How are so many basic features missing? Are these on the roadmap?

[pbanon]

I just received my Vertical 2 after finally upgrading from a Garmin Fenix 5 that I’ve had for 8 years. Several friends recommended it, the hardware is beautiful, and it was less than half the price of a new Garmin so it was an easy choice. But the software has been a little bit of a let down with how many standard features are missing. All the other big names (garmin, coros, amazfit) have these features and even my 8 year old watch could do all of these from the beginning. Does anyone know if these are on the roadmap for future updates?

1. Return to watch screen while recording an activity
2. Pause an activity and resume later
3. Customize activity buttons (like disabling the lap button)
4. Night shift and/or red shift screen for at night
5. More customizable watch screens (why so few data fields available? at least let me add data fields on the black and white raise-to-wake display)
6. Truly custom watch faces (not just modifying Suunto’s preset options)
7. More reliable message syncing (I see stale notifications all the time)

[raven]

@pbanon

“Pause an activity and resume it later.”

You can do this? During an activity, press the top button to stop. You see the pause screen. Press the top button again to continue.

“Night shift / red shift at night”

I use Settings -> Sleep -> Auto Do Not Disturb to turn off my screen from 22:00 until 8:00 next day, despite not going to sleep until 23:30. While not a color shift, turning off the screen overall prevents excessive brightness at night.

[2b2bff]

@pbanon said:

But the software has been a little bit of a let down with how many standard features are missing.

Ask 3 people what is considered as standard and you get 5 answers - at least…

even my 8 year old watch could do all of these from the beginning

Night shift? This is something that has been introduced for the AMOLED watches. Your Fenix 5 certainly doesn’t have it.

[pbanon]

@raven
Pause and resume later is different from simple pause and resume. Resume later feature doesn’t end the activity but rather keeps it paused in the background so I can continue it later. In the meantime, I can use my watch normally while the activity is idle.

I use the same auto DnD setting at night, but if I still want to look at my screen late at night it’s very bright. A yellow tint option (night shift) to remove blue light and reduce brightness plus a red shift watch face would be a huge quality of life improvement. I am always in the low brightness setting but it’s actually still quite bright.

[pbanon]

@2b2bff said:
Ask 3 people what is considered as standard and you get 5 answers - at least…

You are absolutely right! There is a large subjective element to this but a clear signal is when every other competitor in the space offers the same features.

Night shift? This is something that has been introduced for the AMOLED watches. Your Fenix 5 certainly doesn’t have it.

Also right, Fenix 5 has a MIP display so it did not have red shift mode. It does have a night mode where the display gets very dim. I should be more clear, I’m talking about 2 different things with red shift and night shift.
Night shift: yellow tint to remove blue light (what cellphones do)
Red shift: Red color display

[freeheeler]

@pbanon
I think what you ask for is simply not suunto specific and might never come.
garmin is not suunto and vice versa.
there are benefits with both watches but also disadvantages.
it’s up to us to decide what’s the least compromise

[maszop]

@pbanon Suunto is Suunto – not a cheaper Garmin copy. Every manufacturer has its own vision and philosophy when it comes to hardware and software.

[pbanon]

@maszop
I didn’t say it was a Garmin copy. Suunto’s hardware and software design aesthetic are unique which is great! But the industry has generally come to the consensus on a base set of features (each with their own implementation) that most watches in this segment include. I think they are good features and would like to see them on the Vertical 2 as well.

[pbanon]

@freeheeler
It’s also up to us as the user to make our voices heard if there is a feature(s) we would like to see. Companies do want to hear feedback from their users on how to improve their products.

[brechtvb]

@maszop one also has to keep up with today’s standards on sport watches. This forum contains long lists of features which are highly desired and basic bugs which come and go.

[elbee]

@pbanon said:

1. Return to watch screen while recording an activity

I have heard some people ask for this but not many.

2. Pause an activity and resume later

My previous watch, a forerunner 965, had this but is was quite buggy. I was about the only one complaining about it on garmins forum, so it is hardly used,I understand the wish but again, not many people ask for it.

3. Customize activity buttons (like disabling the lap button)

Most people actually use the lap button. Few report unwanted lap button presses. Had a discussion about it and it turned quite quickly into a very complex option.

4. Night shift and/or red shift screen for at night

I’ve heard some people ask for this.

5. More customizable watch screens (why so few data fields available? at least let me add data fields on the black and white raise-to-wake display)

Personally, I’m puzzled with people who want a gazillion datafields on their watchface. On garmin’s forum these sort of watchfaces are called dataoverload. But if you want as many options and maximize data (whether useful or not) buy a garmin!

6. Truly custom watch faces (not just modifying Suunto’s preset options)

My previous garmin had watchfaces designed by a ten your old. There will always complain people abouy watchfaces.

7. More reliable message syncing (I see stale notifications all the time)

Yeh, I have this too. Most of the time I forgot to remove them from my iPhone. Since Apple (was forced to) change the way a non Apple watch can interact with notifications, there is some work for Suunto/Garmin/Coros and others.

[aiv4r]

@pbanon What you call basic features, mostly are smartwatch features, that really are not needed on sports watch.
Getting back to watch face during activity? Why would you ever want to do that, your activity has all the data you need.
You can always pause an activity and unpause the activity even if you are resting for prolonged time period.
Lap button is one of the main functions of the watch, so not sure how many would want to customize it, but of course customizations are always nice.
Custom watch faces is a gimmick, I would like Suunto to spend dev resources somewhere else.

Of course the functions that already there should work as best as it should, so syncing should be better probably, but I do not have any problems, so did not notice.

And do not get me wrong, I am not against new things being added, I just think Suunto should prioritize sports related things and not gimmicks, it is all about priorities.

[brechtvb]

@aiv4r indeed, like properly connecting to standardised Bluetooth sensors and not loosing connection to Suunto’s own heart rate sensor.