The notes of kooky. Smart watches for lovers of "mechanics"

Foreword

This article will not claim public recognition. It's just thinking out loud. Some of these thoughts may seem fiction, nonsense, absurdity. To take these thoughts seriously or not is your own business.

Introduction

Smart watch. Just think what a colossal meaning is inherent in this concept. And what do firms actually offer us? In most cases, this is an addition to a smartphone that needs to be charged every day. What if you radically change the approach to creating such a watch? All who are interested, I invite under the cat.

How the idea was born to rethink the image of smart watches

I still do not understand why manufacturers do not listen to public opinion about the fact that they did well and what was bad. After reviewing the reviews, you can create a product that will appeal to more people. So here. One evening, I read news about how another manufacturer presented its vision of smart watches. But my attention was caught not by the news itself, but by the comments. Here are some of them that I thought were the most constructive:
There are a huge number of people for whom the watch is primarily a status. All there Rolexes, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and others like them, the owners of such watches will not look in the direction of these handicrafts. (c) ViGilant
This is an accessory. It is useless separately from the phone, it cannot be used. © heathen
It is curious how much they will run on battery. © heathen
There are many lovers of mechanical watches, well, or quartz in a pinch. Which in no way will refuse Switzerland for the sake of smart watches from Apple or Google. © Tellur
Mechanical hands on top of the dial drawn on the E-Ink screen would be a very interesting compromise. © venyaz
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And then I decided that it would not be bad to take into account all these wishes and think over a product that everyone would like. I took a piece of paper and sketched for myself a brief statement of work. All comments were included there, plus I added a few, it seems to me, good suggestions.

Device description

E-ink screen.

Good decision. In static mode does not consume energy, which increases the operating time of the device (solved the problem with power consumption). We don't need dynamic mode. The minus is monochrome. But it does not matter. The brain suggested how to try to solve this problem.



Imagine that one pixel consists of 4 points (sub-pixels) and a translucent liquid. For each point (sub-pixel) there is a control element. Depending on the signal from the control element, the sub-pixel rises to a certain height. Since the upper part is not completely transparent, then, depending on the proximity to the upper part, the sub-pixel will be seen brighter than if it were below. Convert color to signal. 0 on the RGB system - the lower position, 255 - the top. If you do not like this approach, then you can make all the sub-pixels rise to the top position, and the visible part changes the transparency above the pixel. This, of course, "raw" options for ideas. Therefore, they must be carefully analyzed. If someone is interested to listen to the arguments on this topic, speak out in the comments. Organize an article.

Mechanical watches

Another way to increase battery life. Just wind up the clock once a day. It only takes a few seconds a day, but not a few hours as with the proposed models. And lovers of "mechanics" will like it. I have to say that in prototyping I used the caliber 1400 from Vacheron Constantin. They live from plant to plant 40 hours. They have quite good dimensions: d = 20.65 mm, h = 2.6 mm. Such sizes will allow us to make the thinnest watches. The use of mechanics has pleased the category of people who lives like this: “There are many fans of mechanical watches, well, or quartz in a pinch. Which in no way will refuse Switzerland for the sake of smart watches from Apple or Google. © Tellur »

Modularity

Many people are not satisfied with the absence of any sensors. No problem. It is enough to change the module with sensors. Not satisfied with the battery - change it. Battery connectors are similar to those in phones. Therefore, any user can replace.

On-off sensors.

Another way to save battery power. If you click on the wheel of the plant, the sensors will turn on and start saving the collected information to the built-in drive (if there is no smartphone) or to the smartphone (if it is nearby). So we solved the problem: “ This is an accessory. It is useless separately from the phone, it cannot be used. © heathen . If all you need is a clock, then just press the wheel again and the “smart functions” will turn off.

Functional

Functional for fitness.

I have already said above that you can enable and disable sensors. When turned on, an icon appears on the screen that the sensors are active. Suppose you decide to go for a run and want to leave your smartphone at home / in the car. The goal of your run is to burn n calories. On the smartphone (or computer), through the application you set the limit of n calories and synchronize with the clock. Come out to the street. Turn on the sensors and start running. As soon as you reach half of the specified value, you will receive a notification in the form of an icon. As soon as you burn a calorie set point, another icon will appear on the display, notifying that you have completed the task. If you continue to run, the device will read data offline. At home, after synchronization with a smartphone or computer, you will be able to see the overrun.

Build a route. The presence of GPS will help to put your route on the map. And you can see to which street you need to run to spend a certain amount of calories. After a few runs, the system counts your average running pace. Then you can create a route and, based on your pace, the system will calculate the approximate amount of calories burned.

Functionality for communication

Someone said that the mechanical arrows will interfere with reading messages. Why read from the clock screen? I suggest to go the other way. When you receive a message, only the notification icon appears. And then read from the smartphone. For fans to read from a small screen, there is another option. We put on the axis of the arrows the sensor that determines the position. Knowing the position of the hands, you can find out which part of the dial is free. There and display the text. If there are several messages, then we show them one after another with a certain repetition interval.

The output of the incoming / outgoing call will have to be removed, because There is nothing to tap on to take a call. Yes, and there is a telephone for calls. This is my personal opinion. Multifunctionality is good. But you need to know when to stop.

Design and name

There are a huge number of people for whom the watch is primarily a status. All there Rolexes, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and others like them, the owners of such watches will not look in the direction of these handicrafts. (c) ViGilant
I would not be so sure. I think that after what I described above, these people will simply have the opportunity to buy a watch with the module they need. And if the design is appropriate to their status, then why not? I reviewed the watch design of some manufacturers and in a few hours I tried to combine the “moderate intelligence” of the watch with a pleasant, in my opinion, appearance. That's what happened.


All sizes depended on the size of the mechanical part, the battery and the number of sensors (this influenced the shape of the lower part. Less components - smaller size). On the render, I displayed the highest possible equipment. As a result, I received the following dimensions: height = 8.5 mm; diameter = 41 mm (this is where the lugs for attaching the straps are formed); diameter = 36 mm (the largest diameter of the frame around the dial). You will probably be surprised by the thickness. After all, there is no clock thinner than 10mm. But all watch manufacturers use LCD displays. The thickness of such displays - 1.5-2 mm. E-ink display has a thickness of 0.2-0.3 mm. Tangible difference. If you look closely, you can see how the icons are displayed (incoming messages and enabled sensors), which I mentioned above. The screen and arrows are protected by a 0.8 mm sapphire crystal. In a specific prototype case is platinum, but to reduce the price it can be made of other materials. Weight. It is difficult to name the number, because the mechanical part is new, not displayed in the ETA registry. Without it and straps, the weight is 60 g. For comparison: snickers weigh 58 grams, pheasant eggs weigh 60 grams, 4 tablespoons of butter weigh 60 grams. Due to the possibility of turning on and off smart functions, I decided to assign the code name “Not always included hours”. In Russian does not sound. So I translated to English. As a result, Not Always Switched On Watch came out. Short for NASOW (stress on the first syllable).

Conclusion

What I would like to say in conclusion. If you think the idea is good, and you have the opportunity to implement such a project in life, then take the idea. If you like the article and you have any thoughts, ideas or ideas, you can send them to me in private messages. I have a lot of free time (I am unemployed as a parasite ), so I will try as soon as possible to organize an article about my vision of a particular concept (if you are interested).