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Pixel shifting protection (not working in AOD)

7828711
over 1 year ago

EDIT - This is not resolved, and I think I have really uncovered a glaring issue with the programming for AOD on this watch...  read on.

So, first I use the AOD on this watch.   But I decided that I don't really need (or like) the gesture mode when I am indoors (and that is most of the time).  I can see the AOD just fine and figured it would save even more battery (and screen life) by disabling the gesture mode.  (i.e. just let the dim AOD be on all the time and just push the light button to "wake it" to full brightness on the occasions I may need to see it in sunlight etc.).

However..

I noticed that when I manually trigger the display (using any button) that the watch face will shift a bit when it timeout.  (Pretty cool, and I am sure this is the pixel shift working).  Same goes when I activate gesture mode, once it times out it shifts the AOD just ever so slightly, if you look close enough you can see it.

Great.  However...  

I may be wrong, but... I don't think the shift will happen in AOD, with no gesture mode (or manual trigger of screen).  So, this would suggest that if you use the AOD and DONT use gesture mode, then the screen is static with no shift at all day etc?

I would like someone (Garmin Chris maybe) to confirm this.. 

T

EDIT - For fun, I sat here and synced the Epix to my G-shock and watched for 6 min straight to see if by chance the AOD would shift every min, or every 5, etc.   and it did not.   Yet, the second I triggered the light button, it shifted.  So, unless someone can correct my thinking, it appears that you need to use gesture mode to get any benefit from pixel shift (which I think is terrible), as I don't want (or need gesture mode) would rather save the battery and screen from ramping up constantly all throughout the day.    This seems like a big oversight, unless the time interval is more?   

To be clear, I would have fully expected the AOD to shift every so often, regardless of if gesture is enabled or not, or regardless of if a button is pressed or not. As it stands now, that does not appear to be the case and I am just burning in the same pixels for most of the day until night mode kicks in, or an activity is going on.  That is bad news.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Your post confused me, I think you inversed the terms AOD and Gesture mode.

    AOD mode means the display is always on ("Always On Display"), but normally dim unless you move your wrist up and then it goes bright for a few seconds.

    Gesture mode means that the screen is normally off (black) unless you move your wrist up and then it turns on for a few seconds.

    Based on how I read your usage of those terms in the context of your post, I think you got them mixed up.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to C.sco

    Hi, so I understand both AOD and gesture :-)

    Let me try to explain this a bit differently...

    First, there are four ways you can use the watch:

    1. Only gesture with screen off.  (NO AOD)

    2. Screen OFF and gesture OFF (only way to see screen, manually press button)

    3. AOD (Always on display, is on all the time (dim).  NO gesture with screen activated (gesture disabled).  If you need to see it brighter, you need to press a button like the light button and the screen will ramp up to the brighter mode and then default back to AOD.

    4. AOD WITH gesture on.  Same as above, but when you move your wrist, it will make the screen brighter etc.

    The problem is, that in AOD with NO gesture enabled. there seems to be no pixel shift protection.  In my tests, the only time the pixels will shift is after a gesture (if its enabled) or, manually pressing the light button.

    That is the problem.  and Garmin needs to chime in.. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 7828711

    Ah ok, got it. 

    Maybe the screen manufacturer told Garmin that there is no burn-in risk when the display brightness is below a certain threshold, thus no pixel shift is necessary when it's dimmed.

    To my knowledge there hasn't been a single report of screen burn-in on any Garmin amoled watch yet (and they've been out for almost 4 years now), so personally I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever they're doing seems to be working.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to C.sco

    Thanks :-)  Yes, it seems good that no one (accept the first gen Venue watches) are showing any real signs of burn in.   I really do love the AMOLED in general, its much better than I expected.  

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 7828711

    This Garmin developer page may be of interest to you, although it seems to suggest pixel shifting should happen at least every 3 minutes for Connect IQ watch faces.

    developer.garmin.com/.../

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Bitti

    Thank you! That was interesting and yes I see where it mentions the 3min mark.   Which of course, makes me wonder about the stock Garmin watch faces LOL as I did a 6-min test and no shifting occurred. (without manually activating the screen, either by button press or gesture).

    I wish Garmin would see this post and chime in...

    My gut feeling is that this was overlooked by Garmin and they will need to update this...  (which I find Ironc, considering they have a page that you linked telling third party devs. about pixel shifting, LOL).

    At this point I believe the only way to ensure pixel shift protection (when using AOD) is to also be forced to use gesture at the same time, which is ridiculous.   (makes me re-think the whole purchase).

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 7828711

    The software being used on the new Epix Pro series is the same software used on the Epix 2 that has been in release since January 2022. There have been no issues experienced to date.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    Hey Chris!  Thanks for responding:-)

    That is really great to hear for sure!  I have no doubt you are right.   

    But I still am wondering whether or not there is any pixel shift that occurs with only the AOD and not trigging a gesture, or button press?   I have to think that most users will either have the display off and use gesture or will have AOD and use gesture.  I am willing to bet, not many are going to have AOD enabled. and gesture disabled.  (but this is just a guess).  That being the case, I do still worry about prolong burn in if in fact the screen is not shifting in that configuration.

    What is sounds like, is that there is not any protection for that setup.  But, like you said, there have not been any issues (just not sure its the same use case as what I am pointing out tho).

    Hopefully that makes sense, lol.   I can't help but feel like it would be a good idea to simply enable pixel to shift every few min on the AOD if gesture is not enabled.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 7828711

    I now had time to play with my watch a little (= stare at my Forerunner 965). My guess is that pixel shifting happens so slowly one pixel at the time, that (given the resolution of the display) it's very difficult to see it happening. When you activate the screen and it shifts back to the default position, the bigger jump is easy to see.