Develop Bugs

Smartwatches: Think Tank (Attn: SONY SMARTWATCH, WIMM, PEBBLE, METAWATCH,MOTO

Having extensive experience with both phone watches and BT-enabled watches, I want to make an important remark to firmware/software developers for these devices, more so after having recently acquired a SONY Smartwatch.
It is simple: NOTIFICATIONS NEED TO BE PUSHED ALL THE WAY. ALL GOODS NEED TO BE DELIVERED.
In the Sony Smartwatch, a vibration accompanied by a Gmail logo is useless. Having me awake the watch, click on ‘Events’, click again on the message and only then being able to see the email message defeats the purpose of immediateness. Probably easier for me to reach out to the phone and see what the notification is about.
The right way to go is simple: everything the phone has in terms of message info needs to be pushed to the watch notification:
“Email from John Doe
To [email protected]
Subject: Dinner on Tue
->And the entire body”
Same with SMS, IM notifications, or anything. Having only the SMS or Gmail or Whatsapp logos and have to hunt down for the message in the watch is absurd.
The way the MBW-150 worked offered way more info at a glance; Sony is moving backward with this minimalistic notification approach. More is needed.
Secondly: let me disable BT on the watch (say when batt is low or overnight) without forcing me to shut down the device -> no time telling anymore.
Third: watch brightness needs to be adjustable from the watch itself (let me manage battery life myself, I’m a grown up).
Fourth: an audio beep won’t kill anyone. When I’m driving, for instance, I cannot feel the phone vibration. A CASIO-style ‘beep-beep’ cannot hurt. While I understand this may involve additional hardware and pose operational complexities, this is a nice-to-have feature.
First two remarks are KEY, and I’d appreciate not only Sony but everybody involved in such development to think a bit smart before pouring a fortune into development.
Anyone has anything else worth highlighting?
Thanks

Sure dude. But first things first... I would scream that let these things display the clock at all times. Failure to do so defeats the whole watch disguise!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Which app are you using to get Gmail notifications?

jairmoreno said:
Which app are you using to get Gmail notifications?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am messing with Customnotifier, GMail notifier (not 2), and RSS (which works best but drains the battery on the phone if set to frequent checks).
In any event, on the watch I only get an icon on the screen, no further info.
Rgds

Well they are moving in the right direction. With the updated firmware, that was released today, you are able to do a couple more things. You now have an option of leaving new watch faces on at all times. Also with notifications, you can now single tap the new notification icon and it will take you straight to the notification!

gtdRR said:
Well they are moving in the right direction. With the updated firmware, that was released today, you are able to do a couple more things. You now have an option of leaving new watch faces on at all times. Also with notifications, you can now single tap the new notification icon and it will take you straight to the notification!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes indeed. Touchscreen seems a tad more responsive now also, more polished.
Still, notifications need to appear spontaneously -no need to tap- and bightness should be adjustable -too much backlight for me; always staying indoors.
But it's a good step fwd and the app in the phone is more efficient.

Hi, I'm Considering buying this watch simply cos I'm a geek I guess, but, if it is possible for sony to update the firmware/create new apps, and others also to create new apps etc, isn't it almost inevitable that more detailed notifications will be developed eventually? Or am I wrong, is it up to just sony to develope new apps etc, meaning we'll have to wait for just them to decide, taking ages etc? (Unlinke the wimm one for example)..
It does look great, but I agree, notifications really MUST include details, and if this is a future possibility, then I'll get one. (Mainly due to the wimm one not being on sale over here yet! Arrghh!)

jmpcrx said:
Hi, I'm Considering buying this watch simply cos I'm a geek I guess, but, if it is possible for sony to update the firmware/create new apps, and others also to create new apps etc, isn't it almost inevitable that more detailed notifications will be developed eventually? Or am I wrong, is it up to just sony to develope new apps etc, meaning we'll have to wait for just them to decide, taking ages etc? (Unlinke the wimm one for example)..
It does look great, but I agree, notifications really MUST include details, and if this is a future possibility, then I'll get one. (Mainly due to the wimm one not being on sale over here yet! Arrghh!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The notifications seem detailed to me I mean you see the icon if you want to read the message tap the icon once. I like the screen always on update but I won't use it often since I rather have the battery last through the week.
I've checked back ever so often and there new apps popping up so I think development will only improve. Its honestly one of my favorite phone accessories I would recommend trying it out.

general forceps said:
Yes indeed. Touchscreen seems a tad more responsive now also, more polished.
Still, notifications need to appear spontaneously -no need to tap- and bightness should be adjustable -too much backlight for me; always staying indoors.
But it's a good step fwd and the app in the phone is more efficient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree I can't wait til they update to allow adjustment of of the backlight. The notifications I find using the MMS notifier over Sony's I get no delay in the notifications. The Gmail notifier app I use for Gmail sends me the notice without delay also.

Have you looked at the Metawatch at all? That ended up being my choice. Waiting for delivery.

RedRamage said:
Have you looked at the Metawatch at all? That ended up being my choice. Waiting for delivery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good choice RedRamage. I have the analog Metawatch and expect the new iOS digital version any day. Latest phone console release and functions here

OP - fullly agree with the "at a glance" concept. Metawatch provided this for me and I have the Sony, WIMM, original Liveview and MotoACTV also.
Only very recently I was able to stop using MetaWatch and switch to the Sony only for this. See my blog @ augmentedtraffic.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/finally-true-real-time-at-a-glance-notifications-on-sony-smart-watch (you need to cut & paste into a browser since I have < 10 posts).
I use Tasker/K-9 combined with my app to get "at a glance' on a SonyWatch!
I am still testing battery life, but it seems OK. I haven't put the app on the market as yet as it is very customized to my use cases and it may be a bit too much for others to use. The only thing I am currently missing from the MetaWatch is the next upcoming appointment. I have everything else I was using (notifications at a glance, phone battery life, location, weather). I even added my last Withings scale weigh-in

Ok, I've got both of the 1st Gen MetaWatch models (The bt2 Analog and Digital ones), and maintain a popular fork of the Android MW software (see link in my sig), so I'll try and answer your points in relation to that watch.
1) Yes, MW will display your notifications as soon as the phone does - gmail is a little tricky as google keeps changing/modifying/revoking permissions with the official gmail app, so the information available to the watch manager app can be a little sketchy. If you use k-9 mail, you'll see the sender and subject. It doesn't display body text yet, but that is doable. Gmail would also be fixable by just making the app go to the gmail server directly and pull the message text when the new mail notification comes in.
The fork I maintain has an "Other notifications" Option, that lets you selectively display any android notification, although the OS limits how much information we can actually pull. If anyone has requests for additional notification support, then I'm happy to try adding it, assuming the developer of the app has provided intents or an api to access that information.
Currently notifications will stay on screen for a few seconds, then disappear (except for the SMS notifications, which, on the digital watch can be set to stay on screen until dismissed, as you can see the full body, and scroll) - On the digital watch you can configure a button to redisplay the last notification again if you missed it, and there's an on watch menu of all the previous notifications which is only a few button presses away.
2) Yes, all the MW models have a menu option (on the watch) that let you disable BT without turning off the watch, so you can still tell the time
3) Yes, the Analog MW model has menu options to configure the OLED brightness. There's nothing to configure on the Digital model, as it has an always on LCD screen (though there's an option in my fork of the app to automatically turn on its light when a notification comes in)
4) The MWs don't have a speaker, but they do have a powerful vibrator inside - it's pretty hard to miss it when it does vibrate, and the app lets you configure different vibration patterns for different notifications, so you can know what sort of message it was without even looking.
Let me know if you've got any other questions!

MW has some very good stuff, I'm quite familiar with it.
Pity -both for MW and SW- is the poor pixel density. I believe MOTO has a much better display.
B/W displays appear sub-optimal to me and definitely not the direction the market wants to move toward.
Also, beyond the immediate 'at-a-glance' notification, can you read within the watch the full email or notification in MW? This is also a key element.
One more topic I missed on SW is that once connection is lost we need not only vibration but some on-screen display, like a warning sign or something. This feature prevented me from leaving behind a SGSII in a bar when I was using my ancient MBW-150. Vibration won't typically suffice.
I survive 2.5 full days with heavy notification traffic with my SW. How long you stay unplugged with MW under heavy traffic?
Thanks for the good discussion.

general forceps said:
Also, beyond the immediate 'at-a-glance' notification, can you read within the watch the full email or notification in MW? This is also a key element.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, the current software doesn't support that, but it's something I'm planning on adding.
SMS messages currently support this - you can page through a long message, then dismiss it when you're done, so I just need to add the code to pull out (and strip html from) the body text - I know for certain that it's easily possible using k-9 mail, gmail will probably need work to talk to google's mail server directly to get the message text.
general forceps said:
One more topic I missed on SW is that once connection is lost we need not only vibration but some on-screen display, like a warning sign or something. This feature prevented me from leaving behind a SGSII in a bar when I was using my ancient MBW-150. Vibration won't typically suffice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it'll display a "No watch connection" icon in the top right of the time display, which is pretty hard to miss!
general forceps said:
I survive 2.5 full days with heavy notification traffic with my SW. How long you stay unplugged with MW under heavy traffic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to get 2 or 3 days, depending on what I'm doing - 3 days for medium traffic, 2 for heavy traffic (usually when I'm developing features, so pushing lots of data to the watch)
3 days = Taken off the charger on Monday morning, needs to go back on the charger Wednesday evening before I go to bed.
I could probably get much longer battery life if I manually turned bt off each night, and back in the morning, but I like having my watch vibrate in the morning when the alarm goes off! Perhaps adding a "bt sleep" mode to the firmware would be a good addition.

How long does your battery last on the Sony Smartwatch if you keep the small digital clock on at all times?
I've had my watch a little over a week and haven't been able to make it through the day yet even with minimal notifications. The battery life has been very disappointing.

@benjymous:
I forgot to note that I shut it down when I go to sleep. In the morning I turn it on with no pairing issues, so we'd be looking at 18h/day actual uptime, for a total of say 45h per charge. Not stellar by any means.
@tjrhine:
It didn't even cross my mind to have the screen on full-time. It is obvious you won't make it tremendously far (I think the bat has a capacity below 130). No way. I push the button to get the time, I can live with this.
I also need to report that the glass is far from scratchproof. That's something that really pisses people off. Next HW release should DEFINITELY include at least Gorilla Glass and certainly a bigger battery. The thickness of the plastic clip and the strap can be each reduced by about half a millimeter that combined gives you 1mm that they should invest in a bigger capacity batt.
And obviously, a standard usb port.
Please keep ideas coming folks, thanks.

And this is how the notification queue should look like:
http://www.slashphone.com/media/data/767/inPulse_SmartWatch-2.jpg

I'm having exact same problem - Battery lasts barely 8-10 hrs. Do we need replacement watches?

general forceps said:
And this is how the notification queue should look like:
w ww.slashphone. com/media/data/767/inPulse_SmartWatch-2.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like chinese product

Use cases with the Moto 360

Let's discuss how we use this watch so that we can share ideas with each other to further increase our experiences with it.
1) obviously notifications. I really like the fact that I don't have to pull out my phone to check every notification. I look at them on my watch and I can dismiss the ones that aren't important or choose to take out my phone if it is a notification that needs immediate attention.
2) I play Ingress, so getting portal attack notifications or comm message notifications are really handy. I can then decide if I want to pull out my phone to recharge the portals or simply dismiss the notifications.
3) speech to text is awesome. When people text me, I can reply by voice which it sends through my hangouts. One thing I noticed is that when I say 'OK Google', I don't have to wait for the prompt to show up to issue my command. I simply say all at once, "OK Google send text to (name) mobile." The animation catches up, then waits for my message which then I say what my message is.
Especially handy when I'm driving since I can still read the watch while I have my hands on the steering wheel at the 10 & 2 positions to make sure it got what I said.
I get many different hangouts notifications from different recipients so it's nice that I can pick which message I want to on my watch, then respond to them by voice all from my watch.
4) navigation is really helpful. I can now start Google maps navigation and get turn by turn alerts on my watch while running Ingress on my phone so I can still collect XM while driving and not miss out on navigation instructions.
The notification vibrates on my watch and lights up with the instruction, and even though I'm in the Ingress app, I still get the voice prompts from my phone which tells me to "stay on the second lane from the right" which the watch doesn't show. It only shows me that I need to make a right turn at such and such street. Really handy.
5) I'm very forgetful so before i got the watch, I set reminders with time and dates on my phone. But now, I can simply say "OK Google set a reminder for tomorrow at 12:00 pm to wish mom a happy birthday" all from my watch.
6) I installed the Pebble Locker app which allows me to make my watch a trusted Bluetooth device so I can bypass my lock screen code. And when my phone gets too far away from me (if someone were to steal it), the Bluetooth connection gets disconnected and locks my phone automatically.
These are just a few of my use cases where it's been incredibly helpful to not constantly pull out my phone from my pocket.
What are yours?
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

I can control my Chromecast from the watch. I'm watching a movie through Google play and I have playback controls.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

Mine controls the lights, garage door, nest, alarm, and fireplaces with voice commands. Besides moto360 and android wear, also needed autovoice, tasker, xposed framework, ifttt, homeseer, and zwave.

dolebomo said:
Mine controls the lights, garage door, nest, alarm, and fireplaces with voice commands. Besides moto360 and android wear, also needed autovoice, tasker, xposed framework, ifttt, homeseer, and zwave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I wish I could do that.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

For that Pebble Locker app, can you shorten the distance the phone will lock?
I.e. the Moto 360 Bluetooth range is pretty far and I don't want the phone to be still in its unlocked state if I wonder 25 ft away from the phone.

lanwarrior said:
For that Pebble Locker app, can you shorten the distance the phone will lock?
I.e. the Moto 360 Bluetooth range is pretty far and I don't want the phone to be still in its unlocked state if I wonder 25 ft away from the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't see an option for that in the app.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
4) navigation is really helpful. I can now start Google maps navigation and get turn by turn alerts on my watch while running Ingress on my phone so I can still collect XM while driving and not miss out on navigation instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I hate about navigation on the watch is that starting it will turn on the screen on my phone. If I need walking direction and the phone is on my pocket, this will burn a lot battery and the phone is prone to accidental touches.

lanwarrior said:
What I hate about navigation on the watch is that starting it will turn on the screen on my phone. If I need walking direction and the phone is on my pocket, this will burn a lot battery and the phone is prone to accidental touches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I noticed that also. So knowing that, I just turn my phone screen off before putting it in my pocket.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
Yeah I noticed that also. So knowing that, I just turn my phone screen off before putting it in my pocket.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This creates extra steps for me:
1. Say "Ok, Google. Navigate to Starbucks"
2. Get phone out of my pocket
3. Wait till routing calculations is done
4. Turn off screen
5. Put phone back in pocket
Kinda defeat the hands free feature of Android Wear, isn't it? [emoji12]

lanwarrior said:
This creates extra steps for me:
1. Say "Ok, Google. Navigate to Starbucks"
2. Get phone out of my pocket
3. Wait till routing calculations is done
4. Turn off screen
5. Put phone back in pocket
Kinda defeat the hands free feature of Android Wear, isn't it? [emoji12]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I'm totally with you.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
2) I play Ingress, so getting portal attack notifications or comm message notifications are really handy. I can then decide if I want to pull out my phone to recharge the portals or simply dismiss the notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also play Ingress and I have had attack notifications off since i got my Black Gaurdian long ago, but i turned them back on the day i got my 360 and i love seeing them pop up. I can hit "Open on Phone" and when i pull the phone out of my pocket Ingress is already loading/loaded so i can recharge and/or @ the attacker in Comm.

The_other_ray said:
5) I'm very forgetful so before i got the watch, I set reminders with time and dates on my phone. But now, I can simply say "OK Google set a reminder for tomorrow at 12:00 pm to wish mom a happy birthday" all from my watch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing that annoys me, and this is more of a google now problem, is the card that shows up for an hour before reminders. I wish there was a way where you can either keep it from showing up early at all, or at least make it 10 min or something. For most reminders, I don't need it to cover my watch face for an hour and if I swipe it away I don't even get reminded at the correct time. Has anyone else noticed this?

PsychDrummer said:
One thing that annoys me, and this is more of a google now problem, is the card that shows up for an hour before reminders. I wish there was a way where you can either keep it from showing up early at all, or at least make it 10 min or something. For most reminders, I don't need it to cover my watch face for an hour and if I swipe it away I don't even get reminded at the correct time. Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I noticed that as well. That doesn't make any sense.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
Yup, I noticed that as well. That doesn't make any sense.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rather use Any.do for reminders but I won't be able to set it as a default app. At least I don't think.

I got my Moto 360 yesterday and tried my primary use case this morning. Wife and I run marathons and like many (some? ) runners we obsess over our stats. We've been using Garmin 410s to record our runs. My problem with that is that the pace is reports while running is really noisy - not useful for helping me to maintain my goal pace. The other issue is that the HRM gets bad readings later in my rn, probably because I perspire heavily. I got a bluetooth chest strap and it works great on my phone. But the phone is a relative PITA to use on runs. I have to keep it in a zip lock bag in a pocket and pockets are few in running gear. It's great to have an accessory on my wrist that can give me instant stats w/out digging my phone out of wherever I stowed it. Better yet, a tap on the phone starts recording when I'm ready to run, not before I stick my phone in my pocket. And when I'm done, the phone uploads my stats automatically.
good stuff

Received mine today

The software seems a bit flaky. New SMS does not display message details......still investigating
I eventually managed to download music tracks to the device and they played okay over bluetooth headphones. Not tried the GPS yet
Any questions I will try and answer

tmn0004676 said:
The software seems a bit flaky. New SMS does not display message details......still investigating
I eventually managed to download music tracks to the device and they played okay over bluetooth headphones. Not tried the GPS yet
Any questions I will try and answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you run my tracks via the start on the phone (offline mode) that used watch GPS and let me know if the music stutters? It seems to happen when bluetooth and internal GPS are enabled...im on 2nd device and same issue
download my tracks to phone, then go to apps on watch and run that app, then start music via watch memory

gs05 said:
Can you run my tracks via the start on the phone (offline mode) that used watch GPS and let me know if the music stutters? It seems to happen when bluetooth and internal GPS are enabled...im on 2nd device and same issue
download my tracks to phone, then go to apps on watch and run that app, then start music via watch memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please could you provide more detailed instructions
thanks

tmn0004676 said:
please could you provide more detailed instructions
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure...
Download My tracks (google) from play store. Get google music (if not already) and download some songs to your watch...do this by downloading to your phone first (offline) and then selecting in music options to download to android wear. Let a few songs load over.
Go outside. Go to the watch (make sure far from phone and disconnected). Start tracks with the start menu. Then do start on that
Now do play music from the same menu as start.
Go for a jog

OP's can help us all (please; this is a suggestion not a criticism) by listing what they are pairing with :good:
Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

I've had mine since Friday. Have you found any way use the running apps without the phone and use the watch gps? I bought this to replace my motoactiv but stava and runtastic won't allow me to start a run without being connected to the phone.

oddoreven said:
I've had mine since Friday. Have you found any way use the running apps without the phone and use the watch gps? I bought this to replace my motoactiv but stava and runtastic won't allow me to start a run without being connected to the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem.. Nothing uses the watch GPS that I have found. Also is your screen yellow when it should be white. Mine is terrible.

runningwarrior08 said:
I have the same problem.. Nothing uses the watch GPS that I have found. Also is your screen yellow when it should be white. Mine is terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download google tracks to your phone.
It will work in offline mode and give you distance and time via the watch GPS. Start it via the start menu and select tracks. The running apps are still through the phone currently.

gs05 said:
Download google tracks to your phone.
It will work in offline mode and give you distance and time via the watch GPS. Start it via the start menu and select tracks. The running apps are still through the phone currently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't work for me yesterday when I tried during my run. Started it from the watch when I was not with my phone and the distance just stayed at 0

runningwarrior08 said:
It didn't work for me yesterday when I tried during my run. Started it from the watch when I was not with my phone and the distance just stayed at 0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give it a minute and you should see a little location google stake on the top left. It worked for me and i could see my entire mapped run via tracks afterwards. Make you start it, give it a minute and then try. It took mine about .15 of a mile to kick in

You can also go into GPS test under Settings- Developer options - manufacturer - GPS and press start to check time to first fix.

runningwarrior08 said:
I have the same problem.. Nothing uses the watch GPS that I have found. Also is your screen yellow when it should be white. Mine is terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got mine today. The screen definitly has a yellow tint to it. Can othere people please test this?
Did you replace it?

bookat said:
I just got mine today. The screen definitly has a yellow tint to it. Can othere people please test this?
Did you replace it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think this is a defect. It is the trade-off for the tft tech making it fully daylight readable. Mine also has this. I'm torn on the trade-off, on the one hand, it is leagues better than even the moto 360 for reading in direct sunlight (it's almost like a mirasol display), but on the other, the 360's screen was very pretty. I'm leaning towards being "ok" with it, since I don't think I'm going to watch any movies on my wrist, but I will probably want to deal with notifications in unideal lighting, but it is definitely an adjustment.

I don't mind the yellow. Its actually not that bad and the screen is definitely visible in the daylight. I am really liking this watch alongside with my Microsoft Band.

legend921 said:
I don't mind the yellow. Its actually not that bad and the screen is definitely visible in the daylight. I am really liking this watch alongside with my Microsoft Band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the health tracking on the band? This watch has some great features, but none of the android wear watches do true health tracking very well yet, and even if it had a heart rate monitor, I've been unimpressed with the ones on the 360 and gear live, so I've been thinking about adding something purely for the health side of things.

Khidr said:
How is the health tracking on the band? This watch has some great features, but none of the android wear watches do true health tracking very well yet, and even if it had a heart rate monitor, I've been unimpressed with the ones on the 360 and gear live, so I've been thinking about adding something purely for the health side of things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The band is great. Its not big and it definitely doe fitness better than the Android Wear. The 24/7 heart rate tracker gives you a better count on how many calories burned, and the only feature that you lose when not using the Windows Phone is Cortana. When I was using it on the 5K run that I had participated with the GPS on, the band was able to tell me where I was running fast and where I had slowed down and so fourth and it was very accurate along side the path that I was running on. The 5K reported that the run was 3.2 miles which was pretty dead on to the 5K. The pedometer is more accurate too compared to the android wear since mine will count steps even if I am pushing a shopping cart so all in all I really like the band for fitness with smartwatch duties as secondary. I can read everything just fine from the notifications when not using the Smartwatch 3, but at least now I can let the band do all my fitness stuff when I go on the run and have the Sony Smartwatch stream my music for me to run with. That way I don't have to carry the phone.

Thanks for confirming this. I guess there is no perfect solution out there for smart watches yet. The screen does bother me some times specially because i had the moto 360 and returned it. but that watch had its own set of problems.
guess i will be keeping this.

From the patent at http://www.google.com/patents/US8208104
It states "a change in chromaticity caused by wavelength dispersion due to the λ/4 plate."
---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:13 PM ----------
As for on device tracking I hope that Sony and others will include support for just released google fit api on device.

My screen shows whites correctly. I don't see the yellowish problem here.

My screen is unimpressive (pale, low contrast) but OK. A colour tinge is normal for a transflective display, and it depends on the colour of the light you shine on it...the nice thing is that I can read it without the backlight in most situations.
What bothers me is, that some things that work on Google Now on my phone don't work via Wear Voice input. Setting alarms for example. It works fine on my phone, but not on my SW3. Why? On the Watch it always understands, but then just throws up a web search card...
Also, the "wrist flick" to activate the display is a bit weird. It works about 1 time out of ten, but if I just move my arm around randomly, then I often trigger the backlight. That's also a bit weird. I'm trying to get used to it. With my Pebble, I mostly just glanced at the watch without moving it in front of my eyes. That worked fine. I had actually turned off the auto-backlight on Pebble and would probably do the same on the SW3 if I could.
The most annoying thing is the weak vibration of the SW3. With my Pebble, I feel (and hear) the vibrating alert, with the SW3 I miss it frequently even when I'm not moving around. That's unacceptable and might be the main reason for sending it back. I haven't decided yet.
Is there a way to increase the vibration intensity and length? That would be cool.
And one last thing, not directly related to the SW3...On my Pebble I get notifications for every email in my Gmail account, apart from SPAM. With Android Wear, I think not all labels are signalled. How do I change that? I tried to set it up in Gmail, but I think I still don't get all emails announced on the SW...

[Q] Disable Google Now "Travel To" and "Weather" Notifications

EDIT: ignore; posted to wrong subforum.
Is there a way to disable the Google Now notifications for "travel to" and "weather" that popup on your phone all day long? I never need or want to know how long it is to travel to my home or office. I don't want a weather update either. How can I disable that crap? I tried going to the Android Wear app, then Settings | Block Apps, but there is nothing listed there that corresponds to these annoying notifications.

SoonerLater said:
Is there a way to disable the Google Now notifications for "travel to" and "weather" that popup on your phone all day long? I never need or want to know how long it is to travel to my home or office. I don't want a weather update either. How can I disable that crap? I tried going to the Android Wear app, then Settings | Block Apps, but there is nothing listed there that corresponds to these annoying notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Now on the phone you can go to menu/Customize/Everything else and turn off the weather updates. I'm not sure about the travel ones.

CSX321 said:
In Now on the phone you can go to menu/Customize/Everything else and turn off the weather updates. I'm not sure about the travel ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats not working for me, both weather and travel cards keep appearing

I think when the notification pops up on your phone you can go to google now and there is an option to "never remind me about this" or something like that. I've done it before I don't remember the exact process, good luck

xmeatizmurderx said:
I think when the notification pops up on your phone you can go to google now and there is an option to "never remind me about this" or something like that. I've done it before I don't remember the exact process, good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that applies to almost any app, but not for Google Now for some reason. You can't block them from the phone

This has now started to annoy me a bit too. The amount of times I glance down and think I've got a notification, only to find that it's telling me the weather outside the window I'm sitting next to.
The "travel to" is sometimes interesting, since it seems to pick up routines, but my life is pretty boring, so I've never had cause to use it. That, plus it updates slowly, so it'll tell me I'm 10 minutes from home when I'm inside.
I don't mind them being there if I scrolled down to view - similar to how Google Now works on a handset, but to have them constantly reappearing kind of dilutes the concept of notifications.

Cessquill said:
This has now started to annoy me a bit too. The amount of times I glance down and think I've got a notification, only to find that it's telling me the weather outside the window I'm sitting next to.
The "travel to" is sometimes interesting, since it seems to pick up routines, but my life is pretty boring, so I've never had cause to use it. That, plus it updates slowly, so it'll tell me I'm 10 minutes from home when I'm inside.
I don't mind them being there if I scrolled down to view - similar to how Google Now works on a handset, but to have them constantly reappearing kind of dilutes the concept of notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure I entirely buy their concept of notifications-only on the watch in the first place. Some of these cards represent information that I may want to know on demand. Delivering them only in the manner of a notification means that I can't find the information out right "now" when I want to. And, it means that they unnecessarily alert me to information that I don't want to know at that particular time.
And, if I want to leave them visible (i.e. not swipe to dismiss them), then they continually clutter the bottom of the screen as if they are important information that I'm not aware of - even if I've already visited them and read what they had to say.
There needs to be a concept of "information available" which are screens that can be set to "always available" and they do not act like notifications - they never vibrate and they don't show up on the screen, but you can swipe down to them when you wish.
Even notifications need an "acknowledged, but not dismissed" state so that even if it was a text message or phone call that you missed, you can leave it on the watch but once you've read it you can have it not peek out at you when all you want to do is read the time.
The data provided on the watch needs a lot more flavors and distinctions than "everything is an equally important and annoying notification that you must deal with or dismiss or it won't go away".

^ I agree, hopefully future upgrades of Android Wear will be more sophisticated.

Android O Beta issues

So I was quick to jump on the Android beta O as I was on the N rollout. I should have known there would be issues from when I was on the N beta but nevertheless I couldnt resist.
So far my issues are few but frustrating.
1. Anytime I get a call when the phone is locked it does not wake up the phone. I have to unlock the phone and click answer. Even after doing that theres still a notification that theres a call that I can either decline or answer even after Im already talking to the person. On the same issue, the proximity sensor doesnt work in the fact that when Im on the call the screen is still active and my cheek activates apps and whatnot. When on the call I cannot get to the actual phone app in order to change to speakerphone.
2. This might be silly but when using snapchat there is a significant lag and black screens between clicking on a story and it actually starting. Also in same app, when I try to take a horizontal photo it gets hung up and I have to close the app and take the photo vertically.
3. I dont know if its because Im using a launcher, but I dont get any notification dots on any of my apps. Maybe I have to be using pixel launcher in order for this to activate. Also, maybe I have to disable number notifications in the launcher for the O notifications to take over.
Those are the most noticeable so far but I figured Id get a thread going.

I keep getting Settings FC every now and then reboot doesn't fix it. Sometimes the FC disappears and settings works fine then it comes back again not sure what's causing it

HyperM3 said:
So I was quick to jump on the Android beta O as I was on the N rollout. I should have known there would be issues from when I was on the N beta but nevertheless I couldnt resist.
So far my issues are few but frustrating.
1. Anytime I get a call when the phone is locked it does not wake up the phone. I have to unlock the phone and click answer. Even after doing that theres still a notification that theres a call that I can either decline or answer even after Im already talking to the person. On the same issue, the proximity sensor doesnt work in the fact that when Im on the call the screen is still active and my cheek activates apps and whatnot. When on the call I cannot get to the actual phone app in order to change to speakerphone.
2. This might be silly but when using snapchat there is a significant lag and black screens between clicking on a story and it actually starting. Also in same app, when I try to take a horizontal photo it gets hung up and I have to close the app and take the photo vertically.
3. I dont know if its because Im using a launcher, but I dont get any notification dots on any of my apps. Maybe I have to be using pixel launcher in order for this to activate. Also, maybe I have to disable number notifications in the launcher for the O notifications to take over.
Those are the most noticeable so far but I figured Id get a thread going.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I myself cannot get picture-in-picture to work or have the new updated launcher that was previewed

poor2rican1 said:
I myself cannot get picture-in-picture to work or have the new updated launcher that was previewed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently pip only works with YouTube red or Google duo, neither of which I have to try. I did get another update about 5 hours after the initial update. It was much smaller than the first download.

HyperM3 said:
Apparently pip only works with YouTube red or Google duo, neither of which I have to try. I did get another update about 5 hours after the initial update. It was much smaller than the first download.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both and it still does not work I also received the update

PIP does work in YouTube red for me just not duo. After the beta update yesterday my phones alot snappier. Still significant lag in Snapchat. Also Bluetooth audio does not work when playing music, only works with calls.

For PiP to work I followed this thread
https://www.xda-developers.com/enable-android-o-picture-in-picture-mode/
I don't have YouTube red but it works for me perfectly now. also Bluetooth has been working for me with my jaybird X3. so it might be some devices.

poor2rican1 said:
I myself cannot get picture-in-picture to work or have the new updated launcher that was previewed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/enable-android-os-picture-picture-mode-right-now-0176848/

To get P.I.P I had to flash factory image instead of take OTA update. I have YouTube red so the background play can be a little funky with PIP.

Does anyone else have Google Play Music keep showing up in the notification bar? It just keeps popping up randomly. It doesn't start playing music, it just pops up there. I'll clear the panel and it shows up in a few minutes again.

HyperM3 said:
1. Anytime I get a call when the phone is locked it does not wake up the phone. I have to unlock the phone and click answer. Even after doing that theres still a notification that theres a call that I can either decline or answer even after Im already talking to the person. On the same issue, the proximity sensor doesnt work in the fact that when Im on the call the screen is still active and my cheek activates apps and whatnot. When on the call I cannot get to the actual phone app in order to change to speakerphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings > apps & notifications > app info > phone > storage
clear data, and for good measure, clear cache.
Had exact same issue, this fixed it right away.

Floppy Seizure said:
Does anyone else have Google Play Music keep showing up in the notification bar? It just keeps popping up randomly. It doesn't start playing music, it just pops up there. I'll clear the panel and it shows up in a few minutes again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep keeps doing it for me too. Kind of annoying but whatever.

How about the launcher? I don't have the new one. Anyone else? I took the OTA. Maybe I should flash it?

Floppy Seizure said:
Does anyone else have Google Play Music keep showing up in the notification bar? It just keeps popping up randomly. It doesn't start playing music, it just pops up there. I'll clear the panel and it shows up in a few minutes again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was happening to me as well, but seems to have quit now. only appears when actually playing stuff now.

Floppy Seizure said:
Does anyone else have Google Play Music keep showing up in the notification bar? It just keeps popping up randomly. It doesn't start playing music, it just pops up there. I'll clear the panel and it shows up in a few minutes again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Also force closes after a reboot. Widget doesn't work either.

For me, Android Pay stopped working. Says that the phone is rooted, but it is not. Also some apps lag and battery life seems worse. I was thinking of opting out, but it will wipe out all user data, so I decided not to. Too lazy to restore everything back.

Anybody notice the radio signal is worse? Tried flashing older radios and modems. It got a little better but not as good as nougat.

Golf c said:
Anybody notice the radio signal is worse? Tried flashing older radios and modems. It got a little better but not as good as nougat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not in nougat in same spot low signal I would get choppy voice calls & signal dbm would be 120 with Android O I get 116 I have verizon

yahya1054 said:
I have not in nougat in same spot low signal I would get choppy voice calls & signal dbm would be 120 with Android O I get 116 I have verizon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its going to be different for everyone. I was just curious. I get average 90 on nougat and 110-115 on O

I've noticed that there are several apps that have newer version available, but won't update or install. You tube, Google App (beta), Calendar (stock), Maps & Transit (beta) won't install when downloaded from APK Mirror, nor are they being updated via the Play Store.They all work fine though, so it's not a big deal. I'm just wondering if anyone else has encountered the same or similar behavior.