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OK Apple, can we now have always on?

bbates123

bbates123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 2, 2010
867
760
OK Apple, you sold me an Apple Watch 2 that has much better battery life than my original Apple Watch...in fact I can now get through almost 2 days without recharging. Thank you!! So now can we at least have the option to have the time on the screen all the time? Don't turn this on by default. Don't display all the complications, just the time. Have the time move so it doesn't burn in. Have the time display at a lower brightness like on the Microsoft band. Just give us the option. I have too many occasions where it's not convenient for me to move my whole arm and a flip of my wrist doesn't work. Example: I'm sitting with my MacBook in my lap right now and I have to take my hand off the keyboard to move my arm and get a better angle to flip my wrist. Or...I'm holding a cup of coffee with my watch hand. These are just a few examples, but these things tend to happen enough times during the day to make it annoying. Yeah, I know it is indeed a first world problem.
 
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Under the conditions I described I bet I could easily make it through a day. Other vendors don't seem to have a problem with this. On my Microsoft band the time was on all the time and I never ran out of juice in a day. Again, time only...not as bright...also, only take up as much of the screen as the time currently does on the modular face.

As it is now I'm putting my AW2 back in the charger at night with 60%+ remaining
 
afctee said:
...what would be the benefit of always on?
Sort of like a 'normal' watch?
Click to expand...
As a long time traditional watch wearer I agree with the thoughts of Ariel Adams at A Blog To Watch because I think the Apple Watch is quite bland looking when the screen is off.

It is true that smartwatches are getting better on all of these fronts, including the Apple Watch. I will not, however, stop asking for an always-on watch face when it not only adds some convenience (small, but important) and, more importantly, adds character to the watch. Further, other existing smartwatches and those coming on the market now are being designed with clever and attractive always-on displays. Apple doesn't need to follow them per se, but it should offer its own take on this feature - especially because the Apple Watch screen is beautiful, and so are the dials they have designed...

...I'll sum up my sentiments on the lack of an always-on display state by saying that, in my opinion (as I've said several times before in other articles), this leaves a watch "cold looking" most of the time. Activate the screen on an Apple Watch and its personality comes to life. When it goes off, then it goes back into some type of soulless hibernation state just waiting to be woken up. I want to see personality in the watch dial all the time, and I don't think that I am the only one.
Click to expand...
 
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Before I got my AW, I really wanted this feature to be available, but after several months using my watch... not so much. Raise to awake works really well, and all the information is visible as soon as I want.
 
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Always on can actually be really distracting, because with OLED it's always glowing.

My S7 often distracted me, when it was sitting there in the corner of my eye and suddenly it went to the next minute.

It's less distracting with e-paper displays.
 
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bbates123 said:
Under the conditions I described I bet I could easily make it through a day. Other vendors don't seem to have a problem with this. On my Microsoft band the time was on all the time and I never ran out of juice in a day. Again, time only...not as bright...also, only take up as much of the screen as the time currently does on the modular face.

As it is now I'm putting my AW2 back in the charger at night with 60%+ remaining
Click to expand...

How many colors did the display on the Microsoft band display? It is a totally different screen technology. Not going to happen to the Apple watch with it's current screen technology!
 
It's the one feature from my Huawei Watch that I really miss on the AW. It left a dim version of the clock on the face, without complications, at all times if you elected to do so.

It worked really well and didn't noticeably impact battery life. I tested it both on and off, and the battery would last a full day either way, maybe only 1-2% difference in battery after 16 hours.

I see that the AW2 has a function where you can spin the crown to slowly wake the screen from black to full brightness. I would think that it'd be a short road from there to letting you leave it at a certain dimness at all times. If the Android guys can do it....
 
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I hope this is the future. After wearing my Garmin 735XT for a while, the always-on screen is simply fantastic. I have it loaded up with killer visualizations, and I do not have to wait for the wrist raise to see the watch at a quick side glance. The user experience difference between the two is huge, with Garmin running away with the win.

Now, before all of the battery and screen experts pile on, I know that the Garmin is a lower energy LCD screen that is not as bright, even with the back light, as the AW. However, the net is a superior user experience that I hope Apple solves for someday.

Here is what I would like for the future AW: A low-energy screen that is always on. I would have a subset of my full-on display. It would at least be date and time, probably analog. Then, the full-on screen would be the current quality with probably the information-loaded modular display. The always on would look nice as a fancier, simulated analog screen. And the full-on would give me the information I want.
 
The one situation in which I want an always-on screen is when I'm carrying my coffee in my left hand and can't turn my wrist far enough to activate the screen.

Fix: carry the coffee in my right hand.

And a big +1 to preferring it to stay off the rest of the time.
 
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I'm mixed on this even though I don't care about always on. The OP specified a good way to have an alway son display that would be the least draining on the battery. Would you prefer an always on display like the OP's idea if the battery easily lasted a day? If I could glance down at the time and simply see the time in a dimmed gray or similar without raising my wrist - I would be fine with that... Low Power LED coming in the next model (rumored) would make this more easy to do but maybe Apple will prefer to add cellular with the added battery life and keep the always off. I would definitely not want an always on display of my whole default modular or activity screen as it would be a distraction at night - even if dimmed. It would be a distraction to anyone around me as well as it would catch peoples eyes.

These are just opinions and someone can say the exact opposite. Having the choice to turn on/off and easily make a day is not there yet - it appears. As I am an engineer working on Low Power LED every day, I know this is doable once introduced.
 
bbates123 said:
Example: I'm sitting with my MacBook in my lap right now and I have to take my hand off the keyboard to move my arm and get a better angle to flip my wrist.
Click to expand...

Your MacBook has a clock :)

Kidding aside, other smart watches that do have always-on actually show a low power, crippled face and you have to wake it up to see the full face. At least one member mentioned that it's not exactly a good user experience.
 
Also kind of mixed on this. Raise to wake works so well it seems like it would be an incredible waste of battery to have it 'always on'

Hmm..
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Your MacBook has a clock :)

Kidding aside, other smart watches that do have always-on actually show a low power, crippled face and you have to wake it up to see the full face. At least one member mentioned that it's not exactly a good user experience.
Click to expand...

I feel exactly the opposite - it's a great user experience. I had it on my Huawei Watch and I really miss it. It worked great, had no appreciable impact on battery life, and let me see the time and date all the time without raising to wake. This is even more of an issue since raise to work doesn't respond perfectly on the AW (series 0 at least...can't speak to 1 and 2).
 
anthonymoody said:
I feel exactly the opposite - it's a great user experience. I had it on my Huawei Watch and I really miss it. It worked great, had no appreciable impact on battery life, and let me see the time and date all the time without raising to wake. This is even more of an issue since raise to work doesn't respond perfectly on the AW (series 0 at least...can't speak to 1 and 2).
Click to expand...

Yeah, another member felt exactly the opposite. I guess Apple doesn't want to risk that because they tend to hold things back until they become a good user experience for the vast majority of users.
 
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JayLenochiniMac said:
Yeah, another member felt exactly the opposite. I guess Apple doesn't want to risk that because they tend to hold things back until they become a good user experience for the vast majority of users.
Click to expand...

I think that's leaky reasoning, to be kind. There's zero harm in making it optional with the default being the current "always off."
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Well, that's how Apple is and it has served them well, as opposed to having a mess of a system that is Android.
Click to expand...

Wow Jay, I'm not precisely sure what in Apple's history points to them being any particular way or another. But I'm sure glad you're here to point it all out to me!

And please do explain to me how allowing a watch face to remain dimly lit has anything to do with Android being "a mess of a system" which is either debatable or laughable depending on your POV. Have you ever used an Android device for an extended period of time? Which one? When? Tell us all about your experience with it.

I'll wait.
 
Without a doubt Apple is already working on a solution. They're just working out the most Apple way of doing it.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see something in the next major watchOS version at WWDC.
 
Keep in mind that Battery issues are only one of the things Apple has to keep in mind.
OLED displays also loose brightness with use and can have burn-in problems.

Samsung moves the image around on their phones to reduce the impact, but the phone also has a larger display with ALOT more pixels to work with. (1440 x 2560 = 3'686'400 versus the 312×390 = 121'680 on the apple watch)


And samsung expects the always-on feature to use ~10% battery per day. (at least that's what i read about the S7) But the s7 phone has a 3000 mAh battery.
 
MBHockey said:
Also kind of mixed on this. Raise to wake works so well it seems like it would be an incredible waste of battery to have it 'always on'
Click to expand...
Except that Always On is awesome. And, IMHO, it looks better than a dark screen. My dream watch UI would be a round face on which I could have an always-on analog screen that has a nicer look. Then, with either wrist raise, or touch, the screen flips to its detail mode that has more information or complications. It could even go from the analog always-on to a digital, information view.

There will invariably be people that proclaim the wonderful advantages of the AW's rectangular screen and bemoan some mythical ugliness of a round screen. But having used both, a round screen gives nothing up. And, the round screen looks better with an analog face compared to a rectangular screen with an analog face.
 
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