The Google IO 2022 was a huge huge success last week and Google definitely seems to have rolled up its sleeve in the hardware war against Apple. Though it is too early to decide the performance of its hardware announcements such as Pixel Buds, Pixel Pad (a competitor product against the Apple iPad), one can say for sure that the battle is heating up.
What’s happening!
Amongst the reveals last week, Google got the most attention and buzz online for its Google Pixel Watch. The tech giant is expected to eat a lion’s share of the smartwatch revenue which the Apple Watch clearly dominates. Backed up by Fitbit’s lineage in the sector, Google is expected to leave a dent in Apple Watch’s review if things go as planned for Pixel Watches.
As we know already, the rivalry between the two of the biggest tech companies has been neck to neck ever since the iOS and Android operating systems went on to dominate the smartphone industry. The rivalry now extends to the next stage, the smartwatches.
Excluding the general excitement and rivalry anticipation amongst Apple and Google fans, what became an interesting debate was the shape of the watches. The new Google Pixel Watches flaunt a classy round dial while the pioneer Apple Watches sport a sexy rounded rectangular dial.
The history
Ever since the Apple Watches debuted in 2015, a lot has been spoken about the dial shape. Given the history of Apple and how much the Cupertino company values its look-aesthetics, it quite came as a shocker for Apple fans that Apple preferred a dull rectangular dial rather than a classy round dial.
Even when Apple revealed its plan for a smartwatch, the internet stormed with mockup designs and all of it was round dial ones. Well, it is a no-brainer! But when Apple launched the Apple Watch, even the Apple loyalists felt the Android-powered round-shaped smartwatches like Moto 360 looked more appealing and natural. The sentiment holds true even to this date, any face-off between a round-shaped dial and a rectangular dial will favor the round-shaped dial.
The Apple Watch design reminds me of the late 1980’s era Casio calculator watch. Both are practical. And both are ugly (to my eye). – An Apple fan, 2015
The reason behind
- Apart from the time, weather, and other such primitive data, all of the other information displayed in a smartwatch such as text messages, emails, photos, etc. come directly from your smartphone – iPhone, which is a rectangular device. Choosing a rectangular dial to display a rectangular iPhone content was more logical as it cuts down the optimization efforts required to display the same on a round dial.
- Also, the rectangular dial allows Apple to use every pixel available on the display unlike in a rounded dial where there has to be a solid chunk of pixels at the corners unused. Wasting almost 30% of the space on a small display such as a smartwatch was too costly for Apple.
What’s the future?
Apple Watches are the world’s most successful smartwatches, and the latest data shows us that around 100 million Apple Watches are active at the moment. While Apple remains still committed to rectangular dials, Google Pixel Watches have promised a round dial which should be an interesting match-up on paper to Apple Watches. However, will Google be able to negate the cons of a round dial? We’ll have to wait and watch!
