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iphone joe

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 10, 2011
275
22
NY
When your arm is down is the display on or off? Or does it come on when you lift your arm to check the time?
 
Its off. The display comes on when you lift your arm or tap the screen. (you can turn off the arm lift and make it manual)
 
Does it work smooth or is there a delay for the display to come on?

There is a slight delay. Coming from a pebble it is sort of annoying. You can tap the screen to activate the display also. You actually have to lift your arm though. If you just tilt it, there is a good chance it will not activate.
 
Is there anyway to keep the display always on?

Nope, keep in mind the Watch is fighting the laws of physics with respect to achieving 18 hours of average-use battery life. Battery/display/CPU technology isn't there yet to keep the display powered on all the time -- I'd say another few years.
 
Nope, keep in mind the Watch is fighting the laws of physics with respect to achieving 18 hours of average-use battery life. Battery/display/CPU technology isn't there yet to keep the display powered on all the time -- I'd say another few years.

Android Wear has an "always on" feature but it kills the battery life.
 
Android Wear has an "always on" feature but it kills the battery life.

I'd love a passive screen with just the clock, sort of like a pebble - but I don't think the OLED screen is efficient enough to run 18 hours even with minimal info on screen.
 
I'd love a passive screen with just the clock, sort of like a pebble - but I don't think the OLED screen is efficient enough to run 18 hours even with minimal info on screen.

Actually an OLED would be the best thing for an "always on" feature. If you have a black background those pixels are off.
 
Actually an OLED would be the best thing for an "always on" feature. If you have a black background those pixels are off.

An OLED continuously consumes power while lighting up the pixels to show the time. A passive display only consumes power when the pixels are updated.
 
Actually an OLED would be the best thing for an "always on" feature. If you have a black background those pixels are off.

In that sense, we could see this a lot sooner... I doubt it'd be more than basic time info, but nice to have at a glance without "waking" the watch
 
An OLED continuously consumes power while lighting up the pixels to show the time. A passive display only consumes power when the pixels are updated.

True, but it could be minimal pixels it would need to light up. I wish they would give us the option and let us decide. I am ending my day with at least 50% battery.
 
Actually an OLED would be the best thing for an "always on" feature. If you have a black background those pixels are off.

Yep. My Zenwatch has an always on OLED that goes to a low power version (black background with white hands or digits) of whatever custom watch face you choose after a bit of inactivity. My battery will go around 30hrs with the always on feature activated, but I charge it at bedtime when it is around 30%.

This is my single complaint about the Apple Watch (not counting Apple's insane policies of proprietary faces and bands). It has some great features like Apple Pay, but I'm thinking the Retina display is a miss if it uses too much battery to be a functioning watch.

Here is an example of one of my watch faces in normal and standby mode:





I really think Apple needs to at least give you the option of always on.
 
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You actually have to lift your arm though. If you just tilt it, there is a good chance it will not activate.

That's not my experience. Sitting down and turning my wrist to look at the watch is enough to make the it come on. No arm-lifting required.
 
That's not my experience. Sitting down and turning my wrist to look at the watch is enough to make the it come on. No arm-lifting required.

I just have to make a pretty drastic arm tilt. It would be better if it was always on so you could just look at it.
 
Its off. The display comes on when you lift your arm or tap the screen. (you can turn off the arm lift and make it manual)
What's problematic is that turning off the wrist raise feature (or wrist detection as it's called in the settings), you lose 1.) Apple Pay, 2.) Lock to wrist, 3.) Auto-unlocking when the iPhone is unlocked, and some activity measurements. That's a LOT of features lost.
 
What's problematic is that turning off the wrist raise feature (or wrist detection as it's called in the settings), you lose 1.) Apple Pay, 2.) Lock to wrist, 3.) Auto-unlocking when the iPhone is unlocked, and some activity measurements. That's a LOT of features lost.

I'm fairly sure Wrist Detection and Activate on Wrist Raise are two different settings. Wrist Detection is what locks the watch if it is removed from your wrist and this needs to be on for Apple Pay. Wrist Raise is a separate setting that can be safely turned off without affecting any of that.
 
I'm fairly sure Wrist Detection and Activate on Wrist Raise are two different settings. Wrist Detection is what locks the watch if it is removed from your wrist and this needs to be on for Apple Pay. Wrist Raise is a separate setting that can be safely turned off without affecting any of that.

You are correct. These are unrelated features. You can't actually turn off wrist detection, but you can turn off the passcode if you want, which will disable Apple Pay.
 
I'm fairly sure Wrist Detection and Activate on Wrist Raise are two different settings. Wrist Detection is what locks the watch if it is removed from your wrist and this needs to be on for Apple Pay. Wrist Raise is a separate setting that can be safely turned off without affecting any of that.

You are correct. These are unrelated features. You can't actually turn off wrist detection, but you can turn off the passcode if you want, which will disable Apple Pay.
Really? For the life of me I can't find a separate setting to disable "activate on wrist raise". Under general there's a sub menu named "Activate on Wrist Raise" that lets you select "Show Watch Face" or "Resume Previous Activity", but no option to actually disable/enable the feature altogether.

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Actually an OLED would be the best thing for an "always on" feature. If you have a black background those pixels are off.
Which, much to my pleasant surprise is what the Apple Watch has for a screen. It looks fantastic in the dark because the screen isn't backlit illuminated; blacks are truly black.
 
Really? For the life of me I can't find a separate setting to disable "activate on wrist raise". Under general there's a sub menu named "Activate on Wrist Raise" that lets you select "Show Watch Face" or "Resume Previous Activity", but no option to actually disable/enable the feature altogether....

Wrist Raise/Detection are intertwined. Look in the iPhone Apple Watch app > General.

Wrist Detection
When this is on, Apple Watch will automatically show you the time and the latest alerts when you raise yuor wrist. If you're using a passcode, wrist detection locks your watch when you're not wearing it, so your information stays secure.

You can also change Wrist Detection settings from the Watch's Settings if you don't want to get out your phone.
 
I see where the confusion is coming from. They do call it "wrist detection" in the app as a blanket term for both features. However if you look on the settings app on the watch itself you can disable the "activate on wrist raise" feature.
 
It looks like the "Wrist Raise" on/off setting to wake the display is only available on the Watch settings app, not the iPhone companion app. Strange.
 
Yeah, I've noticed some minor weird inconsistencies between the watch and phone settings apps.
 
Which, much to my pleasant surprise is what the Apple Watch has for a screen. It looks fantastic in the dark because the screen isn't backlit illuminated; blacks are truly black.


So why noes Apple give us always on option? This makes it even worse if it has the ability for a low power face and they won't let the user choose to use it. Oh wait... Apple and choice... :rolleyes:
 
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