[Q] Moto X Ambient Display

[IonAphis-]

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!

 

[jaykresge]

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.

 

[Darth]

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.

 

[jaykresge]

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.

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.

 

[floepie]

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.

 

[DaRkRhiNe]

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:

 

[floepie]

Does Googles ambient display light up when we pick up the phone as in Moto X? If yes then bye bye stock :fingers-crossed:

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.

 

[DaRkRhiNe]

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.

The only thing stopping me from flashing a Rom is AC display of Moto X.

 

[adm1jtg]

The only thing stopping me from flashing a Rom is AC display of Moto X.

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.

 

[floepie]

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.

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.

 

[nhizzat]

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.

 

[jaykresge]

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.

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

 

[vasili_defy]

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)

 

[zwliew]

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.