Even in the fast-moving IT world, it can take a surprisingly long time for a technology to really become established. One example is always-on: The Apple Watch has had always-on screens since the end of 2019 (Series 5).
But only now has always-on, together with bright AMOLED panels, really arrived in sports watches from other manufacturers such as Suunto and Garmin.
Golem.de asked manufacturers and they made one thing very clear: customers practically no longer accept any other displays. Almost only the colorful and high-contrast panels are in demand.
For the stylish and, in certain situations, practical look, disadvantages are accepted, such as shorter battery life and poorer readability in the sun compared to passive and energy-saving MIP displays.
However, a lot has improved in the last few months: even with AMOLED in always-on mode, many sports watches now have a battery life of a few days. And newer panels are decent to easy to read in the blazing sun.
There is still no real clarity about a major problem, namely burn-in, i.e. the burning of permanently activated pixels. At the moment, none of the wearables are old enough for us to have any experience with them.
Apple explains that the Ultra 2 uses a very powerful processor because it can later compensate for possible display errors with particularly complex control of weakened pixels.
We don’t think that other sports watches are prepared for such difficulties. Without this potential problem, the wearables should actually be able to be used for many years, but with burn-in the dials no longer look nice.
A few tips for the display and battery life
We’ve gotten into the habit of using the AMOLED sports watches in always-on mode. This has disadvantages, namely a shorter battery life and a greater risk of burn-in. But if we have beautiful graphics on our wrist, then that’s right.
What we turn off is deactivating the normal display of the display via gesture. So we always see a dial regardless of our hand movements, but not at maximum brightness. It is only activated when we press a key or tap the watch face.
| Apple Watch Ultra 2 | Amazfit balance | Garmin Epix 2 Pro (47mm) | Google Pixel Watch 2 | Polar Vantage V3 | Suunto Race | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | 49x44x14.4mm | 46 × 46 × 10.6mm | 47x47x14.5mm | 41x41x12.3mm | 47×50.8×14.5mm | 49x49x13.3mm |
| Weight with silicone strap | 79 grams | 52 grams | from 70 grams | 50 grams | 57 grams | Steel 83 grams, titanium 69 grams |
| Display size/resolution | 1.9 inches with 502 x 410 pixels | 1.5 inches with 480 x 480 pixels | 1.3 inches with 416 x 416 pixels | 1.18 inches with 450 x 450 pixels | 1.39 inches with 454 x 454 pixels | 1.43 inches with 466 x 466 pixels |
| Battery in smartwatch mode | 36 hours (Always-on approx. 18 hours) | 14 days (Always-on 5 days) | 16 days (Always-on 6 days) | Always-on only: 24 hours | 8 days (Always-on 5 days) | 12 days (Always-on 7 days) |
| Battery with GPS activity (basic) | 12 hours | 47 hours | 42 hours | about 14 hours | 53 hours | 40 hours |
| Price (RRP manufacturer) | around 900 euros | around 250 euros | from 950 euros | from 400 euros | around 600 euros | from 450 euros |
Current AMOLED sports watches
Advantages: On the one hand, we save at least some energy, and on the other hand, we don’t have to worry about constantly changing from bright to slightly less bright in everyday life.
When we do sports, we usually leave activation via gesture on because of the battery, so that the display becomes darker or even completely black. The clues from completed rounds are simply enough for us. However, not all wearables can be configured this way; At Polar, for example, we cannot turn off gesture activation in everyday life.