Call Notifications on vivoactive HR

Hi dear! I see the question is "over 2 years ago", and I faced the same issue with their latest VA model: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/healthandwellness/f/vivoactive-4-series/221333/va4-incoming-call-notification-is-unreasonably-short . Nothing changes. It looks Garmin does not care about this buggy behavior at all, and their local "support" actively refuse any claims. So the only option left seems to be escaping Garmin? Or perform a flashmob #GarminDislikesYou in social media?  Or any other idea? : )

df said:

Or any other idea?

Well sh*t happens all the time, so why should be different now? For most people it works just fine as it is, but if you think changing the brand helps, just go ahead, but sh*t happens everywhere, so it may not help you anyway. Typically though, the problem is with the phone or with the settings, not with the watch self. Have a look at this troubleshooting guide for some tips.

Hi! Please re-read this one and my (linked) topics. Both are not about what you call "sh*t happens" both are about the same by design behavior Garmin keep in their Vivoactive (confirmed, but probably more) watches during years.

...and if you by a miracle are a Garmin employee (hard to distinguish that by your nick nor profile), please, take a look! And probably that will change my opinion, and for sure not only my

df said:

please, take a look!

Yes, you were right, I did not read your post carefully, just saw you speaking about a buggy behaviour, and thought you could not get any notification at all. Well, if the notifications work for you, then there is apparently no bug, it is rather a modified functionality that you'd like to have, with the longer alerts.

I am sorry I cannot help you with that, and if Garmin tells the short notification is by design and not modifiable, then I am afraid there is nothing to do. Except of suggesting the idea through the stanard form at https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/ideas/. Not sure about the effect though. Changing the brand for another, that does what you are looking for, would be probably a quicker solution.

Edit: just thought about a possible workaround - you could try finding a phone application repeating the call notifications. I tried googling one, and there indeed might be some available. I did not look too deep, but for example saw it discussed here: https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s5/403034-repeating-notifications-calls-messages-email-voicemail-if-possible-calendar.html

I'll try to explain my point one more time. Why the behavior is definitely a bug, with no excuse, nothing opinional. That's a bug in design, not in implementation, but if a company worries about the reputation it's a shame to keep such buggy design during years. That's why today, just found this old topic I became a bit furious.

I do not just "suggest longer alerts" I like to be able (and that is offered by the ads) to replace my phone's alert by the one from the watch. So the alerting behavior must be similar. While the caller's listening to the long beeps, they assume my device is ringing. But it is not (in case of Garmin and only Garmin). Who and why introduced such a broken interface? I have a couple ideas: the first is power saving (but why not to switch the wrist notification totally off when you don't need that) and the other could be a workaround for "phantom call notifications" I faced several times here in the forums. Probably a frozen "incoming call screen" is better than infinitelly buzzing devise. It's really better. But keeping that for 2+ years and treat as normal behavior -- that's not acceptable!

Imagine a phone which rings for a second and stops. Will people buy such phones? Probably yes, if they see no competitors, if they can find a workaround such as carrying a watch with a normal indication or a headset. Will they switch to another brand? Definitely yes as soon as they find a similar but not so buggy one. What's the difference with our case? I see no, actually, but there are much more alternatives in the phones world. Unfortunately. But things changes. Today Samsung produces almost the same but with better UX. Hopefully next year Xiaomi or Huawei will take leadership as they do in other areas, who knows. It's not the top three sport brands combat anymore. And that's inspiring. But I already own an almost new Garmin and that's my fault.

Regarding your latest suggestion -- If I understood you correctly you suggested to write an app, buzzing a device while it receiving an incoming call? Probably that's an option if the API allows. I've written something funny for my Blackberry 10 years ago... But that's a really strange way of bugfixing. For the company introducing themselves as an industry leader.

OK, I hope I understood well now, that you want a completely new feature in fact. Garmin currently offers call and SMS notifications (and then of course diverse app notifications). And you would like instead a different function - not a call notification, but a direct replacement of the phone ring. I do not think it is a function they advertise (though you may prove me wrong if you have a link with that claim), but it is indeed a good idea and may serve others too. Try suggesting the idea to Garmin through their idea box at https://www.garmin.com/forms/ideas/ 

O-ops... Can't believe it's so hard to explain!

I don't need any magic "phone replacement" function. I just expected the watch behave the same way all the similar devices do when notify about incoming call. i.e. continually buzzing. just to follow the common rules -- that's all my wish.

All beyond that is my way of utilizing. I don't need two notifiers, so I switch the phone's ring off, but again, that's outside the scope of the issue.

In my own topic anyone can now find the links to this and another descriptions of the same annoying usability bug. with almost 10 votes. why can't it be treated as a bug and handled accordingly? I, working in software dev industry for 20+ years can't realize that.