We now know that “Switzerland is in trouble” thanks to Apple design head Jony Ive, but what exactly will the Apple wearable look like? Nobody has been able to provide a good feel (yet) of the appearance, but a new concept by designer Martin Hajek points us into a potentially solid direction: a wearable device that is a bit of a mix between the iPhone 6’s design and the Nike FuelBand. Take a look at the concept shots below, and let us know what you think in the comments. I personally think this looks pretty cool, but we’ll know for sure if Apple has something better up its sleeves early next week.
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Ehh. Praying this thing looks more and more like the Fuelband, honestly.
Agreed, my hope is for an iBand. Not an iWatch.
Why? That’s like ‘I hope for a bobbycar from Porsche!’
That is NOT what has taken this long to make. A handful of APIs provided to NIKE would have taken care of that.
That is not what the iWatch is.
Agree 100% – give us a Fuelband inspired design for the thinnest and least intrusive wearable device. No more large rectangular blobs that look like you are strapping a mini-smartphone to your wrist.
Forgot to mention that this looks like a curved screen Nano lashed to a strap – could have had that five years ago…
This is exactly like those iPhone concepts with the iPod scroll wheel.
YUP. :)
Yup + The whole point of the iPhone is to give your fingers room to tap and move. An iWatch by definition does not offer the space for that kind of interaction. These renderings make it clear that it WON’T be based on the iPhone.
It’s probably more analogous to CarPlay, in that you want to be able to use it without watching the exact path your finger is taking.
That looks nothing like something that would create any trouble whatsoever to Switzerland (or anybody else for that matter). That looks hideous. :(
I’m thinking the iWatch will be more of a dumb watch with notifications and less of a smartphone.
Looks bad. I predict flat top and bottom, curved sides display. ( ) <<< sides like this.
Me too. The fuel band style is the future. If we see a square or round face apple is in trouble.
Sure, because so many people would buy a FuelBand… ^^ how can anyone seriously believe something like this?!
Sorry but this is eventually one of the worst renderings Hajek has ever made. I guess he has seen the Unpacked event and was inspired by Samsungs Gear S.
Totally uninspired. There’s a reason no one has any clue what this will look like. It wasn’t INTENTIONALLY leaked like the iPhone 6.
Seriously, you guys are crazy that thing is gorgeous!!! Just like the rest of you haters, you’ll be one of the first ones in line to buy it
Please don’t forget that these concepts are not from Apple.
guess i am the only one that likes the watch… :-/ oh well. at least we know this is just a concept anyways.
My opinion is that those thick antenna lines are just unacceptable on such a small device. I would prefer they make the whole thing out of liquidmetal so that those lines won’t be necessary. May be it could be even possible since the device is not that big.
Then I personally think the iwatch has to be round so that the contents can rotate to any angle depending on the user’s position relative to the device, as opposed to just 2 orientations possible on a rectangular device.
Um a watch only needs to rotate 180° so they don’t have to make one for right and left handed people. You don’t look at a watch in any random off the wall orientation
I was referring to times like when you are riding a bike or driving a car or making other sports. Instead of making a band that is always in landscape mode like the samsung gear bullshit, a round watch could rotate to any angle based on its position relative to your eyes, and that could be a benefit if it is displaying things like maps or any other stuffs. Besides a round watch seems like something classical. Most of the expensive luxury watches are round.
Anyway that is just my opinion. We all need to wait and see what jony ive has been cooking up all this time.
Hmmm….these box-shaped square renderings just not doing it for me…..they ugly…much like whats already out here with a few exceptions……love the scrolling display of the fuel band mock-up but my biggest issue with it is that it looks like a women’s bangle bracelet accessory an for me ….that would be a big NO ! lol
I’m actually hoping that Apple has 2 flavors of the watch, although I really doubt it. But… I would want one that was like the fuel band and a second one that was round. I think Moto got it right. If I was ever going to buy an android watch (and we know I won’t) it would be the Moto. It combines a classic look and familiar feel, while still giving you the advancements that come with technology. If Apple can achieve that or do it better then they will have a hit on their hands…errrr… Wrist.
The Moto looks awful for multiple reasons. The LG is the best looking by far. I doubt Apple’s will be round though. Round isn’t good for information consumption, which is largely what it will be for. Round is great for a watch face, hence why most are round.
I was hoping for a round design. But u might be right. Watches actually originate in the analog system, which are obviously best looking in circular shape. But today digital watches are available and they are clearly the way of the future. They are much better at displaying information that analog watches. People usually only use analog watches for fashion reasons. There is no use keeping legacy systems if there are no real benefit in them. Apple is the best in getting rid of legacy systems. Ive’s/jobs’s design philosophy is that the function dictates the form. The iwatch will indeed be a digital content consumption device. Therefore it does make sense that jony ive will pick a form that best suit digital information.
Personally…I think this is pretty close.
It’s probably far off. They’re not doing square, I don’t think it’s even possible for square to look good. He put a SIM card slot on it too…. first of all his sim is curved so not sure how that works. Secondly, there’s almost definitely not going to be a sim on this. It’s purpose isn’t internet connectivity. Granted it will probably have wifi, but not cellular. There are functions that will require an iPhone, just not it’s main functions.
Quite clearly the designer, Martin Hajek, has merely taken his rendering of the iPhone 6, and shrunk that modelling to form this iWatch design. Hence it still has the antenna breaks and SIM tray etc. For Martins usual standards, this is kind of lazy….but hey, this is not his job per se, so who cares, right?
Reality is, I doubt it will look anything like the iPhone other than the colour options ie the colours of the face will match those of iPhones eg space grey etc. The design of the face will be unlike anything we have yet to imagine. Apple have been working on this design for over 3yrs now and I’m sure it will be innovative and unique to stand out from the rest. Above all, it has to, in order to have the appeal we all expect from Apple.
My only other thought (and I wrote a blog post on this), is that while Apple will obviously design a fashionable band/strap to go with it, I think it will act similar to the iPad smart cover and allow 3rd parties to design their own that people can buy. After all, we all like different covers on our iDevices to personalise them…why wouldn’t we want the same for a watch which by definition will be a fashion accessory?
@Ben, highly unlikely about the band/strap. Firstly, if you bought a really expensive watch, would you put some third party junk on it? Secondly, it’s highly likely the band will be a vital part of the device with electronics/sensors in it. Possibly battery.
@smoothie, I see your point about the sensors/battery being in the band, however I personally disagree with the fashion aspect of it. I have owned many watches in my days and I choose which one I buy on 2 seperate things: how the face looks, and also how the band looks.
If Apple were to stick to their roots and only have a handful of available combinations of iWatch styles, there doesn’t leave a lot of room for individual consumer fashion tastes. Forcing the entire consumer population into a strict range of watches would alienate those who buy watches as a statement of their personalities. I personally, would like to choose the style of band/strap (brap :-)) I put on it. I’m not saying you are wrong, just that it would be wise to allow customization to that level. Without doubt however, the watch will come with a small range of Apple designed options…I would just like to see options for 3rd parties also.
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Yeah I get what you’re saying Ben
Why on earth would an iWatch be curved like this? Look at your wrist, now look at and think about how a watch curved like that would feel on your wrist. this is a terrible design and nothing like what the iWatch will look like.
Maybe there is no iwatch. Iphone air will do all of the health tracking a watch would do…
No mobile phone will ever do health tracking like a wearable, it’s impossible. The very definition of a wearable is why biometric tracking can work on them.
I’m hoping for a circular design, 2 versions, one larger than the other, a bit thinner then a pencil, rounded edges, small speaker, mic, 4,8,16 g variants, 512 mb ram, a6 or 7 chip w m7 bt 4 wifi nfc at 100 200 and 300 for the smaller screen, add a 100 to each price for the larger screen yippy!¡!
I would buy that in a heartbeat.
One of the most important things Steve Jobs always said was, that they only make things they want to use themselves and their families. Ive loves beautiful automatic watches. I don’t think he would ever wear a Pebble, Gear or Moto360. So they probably have something in the works, that delivers the same classy feel of an expensive watch, but with much more functionality and way cheaper.
This way, Ive’s comment about Switzerland being in trouble makes totally sense to me.
The antenna bands on the watch don’t seem necessary. Apple wouldn’t include any frills or spills that do not add any functionality.
Some of my predictions, albeit some crazy ones.
• Wireless charging (probably: inductive, possibly kinetic/solar; unlikely: near field magnetic resonance up to 1 meter)
• Wireless syncing with iTunes/iOS devices
• Wireless, Bluetooth EarPods
• No ports
• 8/16GB options
• 1.5″ and 1.7″ display sizes
• High end, very expensive model using expensive materials like gold/platinum/diamond
• 3~5 day battery life
• Liquidmetal body (very strong, hard, and corrosion resistant)
• Sapphire glass which curves around all edges, seamlessly into the body
• OLED display which subtly curves with the contour of the wrist, and also subtly curves on the sides like so: ( )
• Touch ID to authenticate device until it is removed from wearer’s wrist (uses sensors to determine if it is taken off the wrist, in which case, it locks, thus you only authenticate it once, each time you put it on)
• Homekit integration, based on location and proximity sensors, to allow seamless changes to smart devices near wearer, including invisibly unlocking devices/doors/locks due to always-authenticated, unlocked state (while on the wrist)
• Homekit lights can be dimly turned on when it detects you’ve gotten up for the day, or gotten up to use the bathroom in the night (from proximity and motion sensors)
• Silent, smart alarm, wakes with vibration
• Small speaker heard through circular holes akin to the other iOS devices, cutout on the lower curve of the body, on the left side of the body, thus the sound waves are carried up and outward (whether ideally by the forearm traveling up and toward the wearer’s ears, or bouncing off the wearer’s wrist/hand and shooting outward), amplified especially for the vast majority of people, which wear a watch on their left wrist.
• Small microphone next to speaker
• Raise to Siri/dictate
• Short reply/scripted reply/dismiss to call/text/email notifications
• Waterproof
• Hard-reset pinhole button on the back
• Biosensors (heart rate, O2, hydration, glucometer, etc.)
• Various other sensors (barometer, temperature, humidity, proximity, motion, UV, M8 chip sensors, etc.)
• Biometric/weather warning notifications (e.g. low hydration or hypo/hyperglycemia; high UV), also can be sent to family members if tethered to an iPhone (e.g. elderly family member falls down)
• Family Sharing health integration iOS 8.1 alongside iWatch release
• Display pivots in center and can be subtly physically depressed at the top, to act as the on/off button, and bottom, to act as the Home button
• Always-on display shows a clock (digital or analog), and a tap on the screen dissolves it into the home screen
• After a set period of inactivity on the home screen, it dissolves back to the lower powered, clock-display state (akin to the iPhone display going to sleep)
• A press of the on/off button takes you back to the clock display, a ~1 second hold shuts the display completely off (for sleeping), a ~3 second hold requests confirmation to shut the device completely off
Apple will have to reinvent wearables in order to create a sustainable business from this product category. The products offered today by their competitors are abandoned by a third of owners after the first six months! Nike even quit the wearable business, when they actually had a great product and could leverage the brand to sell these things. This is a steep mountain to climb and a lot of things need to change and/or improve for this to be a long-term business for Apple.