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DataFace

DataDev

DataFace

DataFace - data rich yet simple and energy efficient multi-screen watch face with unique set of features, free of charge.

Available on the Connect IQ Store

Highlights

  • DataFace doesn't drain your battery - it doesn't work in the background, and with the default settings battery consumption is very close to the predefined watch faces, and there are a few options to make it even more energy efficient.
  • DataFace is fast - it switches to/from glances almost instantly and introduces no delay while toggling the LED flashlight by double-clicking LIGHT button.
  • DataFace supports wide range of metrics in different representations - you can choose from over 135 values, including Body Battery, stress level and time to recovery, and some of them are available as graphs and progress bars.
  • DataFace has flexible layout - only the position of the hours and minutes is predefined, while areas above and below the time are grids of 4 rows and 2 columns that can contain, e.g. a large graph, or a medium graph and a progress bar, or a smaller graph and four numeric values, or two smaller graphs with one bar and two numeric values, etc. There are 68 positions on the screen where a specific value can be placed.
  • DataFace offers you up to 10 screens - you can customize data fields for each of them separately and switch back and forth based on the situation, or create a single screen with all the data you need, since you can display from 2 to 24 values at a time.
  • DataFace has rich and intuitive on-device menu - all settings are available directly from the device.
  • DataFace respects your privacy - it doesn't collect any personal information and doesn't have "Communications" permission, so everything it can access stays on your device.
  • DataFace is free - you don't have to pay anything to use all the features.

Distinctive features

  • DataFace has advanced offline weather forecasting features: barometric pressure graph is not distorted by the altitude calibrations as it can detect and eliminate unnatural pressure changes, unlike the system pressure graph in ABC and Barometer glances. Pressure trend arrow follows the one from the system ABC glance and introduces several additional states to indicate extreme weather changes beyond the usual rate. The trend can also be configured to display the numeric value of pressure change rate over the last 3 hours. On top of that, there is the Zambretti Forecaster, that gives you pretty accurate micro-local weather forecast for the next 12 hours in text form.
  • DataFace can precisely calculate Sun and Moon data: rises and sets, current azimuths and altitudes, solar noon, daylight duration, Moon phase name and illumination, etc. The data may differ slightly from the one in the default glances, but it is more likely that the DataFace's values are more accurate than the default ones. For Sun rise and set you can select system values that exactly match what is displayed in default Sunrise/Sunset glance.

Q&A

Q: Where are the settings? I don't see a corresponding button in Connect IQ and Garmin Express.

A: DataFace is configured on the device itself, and unlike other watch faces, this is the only way to customize it. If you have fēnix, epix, Forerunner or other similar 5-button watch, hold UP/MENU button, select "Watch Face", scroll to the DataFace, press START button and select "Customize". If you're using Venu or other 2- or 3-button device, hold BACK/MENU button, select "Watch Face", scroll to the DataFace and tap the pencil icon.

Q: How to use data fields above and below time?

A: These are grids of 4 rows and 2 columns, the cells of which can be merged into any rectangular area. Simply draw such a grid on paper, select any non-overlapping rectangles you want to fill with the required data and then select those areas from the menu.

Q: Why Sun and Moon related metrics show "--"?

A: DataFace needs to know your location for these calculations - just go outside, start any GPS activity, wait for the location fix, discard the activity and return back to the watch face.

Q: Can I choose another fonts?

A: This watch face uses system fonts, and there is no such feature right now, but things may change later.

Q: How can I switch between the screens?

A: You can press and hold hours to go back and minutes to go forward in the screens loop. You can also set automatic forward screens switching using single or double gesture, with optional auto-return to the first screen on the next gesture after a longer delay.

Top Replies

  • in reply to DataDev +1
    DataDev said:
    The answer to this question depends on how other watch faces are implemented, whether they run background service (this one doesn't),

    With watch faces, the background service only runs…

All Replies

  • Great watch face! Thank you very much for making it. I like that the battery consumption is low, you can have several screens and there are so many customisation options. And the offline weather forecast is very useful. Is there a manual?

    I am struggling with the data fields. I understand where data fields 1-8 appear, but it is more complicated with the higher-number data fields: Some are larger than others and it seems that larger data fields replace smaller fields. How does it work? If I use some of the higher-number data fields, the font is larger. This is useful for me because I am far-sighted. How do I optimise this to select fields with larger fonts?

    Another question: Some metrics appear three times. For example, Heart rate Sys., Heart rate Alt. and Heart rate. What is the difference?

  • in reply to rogerpgvg

    Thanks!

    rogerpgvg said:
    And the offline weather forecast is very useful. Is there a manual?

    Do you mean the manual for using the forecasting feature or for the watch face in general? Although, for the both variants the answer is no, I can explain how things work. If the first, then it's the Zambretti Forecaster (details are easy to find online), which selects one of the predefined results based on smoothed barometric pressure history. If the second, then there are no manuals, since I try to make this watch face as intuitive as possible so that the user simply doesn't need the manual. I understand, this may not be entirely possible, but this is one of the goals I'm trying to achieve. And since this forum thread and "Contact Developer" exist, I'm happy to provide support when needed.

    rogerpgvg said:
    it is more complicated with the higher-number data fields

    The idea behind the layout is that areas above and below time are grids of 4 rows and 2 columns, and you can make a data field to occupy any rectangular area within this grid. For example, you could place one large value across the entire top half of the grid, and use the bottom half to place another large value there, or split it further into two rows/columns and place two smaller values there, and so on.

    rogerpgvg said:
    Some are larger than others and it seems that larger data fields replace smaller fields. How does it work?

    Yes, if the larger field is set, the smaller fields in this area, that would be overlapped by this field, will not be displayed. Fields are are numbered hierarchically: from parent to children and from first child to its siblings. If the parent is set, all of its children and their children's children won't be displayed. If one of the children in the sibling group is selected, it and its siblings and all their children withing the group will be drawn, but not the other siblings in other groups within its parent. I understand it may be difficult to understand without going into more details and without testing it in practice, but I hope you (and everyone else) don't have to.

    You can draw a 4 rows by 2 columns grid on paper, decide which rectangular areas of this grid you want to use to place values you need, and then simply scroll down the list of available fields until you see the corresponding rectangle from your drawing, without paying much attention to the number of data field itself.

    rogerpgvg said:
    How do I optimise this to select fields with larger fonts?

    You can start with two values at top and two at bottom: use fields 11-12 and 18-19 for two large rows, or 13-14 and 20-21 for two large columns. Otherwise, fields 27-28, 31-32 and 41-42, 45-46 can contain 4 equally sized values at the top and bottom.

    rogerpgvg said:
    Some metrics appear three times.

    Essentially, these are different data sources, as Garmin provides multiple ways to obtain some values. "Sys." are lightweight and can always be updated instantly without significant use of system resources. "Alt." use different data source and can retain their values for a short time if the current value is not available (e.g., it can show your last known heart rate at the moment you took off the watch). Unlabeled values use the same source as "Alt", but consume less resources because they don't access the historical values. There are many other nuances related to the selected update modes. In general, I recommend trying "Sys." first and then switching to other variants if necessary.

  •  , , could you please disable moderation for me in this thread? I can't wait weeks and months for my posts to be are approved. When I say "months", I'm not exaggerating. All my attempts to make any changes to the first post here take between one and five weeks to be approved on Garmin's side.

  • in reply to DataDev

    Thank you for the explanations. When I read them and looked at the data field settings again, I noticed that the circles show the position of each data field! I did say that I am far sighted, haha. It’s a lot more intuitive now. The way you can choose different data field positions and sizes is ingenious.

    As I said, a big plus of DataFace for me is the low energy consumption. In your Connect IQ description, you mention that there are a few options to make it even more energy efficient. What are they? Is energy consumption higher with more screens? Is it higher when I display graphs or metrics that update frequently like current heart rate or pressure? And in general, do watch faces consume energy when they are not used (but are installed)? I wonder whether I should delete my other watch faces.

    Great to have so many metrics to choose from. The only thing I am missing from my previous watch face is 7-day rolling running distance (and 28-day running distance would be useful too). If you ever think of adding things, I hope you’ll consider it. Regardless, it's a great watch face that I'll be using from now on.

  • in reply to rogerpgvg
    rogerpgvg said:
    In your Connect IQ description, you mention that there are a few options to make it even more energy efficient. What are they?

    While battery consumption is already minimal, applying the following settings will reduce the number of operations performed, which should slightly increase battery life:

    1. For MIP screens: "Date and time" - "Show seconds" - "Never", for AMOLED this most likely it doesn't matter.
    2. In settings "General" - "Fast updates" - "Off".
    3. In settings "General" - "Subscribe to updates" - "All w/o timeout".
    4. In screens "Switch by gesture" - "Disabled".
    5. Remove graph fields from the screen.
    6. Remove Sun and Moon position (azimuth, altitude) fields from the screen.
    7. Remove "Weather forecast" from the screen, also pressure, pressure trend/deviation values from the screen.
    8. Use only "Sys." fields.
    9. Reduce total number of fields displayed on the screen.
    10. Don't switch screens too often.

    Personally, I don't follow these tips and use complex screen setups, and even then, I don't charge my watch more often then I do with predefined watch faces.

    rogerpgvg said:
    Is energy consumption higher with more screens?

    No. Only the configuration of currently displayed screen matters.

    rogerpgvg said:
    Is it higher when I display graphs or metrics that update frequently like current heart rate or pressure?

    Yes, but not so much that they shouldn't be used at all. I recommend trying this watch face with default / maximal settings and data fields you need first before limiting them.

    rogerpgvg said:
    And in general, do watch faces consume energy when they are not used (but are installed)? I wonder whether I should delete my other watch faces.

    The answer to this question depends on how other watch faces are implemented, whether they run background service (this one doesn't), and possibly even on the watch model and firmware used. Maybe try to leave them as is?

    rogerpgvg said:
    The only thing I am missing from my previous watch face is 7-day rolling running distance (and 28-day running distance would be useful too).

    Isn't that "Training" - "Weekly run distance"? Weekly distance is a ready-to-use value provided by Garmin. Other time intervals seem to be possible as well, but this would require reading the history of recorded activities and performing some calculations, which this watch face doesn't currently do. I have this on ToDo, but it's not at the top.

  • in reply to DataDev
    DataDev said:
    The answer to this question depends on how other watch faces are implemented, whether they run background service (this one doesn't),

    With watch faces, the background service only runs for the one that is "active".  The one you see when the watch face is displayed.. 

    see Connect IQ FAQ

    "Other Points

    • Watch Faces - Watch faces are a bit different than other app times when it comes to if/when a background service runs, and this is by design. The background service for a watch face will only be run if that watch face is the "active" watch face (the one currently selected to be used). Think of the case where you have two watch faces installed, that both get weather data from the same source, with a limit on requests per day. There's no reason for the background service for the non-active watch face to run, as it would just use up the quota of requests per day."

  • in reply to jim_m_58

    Thanks for pointing this out. I forgot or didn't know that this is documented and exists as more than just common knowledge on these forums. I assumed so and suggested leaving everything as is, so that the OS itself would decide whether to stop these services or not, but I couldn't and still can't guarantee that what's written there is correct for all combinations of Monkey C programs and firmwares, as they may have bugs. As an example, I'll refer to a situation where not properly deactivated Sensor and Position listeners cause battery drain even after the watch app is closed and possibly even uninstalled, which should not normally happen for apps running inside a VM on an OS with proper resource management.

  • in reply to DataDev

    Thank you, it's useful to know what consumes most energy. For example, I can put the higher energy consuming data fields in the 2nd screen. But I agree, even without following your tips, battery consumption is low.

    "Training - weekly run distance" resets the distance to 0 at the beginning of the week, which is different from a rolling 7-day distance.

    Just a suggestion, it may be useful to have a short-cut button to move between screens. Gestures don't always work so well (for me) and I sometimes switch touch off (and not all watches have touch screens).

  • in reply to rogerpgvg
    rogerpgvg said:
    it may be useful to have a short-cut button to move between screens

    When the watch face is in time display mode, no direct user input actions other than long screen presses can be handled. For devices that only have buttons, it is possible to switch the screen only using "look at the watch" gestures. On touchscreen devices you can press and hold the hours and minutes to navigate back and forth through the screens loop.

    rogerpgvg said:
    Gestures don't always work so well (for me)

    It works like this: when the watch face wakes up after one or two (based on the setting) short periods of sleep (turning your wrist away from and towards you), it switches to the next screen; when it wakes up after one or two short periods of sleep after a long period of sleep, it returns back to the first screen (if enabled in settings). The problem is that sometimes event "user turns his wrist away" (seconds disappear from the screen) and "user looks at watch" (seconds appear on the screen) are not delivered to the watch face (as a result you see the seconds ticking for a short time, when they shouldn't, and you don't see them, when they should). I doubt it can be fixed on a watch face side.

    You can try setting the required number of gestures to one to make screens switching easier, but this will increase the number of false positives (and for the same reason it would be easier to switch back to the desired screen, if it's not the first one).

    rogerpgvg said:
    I sometimes switch touch off

    While this won't prevent you from going into some system menus, you can leave the touchscreen enabled, but disable "Launch on press" to disable the HR glance opening on long pressing the HR data field, etc. It's still possible to navigate through the watch face screens using long presses in this mode.