For years, manufacturers like Garmin, Polar, COROS, and Suunto have used memory-in-pixel (MIP) shows to ship health watches that monitor your well being for weeks as an alternative of hours. Only now, most of those self same manufacturers are launching new smartwatches with AMOLED shows… they usually nonetheless final for weeks per cost.
Sunday Runday
In his weekly column, our Senior Editor of Wearables and Fitness Michael Hicks talks in regards to the world of wearables, apps, and health tech associated to operating and well being, in his quest to get sooner and more healthy.
Some runners will not like this shift from MIP to AMOLED, but it surely’s lengthy overdue.
MIP LCD panels gained recognition as a result of of how they differ from AMOLED shows. They depend on ambient lighting to make their pixels seen, which means they’re absolutely seen in sunny outside situations the place athletes want simply readable knowledge. AMOLED shows want 1000’s of nits to stay seen in comparable situations, which burns by means of extra battery by default.
Plus, in contrast to your typical LCD, they solely activate whichever pixels are wanted as an alternative of refreshing the complete display with each change. It’s one more reason why they final so lengthy.
So what’s the issue? MIP shows aren’t readable indoors except the room is brightly lit, washed-out colours and lack of correct distinction make them look low-cost, and watch faces and images look blurry and uninteresting.
Runners tolerated MIP shows as a result of there was no various. Now there is one.
When I began sporting operating watches, I tolerated memory-in-pixel tech as a result of I believed there was no various. I largely wore them outside on sunny California days the place the tech thrives, after which I took them off somewhat than pressure my eyes and faux they might be helpful indoors.
Even an costly watch just like the Forerunner 955, superior because it is for coaching recommendation, does not have the smarts or readable display to make me need to take a look at it for notifications or a lot else. For a watch with detailed topographical maps, its visuals maintain it again.
My suspicion is that Garmin and different manufacturers have used their MIP dependence as a crutch. It allow them to keep away from modernizing their UI, animations, maps, and software program options for years as a result of they could not do significantly better with MIP tech. It made Fitbit and its AMOLED watches look significantly better by comparability, even when their battery life fell quick.
In the final yr, nonetheless, one thing has modified. Fitness manufacturers have discovered a strategy to make AMOLED shows work with out a important battery trade-off. You could lose a couple of days, however loads of runners (myself included) desire that if it means the watch is extra readable.
In 2023, Garmin launched AMOLED shows to the Forerunner 265 and 965 — together with the Vivoactive 5 — after over a decade of MIP domination for each lineups. They final 13, 23, and 11 days on a full battery, respectively, and the 965’s maps offer you so far more element than the 955 might ever provide.
Polar additionally gave AMOLED touchscreens to its 2022 Ignite 3 and 2023 Vantage 3 watches for the primary time. They “solely” final 5 and eight days apiece, however their last-gen MIP predecessors lasted 5 and 7 days. Given that I actually disliked the Polar Pacer Pro’s dim, thick-bordered MIP display, the swap makes me extra inclined to return to Polar.
The Suunto 7 used an AMOLED again in 2020, however solely as a result of it was a Wear OS watch that did not want a lengthy battery. Only this yr, with the newly introduced Suunto Race, did the health model make AMOLED accessible on a 12-day watch with a powerful 40 hours of multi-frequency GPS monitoring.
Memory-in-pixel followers nonetheless have their proponents. Garmin could not promote a watch just like the $900 Fenix 7 Pro with an MIP display if individuals weren’t keen to simply accept a much less vibrant display you possibly can barely learn indoors in change for its whopping 173 days of battery with photo voltaic recharging. The identical goes for the extra inexpensive Instinct 2X Solar and its 40-day battery, one in every of my favourite rugged watches.
But there’s a purpose Garmin started promoting the Epix Pro lineup alongside the Fenix 7 Pro, with the very same function set paired with an AMOLED that also lasts 16 days — and it has every thing to do with how properly every sort of display is promoting.
Look at how, after the AMOLED-equipped Garmin Venu and MIP-equipped Vivoactive 4 each launched in September 2019, Garmin launched a Venu Sq, Venu 2, Venu 2 Plus, Venu Sq 2, and Venu 3 in succession whereas the Vivoactive lineup remained dormant. Garmin would solely have made that selection if the Venu struck a worthwhile chord with “mainstream” health patrons in a approach that an MIP watch by no means might.
Only final month did the Vivoactive 5 come again from the lifeless, now sporting an AMOLED display and a few downgrades in comparison with the Vivoactive 4, like dropping its altimeter, metal bezel, and two dimension choices. It’s now a price range sibling to the Venu 3 as an alternative of the crown jewel in Garmin’s arsenal.
Now that runners can discover an alternative choice to MIP shows — and producers can create AMOLED operating watches which are nonetheless mild and skinny sufficient to maintain runners happy — I believe we’ll see fewer MIP watches over time. But that does not imply they need to go away solely.
The new COROS PACE 3 is a incredible operating watch that I beloved placing by means of its paces. It solely weighs 30g (simply over 1oz), lasts 24 days per cost, and prices a mere $230. There’s no approach COROS might have pulled any of these numbers off with an AMOLED display; add that, and also you want a thicker design to suit the bigger battery, whereas the watch price would in all probability leap to $350.
The identical will apply to the long-awaited Garmin Forerunner 65, our most-wished-for watch. If Garmin needs to hit the identical $200 price ticket because the Forerunner 55 whereas including extra trendy software program methods, it’s going to have to stay to MIP.
I’m completely wonderful with health manufacturers counting on extra environment friendly display tech when the price range or state of affairs requires it. But typically talking, this transition to AMOLED is the fitting name.
We’ve seen how Apple has gone all-in on health to focus on informal runners, whereas the Pixel Watch 2 incorporates Fitbit into Wear OS. Most runners will select battery life over smarts, however they’re going to additionally see how a lot smarter these health watches are and naturally really feel some resentment.
With the Venu 3, Garmin added quality-of-life enhancements like a number of textual content sizes, seen images in textual content notifications, fast switching between widgets, and different options that typical smartwatches have had for years. Now that operating manufacturers will not have the excuse of MIP shows any longer, we must always see slow however regular enhancements and software program modernization over time.
The Gamin Venu 3 has a 14-day battery life, brilliant 1.4-inch AMOLED display, and a mic/speaker combo for Bluetooth calls and voice assistant instructions. It can monitor your place utilizing a number of satellite tv for pc programs for better accuracy, has revamped Sleep Coaching instruments, animated workouts, and restoration suggestions for a way lengthy to attend after a exercise.