New Watch Suggestion
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
Ever since I have been buying watches, I've had only a few requirements: 1) both analog and digital; 2) stopwatch; 3) alarm; 4) water resistant; 5) less than $30. I like for the watch to have an "outdoor" type rather than a "professional" type look. My current watch is a Remington. It looks really good but I can now complain about a few things since I've had it over a year: 1) the band is secured via Velcro which does not last very long. It also snags the end of long-sleeve shirts; 2) the buttons on the side are multi-purpose and not very intuitive (e.g., hold button A down for 3 seconds, when LED flashes, depress buttons B and C); 3) I've not been able to locate a replacement band as it connects to the watch itself in a very odd way; 4) not sure what some of the LEDs are for, and the instructions don't say either.
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." - Mark Twain
"There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Native American Proverb
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Brigg Thorp wrote:
My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch
The time. Ok, yeah, that was trite... but really, that's it. I don't care how many other features the thing has, if i have to hold it at a certain angle, or press a button, or do anything else beyond glancing in the direction of my wrist, i'm not gonna bother. And for a sports watch, that means reading it when it's dark, when the sun is directly ahead of me, when it's wet, when going from a very hot environment into a very cold one, and when a thin layer of dust and grime has covered everything. Without needing to hunt for the button to activate a backlight, or otherwise divert my attention for more than a split second. ----
Bots don't know when people die. --Paul Watson, RIP
Shog9 wrote:
Ok, yeah, that was trite... but really, that's it.
Reminds me of the watch in Spy Kids. It did everything but tell time (not enough room).
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." - Mark Twain
"There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Native American Proverb
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How about one with 1) Multiple alarms (I wake up at the same time, I need to leave the gym at the same time, I should eat lunch at this time, etc...) don't make me set one alarm 10 times a day. 2) a count down timer. That beeps when the time has hit. and then counts "up" after the time has elasped so I know how much time passed from the point when I should have stopped. 3) Don't make the watch this huge, bulky thing that looks like it fell off an Aircraft. Just because I like working out with weights, doesn't mean I want my watch to be one too. 4) Ok, I know you said "No computer connectivity stuff" but an MP3 player built-in with headphone jack. I mean COME ON this is a no brainer. Even if it held only 30 songs, that's enough for a work-out. oops - you said "After the gym" ... but honestly, the watch I wear when I work-out is almost always the same one I wear to work; and everywhere else. It has to function in/out of the gym and "play both parts" ;P 5) Make a woman's watch just like it. My wife complains all the time that men have the cooler watches and watch companies always muck up the "woman's version" of the watch. Make them the same, but make the sizes for a man and one for a woman. That's what've got.
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |Development Blogging|Viksoe.dk's Site -- modified at 13:37 Monday 6th March, 2006Douglas Troy wrote:
- Multiple alarms (I wake up at the same time, I need to leave the gym at the same time, I should eat lunch at this time, etc...) don't make me set one alarm 10 times a day.
My Casio G-Shock has several alarms. I'm not sure how many since I never use them and it varied somewhat between models but IIRC they were all in the 4-6 range. As far as must have features the one I'm never going back from is atomic time signal recieving. My watch sets it's time daily so I never have to fiddle with the time getting off. GPS enabled (for timezones) would be nice for people who do alot of traveling (as would being able to recieve both US and EU timing pulses depending on the location), but useless to me since GPS devices are on the banned list in the secure area at work. Something I don't like are bands designed to hold the watch centered on the back of my wrist. I prefer having it at the 1:30 position so that I don't have to turn my wrist as much to read the display.
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M.A.M.E. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++
Christian Graus wrote:
M.A.M.E.
Are you needing to Evaluate Missiles And Munitions?
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." - Mark Twain
"There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Native American Proverb
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Christian Graus wrote:
M.A.M.E.
Are you needing to Evaluate Missiles And Munitions?
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." - Mark Twain
"There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Native American Proverb
No, that would be E.M.A.M. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
A
laser beam, so that I can cut my way out of sticky situations James Bond style. Or how about achick magnet, so that I can get with the ladies... uhh... James Bond style. -
Shog9 wrote:
I don't care how many other features the thing has
Are you kidding? The HRMs are a godsend. Jeremy Falcon
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Shog9 wrote:
The time.
Does it have to be correct? :)[
My articles and software tools
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No, that would be E.M.A.M. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++
Actually it was Missiles And Munitions Evaluation, but I knew of no way to put that in a sentence.
"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." - Mark Twain
"There is no death, only a change of worlds." - Native American Proverb
-
A
laser beam, so that I can cut my way out of sticky situations James Bond style. Or how about achick magnet, so that I can get with the ladies... uhh... James Bond style.Quick! Someone call Moneypenny - one of Q's lab interns has escaped again! ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
When running at night, it would be nice to switch on the backlight for a few secs but by tapping the watch, rather than having to lose balance, slow down while trying to fiddle around getting my fat fingers round to the lgiht button. Not that I do much running these days, just that it used to annoy me years ago. I would more likely roll than run the shape I am in now..... if(E_NOINTERFACE == pThat->QueryInterface(IID_IUnknown,(void**)&pUnk)) { // I aint no pUnk bitch! }
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Heh. That's the problem with digital watches - once the battery goes, they aren't even correct twice a day... :rolleyes: ----
Bots don't know when people die. --Paul Watson, RIP
That is why you should get an eco-drive battery. It uses the light to store up a charge to power the watch. And it doesn't have to be in the light all the time to be able to see it. It stores the charge for a long time. Brett A. Whittington Application Developer
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When running at night, it would be nice to switch on the backlight for a few secs but by tapping the watch, rather than having to lose balance, slow down while trying to fiddle around getting my fat fingers round to the lgiht button. Not that I do much running these days, just that it used to annoy me years ago. I would more likely roll than run the shape I am in now..... if(E_NOINTERFACE == pThat->QueryInterface(IID_IUnknown,(void**)&pUnk)) { // I aint no pUnk bitch! }
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
Make common operations the easiest to get to. For example, instead of making the wearer find a button while they're running, let them tap the face of the watch (in other words, make the watch face a big button). If the watch is in chronograph mode, a tap can do start/stop, next lap, whatever. I would rather have 10 or 12 modes that basically switched what the 'tap' meant than to have to find a button.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I would like it to sense darkness and sense when it is being held in a position that means it's being looked at and light up accordingly.
I'm not sure how well this would work. Mainly I think you'd get alot of false positives from the motion/orientation sensors and drain the battery. MY watch occasionally blinks the light for no explained reason, it's really annoying when driving at night.
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
Put it on a jockstrap and make it change colors according to the wearer's mood, or better yet, make it vocalize the wearer's mood - call it a CrotchWatch... Oh, wait.... You said *outside* the gym... ------- sig starts "I've heard some drivers saying, 'We're going too fast here...'. If you're not here to race, go the hell home - don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Why don't you tie a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001
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That is why you should get an eco-drive battery. It uses the light to store up a charge to power the watch. And it doesn't have to be in the light all the time to be able to see it. It stores the charge for a long time. Brett A. Whittington Application Developer
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As some of you may know, I work for Timex - the watch company. I'm currently in the process of designing the user interface for a new digital sports watch. I want to make it appealing to the younger cell phone generation - it must be something they would wear outside of the gym. My industrial design guys are handling that part. However, what would you all like to see in a digital sports watch - aside from the standard chronograph with lap storage, alarms, and timer that every sports watch has. Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question. Regards, Brigg Thorp Senior Software Engineer Timex Corporation
Off the top of my head, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS.
Brigg Thorp wrote:
Oh, and for this project, computer connectivity, heart rate monitors and GPS receivers are out of the question.
Boo! Seriously though, how can it be a sports watch without a HRM? Is it simply a watch someone would wear while playing sport? Here's my list of what I want in a sports watch (I'm a cyclist, so I'm biased here) - Watch, dual times, alarm with snooze - Date display in main window - dual times - Backlight - Altimiter (max, min, avg, log + graph) - Barometer - Compass - Inclinometer (max, min, avg, log + graph) - Cycle functions (speed (max/min/avg), cadence (+average), trip time (moving, total, average, wattage - HRM (max, min, avg, zones, log, fitness tests) - Thermometer I'm not actually fussed about a GPS but PC connectivity is a must. Most importantly, if you want it to be worn outside the gym then make it light so that it isn't annoying, not too huge so that it interferes with typing on a keyboard, and make the font clear and smooth. I love the Suunto X6 but it's too damn ugly for me. The X9 is brilliant but has no cycling features (and is a little huge). I'm currently using a Polar AXN 300 (because it was cheap and has most features I need) but as soon as I can track down a supplier I'll be getting a Ciclo HAC4 Plus. This bad boy does everything. Except look good. :sigh: cheers, Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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I'm not sure how well this would work. Mainly I think you'd get alot of false positives from the motion/orientation sensors and drain the battery. MY watch occasionally blinks the light for no explained reason, it's really annoying when driving at night.
Well it would work as well as they can make it work I guess. Batteries are soon to be an issue no longer if the latest buzz becomes reality and they already have watches that can charge themselves anyway so I don't see it being much of an issue. They can always add a menu option to turn that off.
