[Wear-Hard] Android OS as a wearable OS

[Panthera Altaica]

Sound like pretty normal Pie menu system. 
Hmm... 
In fact this has already been mentioned on this list before...
That is the system the GNUX WristWatch WearComp used.
http://m.linuxjournal.com/article/3993

   The only innovation seems to be putting a menu option in the center.  I suggest we call this a 'Pizza Pie Menu' because the center button is like the Pizza Box Lid Support that is place in the center of a Pizza Pie.  I guess we could extend this idea with multiple pie menus around each other in concentric rings. 

In fact since without look it could be hard to tell the orientation of the screen.  instead on measuring from the initial pen down event you have the user pressing then then make a strait line up one unit long. Which will put Him in the top menu item of the first pie ring. To go with the phone pad example would he wound be mousing over the '2'.  then if he move his finger back down to the original pen down position.  Note: only the first straight line is a gesture in this system.  once it has been detected the user has variated from a straight line the position of all menu items is set and it's normal mousing rules apply(Yes when using a mouse it's not the pen down event that should cause the 'click' but the pen up. Try it out and you should find that most apps work this way. It's one of those subtle usability tweaks when using a mouse but is a requirement when using a touch screen interface.). I would suggest adding another 'cancel gesture' of running
 the finger off the edge of the screen.  This is so if the user accidental runs off the edge he doesn't inadvertently select what item happened to be there.

  

This extension solve the orientation problem even with using normal single ring Pie Menus.  I advise against reusing the Orientation gesture for multiple pen downs because that would not only turn it back from a modeless to a modal interface which it was designed to avoid in the first place(the orientation and scale of the screen is the mode in the original) but would be 'hidden modal'(in the origin the mode can be determined by feeling the edge of the screen)  to the system and hinder.  Of course if you are adapting to a interface which can assume the use can look at the display.  Imagine a small round table-top touch-screen (like the ReacTable).  You can't tell what direction is up because the use could be on any side and you also can't tell which user each touch belongs too. this allows each user menus to over lap witch out interfering with each other( unless their arms get in each others way but other wise the can ignore them ass long at the it
 supports multi touch.)  in order to determine whose menu to draw on the screen use a voronoi diagram on the current position of on pens then give them priority of the display in their own cell.



Warning: I have a complete and utter lack of tact.
Dr. Panthera Tigris Altaica