What’s the likelihood of higher res screen coming?

As long as we’re speculating... I would say that if they had plans to bring forward a new screen it would’ve been done with the MARQ series.

acousticbiker said:

I understand the trade off with battery life but I would think even just going to 320 x 320 would make everything, especially maps and some watchfaces, look so much better without too much of a hit on battery life (especially if using same less bright / lower tech screen for better outdoor visibility and lower power draw than the fancy Apple/Wear OS watches). 

Well, we have no idea how much of the battery life is going to lighting up the screen, but going from a 240x240 screen to a 320x320 screen is almost double the number of pixels (57.6k to 102.4k).  I have trouble believing that would't affect the battery life significantly. Otherwise, I assume they'd make a lower res model with an even longer battery life aimed at ultrarunners.

I’m curious if anyone has a technical perspective on how much battery drain from more pixels vs more light - I would think more pixels wouldn’t be as much impact as a brighter screen (which I don’t think is necessary)

I would say there is a high likelihood of a higher resolution screen device coming out.  Sometimes the CIQ Betas can provide some hints towards future capabilities if you know where to look, but no timelines or specific products.

Hmm, so is there code in CIQ that sugggests it might be coming?

CIQ 3.1 beta1 had some additional round devices with greater than 240x240 that were removed in beta2.  I don't believe they would just put them in if there were not plans for future hardware.

I don't remember, but do remember it was a significant bump in resolution. 

The Memory-In-Pixel (MIP) displays Garmin uses is kind of like E-Ink in that individual pixels hold their current state until told to change instead of the whole screen being scanned constantly like an old CRT TV or regular LCD monitors. So I don’t think adding more pixels would impact battery life much.

The other way these screens save battery is by being reflective instead of being backlit. Without having to have a light shine through the display in order to read it, other than in low light conditions, it only needs to be lit briefly when indoors or after dark and then only when you want to read it. This is also why they’re easier to read in direct sunlight.

Since Garmin doesn’t build the display themselves it won’t be until a supplier makes higher res screen that meets their power and price requirements that we start seeing a “better” screen in these wearables.

Thanks, R_Tellis. Here’s an example of a round 320 x 320 MIP: www.j-display.com/.../reflective.html. They exist (saw other examples on a quick google search), so I guess it’s a matter of quality, price, and power draw