Overview
The concept of the ZERO Watch is a clock face without hands or markings, instead a constantly changing pattern of rings indicates the passing of time. The main theme is minimalism, so there are no distracting elements in the design, after a short time you will acquire a feel for reading the time.
The color themes for the app reflect a rich graphics design philosophy in order to provide visually pleasing graphics, no detail has been spared in the design of the appearance of each of the themes.
APP FEATURES
The application has been designed to allow for individual customization by the user, allowing it to be personalized to suit your needs. A choice of eleven eye-catching color themes are provided, there is one for every kind of mood. To access the configuration options tap on the button at the bottom of the screen, to access the application settings. Each of the configuration settings will be described in greater detail below on this page.
Many of these new features have been added in the latest release, so if you are an earlier customer be sure to get the latest update. The big new feature is support for displaying up to two additional time zones on the clock face.
ABOUT THE CONCEPT
If you want an uncommon and beautiful clock for your nightstand, this is the app for you! If you want the same thing on your wrist, then you have to get the real ZERO wrist watch. Check out the ZeroWatch Website for more information. This watch concept has been featured on many websites, such as Engadget and Yanko Design. Since then (March 2010), ZERO has become a brand with the goal of making unique and stylish wrist watches.
The latest release has just been approved and is now available, the new version number is v1.1.1. Click on the App Store link at the top of this page to check it out!
Details
Reading the Time
ZeroWatch displays the time using a series of rings that rotate as time progresses. The outermost ring is the minutes hand, the large central one is the hours hand, and the smaller inner one is the seconds hand. All of the hands animate when they rotate, but to varying degrees, with the second hand incrementing every second, the minute hand incrementing every minute, and the hour hand incrementing in very small amounts so it is constantly advancing. The main clock face displays the local time for the current locale for the device.
In order to read the time it is important to understand where the point of indication is located for each hand. The diagram above shows a line which indicates the point of indication for each of the hands, in this diagram all of the hands are currently in the noon (12 o' clock) position.
To facilitate reading the time while learning how the discs operate the time is also displayed digitally within the center of the clock face. The visibility of this time display can be controlled by the user.
Settings
There are a number of settings that can be used to configure the main display of the clock. A brief description of each of these settings follows. Once the settings have been configured tapping on the Done button in the toolbar will close the settings and open the main screen. Settings are applied as soon as they are changed so the main screen will now reflect any changes that have been made.
Color Theme
The color theme setting allows a different color configuration for the clock face to be selected.
Tapping on this item will result in the display of a new screen with all of the color choices, a small thumbnail is provided that shows the basic color scheme. Tapping on the Settings in the toolbar will navigate back to the settings list. There are currently eleven choices which are shown in the image below.
Show Digits
Turning this setting off will hide the digital time display at the center of the clock face. When a time zone is displayed on the clock face the time display will still show the date for the local time regardless of whether the digits are hidden. Likewise, the AM/PM period will also still be displayed if there is a time zone present, otherwise it is hidden.
24-Hour Time
The digital time display can display either normal or 24-hour time, this setting controls the display. The default is for 24-hour time to be turned off. This also affects any time zones that are currently displayed where the hour will switch to displaying the current hour out of twenty-four instead of the normal twelve.
Auto-Lock
The auto lock setting can be used to control whether the screen is automatically turned off, or not. By default, this setting is turned on, which means the screen will be turned off based on the current system auto lock setting. If this setting is turned off the screen will never be turned off, so the user needs to be aware that this could result in rapid battery drain.
When this setting is turned off an alert will be displayed to reinforce the warning about possible battery drain. This warning will also be displayed if the app is running and the device is currently plugged into a power charger, and is then unplugged.
This feature is very useful when the clock is being used as as a nightstand clock as it will allow it to always be visible.
Secondary Display Options
In addition, to the main clock display, ZeroWatch can also display optional information in a secondary display below the main clock.
Tapping on this item will display another screen that allows the display to be configured. This item will also display the currently selected option in the text field at the right edge of the row. On the Options screen, tapping on the Settings in the toolbar will navigate back to the settings list.
There are four choices for configuring the secondary display.
Date Bubble
Selecting this option will display a date bubble on the screen that is used to display the current date at the local time locale. This is the default choice.
Single Time Zone
Selecting this option will display a small time zone clock face below the main clock. The selected time zone will be either Time Zone 1 from the time one setting, or if no time zone 1 has been selected, then Time Zone 2. If neither have been selected nothing will be displayed.
Dual Time Zone
Selecting this option will display a two small time zone clock faces below the main clock. The selected time zones are based on the selections in the time zone settings. If only one time zone has been selected then a single clock will be displayed, if neither have been selected nothing will be displayed.
No Display
Selecting this option will result in nothing being displayed for the secondary display.
Time Zones
These settings are used to to configure which time zones will be displayed if those options are chosen for the secondary display.
Tapping on one of the two items will navigate to a new screen that displays a list of supported cities in different time zones. Tapping on a city in the list will select it. Choices are presented for each of the major time zone regions of the world, and in some cases there will be multiple choices within a given region. Tapping on the Options in the toolbar will navigate back to the secondary display configuration screen. Currently there are 73 different time zone choices presented in the list, over time additional time zones might be added.
Once a time zone city has been selected the choice will be displayed in the row at the right edge, allowing the user to easily determine what the current choice is without needing to navigate to the time zone list.
By default no time zones are selected. If a single time zone is selected it will be displayed centered below the main clock face, if both are selected they are positioned side by side centered below the main clock.
The time zone clock face displays an abbreviated name for the selected city. A rotating hour hand is also displayed, which increments on the hour. Additionally, the hour is also displayed digitally, along with the date at the selected location. The time zone clock is intended to be read in conjunction with the main clock for the minutes and seconds.
Help and About
Tapping on the Help item in the settings list will navigate to this display of the help system. Tapping on the Settings in the toolbar will navigate back to the settings list.
Tapping on the About item in the settings will display a simple about screen where the current version number for the application can be located. Tapping on the Settings in the toolbar will navigate back to the settings list.
Screen Dimming
The application has one additional setting that is not in the standard settings screen, this setting is used to dim the screen. The setting is an interactive one that appears directly on the main clock screen. To activate screen dimming double tap anywhere on the screen, except the settings button. This will apply the current screen dimming value to the screen. To change the amount of dimming tap on the screen again to reveal a slider. This slider can be used to change the dimming of the screen by sliding in one direction or the other, to the left makes it brighter, to the right makes it darker.
Once the slider has been adjusted it is automatically hidden. A single tap on the screen will show the slider. A single tap while the slider is visible will hide it. These single taps only work while the screen dimming feature is enabled. To disable the screen dimming, double tap on the screen to turn it off, this will return the screen to the current system screen brightness setting.
By default, the screen dimming is set to full brightness, no dimming! This means the first time that this feature is activated there will be no dimming, adjust the slider to the desired amount of dimming.
The primary purpose of this feature is geared towards toning down the brightness of the screen when the clock is being used as a nightstand clock. Normally, the screen is bright enough that it can cast a light in a darkened bedroom. Using this feature the brightness can be reduced. This can be used in conjunction with the standard system screen brightness or it can be used independently.
The screen dimming feature does not affect the Settings screen, it only applies to the main clock face screen.
