When I select the activity widget, it only stays on the screen for about a minute, then defaults back to the clock. I tried a couple of different watchfaces - and it happens with all of them. Sort of annoying - does anyone know a fix here? Thanks - tried searching and couldn't find one.
It's a very annoying decision by Garmin. Also not having the ability to keep the heart-rate screen visible for a decent amount of time is the number 1 problem I got with this watch (I'm still on old firmware so the extemely low polling in 24/7 isn't a problem yet for me).
When I select the activity widget, it only stays on the screen for about a minute, then defaults back to the clock. I tried a couple of different watchfaces - and it happens with all of them. Sort of annoying - does anyone know a fix here? Thanks - tried searching and couldn't find one.
That is by design. Widgets are meant to to be "quick view" items.
There are TONS of watchfaces in the Connect IQ app store that show you the time and your activity info like steps, cals, goal, etc
It's a very annoying decision by Garmin. Also not having the ability to keep the heart-rate screen visible for a decent amount of time is the number 1 problem I got with this watch (I'm still on old firmware so the extemely low polling in 24/7 isn't a problem yet for me).
There are Connect IQ watch apps that allow you to see this info. They are apps and not watchfaces as watchfaces have no access to sensors
There are Connect IQ watch apps that allow you to see this info. They are apps and not watchfaces as watchfaces have no access to sensors
But aren't apps using more battery then the optimized widgets from Garmin? There are also a lot more button presses needed when changing between the widgets and the apps.
Just give us the option to browse the widgets manually without a timeout. Everybody knows when for example the heart-rate widget is visible and polling at a high rate, the battery will be used more. Just give the user this option. It's easy to return after a minute of 2 to the very-low power watch-screen with a single press.
But aren't apps using more battery then the optimized widgets from Garmin? There are also a lot more button presses needed when changing between the widgets and the apps.
Just give us the option to browse the widgets manually without a timeout. Everybody knows when for example the heart-rate widget is visible and polling at a high rate, the battery will be used more. Just give the user this option. It's easy to return after a minute of 2 to the very-low power watch-screen with a single press.
Widgets (while there running) can be written to use far more battery than a watchface, and apps can be written to use a bit more than a watchface. Widgets are quick view, apps stay around as long as you want, and watchfaces have access to very little to be as low battery usage as possible.
Watchfaces only update every minute most of the time. A widget can be written to update every second if you want.
Put your 235 into HR broadcasting mode to see your HR continuously or start say a Run Indoor activity (won't use a huge amount of battery as GPS is off) and then you can see HR all the time as well.
It's not necessary to see your heart-rate all the time. There are recorded activities for this. There are just multiple times a day you want to see how your heart-rate behaves in a short amount of time.
For example I climb multiple flights of stairs, so I press ONCE on the down button to see my heart-rate. The heart-rate is still stabilizing but all of a sudden the heart-rate widget goes away (and the light goes out even faster). I don't want continuous high polling with an extreme short battery-life for these instances. Nor do I want to navigate menus and press multiple buttons to open (and also again shortly after to close) connectIQ apps just for seeing my current heart-rate for two minutes. That's extemely user-unfriendly.
I wrote this post about the activity widget, not the heart rate tracker. I understand the power consumption issues around hr widget, but the activity widget would be nice to have on. This is what the activity widget looks like if you don't understand the difference.
