Hello everyone,
well, as Neil did it already in the first round of Q&A, I will attend the Q&A rounds and note the question and their answers.
I will try to attend the early and the late rounds of all Q&A’s, so I can get you a picture of the whole Q&A.
A little disclaimer here: The Q&A are more like a little presentation/ discussion, with further explanations to the questions. Therefore I need to “distill” the question and answers so I can present it in the following list.
So it’s not quoted, and there could be smaller mistakes.
I advise anyone, who has technical question, to attend the Q&A’s or get in touch with the blocks team directly.
Also Karl pointed out that most of the information's are not final yet, so there still could be changes.
Today’s topic of Q&A: Digital Interfaces (2nd April, 7pm GMT London Time)
First a little summary of some information's out of the UI presentation:
Smartwatch OS should be faster usable than the Phone, fast navigation, max 2-3 tips, need to be innovative.
Right now there is some lack of the necessary infrastructure for voice command's, but there will be text to speech.
There is the idea from Cronologics (3rd party and developer of the OS itself) to use “Containers”, small information bubbles directly on the watch cover. Small fast information's without opening the apps itself, like heart rate or temperature. There will be 3 Containers on the Cover. There will be Function to mute the watch to get not notification and get disturbed by the watch.
Also a big point (not a obvious point but internally important: The OS itself know the screen is round, the windows itself are round too (not like square with round formatted content).
Q: How is the situation about Windows Phone support?
A: Right now its far down the roadmap. It also depends on Cronologics, because they develop the OS and their companion app for the connection.
Q: How about Touchone keyboard integration?
A: Touchone is a nice idea, but it has it's limit's. Its optimized to type in Latin letters, but with other char sets you would have problems. Block's need to be global usable.
Q: How is Arabic text shown? Right to left?
A: As we using the Android localization service on API level 21/22 we will be able to. It's a standard in android and will work system-wide on the watch.
Q: Will the SDK be open source?
A: As we are working with 3rd parties, we have the problem that they are (understandable) quite protective on their code. So it maybe will be a closed SDK. But Blocks itself want to have open source where its possible.
Q: What type of app's do you (Karl [Designer]) think are good/suitable for smart watches?
A: Mostly app's which offers info's at a glance, which no long interaction max 2-3 tips
Q: What about the Android Wear compatibility.
A: Wear itself is closed source, so we have no API. Maybe Google will open Wear later, then it might be possible, but right now no.
Q: How the chances for Google NOW support?
A: We have some contact to Google, and they like us and our idea's. But there business strategy which don't offer “we give you, because we like”. It's a matter of licenses. We would need to license per sold watch. So right now financial/business strategic not. Technically it would be possible.
Q: Will you use the Google Voice API, is it open source?
A: IT's not a question if its open source, its a matter of licenses. We will maybe have some text recognition, but it will not based on Google's system.
Q: Is a eInk core still in development?
A: At the moment not. Right now we need to concentrate to launch this version. Maybe after launch we can take a look at it.
Q: How well will Blocks be usable with big fingers?
A: As we keep the UI simple and try to avoid using filigree/small stuff, it will be no problem. Also UI's like the radial scrolling will be usable without problems, as the are large and well to see. Also there will be accessibility options.
Q: Will the size of app's be customizable?
A: There will be some level of customizability.
Q: How about multi finger support? How many finger will Blocks touchscreen support?
A: We will have 2 finger gestures, so at least 2. The question is, if there is a real demand/usability for more finger? Realistically not.
Q: How about customizable gestures for certain tasks?
A: It's on the roadmap, we really want to do this. But first we need to finish this initial version and launch the watch. So it will come maybe later.
Q: How customizable will the Watch face/container be?
A: At least the background, and the clock will be customizable.
We try to offer a digital and a analog watch face at the release which with you can work then.
Q: Will there be a way to open app's on the watch through the phone?h
A: Definitively. On a phone its a pay easier to navigate through deep/several layer menu's. So if you have a deep buried app, search it on the phone and open it on the watch.
Q: Are you creating a track/”find my watch” app?
A: There is the problem that there are as of the design we will have watches without internet and/or GPS. But we have the idea to reg the modules on the first use to you blocks account. And if the modules get stolen and will be regged at another account, then we get a red flag or some kind of that.
Q: How we will be able to load new watch faces to our watch?
A: There will be a Watch face section in the Shop inside the companion app.
Just surf through, choose, it will be loaded on the watch and done.
Q: How about a small web browser to just quickly search for information?
A: Technically possible, also easy, but: is it worth infesting time? Is it usable? Use-cases? Typing?
Q: What about a Module with touch sensible front, to give input without touching the core?
A: Actually we have something like this in development. (refers to button module)
well, as Neil did it already in the first round of Q&A, I will attend the Q&A rounds and note the question and their answers.
I will try to attend the early and the late rounds of all Q&A’s, so I can get you a picture of the whole Q&A.
A little disclaimer here: The Q&A are more like a little presentation/ discussion, with further explanations to the questions. Therefore I need to “distill” the question and answers so I can present it in the following list.
So it’s not quoted, and there could be smaller mistakes.
I advise anyone, who has technical question, to attend the Q&A’s or get in touch with the blocks team directly.
Also Karl pointed out that most of the information's are not final yet, so there still could be changes.
Today’s topic of Q&A: Digital Interfaces (2nd April, 7pm GMT London Time)
First a little summary of some information's out of the UI presentation:
Smartwatch OS should be faster usable than the Phone, fast navigation, max 2-3 tips, need to be innovative.
Right now there is some lack of the necessary infrastructure for voice command's, but there will be text to speech.
There is the idea from Cronologics (3rd party and developer of the OS itself) to use “Containers”, small information bubbles directly on the watch cover. Small fast information's without opening the apps itself, like heart rate or temperature. There will be 3 Containers on the Cover. There will be Function to mute the watch to get not notification and get disturbed by the watch.
Also a big point (not a obvious point but internally important: The OS itself know the screen is round, the windows itself are round too (not like square with round formatted content).
Q: How is the situation about Windows Phone support?
A: Right now its far down the roadmap. It also depends on Cronologics, because they develop the OS and their companion app for the connection.
Q: How about Touchone keyboard integration?
A: Touchone is a nice idea, but it has it's limit's. Its optimized to type in Latin letters, but with other char sets you would have problems. Block's need to be global usable.
Q: How is Arabic text shown? Right to left?
A: As we using the Android localization service on API level 21/22 we will be able to. It's a standard in android and will work system-wide on the watch.
Q: Will the SDK be open source?
A: As we are working with 3rd parties, we have the problem that they are (understandable) quite protective on their code. So it maybe will be a closed SDK. But Blocks itself want to have open source where its possible.
Q: What type of app's do you (Karl [Designer]) think are good/suitable for smart watches?
A: Mostly app's which offers info's at a glance, which no long interaction max 2-3 tips
Q: What about the Android Wear compatibility.
A: Wear itself is closed source, so we have no API. Maybe Google will open Wear later, then it might be possible, but right now no.
Q: How the chances for Google NOW support?
A: We have some contact to Google, and they like us and our idea's. But there business strategy which don't offer “we give you, because we like”. It's a matter of licenses. We would need to license per sold watch. So right now financial/business strategic not. Technically it would be possible.
Q: Will you use the Google Voice API, is it open source?
A: IT's not a question if its open source, its a matter of licenses. We will maybe have some text recognition, but it will not based on Google's system.
Q: Is a eInk core still in development?
A: At the moment not. Right now we need to concentrate to launch this version. Maybe after launch we can take a look at it.
Q: How well will Blocks be usable with big fingers?
A: As we keep the UI simple and try to avoid using filigree/small stuff, it will be no problem. Also UI's like the radial scrolling will be usable without problems, as the are large and well to see. Also there will be accessibility options.
Q: Will the size of app's be customizable?
A: There will be some level of customizability.
Q: How about multi finger support? How many finger will Blocks touchscreen support?
A: We will have 2 finger gestures, so at least 2. The question is, if there is a real demand/usability for more finger? Realistically not.
Q: How about customizable gestures for certain tasks?
A: It's on the roadmap, we really want to do this. But first we need to finish this initial version and launch the watch. So it will come maybe later.
Q: How customizable will the Watch face/container be?
A: At least the background, and the clock will be customizable.
We try to offer a digital and a analog watch face at the release which with you can work then.
Q: Will there be a way to open app's on the watch through the phone?h
A: Definitively. On a phone its a pay easier to navigate through deep/several layer menu's. So if you have a deep buried app, search it on the phone and open it on the watch.
Q: Are you creating a track/”find my watch” app?
A: There is the problem that there are as of the design we will have watches without internet and/or GPS. But we have the idea to reg the modules on the first use to you blocks account. And if the modules get stolen and will be regged at another account, then we get a red flag or some kind of that.
Q: How we will be able to load new watch faces to our watch?
A: There will be a Watch face section in the Shop inside the companion app.
Just surf through, choose, it will be loaded on the watch and done.
Q: How about a small web browser to just quickly search for information?
A: Technically possible, also easy, but: is it worth infesting time? Is it usable? Use-cases? Typing?
Q: What about a Module with touch sensible front, to give input without touching the core?
A: Actually we have something like this in development. (refers to button module)
