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As far as I know there is no API to adjust screen brightness on Wear, the OS just does that itself, so an app wouldn't help.
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# ? May 4, 2016 09:44 |
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# ? May 14, 2024 10:46 |
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I can say that I tend to aggressively use "Theater Mode" on my HWatch when in dark rooms with other people because I get a lot of emails so there's almost always a pending notification, meaning that randomly if I move my wrist starts glowing bright white from the lower third of the screen. If I manually dim it to the lowest setting it's fine there, but that gets annoying to manage. This works of course, and is obviously kinda the point of the mode, but to me a lot of the utility of the watch comes from being able to subtly see and decide the relevance of my notifications when I'm in situations where I don't want to or can't get out my phone. Any time I use theater mode I lose that ability and it basically becomes a worse version of a low-end Fitbit from a functionality standpoint for that time. A well calibrated ambient light sensor would probably go a long way to avoiding this. That said a badly calibrated one is worse than none at all, I've definitely had a few phones where the ALS did not work very well.
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# ? May 4, 2016 20:21 |
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taqueso posted:Seems like a watch without a sensor would be really bad for the battery, unreadable in bright light, or way too bright at night. Probably all three. I just keep my watch at a good brightness for normal use, and then when i'm watching a movie double tap the crown to turn on theater mode and when i need to see it outside tap the crown three times for sunlight mode. Works well enough that I don't really ever think about wanting an ambient light sensor.
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# ? May 4, 2016 21:53 |
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My relatives were pretty generous for my graduation, so I'm eying a smartwatch. I'd like one with an ambient sensor for the above-mentioned reasons. Is the 2nd-gen Moto 360 the best bet, or is there anything else I should be looking at?
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# ? May 7, 2016 12:30 |
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hooah posted:My relatives were pretty generous for my graduation, so I'm eying a smartwatch. I'd like one with an ambient sensor for the above-mentioned reasons. Is the 2nd-gen Moto 360 the best bet, or is there anything else I should be looking at? You should probably look at your income to debt ratio and make sure it's above 0. Thread consensus seems to be Huawei Watch or 360 Gen 2. I'm personally waiting for next gen because neither look that great.
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# ? May 7, 2016 12:58 |
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Well he wants an ambient light sensor and the Huawei doesn't have that. I'd say the 360/2 is the best option.
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# ? May 7, 2016 15:40 |
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I still love my 360 2. End the day with about 70% battery left and I have ambient on. The last update fixing the low res during ambient was really the last thing I needed for it to be perfect. Light sensor works great, always the right brightness. Last year I felt compelled to upgrade (mainly due to the fact that I expected the back to crack again), but I'm fully happy now. Can't really see what a new gen would give me that I would want.
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# ? May 7, 2016 18:19 |
taqueso posted:I meant, if Reverse Centaur thought that watches even with a light sensor weren't matching his brightness expectations, perhaps he could try an app to fix that. Because it should be entirely possible to have auto-brightness work well (assuming a light sensor). I have my watch on full brightness, it can't get any brighter. And monthly reminder that I've owned basically every major Android Wear smartwatch so it's not an issue with any particular brand or lack of light sensor. I suspect anyone who thinks their watch is fine just doesn't spend much time in the sun.
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# ? May 7, 2016 19:40 |
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Reverse Centaur posted:
This is my only gripe about my 360/2. In direct sunlight it's almost impossible to read. Having said that I use a black watch face and haven't tried any other color, that might affect the visibility.
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# ? May 7, 2016 20:52 |
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bull3964 posted:I still love my 360 2. End the day with about 70% battery left and I have ambient on. The last update fixing the low res during ambient was really the last thing I needed for it to be perfect. Light sensor works great, always the right brightness. This sums up my experience as well. Plenty of battery left at the end of the day, a great vertical stand so I can use it as a bedroom clock, and good performance in use. Reverse Centaur posted:I have my watch on full brightness, it can't get any brighter. And monthly reminder that I've owned basically every major Android Wear smartwatch so it's not an issue with any particular brand or lack of light sensor. I drive a convertible and I'm in the sun enough to know that I can read my display just fine most of the time. When I can't it's not because of the quality or brightness of the screen but because the polarization of my sunglasses would make any screen unreadable.
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# ? May 8, 2016 05:01 |
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hooah posted:My relatives were pretty generous for my graduation, so I'm eying a smartwatch. I'd like one with an ambient sensor for the above-mentioned reasons. Is the 2nd-gen Moto 360 the best bet, or is there anything else I should be looking at? Don't waste your money, Wear is already a dead platform.
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# ? May 8, 2016 05:06 |
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Whizbang posted:Don't waste your money, Wear is already a dead platform. Not that I entirely disagree, but how do you figure?
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# ? May 8, 2016 05:11 |
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I don't feel that Wear is dead, I do feel that it is going through its HTC Thunderbolt/Droid Bionic phase. I want to play around with a Wear device but I can't shake the feeling that this year or the next is gonna produce devices that make the current selection look like absolute poo poo.
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# ? May 8, 2016 05:57 |
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I think the only real problem with Wear (and smartwatches in general atm) is price. I'd love to own an Huawei watch, but 400$ for a device whose main uses will be notifications, pausing my music and telling the time is just too much. Once good smartwatches focus less on feature bloat and more on getting good, roundfaced AMOLED screens at a more affordable price, I think everything will be fine.
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# ? May 8, 2016 06:02 |
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Desk Lamp posted:I don't feel that Wear is dead, I do feel that it is going through its HTC Thunderbolt/Droid Bionic phase. I want to play around with a Wear device but I can't shake the feeling that this year or the next is gonna produce devices that make the current selection look like absolute poo poo. I'll admit there's more Wear should do and doesn't (Android Pay and having a speaker are two obvious ones) but unlike the Thunderbolt there's nothing unlivable about the current gen Wear devices so that's a less than apt comparison. I mean, the Thunderbolt didn't even work as a telephone but Wear devices do display the time. BottleKnight posted:I think the only real problem with Wear (and smartwatches in general atm) is price. I'd love to own an Huawei watch, but 400$ for a device whose main uses will be notifications, pausing my music and telling the time is just too much. Once good smartwatches focus less on feature bloat and more on getting good, roundfaced AMOLED screens at a more affordable price, I think everything will be fine. I guess it depends on how much you were willing to spend on a watch before smartwatches were a thing. I can't imagine why you'd prefer an AMOLED screen on something that's whole raison d'etre is to display static elements 24/7 but I'd like to think that for every one sold they give away an umbrella made of cotton candy to accompany it.
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# ? May 8, 2016 08:38 |
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LastInLine posted:This sums up my experience as well. Plenty of battery left at the end of the day, a great vertical stand so I can use it as a bedroom clock, and good performance in use. Glad to hear both of you (including bull3964) like your 2nd-generation 360 so much. Mine should be here tomorrow!
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# ? May 8, 2016 11:54 |
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Reverse Centaur posted:I have my watch on full brightness, it can't get any brighter. And monthly reminder that I've owned basically every major Android Wear smartwatch so it's not an issue with any particular brand or lack of light sensor. My Sony Smartwatch 3 is fine. The Moto 360 Sport is also fine in the sun. Unfortunately they are both rubber strappy fitnessy watches. So if you want both sunlight visibility and a veneer of class, then I agree with you.
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# ? May 8, 2016 11:59 |
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LastInLine posted:I guess it depends on how much you were willing to spend on a watch before smartwatches were a thing. this is a good point but normal watches have much greater longevity in comparison to smart watches so the same prices cant be directly compared imo
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# ? May 8, 2016 15:38 |
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Sure, but there's a notable difference between a well crafted traditional watch and a smartwatch. One's pretty blatantly a fashion accessory, the other's a multifunction tool. If you don't have a use for the functions it offers and want something that looks nice, tells time, and will last for a very long time, get the traditional watch. If you want to take advantage of the extra functionality a smartwatch offers, get one of those. Pretty simple, realistically. At the end of the day, smartwatches are theoretically disposable consumer-grade electronics, not heirlooms or status symbols.
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# ? May 8, 2016 16:02 |
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LastInLine posted:I'll admit there's more Wear should do and doesn't (Android Pay and having a speaker are two obvious ones) but unlike the Thunderbolt there's nothing unlivable about the current gen Wear devices so that's a less than apt comparison. I mean, the Thunderbolt didn't even work as a telephone but Wear devices do display the time. Having a speaker I definitely agree it's something all future models should offer and likewise I wish it had NFC. quote:I guess it depends on how much you were willing to spend on a watch before smartwatches were a thing. I can't imagine why you'd prefer an AMOLED screen on something that's whole raison d'etre is to display static elements 24/7 but I'd like to think that for every one sold they give away an umbrella made of cotton candy to accompany it. If you choose your idle face wisely (no really wide lines) the screen shifter feature should avoid noticeable wear for at least long enough for battery wear to be a bigger deal.. I will admit that it definitely looks weird when I glance at my watch and can tell the screen's offset a few pixels.
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# ? May 8, 2016 18:40 |
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BottleKnight posted:I think the only real problem with Wear (and smartwatches in general atm) is price. I'd love to own an Huawei watch, but 400$ for a device whose main uses will be notifications, pausing my music and telling the time is just too much. Once good smartwatches focus less on feature bloat and more on getting good, roundfaced AMOLED screens at a more affordable price, I think everything will be fine. It all depends on where you place value. I, personally, would have no problem dropping up to $1k on a nice well-built mechanical watch, so the thought of $400 for a nice-looking well-functioning smartwatch is ok in my book. But we all have our preferences. Many people are fine with a $10 plastic Casio watch, too, so the thought of $400 for a watch is astronomical.
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# ? May 9, 2016 12:33 |
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Until someone figures out something to do with them other than display notifications or the price comes down low enough to compete with Fitbits and Jawbones, and the Pedometer and heart rate monitors are is also comparable to those, all smartwatches are going to be a niche market that probably already hit saturation.
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# ? May 9, 2016 13:43 |
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LastInLine posted:Not that I entirely disagree, but how do you figure? Because of all the exciting new products and features coming for Wear, such as
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# ? May 9, 2016 15:04 |
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Whizbang posted:Because of all the exciting new products and features coming for Wear, such as What new features do you want from your smartwatch?
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# ? May 9, 2016 19:10 |
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Desk Lamp posted:I don't feel that Wear is dead, I do feel that it is going through its HTC Thunderbolt/Droid Bionic phase. I want to play around with a Wear device but I can't shake the feeling that this year or the next is gonna produce devices that make the current selection look like absolute poo poo. Considering Qualcomm back in February started touting a "Snapdragon Wear" CPU that is 25% smaller and 30% better on battery, I'd agree on this. Probably anything coming out this fall will use that and will be a better buy than anything you can get now.
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# ? May 9, 2016 21:04 |
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My phone can pair with my 360/2, but it won't connect. I've tried restarting both of them as well as forgetting the watch on my phone. What else can I try? Edit: never mind, you just have to do things in a particular order and only though the Wear app. That wasn't terribly clear. hooah fucked around with this message at 21:24 on May 9, 2016 |
# ? May 9, 2016 21:12 |
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kitten smoothie posted:Considering Qualcomm back in February started touting a "Snapdragon Wear" CPU that is 25% smaller and 30% better on battery, I'd agree on this. Probably anything coming out this fall will use that and will be a better buy than anything you can get now. 30% better battery life at the SoC level isn't really going to lead to that much more dramatic battery life with current display tech though. I mean, those devices will certainly be a better buy than current gen devices, but it's all going to be incremental.
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# ? May 9, 2016 21:36 |
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bull3964 posted:30% better battery life at the SoC level isn't really going to lead to that much more dramatic battery life with current display tech though. One of those SoCs combined with an OLED screen would be a far cry from the LG G Watch that I've been wearing for quite a while. I certainly wouldn't argue with that.
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# ? May 10, 2016 01:33 |
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Ok, I've seen people talk about Pujie Black in this thread, and I see there's also WatchMaker. I figure I'll probably snag both eventually (hurrah Rewards), but what are some opinions about which to get first? Or even if I should absolutely avoid one?
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# ? May 10, 2016 01:41 |
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I use Watchmaker and Facer, and they're basically two sides of the same coin. Though, last I knew, Watchmaker could do a little bit of fanciness that Facer couldn't, like smooth-ish rendering at 50FPS for animated watch faces.
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# ? May 10, 2016 01:45 |
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Isn't the G-Watch OLED?
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# ? May 10, 2016 04:47 |
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hooah posted:Ok, I've seen people talk about Pujie Black in this thread, and I see there's also WatchMaker. I figure I'll probably snag both eventually (hurrah Rewards), but what are some opinions about which to get first? Or even if I should absolutely avoid one? I use Pujie Black and like it.
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# ? May 10, 2016 12:13 |
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KillHour posted:Isn't the G-Watch OLED? The original? Regular LCD. The G Watch R had an OLED. But, really, that combo I mentioned above would be great. I don't use ambient mode right now, because my watch is really responsive, but I tend to get a lot of notifications, so my screen's on a lot. I can generally get 72 hours or more out of a full charge, on the old inefficient processors and an LCD instead of OLED. That's enough reason for me to want to upgrade right there, because I could feasibly get the same amount of life with ambient mode on, or a ton longer without it.
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# ? May 10, 2016 13:14 |
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Would OLED really make any measurable difference to battery life? I know the old thing about black being free on OLED but does this actually translate into anything meaningful in the real world? I always feels like one of those XDA sayings where everyone repeats it and assumes it matters without really knowing.
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# ? May 10, 2016 13:19 |
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Depends on what watchface you use, and how much time your screen spends on. Mine has a ton of black space, and more in ambient mode, so it'd make a notable difference.
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# ? May 10, 2016 13:27 |
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G-Prime posted:Depends on what watchface you use, and how much time your screen spends on. Mine has a ton of black space, and more in ambient mode, so it'd make a notable difference.
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# ? May 10, 2016 13:57 |
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Yeah, OLED vs LCD for darker screens and power consumption is something that's been tossed around for awhile but I'm not sure it's something that truly matters anymore. Displays use very efficient LED backlights anyways and the newest generation of LCD panels are very power efficient in general. I know I've noticed no increase in idle drain with active display on my Moto X 2015 vs prior years with OLED screens. Aesthetically, it might not be as pleasing in dark rooms due to panel glow, but I think the power draw comparisons are overblown at this point. The Moto 360 2 gets similar idle drain numbers to any of the OLED watches on the market when using ambient. Of greater concern for a smartwatch is packaging. Any space not being used by the display and system board in the case can be dedicated to battery. So, the largest battery life increase you're going to see with display technology in regards to smartwatches right now is slimming the package down to its absolute thinnest so you can cram a fraction of a mm more battery in the same case.
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# ? May 10, 2016 14:18 |
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bull3964 posted:30% better battery life at the SoC level isn't really going to lead to that much more dramatic battery life with current display tech though. The real question is not so much battery life, but whether manufacturers will be able to make smaller watches using that new hardware and keep the same battery life as people are accustomed to now. I don't think Android Wear only comes in 42-46mm+ size cases because everyone likes big watches, it comes that way because it's the only way to pack the guts in along with enough battery to keep it running for a day. I would still consider it to be a big improvement if you can get a 38mm Android Wear watch that has the same battery life as the 42-46mm models out there today.
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# ? May 10, 2016 16:50 |
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Or, for that matter, just a 46mm watch that's two thirds the current thicknesses.
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# ? May 10, 2016 18:07 |
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# ? May 14, 2024 10:46 |
Rastor posted:My Sony Smartwatch 3 is fine. The Moto 360 Sport is also fine in the sun. Yeah the Sony watch has a transflective display so that is one exception. Not sure about the sport.
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# ? May 10, 2016 20:04 |