EDITS: Minor tweaks for clarity. Added some points based on replies.
I've had the Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar for a while now. I absolutely love it, but it's missing an important setting:
Separate watchface settings under "Display Settings". Not for each watchface, but simply when any watchface is displayed.
It would enable true AOD for MIP screens, even in low-light settings. Importantly it would be done while keeping the screen discrete and distraction-free, which is a big feature of MIP.
A bonus with this approach is that it enables separate watchface touch settings (see “Bonus” section at the end).
Allow me to explain.
Background and rationale:
The Fenix 7 is a beautiful and highly useful watch, and the watchface can be a big part of it. Whether for aesthetics or utility, a watch display should be visible at all times, but without being distracting.
MIP screens work great outdoors and in bright settings, but are often too dim indoors. Here they require a little backlight.
The current options for Display Settings do not handle this well. For darker environments, they give users the choice between too little visibility (backlight off) or a distracting screen (excessive brightness or turning on/off with gesture)
For a MIP screen the optimal watchface state is a permanent “minimal viable backlight” without user action (see below), creating true AOD for MIP screens.
The problem with the current implementation:
Currently, unless Activity or Sleep Mode is active, the watchface display settings are defined by "General Use". However, watchface state and general use are very different things!
General use includes actively using the watch.
- Purpose: To go through menus, check health data, check notifications, etc.
- Requires the screen to be very readable.
- Higher screen brightness is not an issue (distraction), because the user is already engaging with the watch.
Watchface is a passive default state.
- Purpose: Aesthetics and quick glances for time/data. Touching the watch should not be required.
- Requires a discrete and non-intrusive screen. Needs just enough backlight to be readable (“minimal viable backlight”)
- High screen brightness, whether permanent or wrist-gesture activated, is distracting and not discrete. Furhermore, wrist-gesture does not differentiate between intentional and unintentional activation.
Forcing these two states into one setting is a bad choice.
Currently, the closest option for achieving true AOD for MIP is to set brightness to 5% or lowest Auto-Backlight, and set display timeout to “No timeout”. But this creates problems.
- Auto Backlight: Even at minimum setting it sometimes goes way brighter than "minimal viable backlight". It gets confused by brief increases in ambient light, which is distracting and uses more battery needlessly. EDIT: Max for lowest setting seems to be ~20%. Should be 5% max.
- Manual: Minimum is 5%. In darker indoor environments, 5% is much more than needed for “minimal viable backlight”. Whether permanent or gesture-activated, the screen calls for attention and uses excessive battery.
For distraction-free "true AOD for MIP", you need different backlight settings for “I am not actively using the watch” (No distraction, minimal backlight), and “I am actively using the watch” (Engaging, more backlight)
Suggested change:
Suggestion is to add "Watchface" to the Display settings menu. It would look like this (below the "Large fonts" toggle):
- During Activity
- General Use
- During Sleep
- Watchface
The options under "Watchface" should be similar to the other states, but with these specific properties:
- Auto Backlight levels similar to "During Sleep" (4 options, and brightness goes much lower). Lowest auto setting should have 2-3% as maximum, perhaps even less.
- Manual brightness should allow lower values than 5%. Sleep mode proves that the backlight definitely can. Ideally with low % increments: (...) / 20 / 10 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 0.5
- EDIT: Potentially change brightness curve to reduce backlight in bright settings to save battery. Or toggle called "turn off backlight in bright settings" to save battery.
Keys & Touch, Alerts, Wrist Gesture, and Timeout settings should all remain available.
"Watchface" is then the default state, untill 1) the user engages with the watch (touch/button: switches to "General Use" or "Activity"), or 2) "Sleep Mode" is enabled.
BONUS: Touch setting
Having an independent watchface setting would allow users to turn off touch when the watchface is active (or buttons, if desired).
It avoids random activations by sleeves etc, and has been previously been requested by users. Personally, I find the watch constantly going to Glances when I wear long sleeves.
You can use "Auto" or turn off the touch, but having to turn it on by long-pressing, or pressing two buttons, is not a good solution. Unlocking the touch screen by pressing any button to exit watchface state should be enough.
Conclusion
The Fenix 7 is a beautiful watch with great utility. Having independent watchface settings would enable users to optimize aesthetics and utility for the watch state that is active most of the time, and create true AOD for MIP.
