As an Android user, I love Wear OS smartwatches and how easy they are to use. They help me navigate busy streets and help me perform quick actions without having to reach for my phone. More importantly, as someone who suffers from notification anxiety, they make my life easier by displaying notifications. However, there is one thing I absolutely hate about all Wear OS smartwatches: their lack of responsiveness (or over-responsiveness). tilt to wake function.
Tilt-to-Wake might not be a hugely useful feature. Having bought a Wear OS smartwatch thinking it would come in handy when I’m cycling and using Google Maps a lot, I’m always disappointed no matter which device I try.
I own a Pixel Watch 2 and a Galaxy Watch 7, and the tilt-to-wake feature is at opposite ends of the spectrum. When I’m cycling, I (quite obviously) tilt my watch while my hand rests on the handlebars to check the direction I’m going. The Pixel Watch 2 activates with every small joltwhich affects battery life. I’ve noticed this happens way too often when the always-on display is enabled.
On Samsung, the tilt to wake feature is too dense and the wrist movement has to be it’s quite difficult to recognize. So I always end up letting go of the handle. Or I use my other hand to tap the watch for directions, which can be dangerous on the road.
Always-on display is useful when I can read the screen clearly and don’t need to move my wrist even slightly, but the content is not always visible, so I have to resort to these slight movements. Not to mention that the AOD consumes a significant amount of battery. That said, it’s not something that is irreparable.
The easiest way to solve this problem is to let users set the sensitivity. This way we will know intensity of wrist movement This triggers the tilt to wake the device. You won’t have to guess how much or how hard you need to move your wrist. I’m not familiar with Apple’s side of things. But if this is a problem Apple Watch users are facing, maybe the Cupertino giant could implement the same thing.
Another solution is to change the algorithm to use accelerometer and gyroscope data when a person is moving. By adding and training it for more test cases and motion patterns, the tilt-to-wake feature could improve. The first solution is much easier to implement and realize, like the other five Wear OS features I want to see.
How reliable is the Wear OS tilt feature on your smartwatch? Has this ever been an issue for you? Let us know in the comments below.
