New SDK and documentation for Fenix 6?

Just saw the release of the Fenix 6 - looks cool and sounds awesome (Shame there isn't a sapphire + solar combination but I can imagine the reason for that …)

Anyway, I notice the Fenix 6 has a larger display: options for 260x260 and 280x280 (compared to old 240x240). The first things that come to mind are:

Need a new CIQ SDK to be able to build versions for the Fenix 6 - so when should it get released?
Larger display size means more memory used by similarly scaled up graphics assets - so is there more memory available for CIQ apps to use? (E.g. currently up to 92.1kB for watch face apps). Will there be documentation for the Fenix 6 listing all the specifications for development like the display size?

Any other info welcome!

Edit: glance-able mode for widgets (3 per screen) sounds great - but more code for this for CIQ widgets will also need more memory?

Top Replies

mbell-SVK over 4 years ago in reply to markdotai +2

Exactly, I am getting an "Out Of Memory" Error on Fenix 6/6X for the same code which is running smoothly on older devices! That is clearly because of more pixels (I'm pushing limits quite hard, since I…

All Replies

0 sabeard over 4 years ago

My guess is soon and it will be the official release of CIQ3.1.1. DCrainmaker hinted at a busy 2 weeks of product announcements starting this past Tuesday. The rumors indicate there is another watch or two expected, I suspect CIQ SDK with support for the F6 will be announced to support all the devices all at the same time. Given all of these hints, I say we are a week, possibly two at max away from the SDK announcement.

0 mappicus over 4 years ago

I notice that the Strava Routes app https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/945c964a-314b-41fa-9a13-32a1f7931335 was updated on August 27 to include the Fenix 6 watches, so they must have early access to a SDK with those added.

0 sabeard over 4 years ago in reply to mappicus

Strava is a close partner with Garmin, so I am sure there is some special arrangement to make that happen.

0 jim_m_58 over 4 years ago in reply to sabeard

Not sure about more devices, but I'm thinking there might be some things like finalizing 3.1.1 for a release and the f6 will be in that. And this is a holiday weekend in the US, so maybe they didn't want to release a new SDK and then be gone for 3 days if anything comes up.

0 jim_m_58 over 4 years ago

When I started with CIQ, the only devices were the fr920, f3, va, and Epix, so needless to say I've seen a whole bunch of new devices get added, as well as a couple of big SDK updates. With all the devices, there can also be ties to WF release on existing devices.

Let's say device X is about to get FW 9.yz, and in devices.xml it will have that as the min FW, but if they release the SDK before the FW, people will have problems installing things built with the new SDK on device X, so things like that can cause a minor delay. If the min FW isn't updated, things could be in the store for devices that don't have the FW needed for new features.

0 sabeard over 4 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Jim I agree about the holiday, but didn't think about that. I was more thinking that Garmin would not want to do a SDK release for the F6 this week then do another release to support another device likely to be announced next week. The smart thing to do is wait and do one release with everything at once.

0 ftrimboli over 4 years ago

Yes, I would agree — it would be great to have more memory for the larger screen devices. With the largest being 260x260, that’s 36% greater coverage needed for things like buffered bitmaps and always on seconds.

0 jim_m_58 over 4 years ago in reply to sabeard

As far as other devices, this was posted by DCR today:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/09/garmin-venu-with-amoled-display-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know.html

0 sabeard over 4 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

The other two watches I had heard rumors about are now out. Can't wait for the SDK to support them to be releases. I am getting request from users to support the Fenix 6.

0 maglodilevente over 4 years ago

Does somebody know fbbbrown (https://www.fbbbrown.com/) ?

He's got more than 30 apps in the CIQ store for the Fenix 6 Series, but besides him only Garmin apps available.