The smartphone absolutely exploded like Tribbles on a starship because what people really wanted was the Internet. They weren’t buying a fancy phone. In their minds, they were buying their Facebook newsfeeds, tweets, and sending photos to Grandma. Does anyone else remember that glorious moment you logged on to the Internet from a car for the first time? It was like being young Spiderman discovering that you could crawl up walls. Also, unlike your home PC, you didn’t have to fight over it with your spouse. It was all yours.
Sure the iPhone can do a lot more than just access the Internet. But at the heart of its popularity is instant access to a world of information and entertainment. After screen size, this is one of the biggest differentiators between the iPhone and the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch doesn’t have stand-alone access to the Internet. It’s like a car without a motor.
Imagine A Cellular Apple Watch
But imagine a future Apple Watch with a 50mm screen, cellular connectivity, instant response times, enhanced Siri support etc. Imagine that you signed up for a single account for your watch and you tethered whichever size of screen to best fit your immediate situation. Going out for a night on the town? Take your pocketable 5" screen. Gonna relax after a hard day at work with a cup of coffee? Grab your 10" iPad. Time to get some work done? Reach for that 13" iPad Pro.
In a lot of ways, making all your screens subservient to your watch makes a lot of sense. In theory, the cost of the screens would come down since they would no longer have to carry cellular modems. Antennas would become a non-issue. Since they would be cheaper, it would be easier to own multiple sizes. If you dropped your phone into the Grand Canyon, you wouldn’t be rendered without the ability to make a call.
If Only One Device Is the Cellular Hub
I like the idea of paying for a single cellular plan for my watch as opposed to my iPhone. Why? It’s the easiest device to carry, and the one I’m least likely to lose. It’s way too easy to drop your iPhone or leave it in a taxi. Plus, if you’re going out for a run or to the gym to lift weights, which device does everyone wish they could leave behind? Yeah, your big phone.
The Apple Home screen becomes like your spare tire in those cases where you leave your phone behind or lose it. It’s not the ideal solution, but it will get you by until you repair or replace your device. People miss the point of the app home screen when they say they have no desire to use it. I hate using those skinny spare tires on my car, but I’m so glad it’s there when I need it.
A lot of Apple Watch critics make the point that the Apple Watch doesn’t do anything better than the iPhone. I think you could make the case that when it comes to communications, the Apple Watch is better in a lot of ways. If you're trying to answer a phone call or read an incoming text, the watch is way more convenient. Especially if you’re carrying something in your hands already.
Is WatchOS Designed for Greater Things?
The Apple Watch home screen with all its colorful little circles always struck me as visually beautiful. Like little gems on a black velvet cloth. But more than that, it looks to me like a potential independent springboard for all things iOS. Apple used every trick possible to allow the Apple Watch to give the user control of their apps. Unlike Android Wear, Apple designed WatchOS from the very beginning with the bones to take on greater responsibility in the future. WatchOS isn’t designed to be a perpetual slave to the iPhone the way Android Wear was. It appears to have been built with greater ambitions.
If I was the caretaker of the iOS home screen and you asked me what had to be done in order to move from a 4” home screen down to a 38mm size, this is what I would suggest. Pack the apps tightly together and let the user place them wherever they want. Leave the square boxes and go to a circle so that you don’t run into problems diagonally. Make the apps on the periphery shrink as they move away from the center so that you can fit more on the screen. All of these changes would make an iPhone home screen usable in a pinch on a tiny wearable screen.
That’s exactly what happened.
Imagine A Cellular Apple Watch
But imagine a future Apple Watch with a 50mm screen, cellular connectivity, instant response times, enhanced Siri support etc. Imagine that you signed up for a single account for your watch and you tethered whichever size of screen to best fit your immediate situation. Going out for a night on the town? Take your pocketable 5" screen. Gonna relax after a hard day at work with a cup of coffee? Grab your 10" iPad. Time to get some work done? Reach for that 13" iPad Pro.
In a lot of ways, making all your screens subservient to your watch makes a lot of sense. In theory, the cost of the screens would come down since they would no longer have to carry cellular modems. Antennas would become a non-issue. Since they would be cheaper, it would be easier to own multiple sizes. If you dropped your phone into the Grand Canyon, you wouldn’t be rendered without the ability to make a call.
If Only One Device Is the Cellular Hub
I like the idea of paying for a single cellular plan for my watch as opposed to my iPhone. Why? It’s the easiest device to carry, and the one I’m least likely to lose. It’s way too easy to drop your iPhone or leave it in a taxi. Plus, if you’re going out for a run or to the gym to lift weights, which device does everyone wish they could leave behind? Yeah, your big phone.
The Apple Home screen becomes like your spare tire in those cases where you leave your phone behind or lose it. It’s not the ideal solution, but it will get you by until you repair or replace your device. People miss the point of the app home screen when they say they have no desire to use it. I hate using those skinny spare tires on my car, but I’m so glad it’s there when I need it.
A lot of Apple Watch critics make the point that the Apple Watch doesn’t do anything better than the iPhone. I think you could make the case that when it comes to communications, the Apple Watch is better in a lot of ways. If you're trying to answer a phone call or read an incoming text, the watch is way more convenient. Especially if you’re carrying something in your hands already.
Is WatchOS Designed for Greater Things?
The Apple Watch home screen with all its colorful little circles always struck me as visually beautiful. Like little gems on a black velvet cloth. But more than that, it looks to me like a potential independent springboard for all things iOS. Apple used every trick possible to allow the Apple Watch to give the user control of their apps. Unlike Android Wear, Apple designed WatchOS from the very beginning with the bones to take on greater responsibility in the future. WatchOS isn’t designed to be a perpetual slave to the iPhone the way Android Wear was. It appears to have been built with greater ambitions.
If I was the caretaker of the iOS home screen and you asked me what had to be done in order to move from a 4” home screen down to a 38mm size, this is what I would suggest. Pack the apps tightly together and let the user place them wherever they want. Leave the square boxes and go to a circle so that you don’t run into problems diagonally. Make the apps on the periphery shrink as they move away from the center so that you can fit more on the screen. All of these changes would make an iPhone home screen usable in a pinch on a tiny wearable screen.
That’s exactly what happened.
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