Nokia to add more content to the Glance Screen in Lumia Black update

Nokia's next update, titled "Lumia Black" (Bittersweet Shimmer) is set to bring yet more features to the table. If you're a fan of the Glance screen, this will be an update for you. Destined to ship in the coming weeks, Lumia Black will improve the Glance feature, a screen that becomes active when the Windows Phone is in standby mode. The improvements will include background support, more colours and support for more notifications.

The backgrounds will see the recently released Glance Screen Background beta included, along with more customisation options. What's also interesting is Nokia will be adding a pedometer to the Glance screen. You'll be able to see just how many steps you've taken with your phone. This new Glance feature is expected to debut in early 2014.

Lumia Black should be released in the coming weeks.

Source: The Verge

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

189 Comments
  • Awesome.
  • I dont think 1520 will have glance feature, bacasue it uses LCD and not Amoled.
  • I'm pretty sure it will have all the glance features. Why would they be showing the new glance screen on a 1520... Even the 920 with Amber update can use the glance screen.
  • I just noticed that as well. Maybe I am wrong, but that is suprising. LCD will drain battery. I wonder if it allows you to use the glance feature "always ON" as well. Can 920 do that?
  • They turn the brightness down and turn off every other pixel.  Battery drain isn't as much as you think
  • You can only turn off the pixels in the LCD panel itself, you cannot turn off the backlight on a LCD display - well maybe on high reflectivity styled LCDs like Pixel Qi, but on LCDs like that, you lose almost all of your luminance value when you shut off the backlight.  And on any kind of LCD display, the backlight is what draws the most power.  Matter of fact, the LCD backlight is what draws the most power of any component in any mobile device in normal day to day usage - more than the CPU, more than the GPU, more than the radios.
     
    It's not like OLED, where each pixel literally lights itself.  Hence turning off every pixel you are not using on an OLED display, saves a whole lot on power drain.  
     
    With that in mind, I don't know how Nokia is using Glance Screen on LCD Lumia models like the 920 . . . and saving battery life at the same time.  I assume if the phone is in your pocket (something it probably is most of the working day, for most people), then Glance Screen is turned off, and only reactivates when pulled from your pocket.   You can probably get a lot of mileage that way.  And chances are, if you are at home with your phone sitting out, it is on a charger somewhere.  But I got a sneaky suspicion, that if you have a LCD-based Lumia with the Glance Screen turned on in always mode, and you leave that phone sitting out all day without being on the charger, your phone is not going to make it through the day.  
  • There was an article posted on nokia conversations that explains how it's done on LCD.  I didn't go into as much detail as you on how it works, but I know i haven't seen a major battery drain issue.
    I would never leave it always on, even with OLED.
  • yes I have the "always ON" option on my 920 although I do not use it.
  • You think wrong. The L920 also uses LCD and has Glance. Glance has absolutely nothing to do with the type of screen ;)
  • It is available on all but I can't even imagine how quickly it would drain the battery on a LCD screen. It is already noticable on my 928 with an AMOLED screen so I choose not to use it.
    The additional features might make me give it another chance though. Pedometar is a nice addition.
  • I agree. Amoled has the luxury to "actually" turn off all unused pixels, so it is miles more efficient. LCD cannot do that. If even 1 pixel needs to be lit, the entire backlight needs to shine behind the crystal display. Then the crystal display layer only opens up to let light out for that pixel and blocks the rest.
  • It has little to NO effect on my 928.
  • Use the "peek" method in the settings for Glance and the screen only comes on to the glance screen when you take it out of your pocket or wave your hand in front of the proximity sensor. Not much of a drain from what I have experienced. If you leave the glance screen on all the time, then yes it will drain LCD based phone quickly.
  • ..
  • I have a 920 and have Glance set to "interval" with double-tap to wake set to "on."  If it has any effect on battery, it is negligible.
     
  • Yes battery drain will be slightly more than the Amoleds Nokia, but I read somewhere that 920 has a feature that turns on backlighting only in the matrix that has something to display.
  • I'm confused.. Is this coming before the official release of GDR3, or packaged with it❔
  • They likely reduce the refresh rate to 1FPS in glance mode to reduce battery drain. Repainting the screen is one of the biggest battery hogs.
  • My 920 has glance, and it has LCD not Amoled.
  • My 920 has Glance, even with the background beta, and I have noticed 0 performance or battery drain issues.  Having notifications show up on the Glance screen would help me check the lock screen far less which is going to save power rather than using it.
  • Nokia Camera is already live in the store as well. WPC should do a quick video of it.
  • There is an article over at MyNokiaBlog about Nokia Camera and it doesn't have a video either but I hope the screenshots, information and a few comments will help until WPC posts a video if you are looking for more information.
     
  • Awesome? to me its fine and not that important. If this coming update has no Notification center then its useless. I truly want Notification center and push notification in my Apps. Nokia devices are awesome and the tech is getting better but the software is not that good. We have issues with fb live tiles and google sync has errors and it takes forever to sync.
    I bought NL 920 and i believed in Nokia but MS is slow and very slow and im running out of patients  Edit: Dont you guys think if Nokia devices ran Android would have been better..For me i would love to try it, but let me say UL of WP 8 is amazing and is not boring but not that stable and needs alot of work still
  • You'll have to wait for 8.1 for a notifications center, its not coming in Update 3.
    You already have push notifications.
    If you need more patients, try advertising locally. In the mmeantime, try and some patience.
    Android? No. I'd rather not have to have antivirus/malware software on my phone.
  • Glance works on LCD. It just uses the entire screen on, by it still doesn't seem to mess with battery life that badly, unless you leave it always on. I might have liked a Lumia 920 running android. But that isn't ever going to happen now :P
  • No i dont think we have push notifications because my apps do not send me for example argent news like my iphone.. 
    Yep got to wait for 8.1 and i hope 8.1 will make me happy because then i might jump to android even though im not a fan since i too believe of the viruses and malware but its a good OS
    Patience is the key :) we will see how things turns on, 
     
    Oh by the way im not happy with windows 8.1 in my laptop. pissed of from the search that u cant search within the app like before, u have to press   win+q to do some searching..figured that out after alot of seatch...
  • Dear friend are u sure that will get notification centre in wp 8.1 update ?
  • "coming weeks"??? I thought they said the mantra "early 2014"...
  • Actually no, it suppost to be before 2014.
    It's expect GDR4 early 2014. Good to see someone in my country here! :D
  • *8.1
  • GDR4? I thought, GDR3 is released early 2014  (public release)?
    I never heard anything about GDR4.
  • in early 2014, Microsoft will bring Windows Phone 8.1 "Blue" update.
    GDR3 (with Lumia Black) planned to be available before that and soon to be in upcoming weeks.
  • Guys, dont expect WP Blue before the middle of the next year....
    MS will probably announce this update in March or April for new devices and actual phones will only get this update 2 months after, just like was witht GDR2 and will be with GDR3... Dont be too optimistic.
  • Not true. Blue will be announced in Q1 and pushed out late Q1.
  • So just wait and see...
  • I agree with your time frame, but I have GDR3 now. Just sayin'.
  • I thought the release of Nokia black was in early 2014??? Stop confusing us!!!
  • Isn't 2014 for wp8.1?
  • Sounds like shimmer got renamed to black based on what is said here, which is coming with GDR3, which is coming weeks. Verge article says 2014 though, so it may be with 8.1...I'll agree, its confusing
  • The step counter is coming in 2014. Gdr3/lumia black is coming in a few weeks. That's means, officially released. It's up to the carriers to deliver it.
  • Hopefully there will be a "developer" version. Eff the carriers.
  • So much this
  • The way I read it is Lumia Black ships in the coming weeks and the pedometer feature will be an update to glance that comes in early 2014.
  • I'm 95% certain I heard Elop say Nokia's combined GDR3/Lumia Black update will be on the 1520 & 1320 at launch and was due for general release to all existing WP8 devices 'early 2014' during his presentation. My heart sank when he said it.
    Perhaps he was just plain wrong. He has been before. Needs clarification.
  • Well I just checked the presentation again and that is exactly what Elop said. GDR3/Black 'early next year' for existing devices. I don't know where all this 'coming weeks' bullcrap is coming from. All these rumors will do is raise expectations and get users riled-up when it doesn't arrive.
  • Nokia really makes me hate having an HTC.
  • Just switched from HTC to Nokia three days ago...
  • I hope (for HTC customers like you) that this exclusive apps are going to end when MS acquires Nokia.
  • You're angry at Nokia for differentiating themselves? Its the same as samsung's or HTC's UI changes to android. Rather be mad at carriers for not wanting the phones!
  • This has nothing to do with app exclusivity. It is just extra features bundled with OEM firmware, HTC or Samsung can do this as well. Samsung for example, had call blocking before Nokia implemented it for the Lumia series recently.
  • What's a pedometer?
  • Counts the steps you take. Literally.
  • Or the children...
  • lol, nice one :D
  • Hahaha well played. :D
  • Thx :)
  • It keeps a pedo file on your phone.
  • Lol -_-
  • It counts how many children you like that you shouldn't be liking.
  • I think it's related to farts
  • Yeah, I bought a Samsung Ativ S. Regret is what I feel regarding these Nokia features. :
  • Don't say that..... I got a ATIV S I bought off eBay showing up any day now. I needed a phone with at least 32GB and a good screen on Tmo. It was my only option.
  • I believe if you got an unlocked Lumia 920 which was for Rogers, then you would get the same bands for TMO.
  • I have Lumia 920 on Tmobile. The Rogers version.
  • Love that Rogers either forgot to brand their phone in the update or played Nice
  • I have a Rogers 920 on Tmo. I also have the 925. The screen sucks on the 920 compared to the 925 but the 925 doesn't have enough memory. I've bought a ATIV S to give me the 925 screen with the memory of the 920. If anyone wants a Like New 920 in black with a brand new Red housing and a otter box mines on eBay.
  • Sounds like an 820 could have suited you.. Great screen and expandable memory. Though the ppi is not great, it's clear black and the colours are awesome.
  • Will all wp get all updates which will realesed by ms???
  • Ativ S is a masterpiece in WP8 world. :)
  • I would regret a Samsung device. Samsung isn't even working on a gdr3 update right now...
  • I am running gdr3 on my Ativ S. Phone itself is awesome, 4.8" amoled, removable battery, SD card. All I regret is not having the Nokia features. :)
  • Hoping AT&T is not involved at all with this update.
  • +920
  • They are.
  • "Destined to ship in the coming weeks"!?
    This would be über nice!
  • Ya darn right it is! Can't wait to get me one of these!
  • That font though! Can't they just use Segoe Light just like now?
  • That was the very first thing I thought of... Hopefully it's changable in settings or something.
     
  • Agreed... what the hell happened there?
  • I'm guessing they're doing that to make it easier to read since the Glance screen is so dim (to conserve battery power). But I'd rather have a consistent font that isn't....ugly.
  • Is it coming in the coming weeks or in 2014? Or will Lumia Black be released in the coming weeks, and the pedometer pushed back to 2014? Confused.
  • Same here, and I have to read it again and still confused.
  • During the keynote they spoke quite clearly that Lumia black will be coming beginning 2014.. So maybe we will not see it before.. Also for amber it took more than 2 months to get released..
  • Guys, 2014 is in the coming weeks... the coming 12 weeks, lol!
  • Time flies... :)
  • good point :)
  • Great
  • I love glance! Cant use it to often because i look at my phone all the time and thats not battery efficient. But I have a friend that uses his phone like a normal person and its perfect, especially if you have a case with a protection lid. Just open and look and close.
  • One thing I always wish on the lock screen is being able to do was touch the notification and go straight to it. Wish this was able to.
  • You can do that from the lock screen anyway..the glance screen is suspended and the lock screen gets activated when you get a notif..
  • Um when were you able to go straight to your notifications from the lock screen? I know what glance does. Please reread my post
  • Ummm..whenever there's a toast notification..and you touch on it, it takes you to the app..i don't quite understand what you mean by "taking you to the notification"..
  • Or do you mean those static icons..?? I guess now that you meant that..i misunderstood.. :D my bad.. :)
  • All good.
  • By coming weeks..i hope they mean in the upcoming couple of weeks than upcoming few weeks..
  • Im so happy I have a 1020.
  • I hope the developers gdr3 deal bypasses the operators for this also.
  • What about three row of normal tiles on 92x series, will this be introduced on Black update?
  • That will NEVER be introduced in the 92x or 1020. Belfiore has already clarified on Twitter that that extra row needs a bigger screen. It's screen size that matters not resolution.
  • The ATIV S hack we saw the other day is proof that it's still feasible on smaller screens though. SO I am still hoping they would let it trickle down to older Lumias. As it satands I have a feelign that they're holding it back merely to provide additional differentiation between the upcoming 1320/1520 vs the 92X and 1020...
  • I hope too, at least they should leave to owner of phone to decide. The best would be to as option, two or three row and we will choose which best is for us.
  • What's "needed" and what's currently enforced by the OS are two different things...
  • +1
  • Columns!!!! It's called columns!!!!
  • I would like to be able to bypass my lock screen nd just have this instead
  • Eflop clearly said Lumia Black would only arrive in early 2014. But apparently people at The Verge know better...
  • My nokia knows better :P
  • Lumia black will be out soon for sure..gdr3preview is out.y not lumia black
  • On the live event stream last night Elop said Black will be coming soon for the 1520 and 1320, and early 2014 to other Lumias.
  • Gdr3 is pre-installed on 1520 and 1320
  • Yeah, that's what I meant. I guess I could have worded it better.
  • How early, like in November early?
  • Not November. 2014 doesn't start until January.
  • Moar.
  • The only way I find it useful is if if acted like a notification light which turns on when a notification arrives... A waste of battery for me in any other way.
  • Then turn it off you stupid whiner. Geez.
  • "A waste of battery" Not with a AMOLED-Screen.
  • So...are they switching to nokia's pure font now?
  • Coming weeks or Early 2014?
     
    This is so confusing!
  • Love these new feature! Actually makes me wish I could upgrade from my 820. Love the phone, but it is starting to feel old already and I've only had it for like 6 months!
  • 6 months is too old.. My 820 is already 4 month old!
  • Please remove the lock screen from lumias (except 520 and 625) as it doesn't make sense anymore
  • Why? Lock Screen and Glance are different things.
  • I somewhat agree, it would be nice to have the option to disable the lockscreen and only use the glance screen.
  • Fully agree
  • Agree as well.  Kind of becoming redundant.  Basically 2 lock screens.
  • It does make sense. The glance in glance screen should be taken literally. There is no way to interact with the glance screen, it functions the same as your screen being off with the added benefit of being able to see the time, notifications and a pretty picture. Let's say we forget about glance screen for a minute, our phone's display is off (showing only a black screen), we press the lock button to unlock it and swipe up the lockscreen to unlock the phone. Now say we DO use glance screen, our phone's display is (partially I suppose) off excepting the time, notifications and a pretty picture. We cannot interact with it in any sort of way, it only displays information. Now we go to unlock the phone; press the lock button to unlock it and swipe up the lockscreen to unlock the phone. I am not sure why it is so hard to see the difference between the lockscreen and the glance screen.
  • How about a nokia enthusiast program? 
  • Superawe
  • Something better
  • Wow! Wow!
  • i wish i could have the double tap to unlock feature from glance on my lumia 720...
  • I wish this every day I look at my 720, too!
  • While the glance feature is an asset in many ways I still can't but feel 2 lockscreens seems a little redundant. I think they should eliminate the WP lockscreen and just replace it with the glance screen. Or give you the option to.
  • Agree!
  • Looks beautiful, can't wait!!!!
  • Am I missing something, here?
    With all of these options, why not just disable the screen turning off?
    It seems like it's just turning into a second lock screen.
  • Glance screen is now becoming a second lockscreen. Now requiring a two step process to get to the start screen. It's nice but, too much.
  • So... just turn it off.
  • How is this adding an extra step? Current procedure to unlock phone (no glance screen): Push Lock button, swipe up... (With Glance Screen): Push Lock button, swipe up.... (^_-)-☆
  • Agreed. With or without is the same process. But with, you have additional information on screen when you start (sometimes meaning you don't NEED to go any further) instead of a BLANK screen. Not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. Glance is good.
  • Exactly!
  • Thank you for having sense.
  • It feels like a 2 step process, whereas infact its the same as it was before. You do the exact same things as before. Think about it. Gosh!!!
  • Great to have the notifications just like the lock screen. My only wish is that I hope i can make the Glance screen notification icons and lock screen notification icons different. It really does not make sense to have the same icons in the lock screen and glance screen
      Nokia are you listening, can someone who played with the 1520 confirm this?
  • I disagree, and think it makes perfect sense to have the same icons.
  • It makes perfect sense because...............
  • I'd much rather just have the ability to replace the lock screen with Glance.
  • Glance screen, lock screen, one needs to go I think. Two is confusing when they serve the same purpose. Though i prefer the Glance more.
  • They do not serve the same purpose.
  • With the addition of notifications to Glance, I see no need for a lock screen.
  • if we can use other app notification (5 others apps than the 5 on ours lockscreen) that can be usefull :)
    I use a lot glance just to look at the times.
  • The thing is, does Glance screen have 5 addit notifications.
  • Yes can someone answer this???
     
    I can put the most important notifications in glace and the rest in Lock screen.
  • Hey, lubbalots, they renamed it and got rid of the shivermetimbers! :-)
  • Lol! Still remember.
  • Nice! I already love Glance and this can only make it better
  • I love glance! I feel bad for those windows phone owners who don't have Nokia phones! They miss out on a substantial amount customization options!
  • So what? Glance is pretty much a second lock screen now?
  • What do you mean more notifications? There are none currently.
  • That font is horrid. I really hope they end up using the stand windows phone font.
  • Love it!
  • I wish they provide a option to skip the second lockscreen if there is no number lock applied. Because it is useless if you dont use lock.
  • How is the lock screen useless? What if you have the lock screen being updated with the weather or news, glance can't do that... And it doesn't make it any more difficult to get to you start screen... Current procedure to unlock phone (no glance screen): Push Lock button, swipe up... (With Glance Screen): Push Lock button, swipe up.... (^_-)-☆
  • Yeah baby!!!!!
  • WOW. Is that Facebook-notifications??? Lumia Black looks good!
  • On a second thought, I think Glance would head the same way as Nokia Smartcam and Pro Cam did. Eventually they gonna merge Glance with the standard lockscreen and leave the choic to us to use it whatever we want. 
    Loving my decision to coming back to nokia after a year of android. Even my older X6 gave me better experience than google's shit.
  • You can't megre Glance with the Lockscreen, because Glance is no Lookscreen.
     
  • On Lumia 920 using Amber+GDR3. 
    Looking forward to 'Black'! 
  • You know what they say... Once you go Black...
  • I hate f......g waiting. No release dates... Nokia always says: coming soon, in a few weeks. Im an addictive wp user anyway. I hoped that áll programs and Games Will be released after the Nokia World. Im pissed.
  • I was surprised to see that the screen doesn't seem to be completely off even in parts that should be. There is a definite difference between the glance and no glance. And while the battery drain is not significant, it was noticeable.
  • Update Battery bar, Alarm status, calendar status, Glance Background images..., this is correct specif to be update...,
  • Can't wait!
  • Pedometer!? No thanks. Hope there is an option to turn it off.
  • While i like the feature i think it is redundant.  More and more i use it i am thinking i have two lock screens now.
  • Absolutely. Thinking the same here.
  • Now that's the official statement I've been waiting for
  • Surely once notifications get added having the lockscreen will seem redundant Imo.
  • lock screen is not a redundancy since it effectively hides the tiles that some would like to have covered when the phone is locked. so it is useful only when the phone lock is on (the password is set). if you decide not to use password then I agree, the lock screen is just a screensaver-like functionality that allows you to see some chosen photos or app screens (like the one in renewed Bing weather).
  • Can't wait for this
  • Instead of a pedometer... I hope they simply add todays date. I think that's a bit more useful than wondering how many steps you've taken. I welcome a pedometer, but the date to me should come first. Glad they're improving on it.
  • I have to wonder how accurate the pedometer will be and how much of your battery it will consume... Apple put in the M7 processor to track such things to avoid a huge battery suck.
  • A pedometer!!! That's not much impressive... And if you are saying it from the above picture, may be its a false information...
  • Awesome! :) Nokia is Awesome! :)
  • Nokia needs to make fixing their overhyped camera their first priority.
  • Can someone explain me the real use of the glance feature? I know, it can show you the clock while not taking up too much battery and stuff, but if they allow background tasks and pictures why not just use the lockscreen or get rid of the lockscreen entirely and just use the glance 'screen'?
  • Mine is always on when using my 920.  I leave it on when the phone is on my desk at work during the day and I can honestly say that I have not seen any real increase in battery usage.  Also you can always just flip the phone face done when you are not using it.  This will turn the glance screen off.  I have a case on mine that prevents the screen from touching the surfice when face down.
  • In which update ms will open its notification centre like android..