30x22mm Short line Indicator Rotary Electronic Control knob Electrical devices

The first batch of Atari game consoles in the 1970s, when joysticks and direction keys were not yet born, all controls were handed over to knobs. Although it can only control two directions, the rotation of the knob can output more accurate movement variables than the buttons, which is enough to play simple 2D plane games like "PONG".

This is the immersive experience that the knob brings to focus on the information itself, or in other words, under this continuous control, we will naturally have this intuitive behavior, because our ears and eyes The results reacted.

But even with such an exquisite design, knobs have rarely appeared on products such as mobile phones or computers. Not to mention the common equipment now, smartphones and laptops, we basically can't see the knob. Even in an era before touchscreens became standard, knobs were not the preferred interaction solution for most products.

But the knob has not completely disappeared. You can still see it in some specific places, such as the ECG monitor in the hospital, or the mixer in the school broadcast room. Such professional instruments are still indispensable. Controllers of all sizes; and some consumer electronics products also recognize the intuitive, out-of-the-box nature behind the knob, so it also exists as an auxiliary interaction solution.

If the digital and graphical controllers pursue unity and efficiency, then the retention of knobs and the like may be our original unconscious cognition of this mode of operation.

Good design should dance with the times

It is quite logical that the Digital Crown will appear on the Apple Watch. According to Jony Ive, the chief designer of Apple at the time, he hoped to create a wonderful sense of familiarity - both the meaning of the crown in the traditional watch, and also as a smart watch. The watch exists in the form of auxiliary interaction.

When setting the alarm interface through Apple Watch, you slowly turn the Digital Crown knob, and the numbers will jump one by one. Once the speed of the dialing becomes faster, the numbers will also change rapidly with this frequency, which is similar to the crown strap of traditional watches. The control feels exactly the same, and the knob only requires one finger to operate.

Fundamentally, the Apple Watch is not like a smartphone. Its screen size is only about 1.5 inches, and two fingers can cover the entire screen, making it impossible to precisely control it.

In order to avoid the problem of visual occlusion, the original virtual crown scheme was directly abandoned, and the Digital Crown appeared in physical form. At the same time, there was also a pressure-sensitive touch developed based on the Taptic Engine, which also continued to later iPhones. .

But just like the original gamepad, the way the knob interacts limits its use in higher-dimensional interfaces. This is actually the reason for the physical structure, but it also means that it is an old design that is destined to be eliminated in the history of electronic products.

So, when smartphones are all looking for an all-in-one simple design, let it appear on the iPhone? That's simply not possible. It's not that the knobs are not easy to use, it's that the human need to process multiple inputs at the same time has far exceeded what the knobs can provide.