Hardware manufacturers and software developers have quickly found out that it is not easy to squeeze meaningful information onto a smartwatch’s small display. Whereas smartphone displays have gotten larger, smartwatches will be constrained by the limitation that it has to fit comfortably onto a person’s wrist. If squeezing more information onto a single display won’t work, what about giving a smartwatch a second display? Lenovo has already toyed with this idea with its Magic View smartwatch. Researchers have now come up with the Doppio smartwatch, a reconfigurable dual-face wearable.
Developed by Teddy Seyed of the University of Calgary, Dartmouth College’s Xing-Dong Yang and Daniel Vogel from the University of Waterloo, the Doppio allows its two screens to be rearranged for different purposes. The current prototype, covered in duct tape, may not be elegant but it certainly conveys what the smartwatch is trying to achieve.
For example, snapping the two screens next to each other gives doubles the screen real estate for applications such as maps or provides twice as much weather information without squeezing everything onto one display. When working with a single screen, rotating it 180 degrees allows it to change from function. For example, such a rotation can have the face from a clock to music playback controls.
The second screen on the Doppio smartwatch is also completely detachable. Not only does this give you a wider range of options when positioning it but it also allows you to completely leave it behind when it is not required. For example, you may choose to not use it during a workout or on a run.
As the illustration above displays, the Doppio could support a wide range of configurations, each capable of displaying specific information.
The research team will present its Doppio smartwatch study at the upcoming CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems currently taking place in San Jose, California.
Sources : ACM Digital Library // Gizmodo