I like Android Wear more than the Apple Watch OS
Comparing both the wearable platforms from a designer’s point of view
Almost in all discussions around Apple Watch, both online and offline, the Digital Crown was hailed as a breakthrough input mechanism Apple invented and how the lack of it on the Android Watch was a shame. By rotating the Digital Crown users can zoom and scroll quickly and precisely without obstructing their view of the display. Sounds great right? But that’s where I think the design of Apple Watch OS is fundamentally flawed.
Android Wear’s creative vision starts by saying, a great Watch experience would be when the information is glanceable with zero to low interaction with big gestures. And when an interaction is required, like it or not, it’s easier and intuitive to just swipe on the screen. This removes the need to have something like a Digital Crown as an input mechanism on Android watches in the first place.
The UI model
The Watch Face is the starting point of Android Wear…
- Swipe left and right on the Watch Face will give the high level sections of the watch.
- Swipe up and down to navigate through a stream of cards showing contextual information starting from the Watch Face
- Swipe left for more information on a card in the stream. Swipe right to go back and also subsequently dismiss a card in the stream.
- Touch and hold on the Watch Face to change it.
- Edge swipe from top for Settings.
These are the only 5 simple things you need to know to use the Android watch. Some watches also have a hardware Home button which is a shortcut to get to the Watch Face.
Apple Watch also has the Watch Face as the home screen, obviously…
- Edge swipe from the bottom of the home screen to get to Glances and then swipe left and right to browse through a collection of timely and contextually relevant information from the apps on the Watch. Rotating the Digital Crown doesn't do anything here.
- Swipe down from the top edge of the home screen to get to notification centre and continue to swipe vertically to go through the notifications. Swipe left on a notification to see a close button and tap to dismiss a notification. However a new notification that you receive can only be dismissed by scrolling down and tapping on the Dismiss button.
- Rotating the Digital Crown scrolls through the screen, which is same as swiping on the screen, or it zooms in out on some screens, mimicking a pinch.
- In addition to the rotation based input, the Digital Crown is also a button that can be used to go to the App Drawer from the home screen. When you are in an app, clicking on the Crown brings you back to the App Drawer and then a click more back to the home screen. Two clicks show recently used apps and three clicks toggle accessibility options. Press-and-hold activates Siri.
- Left edge swipes navigate back to a parent screen in a hierarchical interface in an app
- Force Touching gives you more options on some screens. E.g. On the home screen for more Watch Faces or to customise the current one. When you are in an app screen to get more actions.
- Then there is the Side Button to access the Friends screen. From this screen, you can call friends, send messages, or interact by sending sketches, taps, and even their heartbeat.
Phew! Android Wear is way more simpler than Apple Watch. More than the several interaction mechanisms in Apple Watch, it’s the inconsistency that irks me the most. The crown works in some screens but not everywhere. In some screens you click on the crown to go back but in some cases you edge swipe from left. Force touch works on some screens but not everywhere. I also find the side button features totally bloated.
Sending your heartbeat to a loved one is about as personal as faxing them your cholesterol levels. There are infinite ways to get personal using a mobile device. This isn’t one of them. — The Oatmeal
Cards vs. Lists
Android Wear screens mostly comprises of Cards, a UI pattern designed for big gestures so that there is no need for a precise scroll or a tap on the tiny screen. So you swipe on the screen from one card to another. Even lists are designed to support big gestures so that a non precise tap on the screen taps on just the option that’s in focus.
Apple Watch screens comprise of List and Table views that require precise scrolling and point and tapping, which according to me is not good for tiny screen interactions. In fact this is also the reason why the Apple watch is not round.
When a huge part of the function is lists, a circle doesn’t make any sense. — Sir Jony Ive
Notification & Glances vs. Context Stream
The Apple Watch shows the same notification you receive on the iPhone with a list of actions. Tapping on the app icon on the notification would open the WatchKit version of the app if it’s available. After you go to an app you press the Digital Crown multiple times to come back to the home screen. If you miss the notification, you have to go to the notification center by edge swiping from top.
Apple Watch also has Glances which is a browsable collection of timely and contextually relevant information from the apps in the Watch. Very similar to the Widgets in the iPhone.
The Context Stream on Android Wear is a swipeable timeline of cards, each showing a useful or timely piece of information; interspersed with Google Now Cards, information from apps on the watch and also notifications from apps on the phone. Swiping left on a card gives more details and quick actions and swiping right dismisses them. It’s more or less like a marriage of the notification center and Google Now stream on the phone, designed to work well on the Watch’s tiny screen.
In most cases the cards in the Context Stream are good enough for the user to know things and take quick actions. Unlike Apple Watch, there is no need to have a separate app on the watch for this to work. It’s done by just adding additional levels of information and actions to the regular phone app’s notification. In fact Android Wear discourages ‘Wear Apps’ that don't add a card to the stream at a contextually relevant moment or provide a very useful function on the wrist.
Even though Apple Watch and Android Wear show me notifications and other contextually relevant information, the Context Stream on Android Wear feels much well designed for this purpose.
However I really like the way the Apple Watch handles the new notification alerts. It taps my wrist a few seconds before I get an alert letting me know that it’s about to arrive. The arrival of the message coincides with my eyes hitting the screen, and it works really well. The LG G Android watch that I use shows the notifications even when it is facing away from me. This has lead to a lot of embarrassing moments for me. I hope Android fixes this in a future update.
Custom Watch Faces vs. Complications
Android Wear supports beautiful Watch Faces designed for round and square formats. It provides a unique digital canvas for developers and designers like me to reimagine the ways in which we tell time and also have data for a higher level of personalization and contextual relevance. At the same time the creative vision advices to keep it bold and minimal that are highly readable at a distance. You can also customize specific features of a Watch Face using the Android Wear app on the phone. This allows app developers to have well designed Watch Faces to show relevant data from their apps along with the time.
I'm yet to see well designed Watch Faces on the Apple Watch and to make it worse they are slapped on with additional data (called Complications) in the most unimaginative way. App developers can publish Complications that show relevant data from their apps. Users can then pick these Complications to show alongside their favorite Watch Faces. I think this approach is too restrictive for app developers and is neither helping the user to get the best experience.
Even though I really liked the idea of the Time Travel feature that allows Complications to show information from the past and future by turning the Digital Crown, I think it'll remain as a novelty feature like many others on the Apple Watch.
Hardware
If there is one thing about the Apple Watch that shines, it’s the hardware. They have got the size of the Watch absolutely right. It doesn't look huge on my small wrist and it doesn't look cheap like my LG G watch. Some of the Apple Watch bands work like a charm. I also like Apple Watch’s Taptic Engine that creates highly tuned vibrations which mimic the sense of being tapped on the wrist. But I'll still give some marks to the Android watches as they come in both square and round shapes and a variety of designs.
