According to some sources,
Nexus 6 will feature "Ambient Display" which is supposed to be the Lollipop equivalent of Active Display / Moto Display.
According to this website though (bgr.com/2014/10/21/android-5-0-features-ambient-display-moto-x/) this will be a feature not exclusive to the Nexus 6, but rather Lollipop itself.
Given that most Moto X users (me included) do not switch to AOSP or CM-based ROMs because of the Active Display, does this mean we can now use the Active Display feature directly from vanilla Android? Or will we still be limited to the proprietary Motorola software?
I don't know much about how Active Display works, and how much is software and how much is hardware dependent. I was hoping somebody more "dev-like" can clarify if the Moto X (2013) have any chance of using Ambient Display natively.
Thanks!
It's early, but at a minimum, it looks like the following Moto X features are coming to stock Android as of 5.0 (and some of these aren't on the Moto X 2014 due to the expected quick update):
Active Display/Moto Display (called Ambient Display)
Always on hotword detection (without the word customization of the 2014 Moto X)
Bluetooth Trusted Devices
Battery Saving Mode (it's implemented the same exact way)
Moto Assist (so far, only the quiet hours for notifications has been shown)
So my guess is that if you use an AOSP-based ROM, you'll get the feature. However, it is likely going to be a little different than the Motorola implementation. So, I'm curious, will Motorola now remove some of these features, or will they leave them in as alternatives (and thus, do what Samsung is doing)? If The AOSP versions are good enough, I may seek to entirely disable Motorola's implementations.
Also, keep in mind that Google's Ambient Display does supposedly offer a knock-code option, which the Moto X currently lacks.
Let's see how all those features are on battery life tho... Something that's not much of an issue with those features on the X.
Even just OK Google everywhere on other devices is fairly battery hungry. Specifically witnessed it on the N5.
Just cause they add a generic any phone feature, doesn't mean it will be very thought out.
KJ said:
Let's see how all those features are on battery life tho... Something that's not much of an issue with those features on the X.
Even just OK Google everywhere on other devices is fairly battery hungry. Specifically witnessed it on the N5.
Just cause they add a generic any phone feature, doesn't mean it will be very thought out.
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Click to collapse
I think that Google has accounted for this as best they can. They've stated that certain features either won't work or aren't recommended for specific types of devices. It seems their Ambient Display, for example, is intended to function like the Moto X on OLED displays, while using the more genetic "knock to turn on" gesture for LCD displays (though configurable for a user who doesn't mind destroying battery life).
They've also come out and said that the always-on Google Now requires a specific co-processor and will not function without it. Whereas most ugly implementations keep the phone's CPU in "wake," The Motorola implementation does not, and it seems that Google intends to mirror this.
Now that we know that Google's own Ambient Display is in some way better than Moto's, although some will question if there any advantages at all, I wonder if Moto will revamp their version in 5.0 to display the entire lock screen in black and white. The downside of Google's version is that as soon as you interact with the screen, the screen resorts to all colors consuming more battery.
It would be great to get the best of worlds - being able to see the entire lock screen AND be able to read the contents of the notification without in effect turning on the device.
Does Google's ambient display light up when we pick up the phone as in Moto X? If yes then bye bye stock :fingers-crossed:
DaRkRhiNe said:
Does Googles ambient display light up when we pick up the phone as in Moto X? If yes then bye bye stock :fingers-crossed:
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Click to collapse
Yes. It lights up when you pick it up and also apparently flashes every 10 secs when still. What do you mean be bye bye stock.
floepie said:
Yes. It lights up when you pick it up and also apparently flashes every 10 secs when still. What do you mean be bye bye stock.
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The only thing stopping me from flashing a Rom is AC display of Moto X.
DaRkRhiNe said:
The only thing stopping me from flashing a Rom is AC display of Moto X.
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Click to collapse
This was in a moto changelog for 2014 moto x, unfortunately the post has been pulled but it shows how they will be dealing with ambient display.
While your phone’s display is off, Moto Display will continue to surface relevant notifications to
you using the low-
power Contextual Computing Processor. It will also intelligently react when you use the Approach
gesture under Moto Actions.
Android Lollipop now includes a similar feature, called Ambient Display, that displays
notifications like those shown on the lockscreen. If you prefer to try the new Ambient Display
feature, you can uncheck the Moto Display setting in the Moto app. Note: Ambient Display does not
use Motorola’s low-power core and will turn on more of the
display, so battery life may be impacted. The Moto Actions Approach gesture will not wake Ambient
Display.
adm1jtg said:
This was in a moto changelog for 2014 moto x, unfortunately the post has been pulled but it shows how they will be dealing with ambient display.
While your phone’s display is off, Moto Display will continue to surface relevant notifications to
you using the low-
power Contextual Computing Processor. It will also intelligently react when you use the Approach
gesture under Moto Actions.
Android Lollipop now includes a similar feature, called Ambient Display, that displays
notifications like those shown on the lockscreen. If you prefer to try the new Ambient Display
feature, you can uncheck the Moto Display setting in the Moto app. Note: Ambient Display does not
use Motorola’s low-power core and will turn on more of the
display, so battery life may be impacted. The Moto Actions Approach gesture will not wake Ambient
Display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Does the rest of this log still live somewhere? I wonder if Ambient Display does in fact use some sort of low-power core on the Nexus 6. I can also imagine that if you choose to use A.D., that simply flashing of pixels on such an amoled wouldn't result in much of a perceived battery hit compared to Moto Display.
All of the Snapdragon 800s have the low-power core built into the SoC which is why Moto didn't go with a custom SoC in the new Moto X.
nhizzat said:
All of the Snapdragon 800s have the low-power core built into the SoC which is why Moto didn't go with a custom SoC in the new Moto X.
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Click to collapse
This is actually incorrect (no offense).
The Snapdragon 800 SOC does support always on listening, but it doesn't do so with the main SOC asleep. This means that the battery consumption isn't as low as the method employed by the Moto X. Motorola's own spec sheets reveal that the two specialized lower-power chips used in the Moto X 2013 are still used in the 2014.
Motorola link: https://www.motorola.com/us/motomaker?pid=FLEXR2
Motorola Mobile Computing System including 2.5GHz Qualcomm® SnapdragonTM 801 with quad-core CPU (MSM 8974-AC), Adreno 330 @ 578 MHz GPU, Natural Language Processor, Contextual Computing Processor
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Click to collapse
Although it is for 2014 version but still since some of the h/w is same. I think, this will help answer some of the lollipop questions for our X.
Lollipop Release notes for Moto X(2014)
Ambient Display doesn't make use of the dedicated low-power sensor Moto Display uses in the Moto X 2013 and 2014. It is also a lot less reliable.
On my friends Moto X 2014 when he gets a text missed call etc it shows up on the display. It will start to appear then disappear until you swipe it away. Will the Nexus 6 also do this? All this without even touching the phone.
Not that I have seen. Hopefully when enough developers get their hands on the device, we will start seeing some useful mods. Just give it time.
falcon26 said:
On my friends Moto X 2014 when he gets a text missed call etc it shows up on the display. It will start to appear then disappear until you swipe it away. Will the Nexus 6 also do this? All this without even touching the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that sounds exactly like ambient display.. no?
If you want an app that's nearly identical use dynamic notifications. That's as close as you're going to get to moto display without having moto display.
falcon26 said:
On my friends Moto X 2014 when he gets a text missed call etc it shows up on the display. It will start to appear then disappear until you swipe it away. Will the Nexus 6 also do this? All this without even touching the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nexus 6 comes with ambient display. When you get a notification it will display you the message and disappear within like 3 seconds. Also of you pick up the device, it will also display the notifications without turning on the screen similar to the Moto X.
You can even say "OK Google" when the screen is off across the room and activate Google Now without ever touching the device.
Given that the architecture is similar to the 2014 X & practically the same as the Droid Turbo, it should be feasible to port it to the N6 IMHO...
Hey,
So after updating to 22.21.19 retde, I found the smart display feature, that is meant to keep the screen on when you look at the display, is no longer working. It is enabled and the test that is accessible from the options works and can successfully determine whether I look at the screen or not.
Can anyone confirm this behaviour under android L? It would be remotely possible this is an isolated case since I had to completely factory reset my phone for the update, to remove root. I am also rooted on the new build.
So, if you run the same version of Android L, I'd like to hear whether smart display works for you or not. Thanks in advance.
Yes it seems to be broken for now
Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk
You're not the only one.
It does work sometimes, others it simply ignore your face and dimm the brightness too fast.
Looking on youtube I found this video about the hand over function on moto x being disabled on lollipop. Is that true? There are english captions on the video.
It was changed so that now you have to hold your hand over it for a few seconds.
It can be returned.. But not the same as on 444
Or you can just import profile and task to Tasker from attachments.
Also i write instruction for it (but on Russian lang)
The entire reason it was changed was because the device was supposed to know when it was being turned over, or removed from your pocket, with he Nudge To Wake feature being used for when it's on a tabletop.
It never was a feature to begin with, it was a bug due to an overly sensitive proximity sensor that began when they released 4.4.4. (It did not exist in 4.2, or 4.4)
The original intent was to detect when the phone is removed from your pocket or flipped over (when laying face down) Nowhere did Motorola list this as a feature on the original Moto X.
This was a feature added to the Moto X2, because the Moto X2 has IR sensors on the front that the original Moto X does not have.
It now works as intended.
Just curious why someone hasn't been able to rip the Active Display or Moto Actions software/code and reproduce it as an xposed module that can be used on other phones. I get that battery drain might be an issue on phones that don't have a secondary processor for handling gestures/movement/etc... but at least to have the option to try it out would be nice?
Is there some reason this hasn't been done successfully?
I'm also very interested in this. AC Display is a good enough replacement for Moto Display, but what about Moto Voice? Only Samsung, LG, Moto, and Nexus seem to have an always on OK Google function (meaning that it works even with the screen off). I would pay for an Xposed module that enabled this on other phones.