Moto 360 ‘ambient screen’ and ‘auto brightness’ explained

Before the Moto 360 was officially introduced, you heard a lot of rumblings about an “ambient light sensor,” which would allow the display to automatically set the brightness based on how bright (or dark) your surrounds are. The Moto 360 also includes an “Ambient Screen,” option in the settings which you won't find on the LG G Watch or the Gear Live and has confused a lot people.

LG G Watch

Moto 360 (Screenshot isn't captured round)

“Ambient Screen” is basically the same thing as the  “Always-On Screen” option found on the G Watch and Gear Live, however there are a few differences. The “Always-on Screen” and “Ambient Screen” both show a dimmed version of your chosen watch face all the time. When you tap the display or tilt up (or press the side button on the Moto 360), the full watch face lights up and is much brighter. Depending on the developer, this mode could show a more toned down version of your chosen watch face or the actual full watch face with all the colors, just dimmed. Before the Moto 360 was officially unveiled last week, developers were already referring to this mode as the ambient display or standby mode.

Motorola decided to use the “ambient” naming convention, but they also made some changes, For starters, it doesn't stay lit full time. Once the “Ambient Screen” kicks on, it will behave just like other Android Wear devices, but the screen will also turn off completely when the watch face is turned away from you. As you start to look at the watch, the dimmed state (ambient screen) will appear again, and if you further tilt it towards your face, the full bright display kicks in. This obviously was done to save battery life. The other thing that is different is that Motorola's “Ambient Screen” is actually dimmer than say the G Watch's “Always-On Screen.” This again is to save battery, but it's not as flattering and is completely worthless in sunlight. The last change is that when you select to turn on the “Ambient Screen,” you get a warning which says, “Ambient screen reduces battery life. Are you sure?” You won't find that warning on the G Watch or the Gear Live.

So that's “Ambient Screen,” but what about the light sensor I mentioned earlier? You will find that in the “Adjust Brightness” setting. The G Watch (and I think the Gear Live) has six brightness settings (1 – 6), but the Moto 360 has five settings (1 – 5) and what's called “Auto.”

LG G Watch

Moto 360 (Screenshot isn't captured round)

“Auto” functions exactly the same way as your phone's auto brightness feature. Your Moto 360 will sense your surroundings, and if it's really bright, it will automatically turn up your brightness to a 4 or 5. The opposite will happen in darker environments. When you are in a darker room, the display will automatically get tuned down to a 1 or 2 setting. Just in case you haven't noticed the theme here, this feature is yet again to save on battery life.

So that is what “Ambient Mode” is and how Auto brightness works. In my early testing, you will need to disable the “Ambient Mode” and turn on Auto brightness in order to attempt to get through an entire day. More on that in my review.

Note: I have found at least one third party watch face that will stay lit full time in the Ambient Mode.

Be sure to check out all our Moto 360 guides here.