Expected software update support length?

[raven]

It seems to me the question then is, when Suunto was creating the Race and Race S, did they already have a roadmap knowing that the Run would be coming to fill in the lineup. If so, then I’d imagine the Race / Race S would be designed in a way to make sense once the Run arrived.

If the Run had come out a couple months ago, before I bought the Race S, I’d likely have bought the Run instead, if the main tradeoff is losing maps for breadcrumbs (as I only really could use maps occasionally when travelling) for music playback (which I’d use every day). I had / have the extra income for the Race S — I even went with the Titanium model! — but in a choice between Run and Race S at the same price I’d still choose Run for the music playback over the maps.

Now it may be Suunto can’t think that far ahead. Clearly, they decided to change the optical sensor from the Race to the Race S, which I assume was due to poor reviews of the Race’s sensor. So they can change mid-stream, as it were. And Suunto might also release a “Race 2 / Race S 2” with the local music if new hardware is required, but I think it’s too soon for that.

So do people think Suunto didn’t even have the idea of developing the Run until after the Race and Race S were released? If this is true, then I’m likely to lose faith in Suunto as a company. As it is, I’m already disappointed in how Suunto sends data to Apple Health. If Suunto does not have good long term vision I’ll likely abandon them. I’ve had devices that can do music playback as small as the iPad Nano in 2005, twenty years ago.

[Tieutieu]

@raven onboard music is a long debate. I miss a few things on my watches, but certainly not onboard music and I deeply hope it will not be added to my race S neither to my vertical because it would be really useless imho for what those watches are made for : adventure and sport.
I’m not afraid about support of SV, SR, SRs, they will keep being updated. I imagine it’s possible like today to have small (or « bigger ») differences in functionalities, but the same os base.
The main example for now is the Ocean. Is shares all features of other watches + diving.
So for the weeks to come I bet on a 3.xx version of the os for all watches, with music on the run as main difference.
Different watches for different targets, that makes totally sense.

[raven]

@Tieutieu said in Expected software update support length?:

@raven onboard music is a long debate. I miss a few things on my watches, but certainly not onboard music and I deeply hope it will not be added to my race S neither to my vertical because it would be really useless imho for what those watches are made for : adventure and sport.

I’m sure there are features you use that I care little about, but that does not mean I’d wish for watches not to have them. The Race S already had a widget to control music on your phone, which I imagine you don’t use. I don’t use that either, but that’s because when I go out running I leave my phone at home. I still want to listen to music (or a podcast) during the run. From an end user perspective, local music playback is extending that feature that already exists. A further extension would be support for services like Spotify, which is not a feature of the Run from what we know.

The local music feature has now already being developed for the Run. If the feature did not exist at all, then I tend to agree with working on features majority of people want, even if that differs from my desire. Once the feature exists, then (to me) it makes sense to have a “device family” of “good, better, best.” If someone wants both maps and local music playback, what option does Suunto have for them? Before the existence of the Run, we could say “sadly, music playback isn’t a priority for Suunto, it does not fit with “adventure and sport”. Now the Run exists, and it’s a feature. Are you saying people who buy the Run don’t care about sport?

If Suunto did not have a long term plan, it would have been better to ship the Run without the local music feature, then in a year or two, release hardware revisions to Race / Run simultaneously adding it to both to avoid the dissonance I’d see if they don’t give the music feature to at least the Race / Race S.

[maszop]

@raven I think that for many people Suunto watches are mainly a tool designed for sports and mountain hiking, not a smartwatch.
I hope that for Suunto music support is a much lower priority than the still not fully resolved important problems of contour lines, navigation messages, support for multiple sensors of the same type, interval training, etc.
But that’s my opinion, everyone is entitled to their own

[raven]

@maszop said in Expected software update support length?:

@raven I think that for many people Suunto watches are mainly a tool designed for sports and mountain hiking, not a smartwatch.
I hope that for Suunto music support is a much lower priority than the still not fully resolved important problems of contour lines, navigation messages, support for multiple sensors of the same type, interval training, etc.
But that’s my opinion, everyone is entitled to their own

Again, if we were talking in a world where we did not know the Run had a local music feature, I’d agree with you. That’s not the world we live in, unless all the info we have on the Run is comically wrong.

Given the presumed existence of local music playback on the Run, this causes me to ask when did Suunto plan this feature set? How long has it been in progress? Was this feature on a roadmap at the time the Race and Race S were released? If so, then was the plan to then backport the feature to those watches (which means they would need hardware as capable as a 2005 iPod nano) or did no one at Suunto think of someone like me who values both maps and music?

[maszop]

@raven If the hardware supports it, there is a chance that such functions may make it to older models. If the hardware is different, then of course not. What is there to discuss?

Most people are still waiting for solutions to more important problems and bug fixes than some smart gadgets.

[raven]

@maszop said in Expected software update support length?:

@raven If the hardware supports it, there is a chance that such functions may make it to older models. If the hardware is different, then of course not. What is there to discuss?

Most people are still waiting for solutions to more important problems and bug fixes than some smart gadgets.

Some people seem to be arguing there is no way Suunto can do this, as the Race / Race S likely does not have the required hardware. This would mean either that at the time the Race / Race S was developed, they did not plan to develop the local music feature. Or conversely, this was a strategic plan, as Suunto foresaw an audience that would appreciate local music on the Run, while disdaining the same feature on more expensive watches.

If we are talking “life importance” then in my local life, I know people who are struggling with a variety of issues due to poor decision by politicians in my country. I don’t think writing about things like LGBTQ+ issues in this forum is appropriate.

We’re on a Suunto forum discussing features, possible features, etc. on their devices. Some of us care about things like Sleep tracking; others never wear a watch to sleep. Some of us care about about optical HRMs; others use a chest strap for every activity and care less. Some like me care about music, as it helps motivate me during some workouts; others prefer silence.

You seem to be upset that I have the audacity to care about music which is weird. I wish you well and think we don’t have much else to discuss.

[maszop]

@raven I’m not upset, I’m just surprised that you continue such a pointless discussion. I’ll say it again: if the hardware supports it, then there’s a chance. If not, then there’s no chance - simple.

EOT

[Mathieu Merlet]

@Tieutieu so, we can suppose that the support of SV, SR and SRs Will be the same during years?

[raven]

@maszop This entire thread is entitled: “Expected software update support length?”

My thesis here is that while we don’t know for certain anything beyond what exists today for any specific watch, we can postulate on likely outcomes based on things like history with other devices, features of other watches in the lineup, etc. With the Run about to be dropped and many details out in the open, this has myself, as someone fairly new to Suunto, wondering about various things like whether the Run feature set was already a plan when other watches like the Race S was released.

In recent months I reviewed the offering from other companies like Coros, Polar, and particularly Garmin. I find Garmin’s entire lineup a bit bizarre and not really coherent as a whole. It seems they have multiple teams on various lines who don’t really talk to each other. Now if this is also true of Suunto, that the team putting together the Run has no relation to the Race, I’d find that minorly annoying aesthetically at least.

Agreed our discussion here won’t affect the outcome for this specific feature in this case, but that’s not the point. I’d simply write to Suunto support for that. Instead, I’m just chatting about things, and others who reminded me that the music support does have a hardware element and not simply a new bluetooth protocol transferring to headphones was appreciated, as that’s something I knew in the back of my mind but elided over as I felt the requirement wouldn’t be that difficult given the history of MP3 playing devices. Additionally, I’m not asking anyone else to care about this; you have other priorities and that’s fine. I hope you get the features you desire.

It’s the idea that someone wanting music isn’t really a sports or adventure person that’s mildly irksome. If that’s your stance, that’s fine, but could be kept to yourself. When I’m swimming I don’t require music, but I don’t have a problem with people who want this, for example, and don’t go saying real swimmers don’t wear headhhones: https://us.suunto.com/products/suunto-aqua-lime-blue

Coming into this thread and deriding me for caring about such a thing was both unkind and unnecessary.

[Tomas5]

My whole point of this thread was to find out if someone know about some comitment of software updates from suunto. These days many manufacturers pronise N years of software updates for their products. I didn’t found this info on suunto website but i was curiouse if maybe someone know something or i missed something when browsing suunto website.

Personaly don’t care about music in watch. My pure question was about length of support.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@Tomas5 Hey Tomas,

we dont have a promise about Sw updates unfortunately if this helps.

Sorry for that.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@Tomas5 there are two things to note when talking about support. Current watches are likely to be supported for years. See Ambit series for example - they are still being supported and people use them.

However, firmware updates are another story. I suspect it’s going to stop when it’s no longer financially viable. And, in my opinion, if v3 is not compatible with current hardware (Vertical, Race), v2 is going to get dropped sooner than later.

But does it matter? It’s a choice of having a watch that will be updated or the watch that has the features you need and is durable and stable.

I personally don’t think that I’ll buy a new device from Suunto unless it matures. The 9PP received fairly “finished” firmware a year+ after its release. I’d rather wait a year for the software to get polished than have a shiny new device for the sake of novely.

[Tomas5]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos thats exactly info I was looking for thanks