awkward—most concepts have the user place their wrist perpendicular to the user’s body in order to read it, and in order to interact with it, just like a normal watch. The Jawbone UP, Fitbit and Fuelband work very well, but they either don’t have screens, or as a device their primary function is not interaction—which is what the iWatch supposedly will be. That’s why they can get away with designs like what they currently have, like what this dribbbler came up with. Hey, don’t get me wrong, it looks gorgeous, but how on earth would pressing that home button not be awkward, no matter what wrist it’s on!

    • Greg Kaplan (@kaplag) - 10 years ago

      the only way I could see this working is if you have the screen on the inside of your wrist and not the outside like a normal watch. Then you’d be able to read and interact with it like you would look at the palm of your hand out in front of you, but your forearm vertical, which would difficult to do if you are looking at the back of your hand. I like how simple this is, but it doesn’t seem super practical.

  6. Joe Calabro - 10 years ago

    doesnt really make sense with the viewing angle. I think this is the same with Nike Fuel but there is going to be much more information than the Fuel. any way you phrase it, something that is thin like that is not practical. I hope apple realizes this a just pairs up with watch company’s in making something that is easily hidden behind some of the watch designs because i think a watch for the average person is more fashionable than practical.

  7. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    Horizontal fail :(

    Seriously, really cool looking UI idea, but totally impossible to use.

    • rahhbriley - 10 years ago

      I agree with your (and the general thoughts commented by others) overall anaylisis. Though @kapleg, in response to another comment, may have made a good point about the screen being on the underneath, or wrist side.

      • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

        Hmm, I like that idea.

        A little more James Bond, a little less Inspector Gadget.

  8. Paul Kerr - 10 years ago

    Love the originality. We can spot flaws in usability and battery life, but this shows there’s room for fresh thinking about a wrist device.

  9. Paul Herron - 10 years ago

    Orientation aside, this is the best concept of a watch I have seen. The only style I would actually consider wearing. I would say Apples watch will look a lot more like a band than a traditional watch.

  10. Leon Green - 10 years ago

    That’s a terrible design, you can’t read it properly if it’s on your wrist…

    • Dick Applebaum - 10 years ago

      As others have said, wear the band with the display on the inside of your wrist * — that way with your palm up the display is both easy to read and easy to manipulate (touch, scroll, etc.) with the other hand.

      And, If a band like this had a cell radio (or was BlueTooth paired with a iPhone or iPad), you could make a private phone call by simply covering your ear with your hand and talking into the band — just like holding a phone to your ear, but your hand is empty.

      * Whenever I wear an expensive watch, I wear it with the display on the inside — you can surreptitiously glance at it, and it protects the watch face and crystal from scratches and abrasion.

      Experiment with an imaginary wrist band in this way — I think you will find it to be very natural and easy to use!

  11. RP - 10 years ago

    Nice! Awesome concept. But as others have mentioned, the screen would have to face the back of your hand, and I see no problem with that.

  12. Brad Burnett - 10 years ago

    Everyone is overlooking that the Nike Fuelband display is facing the same way and it isn’t hard to see it or use it. Sure it doesn’t have as much information but I wouldn’t see it taking long to get use to it.

  13. Scophi - 10 years ago

    Even though it’s the coolest smartwatch design I have seen, I still have no interest in one of these. My phone already does all that stuff. Why try to do the same things, only to a lesser extent, on a really small screen on a watch? I fail to see the point of smartwatches.

    • Dick Applebaum - 10 years ago

      Some people carry an iPhone and an iPad wherever they go… I am one of those people. I only make or receive an occasional phone call — less than 2-3 per day. My fat, stubby fingers and old eyes are better suited to the iPad than the smart phone. If they bring an iPad mini with cell voice/message capability, BlueTooth connected to a wristband like this, it would be ideal for my needs!

      • Scophi - 10 years ago

        LOL! That’s a lot of technology just to receive a phone call.

        Just guessing, but I predict that smartwatches, like Google Glass, will be a gee-whiz technology. Cool for 15 minutes, then onto other things.

  14. newmac (@newmac) - 10 years ago

    Interesting; but if you actually wore this on your wrist; the data would display “sideways”. Very awkward.

  15. Ricardo Werson - 10 years ago

    pretty!

  16. kahyehm - 10 years ago

    It certainly has style!! Id want it just for the looks alone

  17. RP - 10 years ago

    Apple, Google or Samsung better jump on this and pay the guy . The first one wins big time.

  18. Gianluigi Vaghi - 10 years ago

    Basically you need
    1) two screens: one on top of the wrist to read the time, one on the back of the wrist to interact (far from unfeasible)
    2) bluetooth always on for music control, mails, messaging and siri remote (clearly not unfeasible)
    3) accells (gyros?) for your activity tracking which is level entry really (far from unfeasible)
    4) if you are a real runner you want also GPS otherwise this is 10 years old technology (not quite unfeasible)

    I do not know what is the status on battery life for this size of things… but it looks like it may need to be charged every night like my iphone and this is … a nuisance.

    I would rather have a watch that can be worn a week without charging, that tracks my activity, that tracks my sleep patterns and really replaces my iphone when I go for a run (store music, BT only for sync and headphones, hey… it’s an ipod!).

    I fail to see the point of reading my mail and messages (where is Whatsapp? who is still using sms anyways?) holding my hand in front of my face when I still need to keep my iphone less than 10 meters away. Soon in the subway we would all look like 70’s B-movies aliens saluting in an uncool way.

    No worries… my company will promptly kill that functionality… because there is no way they will let the watch access mails without a passcode (maybe I can shout the code to siri!?)

  19. Phill Grove - 10 years ago

    I’m ready to write a check!

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.