Passive LCD Screen - or Passive Unlit Screen Always on Mode

[Coutin-Eliyahu]

A passive LCD screen is old technology, and will be cheap to implement. Also the display can be always on without taxing battery life. There are other requests for an 'always on' display. This could solve that issue. 

A backlight could be set by a tap, buttonpress, or by the app to be always on, on for 1 second, 3 seconds, 5 seconds or 7 seconds. With today's newer LED technology, a backlight also would take very little battery power. I'm not an electronics engineer, but my "guesstimate" would be that the blazingly bright displays on the current line of Fitbits (like my Charge2 HR) suck a lot of juice out of, what must be, a tiny battery inside the unit.

Backlights on a supertwist LCD display aren't necessary in most situations, if there is ambient light. The app can set the unit to automatically activate-deactivate a low power LED backlight according to the geographical location of the unit's sunrise and sunset times. The Fitbit app already requires that it needs to have time zones, so this would be a straightforward software implementation. With the app recording geographical location, the sunrise and sunset times are a standard algorithm. The backlight will only be needed when it's dark anyway. Even after sunset, most users will be in ambient light environments, to wit. 

Also, with supertwist LCDs, which are old technology, resolution in even moderate lighting should not be much of an issue. Some of the old mobile phones  had displays that would  be easier to read than the most current active displays on the newest smart phones. The monchromes were the easiest to read, and they were the cheapest to produce. Also  color LCDs are a possibility. Color screens on Fitbits would be new, since (I believe) all the current Fitbits are monochrome as of yet.

I think that a Fitbit with a passive LCD display would be more robust in terms of battery life, and resources to the unit could possibly be freed up for other features. The active display has its merits, but I think that a Fitbit with an LCD could save production costs and lower the price of a unit, while retaining features or possibly making it easier to add extra features. B'H.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[Runnergirl82]

This is an outstanding suggestion.  I love the Fitbit products and the versa seems to be a huge step in the right direction, but the screen lighting kills the potential battery life.  An always on screen, 7 day battery life and waterproof are musts for me.  Versa gets close on battery life, but not with an always on screen.  Using a less taxing screen as was used in the Pebble would address these issues and entice those that primarily want a fitness tracker.  This could be the next generation of surge!  Love this suggestion 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[TonyPirate]

It would be useful to me if the FitBit display was always on for use of its functions, even if it means more regular charging. 

[AprilChatterbox]

I need to be able to use the second hand/ see the second in my job without having to wake the screen up all the time. Please give this option...STAT. 

[NurseCristine]

This is the reason I'm here. I'm a student nurse and MANY, MANY nurses and healthcare providers are planning to ditch apple watch for VERSA... I bought mine this morning. I'm VERY disappointed that the backlight delay is only 20 seconds. To take a proper pulse on a patient, the second hand should be watched for at LEAST 30 seconds for a wrist and 60 seconds listening to the heart directly. 20 seconds won't work. If this can't be fixed, I'll have to return the watch I was assured would work and I've been waiting for... otherwise I love it so far... but this has to be fixed. 

My wishlist:

An "always on option" for a period of time.... ie: "always on for the next 10 hours" then back to "5, 10, 20, 40, 70, 100 second options"

or

5, 10, 20, 40, 70, 100 second options. Because to take a pulse for 30 or 60 seconds it sometimes takes a few seconds to find it. 

I am quite disappointed. I was planning to sell my Apple watch and switch to Versa. Because of this, I'm potentially wearing 2 watches to work on Wednesday... I'm sure you understand how ridiculous it is that a $200 watch can't help me take a patient's pulse.

Feel free to contact me directly to discuss. 

[CoyoteRun]

Most of the time I exercise in the daytime.  It is extremely difficult to see the Charge 2 LED display especially when wearing sunglasses.  If a reflective display were used, with LED backlight for low light or night time conditions using motion or button activation, the battery would last longer and the display could be read without having to rotate the wrist.  Sometimes it is better to give the Fitbit a quick glance rather then an obvious wrist rotation.

[Rich_Laue]

The technology is called E-Paper 

[Rich_Laue]

The technology is called E-Paper or E-ink

[Rich_Laue]

This is the way the, now discontinued, Surge worked. 

[CoyoteRun]

Well I converted to VivoActive 3 which has a reflective LCD watch screen and gave up on my my Fitbit.

Martin Bauer

[NurseCristine]

I’m selling mine - I’ll look into that.

Thanks so much, Cristine

[smbostwick]

These do not address my issue

[Rich_Laue]

@smbostwickwith you post, will the developers understand your issue. 

This thread is for letting the developers know your thoughts. 

What would your issue be? What is it about an always on display discussion that doesn't address your thoughts on having an all ways on display. Please stay on subject.