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Motorola Quickly Shows Next Moto 360 Smartwatch, 'Flat Tire' Display Lives On
MojoKid writes: Will they or won't they continue on with the 'flat tire' display? That's been the big question surrounding Motorola's next generation Moto 360 smartwatch. Today, we finally learn the answer to the question, and unfortunately, it looks as though Motorola still hasn't seen clear to incorporate a completely circular display like LG, Huawei and now Samsung into a smartwatch. In an incredibly short video posted to Motorola's official Twitter account (the tweet has since been taken down), we see a fleeting glimpse of the next generation Moto 360. There is still a cutout at the bottom of the display, which houses an ambient light sensor in the current generation Moto 360. Keen eyes will also spot that the side button has been moved from the 3 o'clock position to the 2 o'clock position and that the integrated lug system for the watch bands has been abandoned in favor of an external lug system typical of most modern wristwatches.
...immediately, were it not for the fact that Motorola is trying to charge me $25 for an in-warranty repair of a known design flaw on my Moto 360, which has been treated like gold dust since the day I bought it. The bad taste in my mouth has convinced me never to buy Motorola again. My only choice, other than to pay $25, is to wait weeks for my watch to be shipped to me after they receive and finally get around to processing it. There's no longer any way to have a replacement shipped out first, even if you agree to a credit card hold for the full retail price -- there's a mandatory $25 fee on a product that's close to 20% of the actual product price. Disgusting and unethical is the new Moto way.
This tactic of making marketing efforts look like leaks purposely invokes the Streissand Effect. The perceived implication is "we don't want you to see this", which drives people to think "I'll show them, hehe, must be something REAL interesting if they're trying to hide it." It's comparable to reverse psychology. The punchline is that this gets more attention for their marketing message than if they had done a straight interview/press release. Instead of revealing everything about a product all at once, tidbits of info can be 'leaked' gradually leading up to the product announcement. The company has the opportunity to deny knowing anything about the product or info contained in the leaks, and thus avoid giving any more info. I can't help but think of the old RIAA strategy of 'priming' the market by releasing a song on the radio 3 months before you can buy its associated album, the timing is usually about right too.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
unfortunately, it looks as though Motorola still hasn't seen clear to incorporate a completely circular display
Why is this a bad thing?
Because the competition doesn't do it?
Because you lose a tiiiny fraction of the display that was probably just going to be wasted empty space, or a border, or (god forbid) some horrible skeuomorph graphic?
Because your OCD demands that only simply geometric shapes be used to adorn your person?
I don't understand. The space still serves some purpose (top facing light sensor - arguably the best place for it) so why poo-poo it?
Not that I care overmuch. Smartwatches are mostly still just status symbols masquerading as over-engineered solutions looking for a problem. Wake me when someone remembers that little phrase about perfection not being when there is nothing left to add, but when there's nothing left to take away - and builds it into a smartwatch.
WTF are integrated lugs? To me it means formed in one piece with the body, which means they can be integrated and external - as most indeed are for strength [1].
As for the flat tire, wow. Total dealbreaker that. Then again, I came within an ace of buying an N-Gage, so I'm hardly a style guru.
[1] I'm surprised nobody's patented this.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This falls so far below the standard of "News for Nerds" that it is an embarrassment. What part of the Slashdot demographic gives a rip? The fashion conscious? Here? (chokes laughing).
So the flat edge effects the clock speed? Number of cores? Memory? Battery life? Connectivity?
Tell me. I absolutely do not have the fainest idea of why this got posted. It's too stupid to be a Shashvertisement. Is it due to drugs, drink, too much caffeine and lack of sleep on the part of editors? A cry for help? Or perhaps too many brain cells have died because of a combination of junk food and constant florescent lighting?
Whatever. Just don't ever pull this kind of crap again.You just make yourself look as dumb as you are.
Why is Snark Required?
I have had a 360 since it came out and I am pretty picky. But the "flat tire" part doesn't bother me at all. The 360 is a great design with lots of nice features (besides being very rugged, stylish, and affordable).
Please note, the "incredibly short video" is not of any real watch, it is just an animated mockup. So although I don't think it matters much either way, it doesn't prove anything at all.
at the bottom of Motorola's smart watch is a small black section that isn't part of the display. Since the display is round it makes the whole thing look like slightly deflated tire (not really flat, just a bit deflated :P). There's a good explanation at the top of this article.
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At roughly 10% of the population left handed people are a minority. Watch designs have historically been designed for right handed people. When watches were mechanical devices that made sense. It didn't make economical sense to manufacturer two different designs of watches and it would have been to complex, and therefore expensive, to provide a stem and/or buttons on both sides of the watch. But with purely digital watches most of those barriers go away. What is the cost per watch to provide an additional button? Or even more simply, what about a configuration option that changes the orientation of the display. In the case of the Moto 360 that would mean that the button would be at the 7 o'clock position if worn upside down by a leftie. The button would be easily pushed by the thumb instead of the forefinger, but at least your hand would be out of the way.
People, just think of the lefties.
The video is still available on Google Plus