Web Excursions 2021-10-14
Apple Watch Series 7 by daringfireball.net
Unlike any other product Apple has ever made, they really nailed the basic shape and look, the gestalt, on the first try. It was birthed as an iconic design.
look carefully and you can see a clear difference in the case shapes, too.
The Series 0–3 cases were like rectangular boxes with round sides and corners; the Series 4 introduced a new case shape that defies easy description.
It was more capsule-like, more elliptical.
More organic, like a water-worn pebble.
The three-dimensional equivalent of the way that iOS (and, sadly, now Mac) app icons are not simple roundrects, but in fact super elliptical squircles.
Another example: the fascinating shape of the iPhone X notch.
1 mm is a meaningful difference at watch scale.
The Series 7 watch sits slightly bigger on the wrist.
It’s a subtle difference, to be sure, but it is noticeable.
This is neither a complaint nor a compliment.
You might like the bigger presence on your wrist, or you might not. It is different though.
And because every other Apple product’s “size” is determined by the display, not the case,
many people might assume — wrongly — that
the changes from 44 to 45 mm and 40 to 41 mm are only about fitting larger displays into the same size cases.
With Series 7, the displays are a lot bigger;
but the cases are a little bigger too.
With Series 7, I suspect the 41 mm size will seem “regular” and the 45 mm will seem “large”.
For existing Apple Watch owners, there are very few reasons to consider buying a Series 7
other than the reasons why anyone ever buys a new watch:
because you like the way it looks.
Apple Watch is a watch that happens to be a computer,
not a computer that you happen to wear on your wrist.
Evaluate the upgrade decision like you would a computer or even a phone and you’re missing the point.