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@allObjects
@Gordon,
I expect navigation to be as easy and 'light-weight' for pleasant UX, because it includes the most interaction events.
For selecting an item, entering and exiting a change mode and may be even changing the value, I can live with the need for having to press a button, because for to do so safely and best controlled, I use - when wearing the watch on the left wrist - the thumb of the right hand to counter the button press. If I do not counter the press, the watch moves around and the actual click is more difficult to predict - and cycling by a know number of clicks is like Russian Roulette.
No reason though to remove current button 1..3 functionality on Bangle.js 1, BUT adding the touch on top of it:
Furthermore, the center touch - which came (again) up in recent posts - could be used for selection of an item and may be also for cancelling a value selection/setting.
A playful training app could be built for helping a user to get the feel for what touching left, right and in the middle is. Touching in the middle - or multi-touch - was something I was considering to use in a game I was working on.
One thing I got out of this discussion for sure is the fact that an easy to use, safe/robust navigation UI requires 5 elements: one for each wind directions and a center, like basic joy sticks with a 'fire' button have. The 'bottom level bearable UX can do with 3 control elements: 2 for 'direction' and 1 for 'action' Taking into account the press time on the action button, it can be an action or no-action/cancel/back (just as in car radios when you press a station button for a bit longer, it saves the current station (Freqency / Channel / Value) 'on' that button rather than tuning the radio to station stored for/by that button. Said so: I would not even need the button 1..3 to do most of the operations - only to really pass thru 'critical barriers' / triggering more consequential actions (like it already is now with long presses, short press to go from app layer into 'system' layer for menu / selections, etc.
For Bangle.js 2, the constraint are much different : less constraints, more options. With the 'high' resolution in any - not just wind - directions, much more similar, but still distinct, unique touch/swipe/drag patterns can be detected and mapped to respective functions. I'm really looking forward to the gesture implementation - which puts me right back into the Palm times... something way superior than a soft-keyboard for getting text in by a very small touch sensor.