New iWatch Concept Video Envisions A Vertical, Notification-Based UI For An Apple Wearable

New iWatch Concept Video Envisions A Vertical, Notification-Based UI For An Apple Wearable

Feb 18th 2014, 15:39, by Darrell Etherington

A new iWatch concept video produced by Fuse Chicken, the Cleveland-based design startup that’s currently funding a magnetic charging cable and dock for iPhone, imagines what a wrist-mounted Apple wearable computer might look like with a wraparound curved display and a vertical UI incorporating the rumored Healthbook fitness tracking app potentially included in iOS 8.
This iWatch concept resembles the one created bydesigner Todd Hamilton earlier this year, with a bracelet-style design that borrows inspiration from the Nike+ Fuelband. The Fuse Chicken version increases the width vs. Hamilton’s take, however, and features a constant time/date display (nice feature for a watch) plus a lot more text information and UI navigation that’s primarily notification-based.

While the additional information provided by the added text-based notices is nice when comparing this design to the Todd Hamilton version, font looks quite small and could be hard to read in practice, so perhaps some middle ground between the two could be found. Of course, Apple’s actual iWatch hardware (provided it sees the light of day at all) will almost definitely be completely distinct from any fan-made concept creation.
The Healthbook presentation is perhaps the most interesting part of this concept: If this feature is real and is part of iOS 8, it will likely tie tightly into any wearable hardware Cupertino dreams up. A previous concept mockup by a MacRumors forum member imagined what Healthbook might look like on an iPhone, but this design presents a version of what we might expect on more space-constrained screens.