I just received my new pebble time 2. Unfortunately the colour eink display is very dark. When compared to the clarity of the older pebble steel screen it is night and day. I know this is an inherent problem of these types of display. It would have been better if we had the ability to choose a monochrome or a color display. I think that this drawback limits the usefulness of this fine watch.
Is there a way to have the backlight always on at a configurable level eg 10%, 20%,50% in the settings? How would this effect the display longevity and the battery? Is there an app for this purpose?
Having the backlight on constantly would be detrimental to battery life, probably taking it down to less than a few days.
There isn’t an option to have the backlight on constantly in the settings, but there are a few possible solutions:
Adjust the shake-to-wake sensitivity in the Debug menu on the App. Lowering the sensitivity will make it less cumbersome to get the screen to light up.
Use a black-and-white watchface. Colors will have less contrast, and even though the screen is capable of colors, black-and-white will still be easier to see.
Modify an open-source watchface to enable the backlight all the time! When viewing the Pebble Appstore on a computer web browser, there are some watchfaces that allow you to Remix on CloudPebble (at the bottom of the page next to Source Link, here is an example: ReadyToRead - Pebble Appstore). In the main() function, you can add light_enable(true) before the prv_init() call. You can also set the backlight color on PT2 (and intensity) by calling light_set_color(GColorDarkGray) for a dim backlight. (Color Definitions // Pebble Developers)
Using a black and white watchface makes a world of difference. I have always used Blockslide on my Pebble 2, was really looking forward to having it in colour on my Time 2 so that is one of the first things I did. I immediately found myself disappointed in the readability of the screen. I then went to the settings and changed to a custom colour scheme with black background and white numbers, it made SUCH a difference. Still not as good as the monochrome screen, but much better. Sure it felt a bit of a let down to go back to what I already had rather than a new, vibrant expectation… but ultimately it enabled me to love the watch again. I’m now experimenting with colour schemes again but at least I know I can always go back to black and white if needs be.
So, some experimentation with what watchfaces and colour settings you get on with best is required.
Someone on here mentioned that changing the backlight color can help increase clarity a bit (Settings>Watch>Display>Backlight color on ios). Try FF7A52 and see what you think.