What is a Smartwatch with a Flat Tire Design?


The creator of this post has chosen the Motorola Moto360 2nd Generation smartwatch as the best smartwatch that has a flat tire design.

I was doing some research on smartwatches when I stumbled upon a smartwatch with a so-called “flat tire”.

I was curious about the meaning and started doing some research, this is what I found.

A smartwatch with a flat tire design is actually a phrase used by people, who dislike a design decision made by several brands that sell smartwatches. One of these brands is Motorola who calls the design decision a shelf instead of a flat tire.

The Best Smartwatches For Women And Men

Products

Features

* Great For Women *

  • The smartwatch comes with a GPS.

  • It can monitor your heart rate.

  • It comes with Amazon Alexa built-in.

* Great For Women *

  • The smartwatch runs on Wear OS.

  • The display is 1.19-inches.

  • Has 4 GB of internal storage.

* Great For Women *

  • The display is 1.28-inches.

  • Has 8 GB of internal storage.

  • The smartwatch runs on Wear OS.

* Great For Men *

  • The smartwatch comes with a GPS.

  • It comes with an ECG-monitor.

  • It can be used to track your daily fitness routine.

* Great For Men *

  • The display is 1.4-inches.

  • Has 4 GB of internal storage.

  • The watch is water-resistant up to 50 meters.

* Great For Men *

  • It can monitor your heart rate.

  • You can make contactless payments with this watch.

  • This smartwatch has 1.2-inches.

smartwatch-flat-tire-shelf
The shelf is the black area on the bottom of the screen.

Quick Navigation

Why Is It Called A Flat Tire Design?

Why Does A Flat Tire Design Exist?

Models With A Flat Tire Design And At Least One Key Feature Per Model

What Are Watch Faces?

Where To Get Watch Faces For The Flat Tire Design?

Will Brands Still Make Models With A Flat Tire Design In 2018?

Having a flat tire on your car wouldn’t be a great thing to have, right?

The people who dislike the design decision most likely felt the same way about the watch and when you take a look at the shape of the watch without the shelf, you’ll see that it has the same shape as a flat tire.

smartwatch-flat-tire-example
An example of a smartwatch with a flat tire design.

The shelf exists because it is hiding some really important sensors and other electronics. Two examples of these sensors are the proximity sensor and the light sensor.

The proximity sensor is able to detect the presence of nearby objects without having any physical contact.

In this way, the smartwatch is able to notice whether your hand is close to the device or not and can then predict which screen it should display.

The light sensor makes sure the brightness of the screen adjusts, based on the light that’s coming in.

This is going to be more pleasant for your eyes and will also extend the length of the devices battery life.

Besides the presence of the sensors, it is also the place where the display is folded over and where the display drivers are stored.

Thanks to these implementations the bezel (the area around the display) can be kept very thin and simple, which gives the most display for the body and makes the design stand out.

smartwatch-flat-tire-thick-bezel
An example of a smartwatch with a thick bezel.

Now you’re probably curious which brands actually have models with the flat tire design.

I have found the following models for you.

Amazfit Pace Multisport

This watch will suit you if you’re into sports. It gives you the ability to track key metrics like pace, cadence, distance, time, heart rate and much more.

Besides these key metrics, it also comes with different sports modes like outdoor/indoor running, trail running, walking, outdoor/indoor biking and more. It is able to last for 5 days on a full battery.

Amazfit Stratos Multisport

The watch has three stainless steel physical buttons for easy navigation and a scratch-resistant 2.5D Corning Gorilla glass.

The partnership with the company Firstbeat provides measurements of maximum oxygen consumption, exercise load and recovery time.

AWOW Smartwatch B071HB4KCS

When the distance between your smartwatch and smartphone becomes too much an alarm will go off, to inform you.

Banaus B4

The watch brings the possibility to dial any number you want while being connected to your smartphone. You’ll also be able to measure your current heart rate anytime you like.

Casio WSD-F10

A great watch for doing activities outdoors. There are special watch faces build in that give you specific information about the activity you’re currently doing.

An example is rock climbing where the watch face gives you information about the current altitude.

Casio WSD-F20

The watch has its own receiver for GPS (Global Positioning System) and provides the possibility to load offline roadmaps. You’ll also be able to charge the battery by magnetic charging.

Fossil Q Founder 1st Generation

The battery life of the watch is estimated to last for one day and the watch band is interchangeable.

Fossil Q Founder 2nd Generation

The watch has an interchangeable watch band, which gives you the possibility to change the look of your watch anytime you like. Besides this feature, there is the possibility to use Google Maps and use Google with voice activation.

Fossil Q Marshal 2nd Generation

Some cool features of this watch are the build in fitness tracker and LED flashlight. Besides that, it also tracks the current temperature outside.

Fossil Q Wander 2nd Generation

This watch gives you the opportunity to control your music, enable Google Maps and use Google with voice activation. It can be for both women and men, but in my opinion, the watch fits women better based on the design.

Garmin Forerunner 735XT

Suitable for people that would like detailed information about how they are performing during training. The watch is also able to measure how well you sleep every night.

K88H Smartwatch

Has static and dynamic heart rate detection and you are able to replace the watch band with any band you like.

Leelvis Smartwatch

The watch can provide you with the following notifications: incoming call, SMS, email, Facebook, Twitter, real-time weather information and text displayed on the screen.

Besides these features, the watch is able to sync data at a maximum range of 30 feet.

Michael Kors Access Bradshaw

This smartwatch has a neat design and comes with a built-in fitness tracker. The tracker tracks the number of calories you burn, counts every step you take and gives information about the traveled distance.

Michael Kors Access Dylan

A decent watch with a sportive design that fits with different kinds of outfits. A full battery can last for one day based on what you do with it.

Moto 360 1st Generation

Play music with the built-in MP3 player, view photo’s, dial phone numbers and activate commands with your voice. The watch also comes with a build in light sensor, which makes the screen automatically adjust to the incoming brightness.

Moto 360 2nd Generation

The watch has the look and feels of a classic watch and the battery can easily last for one day to one day and a half without having to charge the battery in between.

Moto 360 Sport

This watch is built to last and a great option for anyone that enjoys sports. Charging is also made very easy because it is wireless.

MyKronoz ZeRound

It has the ability to count the steps you take every day and the number of calories you have burned. On the smartwatch, you’ll be able to handle your music, which is played on your smartphone.

MyKronoz ZeRound2

With the built-in microphone and speaker, you’ll be able to directly call anyone from your wrist and the watch has the functionality to find back your phone when you’ve lost it.

MyKronoz ZeRound2 HR Premium

It comes with an optical heart rate sensor, which is helpful to keep track of your heart rate during any workout. There is a build in alarm that will make a sound when the distance between your smartwatch and smartphone becomes too much.

MyKronoz ZeRound2 HR Elite

The watch is compatible with Siri and Google voice commands, which makes it very easy to communicate with your smartphone. It can also be used as a remote control to activate the camera on your smartphone.

Padcod V16

This watch can work as a pedometer, barometer, thermometer, and altimeter. Besides these functionalities, it has the ability to monitor your sleep.

Rwatch R11

This watch is water resistant, dust resistant and has a sedentary reminder which will remind you to get a stretch after a long time of sitting.

Rwatch R11S

Noticeable differences between this model and the Rwatch R11 is that this model is slightly more expensive and has a better screen resolution.

S928 Smartwatch

Comes with a sports mode which includes the following activities: walking, running, climbing and cycling.

SMA-09

This one is waterproof and has a charging time of about two hours to be full. After the watch is fully charged it can last for about 48 hours in standby mode.

SMA-09S

This watch is the upgraded version of the SMA-09 that comes with a wider screen and a thinner bezel. Besides these two features, it is possible to upgrade the internal memory from 128 MB to 16 GB.

Tiger Smartwatch

With this watch, you’ll be able to take selfies while using the smartwatch as a remote control for your smartphone. Measuring your workout is also very possible with this watch.

V360 Smartwatch

The watch monitors your sleep, syncs contacts with your mobile phone and you’ll be able to track your watch on your phone if you’ve lost it or the other way around as well.

The following outdoor data can be tracked: environment temperature, air pressure, height and weather statistics.

ZGPAX S668

The watch is waterproof, and you are able to set an alarm clock.

A watch face is the first thing you see when you take a look at your watch.

With a normal watch you obviously only have one face and when you get bored of wearing the same one you’ll buy another one.

A smartwatch brings the possibility to actually change the face because it is a digital display.

Being able to change the face comes in very handy if you would like to make the smartwatch more personal or you can adjust it to your current mood.

Watch Face is an app you can download on your smartwatch that has a lot of watch faces for your device, including an add-on called “Little Words” which gives you the opportunity to make the shelf on the watch blend in more and kind of fix the design flaw.

The Little Words add-on is an easy hack for people that prefer a good fitting watch face for their flat tire design because the watch faces within the add-on are specially made for the flat tire design.

There are several categories where the watch face can be about, examples are cities, nature, sport, entertainment, space, science fiction, technology, cars, motorcycles, and symbols.

Unfortunately, there is also a small amount you have to pay for this app, but it could be totally worth it depending on what you prefer.

Click here if you want to check out the Watch Face app in the Google Play Store.

The add-on gives you both the option to pick designs from other people or create your own.

Besides having the option to go for the Watch Face app, picking a face on the website of FaceRepo could also be an option.

The faces at FaceRepo are actually for free, but unfortunately, there aren’t that many options when it comes to a face for a flat tire design.

Casio

The brand Casio decided to keep the flat tire design in several of their models. In my opinion, the flat tire doesn’t look that bad combined with the sportive design.

Fossil

For the brand Fossil, I wasn’t able to find any models with the flat tire design in their newest collection, which makes me think that they have ditched the design out of their collection.

Michael Kors

In the newest collection of Michael Kors, I was able to find one model with the flat tire design, the rest of the models don’t have it.

Motorola

The brand Motorola has made a completely different move compared to the competing smartwatch brands.

They have decided to keep the flat tire design in a lot of their models because they still fully believe in the design with a less thick bezel.

Most of the competing brands only have models with a thicker bezel, which makes the models of Motorola stand out more.

The shape provides the possibility of different colors, materials and bezel designs, which are all things the customer prefers according to feedback.

Even though they prefer the design decision, for now, Motorola has stated they would like to get rid of the flat tire design eventually.

The Best Smartwatches For Women And Men

Products

Features

* Great For Women *

  • The smartwatch comes with a GPS.

  • It can monitor your heart rate.

  • It comes with Amazon Alexa built-in.

* Great For Women *

  • The smartwatch runs on Wear OS.

  • The display is 1.19-inches.

  • Has 4 GB of internal storage.

* Great For Women *

  • The display is 1.28-inches.

  • Has 8 GB of internal storage.

  • The smartwatch runs on Wear OS.

* Great For Men *

  • The smartwatch comes with a GPS.

  • It comes with an ECG-monitor.

  • It can be used to track your daily fitness routine.

* Great For Men *

  • The display is 1.4-inches.

  • Has 4 GB of internal storage.

  • The watch is water-resistant up to 50 meters.

* Great For Men *

  • It can monitor your heart rate.

  • You can make contactless payments with this watch.

  • This smartwatch has 1.2-inches.

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Wouter

Wouter is a passionate technology-related blogger who enjoys researching and writing about smartwatch-related topics.

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