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The main criticism of circular smartwatches is that they unnaturally truncate text. The screenshots don't even try to hide this. While I do think circular watch

The main criticism of circular smartwatches is that they unnaturally truncate text. The screenshots don't even try to hide this. While I do think circular watches look better, circular smart watches are just silly. Edit: I mean to say, they look better when off or when displaying a circular watch face. They look silly when displaying text.

engendered 12y ago
Given that it's an intentional, purposeful design element of Android Wear, why in the world would they "hide" it?
- jkubicek 12y ago
  Because it looks terrible? http://i.glui.me/1EetEHO http://i.glui.me/1EetEHO Why emphasize a major failing of your product?
  - fpgeek 12y ago
    That doesn't make sense. Huawei clearly believes the circular screen isn't a failing or they would have made a different watch. You may not like circular smartwatches (I certainly don't), but that just means this watch is not for you. Plenty of people want them (see the pre-release excitement over the Moto 360, for example). This watch is for them.
  - tadfisher 12y ago
    95% of the time is showing a watch face. You can also pull up the "half-card" notification to read it just fine; the horizontal insets ensure the entire text on the card is readable when the notification is "expanded".
    - userbinator 12y ago
      95% of the time is showing a watch face ...and the other 5% of the "time" is showing the hands? :-) I think the biggest gripe with showing straight lines of text on what is essentially a curved viewport is that mix of curved/straight just doesn't feel quite right. It has the same feeling to me of looking at an old CRT TV with the corners of the image rounded off. I don't know if displaying the text curved to match the screen would be any better...
  - scep12 12y ago
    > major failing of your product I don't view truncation as a major product fail. Would you also categorize iOS and/or Android notifications as fails because they truncate the important parts of notifications? Besides, in the screenshot you linked to -- you can pull the card up a bit to reveal the rest of the text if you're interested.
amyjess 12y ago
This is why if I ever decide to go for a smartwatch, I'm getting an Asus ZenWatch.
- danans 12y ago
  Go for it. I have the ZenWatch and am very happy with its design.
dannyr 12y ago
I don't know. I have been using my Moto 360 since September and the truncated text doesn't bother me. What's wrong with me? #sarcasm

engendered 12y ago

Given that it's an intentional, purposeful design element of Android Wear, why in the world would they "hide" it?

jkubicek 12y ago
Because it looks terrible? http://i.glui.me/1EetEHO http://i.glui.me/1EetEHO Why emphasize a major failing of your product?
- fpgeek 12y ago
  That doesn't make sense. Huawei clearly believes the circular screen isn't a failing or they would have made a different watch. You may not like circular smartwatches (I certainly don't), but that just means this watch is not for you. Plenty of people want them (see the pre-release excitement over the Moto 360, for example). This watch is for them.
- tadfisher 12y ago
  95% of the time is showing a watch face. You can also pull up the "half-card" notification to read it just fine; the horizontal insets ensure the entire text on the card is readable when the notification is "expanded".
  - userbinator 12y ago
    95% of the time is showing a watch face ...and the other 5% of the "time" is showing the hands? :-) I think the biggest gripe with showing straight lines of text on what is essentially a curved viewport is that mix of curved/straight just doesn't feel quite right. It has the same feeling to me of looking at an old CRT TV with the corners of the image rounded off. I don't know if displaying the text curved to match the screen would be any better...
- scep12 12y ago
  > major failing of your product I don't view truncation as a major product fail. Would you also categorize iOS and/or Android notifications as fails because they truncate the important parts of notifications? Besides, in the screenshot you linked to -- you can pull the card up a bit to reveal the rest of the text if you're interested.

amyjess 12y ago

This is why if I ever decide to go for a smartwatch, I'm getting an Asus ZenWatch.

danans 12y ago
Go for it. I have the ZenWatch and am very happy with its design.

dannyr 12y ago

I don't know. I have been using my Moto 360 since September and the truncated text doesn't bother me. What's wrong with me? #sarcasm