Comment by synack

16 hours ago

Apple Watch with cellular is effectively iPhone mini. There are 3d printable cases to make it into a bar phone.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/1022751-watch-phone#profile...

The Apple Watches have also been getting bigger.

The first Apple Watches came in 38mm and 42mm sizes. That "large" Apple Watch is the size of the current "small" Apple Watch (42mm).

  • > The Apple Watches have also been getting bigger.

    A large watch face has always been a style people into watches go for. It's not just a digital smartwatch trend.

    • This was a style thing that tended to ebb and flow. The trend in the 2000s was to have really big watch faces but by the 2010s people were calling them “dinner plates” and it started to be viewed as kind of tacky and ostentatious. Smart watches ended up recalibrating people’s expectations but, if they hadn’t shaken things up, I think we’d be leaning towards smaller faces by now.

      In fact, fashionable youths these days are wearing those vintage Casios which come in at 35mm to 39mm.

There are a lot of aluminum cases that transform the watch into an ipod, and some of them are advertised to be used as a phone as well.

To go on a different tangent, I want a round Apple Watch. I know it's not the most efficient use of space, but dangit I don't want the weird little (but constantly-growing) square! If I have to have something on my wrist all day, I want it to look nice and not like a brick.

  • Try Garmin if you want a round smart watch. They get good reviews and the sporty types who own them swear by them.

    Can’t imagine Apple ever doing this, though, because a round display is pretty terrible for displaying the sort of content and UI elements that iPhone/Apple Watch users are used to. Much of the UI and all existing apps would need to be completely redesigned.

    • I have a Garmin for the express reason of battery life. I get 2-3 weeks per charge and it's "oh I should charge it eventually" "about to start a jog - oh it's a 6%, ok charge it tomorrow..."

    • Yeah I fully admit I'm yelling at clouds here. I have looked at Garmin and they're likely to be be what I eventually settle on. I have my own issues with their design philosophy, or more particularly, the design philosophy of their operating systems and back-end UX, but they're a far sight better aesthetically to these eyes. The watches by "nothing" are also pleasing to the eye but don't seem to be really be good at doing what i want (responsive heart rate monitoring, sport features).

  • Crazy idea: Just get a regular round watch :-P

    Even better idea: Get a Casio FX-91 [1]. You'll get used to its shape pretty quick - like the 100 Million other humans who already have. Good chance it will still be produced 30 years from now, too, so if you lose it or break it you can get a new one. Costs a tenth of an Apple watch.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W

    • Ha, she's a beaut. I actually had one way back in the day. Still remember that cute little beep for the alarm/adjustments.

I'd like to see anyone try to use this for, like, anything at all. A video of someone posting a HN comment on this thing would absolutely make my day.