"I am kind of surprised at how unpolished the ecosystem is" - new Garmin user

Garmin (like other companies) have been better at HW than SW for a long time.  Some of the things in the User Interface in the base FW continue to surprise me!  And what's there directly impacts CIQ.  As the platform groups are the ones to define things in many cases, not CIQ. 

For example, I'm really not impressed with how AMOLED devices work in bright sun (I live where that's about 340 days a year).  MIP displays are better for me, but new devices seem to be going AMOLD (The Apple influence?).

When it comes to CIQ, it really has gotten much more complex to learn and use over time.  Back with CIQ 1 the API was much simpler to understand but still took more than a couple hours..  Now, there is much more there.  Learning CIQ right now isn't a couple hours, and it takes a bit of time to learn the ins and outs and that can vary based on someone's programming background.

jim_m_58 said:

MIP displays are better for me, but new devices seem to be going AMOLD (The Apple influence?).

The "Apple influence"? It has nothing to do with Apple.

AMOLED screens show much, much better than the MIP displays (and they have decent power usage).

AMOLED screens might work better for some people too.

My 2 cents:

- I do think Garmin is trying to avoid losing too much market share to Apple. In recent years, they've added music, new watches which are eerily similar to Apple Watches (with a touchscreen, square form factor and AMOLED), AMOLED on running watches, and touchscreens on running watches. If Apple Watch didn't exist, could we honestly say that we think Garmin would've done all of that in just the last 5 years or so?

- AMOLED screens are beautiful with lots of colors and a higher refresh rate (I assume) than MIP screens.

- Yes, MIP is still better for outdoors usage IMO. You have to crank the brightness up pretty high on AMOLED screens to have good visibility outdoors

- MIP is bad indoors

- MIP is bad for general purpose use

- MIP is unimpressive to the general public. I once went to a restaurant/bar wearing my garmin and the server told me she thought my watch wasn't "real" lol

- I tried out Apple Watch recently, and I dislike their implementation of AMOLED "always on" displays. First party apps like Workout are allowed to keep the screen on (and fully functional) indefinitely, but a 3rd-party app like WorkOutDoors can't.

This means that when you're using a 3rd party app and you lower your wrist, the screen will automatically dim and switch to a kind of screensaver mode (where only the clock and a static app image is displayed). This also means that certain gestures like double-tap on screen and twist crown won't work while you're not looking at the watch. This is important to me because if I switched to Apple Watch, I'd want to use WorkOutDoors (or a similar 3rd-party app), since the built-in app has too many limitations. To me it's pretty important that I can interact with running apps while I'm not looking, and Apple Watch isn't there yet. The Action button is a step in the right direction though.

- If I didn't run and I wanted a smartwatch, there's no question I'd go with AW over Garmin

I always say that Garmin is to Apple Watch as Kindle is to iPad. Nobody would say that a Kindle has a beautiful screen for general purposes. You can't play videos on it, and browsing the web is terrible experience. But it's great for reading. An iPad is great for lots of other things besides reading. It's the same with Garmin - Garmins are great running watches, but terrible smartwatches.

I just think user experience and marketing are important, and Apple is pretty good at both of those things.

Then you look at the UX of something like Spotify on Garmin vs. Apple Watch. Spotify on Garmin is just terrible in so many ways (especially when syncing playlists, but also when playing music). Even if Spotify is wholly responsible for developing their app, it still reflects badly on Gamin products.

My prediction is that once Garmin's implementation of AMOLED is "good enough" for their purposes, we're going to see in it all or most Garmin products, except maybe something like Instinct or Enduro. Pretty much what happens with all new tech. Remember how angry some people were when Apple removed the headphone jack? Everyone copied them and now there's a ton of wireless earbuds and headphones that are "good enough" for most people. For audiophiles, gamers, and tech enthusiasts, there's still wired headphones, or wireless headphones with wired options, but the vast majority of people are happy with wireless earbuds.

Apple might have been inspired by Garmin in producing the Ultra. 

Garmin likely would have figured out AMOLED without Apple.

All I can say is Garmin clearly made a watch (Venu Sq) which is (superficially) an Apple Watch clone, but Apple didn't do the same for Garmin. No one is going to mistake an AW Ultra for a Fenix or Epix, and that's by design.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Garmin watches have changed fairly rapidly ever since Apple Watch arrived on the scene. And that's a good thing IMO.

FlowState said:

All I can say is Garmin clearly made a watch (Venu Sq) which is (superficially) an Apple Watch clone

Round displays for computers is a big compromise. A square display for a wrist computer isn't an "Apple" idea (though, it's possible the Venu SQ was motivated by Apple). Some of the Garmin Forerunners had squarish displays before Apple (if I recall correctly).

The original Vivoactive and fr920 were pretty square, the VA-HR rectangular,, and then there were the semirounds like the fr23x

I suspect there's a propensity to want to use a rectangular display for a wrist computer. A round display is chosen because there's a sense that that is what people prefer (due to tradition/familiarity). 

Yes, Garmin's introduction of the round-faced Vivoactive-3 sent me back to the drawing board to re-design our UI which had evolved from the rectangular screen of a smart phone via the square face of the Pebble watch, the rectangular one Vivoactive-HR and the square Apple Watch. We are just coming to terms with it, and now that we have  implemented the charting interface inside a rotating compass bezel, the rectangular form of the Venu Sq becomes the challenge.