[Backlight] Wrist Turn

Former Member over 8 years ago

Hello everyone,

I recently bought a Garmin Forerunner 230 and am interested in creating my own watchface for it.
However, something I was wondering: is it possible to alter the accelerometer angle value for the Backlight Wrist Turn setting on your watch?
By default, if you have the Wrist Turn setting enabled, the backlight turns on when the watch is approximately perpendicular to (~ at a 90° angle to) the earth. However, I would like to modify this value so that it turns on when it is, e.g., turned 135° (when laying on your back, the angle gets larger). Right now, whenever I go over that 90° angle, the backlight instantly turns off.

Could anyone simply indicate whether it is possible to adjust these system settings by code? I haven't yet been able to examine the SDK or the API, but would just like to know whether it is possible at all, or whether it is a hardcoded value.

Kind Regards,
Robin

HermoT over 8 years ago

Unfortunately this is not possible.

Former Member over 8 years ago

Unfortunately this is not possible.

Thanks for the quick reply! Too bad it's not possible, hopefully it will be in an upcoming update.

dbrobert over 8 years ago

Thanks for the quick reply! Too bad it's not possible, hopefully it will be in an upcoming update.

I too have been frustrated by the fact that it's borderline impossible to get the watch to come out of sleep while lying down.

I might be wrong on this but I don't think control of the backlight in that manner, however, will be available via the API. Instead, that seems like something that should be altered in the watch firmware.

Cheers,
Douglas

Former Member over 8 years ago

I too have been frustrated by the fact that it's borderline impossible to get the watch to come out of sleep while lying down.

I might be wrong on this but I don't think control of the backlight in that manner, however, will be available via the API. Instead, that seems like something that should be altered in the watch firmware.

Cheers,
Douglas

Unless it'd be possible to override the firmware settings from, e.g., a watchface (like I said, I'm not familiar with the API yet), that'd indeed have to be a firmware setting.
Would be nice if one of the next firmware updates had an advanced setting for the Tilt Backlight, where you could set the "angle".

Anyway, much appreciated for the quick replies!

dbrobert over 8 years ago

Unless it'd be possible to override the firmware settings from, e.g., a watchface (like I said, I'm not familiar with the API yet), that'd indeed have to be a firmware setting.
Would be nice if one of the next firmware updates had an advanced setting for the Tilt Backlight, where you could set the "angle".

Anyway, much appreciated for the quick replies!

In my experience Garmin doesn't add settings for known things. For example, although you can configure your stride length, you can't control how the device measures a "step", since that is basically a known measurement for human beings capable of walking. Likewise, it seems that Garmin should be able to measure the current watch position (standing, lying, reclined, etc) and then apply the accelerometer measurements to determine that from whatever angle I'm at that I'm know looking at my watch, given that the process of looking at your watch involves a known action of "lifting up the watch and twisting" per se.

Cheers,
Douglas

Former Member over 8 years ago

In my experience Garmin doesn't add settings for known things. For example, although you can configure your stride length, you can't control how the device measures a "step", since that is basically a known measurement for human beings capable of walking. Likewise, it seems that Garmin should be able to measure the current watch position (standing, lying, reclined, etc) and then apply the accelerometer measurements to determine that from whatever angle I'm at that I'm know looking at my watch, given that the process of looking at your watch involves a known action of "lifting up the watch and twisting" per se.

Cheers,
Douglas

My thoughts exactly!
My latest smartwatch was the Pebble Time. I was quite satisfied with it; however, it's a bit low quality and was recently damaged. Pebble uses the accelerometer to measure "sudden shakes" to trigger the backlight to light up. So you just twist your arm once or twice, and the light goes on (no matter what position you're in).

Anyway, let's hope they once look into it!

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

I suspect it's something where they might have opted for a stronger gesture to turn on the BL, as lesser gestures could have the BL come on more times than needed, decreasing the battery life.

Also, it seems the same basic gesture is also used to move the watchface out of low-power mode, and do once a second screen update, so it wouldn't just be the BL using more battery, it would be the watch face itself.

As far as the tech side, from a watchface you can't access sensors, including the accelerometer, so you do have to use what's in the FW and can't do it yourself.