BUG : vivoactive / 920 layout differences

Both devices screens have the same sizes so why do the layouts look different on the simulator?
  • If you want to have the same layout between the 920 and vivoactive you'll have to use the same font between them. That means either your own custom font or you'll need to add the roboto font to your app so it can be used on the 920.
  • If you want to have the same layout between the 920 and vivoactive you'll have to use the same font between them. That means either your own custom font or you'll need to add the roboto font to your app so it can be used on the 920.


    Where can I get the roboto font used in the vivo (device and sim) to include in my app? Ta
  • It's a font that's freely available on the web. Just search for 'roboto font' in your favorite search engine of choice.
  • ok so will have to include that plus all the point sizes defined in the devices.xml plus the other fonts to be sure. Shame, cos it's a bit of an overhead for the size of the app but so be it. Ta.
  • So that didnt go well!

    Downloaded the roboto font. Created a point size 17 (and 19) from it, cos the devices.xml has roboto17 as the medium font for the vivo. Loaded it and replaced the gfx.font_medium with my roboto19 and it's completely different. Different font and size. Tried both 17 and 19, both too small and look like different fonts to the sim.

    PLEASE Garmin. What font is ACTUALLY used for the small and medium fonts for the vivo? I'm running out of patience, all I'm trying to do is help sell your hardware... please help!
  • All I know for sure is the "vibrate on" icon sure looks like something connected to a HRM, and confuses people! :) I use the standard fonts on mine, and use things like getWidth(), get Height(), and getFontHeight() for layouts.
  • So that didnt go well!

    Downloaded the roboto font. Created a point size 17 (and 19) from it, cos the devices.xml has roboto17 as the medium font for the vivo. Loaded it and replaced the gfx.font_medium with my roboto19 and it's completely different. Different font and size. Tried both 17 and 19, both too small and look like different fonts to the sim.

    PLEASE Garmin. What font is ACTUALLY used for the small and medium fonts for the vivo? I'm running out of patience, all I'm trying to do is help sell your hardware... please help!



    OK so I use the BMPFont tool and create a 17 point roboto font (as thats what the devices.xml says font medium is) and it looks like this!



    Look at the number for the kcal compared to the distance below. These are clearly not the same. Seems as though the vivo perhaps isn't using roboto and isn't 17 point. And why is my one so jagged?

    Then tried 28 point, better size but clearly a different font and still looks jagged.



    This is what I used...



    Are the medium font sizes different on vivo, 920 and epic? If so it's going to be a pain to align things. No I do not want to use the layour system if possible!

    PLEASE HELP GARMIN!
  • There's no guarantee that the font sizes will all the be same. From the Connect IQ User Experience Guide:

    [QUOTE=Connect IQ User Experience Guide]
    Garmin devices have two kinds of fonts available – text fonts and number fonts. Text fonts are for displaying text and number. The text font will come in three sizes:
    1. Small – chosen to be the smallest readable font on the display
    2. Medium – larger than small; chosen to efficiently display text.
    3. Large – larger than medium; chosen to be headers.


    Since our devices can have different screen sizes, if we sync medium to be the same across all devices it'll appear fine on some, but too small or large on others.

    You could use Graphics.getFontHeight() along with the native fonts, and do your positioning that way. That should help reduce the problems caused by the native fonts being different between the 920 and vivoactive.
  • Since our devices can have different screen sizes, if we sync medium to be the same across all devices it'll appear fine on some, but too small or large on others.



    From that I take it's not a good idea to use my own 'medium' font across all devices for the same reason?
  • From that I take it's not a good idea to use my own 'medium' font across all devices for the same reason?


    With our current set of devices I don't see an issue in using your own medium font since they're all about the same. Since you're in control of what devices your app runs on, you shouldn't be caught off guard that your medium font doesn't look good on a new device.