Gonna have to side with this. The parent poster is effectively trying to rationalize what is a technical regression by most interpretations under a veil of woo and mysticism.

I'm not sure about this specific scenario (seems to me you're right, it's technical), but this principle has been actually used before and abandoned recently. The size of the iPhone 6 is a great example of something Jobs dismissed under usability notions, despite them certainly having the technical ability to do it. Now it's done.

Although not sure if Jobs changed his mind, or if this was a "post-Jobs" decision. Apple's product development timeline would make that seem unreasonable.

Apple Watch offers a new screen to work with. Single-hand operation is still possible. It does not match the experience before for the moment, but it will get better. Viewing it as user surrounded by devices, it will offer a clearer picture.

You need two hands (or rather two arms and one hand) to operate an Apple Watch.

I think voice control (Siri here) will reduce the need for another hand to get involved in operation. Actually, we could categorize all the operations. I guess for most of those high frequency operations, voice control + wrist triggered display + customized settings would be fine for many users, if they are working well. I believe Apple has fact-based analysis on this and made their choice. How that would deliver is another story.

Why would you ever want your spaces laid out in any fashion other than left to right? What a massive improvement to OSX!

Yep. I recall Jobs was all "nobody reads" right until the iTunes store gained a ebooks section.

Certainly, and I tend to agree with your point. Which is why I said "so this was either a happy coincidence or an excuse/interpretation made after the fact". Apple is good at their marketing; pooh-poohing ideas they don't currently support is part of their reality distortion field.

But my last point, which you're replying to, is that regardless of whether this was part of their reality distortion field or not, I still think the idea has value. After a long slog of work, I'll often fullscreen a video/movie to force myself to relax and focus. It's like going out and taking a walk. It forces you to stop juggling your clutter of thoughts and tasks, and just focus on the simplicity of a single effort (in this case, walking).

They also don't like putting resources towards a feature unless they feel they're able to implement it in the best way possible. They're not interested in throwing features in just to say they have them.

No, but once a feature is in they want you to think they invented it.