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Comment by RankingMember | Hacker News Reader

This torrent of chunky rectangular smart watches are all about as sexy as the Casio calculator watches from way back when. I still think those calculator watches are a cool piece of old tech, but I don't know anyone who would wear one un-ironically.

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I've owned a wide range of smart watches (sony smartwatch 1, sony smartwatch 2, galaxy gear 1), and people actually compliment me/notice the watches quite frequently -- considering what they do/contain (essentially being very small computers), they're exceptionally small

And still less useful than this from the 90s:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GAWSAY

Is that affiliate tag really necessary?

Is that question really necessary?

i removed it, didn't know what that was. I copied from amazon on a link clicked directly from google search

How do you like the Smartwatch 2? I have enough points on my Sony card to pick one up, but I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I would actually use it.

Hey I actually love it! It's a fantastic watch, has good functionality -- lacking tons of apps, but then again, it's a watch.

I used/liked:

1. Show to people at parties/in social situations, people are very curious about it

2. Look at texts/email (and possibly fb/twitter, but I didn't want that stuff going to my wrist) without taking my phone out. Especially when driving with both hands on the wheel, reading short texts (one word/short sentence) was pretty easy (and not too terribly dangerous, I thought).

3. Configurable face is amazing -- you can design your own watch face, add widgets like weather, battery, bluetooth connection, etc

4. If you develop, it's great to at least have one thing on the platform, in case you decide to develop for it.

One of the negatives is the closed platform. Like the galaxy gear, Sony doesn't really make it easy for you to modify the hardware/low-level software, and there's the whole silly "get our app to communicate" business, which is just trying to lock people into a walled garden.

But all in all, the smartwatch 2 is fantastic, and it's got a great (non-prohibitive) price tag. I got mine for like $100-130 on Newegg Flash

Thanks! I've been researching, but it's always good to hear from a hands-on real-world user.

Yeah, it's a huge improvement over SW1. I'd also suggest that you go after a Galaxy Gear 1 (if those sony-bucks are convertible) -- it's become very cheap now, and it's not that the technology has gotten any worse, it's still also an amazing device (with more functionality than the SW2).

Same here as well, Pebble and LG Gear, and noth have been noticed and complimented on frequently.

The question, then, is whether they're complimenting you because it's new and they've never seen it before or because they actually think it's a good-looking watch. People complimented PT Cruiser owners when those things first came out. :P

Well I imagine it's a little of both -- also, there's a sort of retro-chic that still goes with large/squarish devices... Style is so subjective -- look at the new porsche blackberry phone, that's a PT Cruiser if I've ever seen one

And yeah, PT Cruisers are terrible.

> This torrent of chunky rectangular smart watches

Genuine question: Did you include "rectangular" because you would prefer a circular smartwatch? I genuinely don't understand why people would want a round smartwatch. I don't see how a round screen would provide a good UX (this is why they don't make round monitors, or round smartphones).

Even if watches are traditionally round, I wouldn't want to have to build a UI around the constraints of a circular screen.

Whether you implied this, I have seen multiple people voice their preference for a circular smartwatch, so just trying to understand the logic vs. the constraints it would impose.

It's not so much that I want a round smartwatch, but that I know I don't want a rectangular one, because to me they're an aesthetically unpleasing sacrifice of form for function.

I'm sure a watch that was 6 inches wide and went halfway up my forearm like a gauntlet would be awesome to type on and read email, but I wouldn't wear it because it'd be super ugly.

I have no doubt that you're right that UX is easier to do on a rectangular screen than a circular one.

The problem is that a watch is an object of fashion first and foremost. That's why you can find people willing to pay $10k for a Rolex Submariner or, say, an Omega Speedmaster "Dark Side of the Moon". They're the ultimate status symbols. That's what watches have become -- status symbols.

Apple clearly understands that with their Edition edition (though they didn't think through that name very well) and the general high-end finish of all the watches (even the Sport edition has a stainless steel frame around the watchface), but I think it was a mistake for them to choose a rectangular screen. I personally had hoped Apple would be the first company not just to make a circular smartwatch, but to also design a custom UI for a circular screen as well (as opposed to just slapping on Android Wear like the Moto 360 does).

Bingo.

http://www.tagheuer.co.uk/int-en/luxury-watches/monaco-watch

Yes, there exist expensive square watches.

They are not even remotely as popular as circular watches. I don't personally know a single watch aficionado who wears a square watch.

Anecdata is anecdotal. What I'm trying to highlight is the, frankly ridiculous notion that high end watches aren't square. The Monaco is a desirable time piece.

Even the majority of TAG Heuer watches are round. That's not anecdata. The Monaco is clearly the exception, not the rule.

And therefore so are other square watches! It means that the form factor isn't unprecedented. The notion that a watch face can only be aesthetically pleasing or fashionable, which is what is being argued, is absurd. There are plenty of precedents from watchmakers such as Patek Phillippe and Omega.

Heh; I had one of those Casio calculators as a kid and I loved it. Then again, maybe that's why I got picked on so much :(

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