Develop Bugs

[Q] Dimming Screen with Palm Not Working?

Anybody else having issues when placing your palm over the screen to dim it? It should turn the screen off and vibrate. I think I only saw that happen once, but I can't seem to get that to work.
Can somebody try it and tell me if it works for you all the time, some of the time, or rarely to never?
Thanks.

I got it working if I turn off the ambient screen setting on the device. You can also use the button too.

Ambient Screen Off
kpjimmy said:
I got it working if I turn off the ambient screen setting on the device. You can also use the button too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I tried with both, ambient screen on and ambient screen off. No luck. Yeah, I guess I'll just have to use the button, seems faster anyway, or wait until it turns itself off. I guess I was just concerned my ambient light sensor might be defective, haven't had the chance to see if auto-brightness works correctly since it has been raining and cloudy outside and light indoors generally keeps it mid-brightness.

DaPhang said:
Yup, I tried with both, ambient screen on and ambient screen off. No luck. Yeah, I guess I'll just have to use the button, seems faster anyway, or wait until it turns itself off. I guess I was just concerned my ambient light sensor might be defective, haven't had the chance to see if auto-brightness works correctly since it has been raining and cloudy outside and light indoors generally keeps it mid-brightness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you go to the android wear app and turn off ambient screen? I assume so. Mine turns "off" when I either "palm" it or push the button. I left the ambient screen sensor on and it still turned off for me.

Make sure your palm is touching the screen. If you're just cupping your hand over the screen, it won't work. It's not a "oh, it just turned dark" thing, but more of a "oh, my entire surface is being touched at once" thing.

Touch Screen Palm
jt3 said:
Make sure your palm is touching the screen. If you're just cupping your hand over the screen, it won't work. It's not a "oh, it just turned dark" thing, but more of a "oh, my entire surface is being touched at once" thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much, that was it. It works now, operator error.

Auto brightness is useless!

In a 100% dark area (movie theater, etc.), when I flick my wrist to turn on the watch, it turned on with full brightness on. It stay there indefinitely... sometimes it'll go away by itself, other time I have to do something, like swiping cards before the screen will go dim.
In a semi (50% dark), the screen will not turn on to its full brightness, but at... dim. WTH?!

Stick watch face?

I've noticed this as well (when driving at night). Since it turns on all the time (I steer with the same hand I wear my watch on), I've noticed lots of strange behavior. Sometimes it turns on very bright, and then goes back to sleep. Sometimes it turns on bright and then dims to the minimal brightness that it should be. Sometimes it turns on with the appropriate, minimum brightness. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I'm running a stock watch face, and have very few apps installed.
As someone offered up 'muting' the watch while driving in another thread as a possible solution, it doesn't help me. Whether or not the watch is muted, it still wakes up all the time, and varying brightness levels.

bruceo said:
Stick watch face?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Emm...you mean stock watch face? If yes, I am using the classic one.

Auto brightness works well for me with ambient mode ON, I think I remember it being buggy with ambient mode OFF, what is yours set to?

v3ngence said:
Auto brightness works well for me with ambient mode ON, I think I remember it being buggy with ambient mode OFF, what is yours set to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have ambient mode OFF to save battery. Will turning it on fix the issue? I use Sleep as Android for sleep tracking and turn Ambient off and it lights up here and there at night.

Cut it out guys. ..or this thread will be locked
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

pakure said:
Cut it out guys. ..or this thread will be locked
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^This...well probably not locked
I did a little thread cleaning to remove the off topic arguments about using a device (phone or watch) in a movie theatre. There were a lot of people who quoted these posts, and unfortunately I had to remove these posts as well...sorry for that.
Here is the thing, this thread is about the buggy behavior of the watch waking up at full brightness. It doesn't matter if it is in a theatre, whilst driving the car, or you just woke up in the middle of the night and want to check the time. More that one person has reported the issue and there has been a proposed fix...please keep the thread focused on finding the root causes, fixes, work arounds, etc. No matter what, please knock off the name calling, that will only get you into trouble!
Thanks!:good:

lanwarrior said:
I have ambient mode OFF to save battery. Will turning it on fix the issue? I use Sleep as Android for sleep tracking and turn Ambient off and it lights up here and there at night.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try turning ambient mode ON during the day,
I just tested and with it off the screen does occasionally come on at full brightness even in the dark. With ambient on it only comes on bright the first time, quickly dims, and stays dim until taken into daylight :good:

v3ngence said:
Try turning ambient mode ON during the day,
I just tested and with it off the screen does occasionally come on at full brightness even in the dark. With ambient on it only comes on bright the first time, quickly dims, and stays dim until taken into daylight :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. So with ambient ON, it still turn on at full brightness but momentarily. I'll test this and will report back.

Well, I'm having the opposite problem following the last update.
it frequently (at work right now, for example) comes up EXTREMELY dim, I'd guess maybe 5x dimmer than brightness setting '1'.
I'm setting it to '1' as a workaround for now.
- Frank

Wait for the next 5.0 update. .there's options like theater mode. ..and other brightness modes coming to wear
Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk 2

Smart Brightness for Moto 360
Try the application "smart brightness for moto 360" from the Google play. With this application you can set a minimum brightness and better view in low light environments.
With the minimum set to 20% and auto brightness on you will get better battery life and better experience in dark situation.

[email protected] said:
Try the application "smart brightness for moto 360" from the Google play. With this application you can set a minimum brightness and better view in low light environments.
With the minimum set to 20% and auto brightness on you will get better battery life and better experience in dark situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instant buy. Thanks allot, that makes in combination with the 5.0 update, Watchmaker and Bubble Cloud Launcher my watch perfect.

[email protected] said:
Try the application "smart brightness for moto 360" from the Google play. With this application you can set a minimum brightness and better view in low light environments.
With the minimum set to 20% and auto brightness on you will get better battery life and better experience in dark situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, the auto brightness doesn't seem to work...yeah, just realized that after using it for a week.

Smart Brightness for Moto 360
TheGoD said:
Sadly, the auto brightness doesn't seem to work...yeah, just realized that after using it for a week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The application really works. If you want see how works, do the followings steps:
1. open Smart Brightness App
2. Turn on the application
3. Set the minimum brightness to 20%
4. Turn on the auto brightness.
5. Go to a dark room and wait until Moto360 to turn off the screen.
6. Touch the screen to wakeup the screen. (This is necessary because the Smart Brightness application start when the screen is on and stop when the screen is off).
You will see a clear image after this steps. Now go to the smart brightness app and turn it off (Using the on/off switch located at the top of the screen). Repeat the steps 5 and 6. Now the screen will look dark, because it is the factory auto brightness.
I recommend to use the 7 days trial. After 7 days after using it you will notice the difference.
I'm using this app over a month and works fine. Please let me know any other concern about the application.

For me its not the low light the problem as this works, is outside doens't go bright enough in direct sunlight
Enviado do meu HTC One através de Tapatalk

no problems
i have always used it, never experienced any problems

Moto 360 on the second generation does not work
Fabio

ambient mode not staying on, and turning off tilt doesn't work

Hey guys, wanted to see if this was an issue. I'm on the latest lollipop build on my 360 and using a Note 4 with lollipop also. In android wear settings I turn ON ambient mode, it stays on sometimes, but other times it turns completely off, I'd say ambient mode doesn't stay off most of the time. I've verified that on the watch itself it says ambient mode is off. I think I narrowed it down to if the watch is turned up, ambient mode stays on, but when I tilt the watch down the screen completely turns off.
Kind of related also is I turn off tilt to activate in android wear settings, but it still turns the watch on, specifically when ambient mode off doesn't work and the phone is not facing up and turns off. I suppose this is normal behavior and the issue remains with ambient mode not staying off.
Anyone else?

spinedoc said:
Hey guys, wanted to see if this was an issue. I'm on the latest lollipop build on my 360 and using a Note 4 with lollipop also. In android wear settings I turn ON ambient mode, it stays on sometimes, but other times it turns completely off, I'd say ambient mode doesn't stay off most of the time. I've verified that on the watch itself it says ambient mode is off. I think I narrowed it down to if the watch is turned up, ambient mode stays on, but when I tilt the watch down the screen completely turns off.
Kind of related also is I turn off tilt to activate in android wear settings, but it still turns the watch on, specifically when ambient mode off doesn't work and the phone is not facing up and turns off. I suppose this is normal behavior and the issue remains with ambient mode not staying off.
Anyone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is normal. In ambient mode, the screen turns off after a short while. It seems a bit random. It's probably cos the battery wouldn't last throughout the day if it stayed on.
I personally find the ambient mode and tilt mode a bit annoying (especially when driving at night) so i just have them both switched off and tap the screen or button when i want to see the screen. The screen still lights up when an alert appears.

xdatastic said:
This is normal. In ambient mode, the screen turns off after a short while. It seems a bit random. It's probably cos the battery wouldn't last throughout the day if it stayed on.
I personally find the ambient mode and tilt mode a bit annoying (especially when driving at night) so i just have them both switched off and tap the screen or button when i want to see the screen. The screen still lights up when an alert appears.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do you turn off tilt mode?

hamdir said:
how do you turn off tilt mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android Wear -> Settings -> Moto 360 -> Uncheck Tilt to wake screen option

How do you use your Moto 360?

Notice there're like two types on how people use their Moto 360.
1) Ambient Mode: on - Tilt to wake screen: off
Can always see the watchface, backlight light up by touching/interaction.
2) Ambient Mode: off - Tilt to wake screen: on
Tilt will turn on the screen with backlight. Nothing if it doesn't.
Which are you? and why?

philippecr said:
Notice there're like two types on how people use their Moto 360.
1) Ambient Mode: on - Tilt to wake screen: off
Can always see the watchface, backlight light up by touching/interaction.
2) Ambient Mode: off - Tilt to wake screen: on
Tilt will turn on the screen with backlight. Nothing if it doesn't.
Which are you? and why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless my watch is defective and everything I've read is wrong, the face on a Moto360 will never always stay on, even when tilt to wake screen is off (I just tried it to confirm). Turning ambient mode on and tilt to wake screen off only makes it so you have to tilt to get the ambient mode screen.
But to answer the question, I'm neither. I have ambient mode on and tilt to wake screen on. I use this configuration because I want my watch to behave like a normal watch, and I don't want to have to touch it to see the time. I also want the screen to be on as much as possible because sometimes I hold my arm at an angle that isn't detected as a true "tilt" by the watch, and I want to be able to check the time despite this.

I have tilt to wake on and ambient off because I dont want touse more battery by keeping ambient on but I also want to be able to view the time without having to touch the screen or button.

TheSt33v: u had both of them on? How is the battery life?

I have them both OFF. I found out tilt to wake off extends my battery live tremendously. But I miht be a special case since I drive for living and the watch wakes up way too often.
I'd welcome some kind of "custom calibration" for cases like this and also it would be nice, if the screen would turn off IMMEDIATELY after you move the watch away from face.

I miss voted - I have both OFF (not on).
I like to tap or hit the button to see it. Otherwise it is on virtually all the time with my hands moving so much for work.

The the new app wod i kight turn mine into a boost gauge ....lol
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app

philippecr said:
TheSt33v: u had both of them on? How is the battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I's fine. I charge it overnight, and it's usually 20-30% by the time I go to bed.

until today I used all OFF, but after seeing this post I decided to try with Ambient Mode ON and Tilt to wake OFF.. I'll post later on the battery life comparaison in my case. I'm surprised to see the screen go black when not moving the watch at all even with ambient mode ON.
It's clear, I don't like to use tilt to wake, because of the 1sec lag when I move my wrist to see the time, hate it to feel like I didn't move it correctly even if I did.

I just found out from this thread that it is possible to disable the tilt to wake up gesture. Thanks OP !
Stupidly, you can't find this in watch settings, only in Android Wear app's settings.
For me, tilt to wake up disabled and ambient mode enabled looks like the best combination and battery life seems to be the same or better than with the defaults (Ambient off and tilt to wake up on), especially when driving.

Jungleman_ said:
until today I used all OFF, but after seeing this post I decided to try with Ambient Mode ON and Tilt to wake OFF.. I'll post later on the battery life comparaison in my case. I'm surprised to see the screen go black when not moving the watch at all even with ambient mode ON.
It's clear, I don't like to use tilt to wake, because of the 1sec lag when I move my wrist to see the time, hate it to feel like I didn't move it correctly even if I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is how I use mine. Ambient ON, Tilt OFF.
Tilt to wake lag's really bad.
Ambient ON means I can always see the time, like a real watch.
Talking to my watch is the daggiest thing in the world, so I would always touch it anyway to activate a task.
Battery:
40-30% left when I got to bed. Turn watch OFF.
Put on charge while I get ready for work in the morning. 95-85% 20 mins later when I leave.
Happy days....

michael_or said:
This is how I use mine. Ambient ON, Tilt OFF.
Ambient ON means I can always see the time, like a real watch.
Battery:
40-30% left when I got to bed. Turn watch OFF.
Put on charge while I get ready for work in the morning. 95-85% 20 mins later when I leave.
Happy days....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it you still have to lift the watch to see the ambient mode (watchface) since the Moto 360 screen always goes off when you move your arm down?

SirDigitalKnight said:
I take it you still have to lift the watch to see the ambient mode (watchface) since the Moto 360 screen always goes off when you move your arm down?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, but, when my arm is down, I cant see my watch anyway!
Even with an analogue watch I would need to point it toward my face to read it.
I find the moto360 is pretty good at guessing whether I'm looking or not. With my arm resting on the desk/keyboard as I type this, my ambient watchface is on and I can read it by glancing down, no watch movement required.
I'm pretty happy with the battery life I'm getting in this mode.

michael_or said:
Yep, but, when my arm is down, I cant see my watch anyway!
Even with an analogue watch I would need to point it toward my face to read it.
I find the moto360 is pretty good at guessing whether I'm looking or not. With my arm resting on the desk/keyboard as I type this, my ambient watchface is on and I can read it by glancing down, no watch movement required.
I'm pretty happy with the battery life I'm getting in this mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, I am liking the same settings on mine. Only 2 weeks with the watch so I still have to play some more but 11 hours into my watch use for the day and I am still at 59%!

I use tilt on and ambient off because i don't want use more battery when it not use.

Thanks for all the tips! I just ordered a Moto 360 myself and I plan on enabling Ambient Mode and disabling the tilt to display mode. If I plan on actually using my watch for a task I'm most likely going to tap on the screen anyway rather than tilting my wrist, and battery life will most likely be the same.

Soooo.
My watch just updated to the newest Android Wear version.
Now it seems my Ambient Mode leaves the screen on, regardless of angle!
It will be interesting to see how this effects my battery life!...!...!

I keep it all on.
I find both too useful to keep off.

michael_or said:
Soooo.
My watch just updated to the newest Android Wear version.
Now it seems my Ambient Mode leaves the screen on, regardless of angle!
It will be interesting to see how this effects my battery life!...!...!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought I was crazy but I just noticed this today. It turns out that ambient on and tilt to wake off leaves ambient always on. If you activate tilt to wake, the ambient screen turns off when facing out away from you or down. So tilt off, ambient on is what I'm going to try tomorrow to see how battery life is. The only thing I miss is the OK Google command just by raising my wrist.
Sent from my LG-D631 using XDA Free mobile app

True "always-on" ambient mode available on Moto 360 with the new LCA44B update

True "always-on" ambient mode available on Moto 360 with the new LCA44B update
Try this:
- Enable Ambient Mode on the watch
- Disable "Tilt to wake screen" setting in the Android Wear app
The screen will now stay on indefinitely, just like a regular watch. Until now, the Ambient Mode would always turn the screen off after a few seconds and there was no true "always-on" mode available.
PS: Battery drain seems to be the same as before.

Interesting battery life claim. did you get to verify it for more then 1 day?

HTML:
Cst79 said:
Try this:
- Enable Ambient Mode on the watch
- Disable "Tilt to wake screen" setting in the Android Wear app
The screen will now stay on indefinitely, just like a regular watch. Until now, the Ambient Mode would always turn the screen off after a few seconds and there was no true "always-on" mode available.
PS: Battery drain seems to be the same as before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost just like a regular watch.. Screen stays on but gets dimmed after a few seconds. At least: mine does.

So it stays on even with the watch down by your side? Pretty sure ambient mode kept the screen on before any time the watch was nearly level (like when looking at it).
Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

doublej713 said:
So it stays on even with the watch down by your side? Pretty sure ambient mode kept the screen on before any time the watch was nearly level (like when looking at it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the watch always stays on in all positions.

Cst79 said:
Yes, the watch always stays on in all positions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... but dimmed after 10 seconds..

pietrucci said:
... but dimmed after 10 seconds..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand this. Of course the screen will be dimmed when always on, this is what happens for all smartwatches and even all the laptops by default when not actively in use. This is a sane thing to do. I wouldn't want my watch to glow in the dark when I'm walking.
Plus, are you able to tell the time when looking at your regular watch in the dark ? No. You have to press a light button (if present; if not, you are out of luck). With the Moto 360 you are able to see the information without pressing any button, even in the dark.
The purpose of the always-on mode is to have access to information with no delay at all times, and that's what it does.

Cst79 said:
I don't understand this. Of course the screen will be dimmed when always on, this is what happens for all smartwatches and even all the laptops by default when not actively in use. This is a sane thing to do. I wouldn't want my watch to glow in the dark when I'm walking.
Plus, are you able to tell the time when looking at your regular watch in the dark ? No. You have to press a light button (if present; if not, you are out of luck). With the Moto 360 you are able to see the information without pressing any button, even in the dark.
The purpose of the always-on mode is to have access to information with no delay at all times, and that's what it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was referring to your comment "like a regular watch". A regular watch always has a clear display, has it?.
I monitored my battery usage. From 6Am till 2pm my usase was 33%, so about 4% per hour. After switching to ambient mode from 2pm till 7pm my usage was 54% so about 11% per hour. Now 9pm my watch is empty. Normally by this time my battery still is at 40%.
Could be coincidence (?)
But still thanks for your tip.

pietrucci said:
I monitored my battery usage. From 6Am till 2pm my usase was 33%, so about 4% per hour. After switching to ambient mode from 2pm till 7pm my usage was 54% so about 11% per hour. Now 9pm my watch is empty. Normally by this time my battery still is at 40%. Could be coincidence (?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course it's not coincidence. Ambient mode drains battery faster, everyone knows this, the watch also tells you this when turning on the ambient mode. When I said the battery drain seems to be the same, I referred to the drain with the new "always-on" ambient mode versus the drain with the "old" ambient mode from before the update, when the screen still turned off after a few seconds but was more sensitive to movements than the regular mode.

i don't think i'll be using ambient mode with the moto360... so this new "feature" is useless to me (or those who need their watch to last a FULL DAY)

ShadowVlican said:
i don't think i'll be using ambient mode with the moto360... so this new "feature" is useless to me (or those who need their watch to last a FULL DAY)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you consider a full day a working day, it lasts a full day without any problem. Mine lasts 16 hours with Ambient Mode on and I get many email and chat notifications. It doesn't last 24 hours but anything between 16 and 36 is useless because the watch would die on you the next day in case you miss a night's charge.

With WatchMaker, you can control how the screen looks while dimmed, including keeping it on full brightness (maybe just removing the second hand so it doesn't have to refresh so much), but I agree this would not be a great option for the 360...

All Android Wear devices have always done with it seems this update does for the 360.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Darnell_Chat_TN said:
All Android Wear devices have always done with it seems this update does for the 360.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But none looked so good in the process

I'm considering using ambient mode but I'm not so sure. I'm using tilt to wake the device up. I heard battery life is similar to tilt to wake anyway when comparing tilt to wake and ambient mode together.
Sent from my trltetmo using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 AM ----------
Has anyone confirmed ambient mode does noticeably have more of a battery impact?
Sent from my trltetmo using Tapatalk

MisterCoolBeans said:
Has anyone confirmed ambient mode does noticeably have more of a battery impact?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After testing the Ambient ON + Tilt OFF (true always-on) mode for about 3-4 days with varius settings, I came to the conclusion that this mode drains battery significantly more than Ambient ON + Tilt ON,
Ambient ON + Tilt OFF lasts around 12 hours.
Ambient ON + Tilt ON lasts around 16 hours.
Ambient OFF + Tilt ON can last around 22-24 hours.
However, the always-on mode improves the functionality and experience so much that I wouldn't consider switching back, I prefer to just live with the shorter battery life.
I feel that there can be so many improvements that could be made regarding the screen, for energy saving purposes, but Google and Motorola just don't think of them. For example, notifications wake up the screen but there could be an option to disable this and only wake up the screen when tapping or pressing the button.

Cst79 said:
After testing the Ambient ON + Tilt OFF (true always-on) mode for about 3-4 days with varius settings, I came to the conclusion that this mode drains battery significantly more than Ambient ON + Tilt ON,
Ambient ON + Tilt OFF lasts around 12 hours.
Ambient ON + Tilt ON lasts around 16 hours.
Ambient OFF + Tilt ON can last around 22-24 hours.
However, the always-on mode improves the functionality and experience so much that I wouldn't consider switching back, I prefer to just live with the shorter battery life.
I feel that there can be so many improvements that could be made regarding the screen, for energy saving purposes, but Google and Motorola just don't think of them. For example, notifications wake up the screen but there could be an option to disable this and only wake up the screen when tapping or pressing the button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange why do you think Ambient ON + Tilt ON gives out more battery life than with Tilt OFF?
Sent from my trltetmo using Tapatalk

MisterCoolBeans said:
That's strange why do you think Ambient ON + Tilt ON gives out more battery life than with Tilt OFF?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's normal, the Ambient ON + Tilt OFF keeps the screen on all the time, while Ambient ON + Tilt ON behaves like the old ambient mode, switching off the screen most of the time, just being more sensitive when you move your hand.

just so im using this right..
if i have ambient on and tilt OFF then the only way to WAKE the watch is to tap the screen?
the watch is dim and its great but to wake it, i have to tap the screen..
so is that how this setup works (ambient on tilt OFF)?

marctronixx said:
just so im using this right..
if i have ambient on and tilt OFF then the only way to WAKE the watch is to tap the screen?
the watch is dim and its great but to wake it, i have to tap the screen..
so is that how this setup works (ambient on tilt OFF)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.