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What sets Apple’s foray into the wearables market with its Apple Watch apart from Android competitors may be the digital crown, a clever analog control that bridges the digital divide in this case. The crown is not only an homage to classic watch design, an element of analog watches where you set and adjust the time by turning the crown, but on the Apple Watch it serves as a way to navigate the watch’s new interface.
For instance, to pull up a view of your friends, you just press the button right below the digital crown. Then, to zoom in, you can twist the crown.
Check out quick Instagram demo below, and be sure to come back to this post with a more detailed look once we get our official video uploaded.
Another use of the digital crown would be for mobile payments. To pay for goods using Apple Pay on your Apple Watch at a physical store, just double press the digital crown and then tap your watch to the payment terminal.
Additionally, to view photos on your watch, you can also use the digital crown to zoom in on pictures.
We’ll have to see how Apple re-envision the watch crown and how the digital crown evolves, but as it stands right now, the digital crown to the Apple Watch is probably akin to the scroll wheel on the now deceased iPod classic.
Be sure to check back on iMore where we will have a more detailed hands-on with the Apple Watch.
