Apple’s Flint Center media event has been and gone. The occasion was packed with the typical presentation flair and expertise that we’ve come to expect from the likes of Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, and even continued the light-hearted trend of throwing in the odd casual joke here and there.
The event also contained everything that had been widely speculated upon over the weeks running up to it, namely the iPhone 6, the larger iPhone 6 Plus and the eventual introduction of the Apple Watch. As part of the Apple Watch presentation, Apple talked about the design and aesthetics of the wrist wear. It talked about getting back to basics to design an entirely new user-interface and user-experience that worked harmoniously with a gadget of that size. It even showed off a number of new and shiny Apple Watch apps. However, at no point did any of the executive team allude to how usable the wearable will be for left-handed individuals.
It’s evident from the presentation that the company has been working hard on the Apple Watch for a very long time. The attention to aesthetics, design, and usability carries the same Apple flair and borderline obsession that we would expect from the Cupertino company. While other manufacturers have been pushing out wearables operated entirely through small and fiddly touch-screens and hardware based buttons, Apple has created a digital crown that sits on the right-hand side of the watch, acting as a central input for navigation. As beautiful as it may look, that design lends itself predominantly to a right-handed person. Or so it seems.
After a number of news outlets immediately flagged up what seemed to be limitations in the design, Apple immediately reached out to SlashGear to shed some light on the situation. As part of the initial setup process users can choose to have the watch face position itself for perfect usage when being worn on the right wrist. The variety of available bands are also designed with this in mind and are easily swappable to ensure that it is facing the correct way. The only real down-side to the whole design is that the digital crown isn’t centered on the watch, meaning that lefties will need to get used to it being toward the bottom of the device on the left-hand side.
Those interested in the Apple Watch will be able to get in on the action in early 2015, with prices starting at $349.
(Source: SlashGear)
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