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How to set FR955 display Always Off?

3061126
3 months ago

Following the menu - "Select Timeout to set the length of time before the screen turns off." The screen only dim but not off after the timeout value.

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  • 0 3 months ago

    TL;DR MIP watches like FR955 don't need to turn the display off, unlike AMOLED watches like FR965.

    FR955 has a MIP display, which means that screen can be on all the time without the same kind of battery life impact there'd be for an AMOLED device (like 965). MIP screens are like ereader screens - battery is only consumed when a pixel changes state, so displaying the same static image all the time would have basically no battery impact, and displaying an image which doesn't change much has relatively little impact. That's why Garmin MIP screens never turn off, it's only the backlight which turns off (because the backlight does have a significant battery life impact).

    Of course, AMOLED screens don't have a backlight, they have a brightness level and the brightness does significantly affect battery, as well as impacting the risk of burn-in. The battery impact for AMOLED depends on how many pixels are lit (and how bright they are), over time. That's why Garmin AMOLED displays dim after the timeout (even in always on mode), and go completely dark when always on mode is turned off.

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to FlowState

    Good answer. I wanted to write something myself, but you already explained the most important things.

    In addition:

    MIP is short for „Memory in Pixel“.  Other display types like backlit LCD or AMOLED are basically refreshing ALL pixels 60 times a second from the central graphics memory, even if nothing has changed for the majority of pixels. Of course that costs battery.
    In MIP displays, every pixel has it’s own small memory cell and the pixel is only refreshed, if a value changes. So, many pixels won’t change the state for seconds, minutes or even hours. Obviously this saves battery.

    Second thing worth mentioning is, that MIP is not backlit (and also not self light emitting like AMOLED), most of the time. Instead, there is a reflective layer behind the pixels, It reflects the (sun-)light and thus lights the pixels from behind, without using any battery at all. Obviously this is saving huge amounts of battery especially when out in the sun, when MIP is bright without using any battery, while LCD and AMOLED use a lot of battery, because the need to shine brighter than the sun.
    Only indoors or after sunset, when there is little or no light to reflect, the backlight is needed.

    Together, this makes it not necessary, to turn the display off completely.
    And so you cannot do this in the settings. Every setting there is „just“ referring to the backlight.