Gear S3 outperforms Galaxy Watch with step count accuracy - Samsung Galaxy Watch

I am on my second galaxy watch (new), first one Samsung bought back from me due to eSIM issues, second one was "New Open Box" . They were bought to replace my Gear S3. I have had one helluva time with step count accuracy on the GW. I put back on my GS3 today and now the steps are more in-line with what my Apple Watch is reading as well as my Wear OS watches when worn simultaneously. I would wear the GW for hours before the Apple watch (used for my work) and put on the Apple watch and it the end of the day the GW average 1500-2000 step BEHIND the apple watch. Anyone else with this observation(s).

I don't wear multiple watches but was visiting family in another town and had my phone in the pocket most of the times. Both report into s health. 1k - 2k steps is my difference as well. Not accounting the time the phone lies in the table.
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I'm playing devil's advocate here, but is it possible that the GW is more accurate than the GS3 or Apple watch? What if the GS3 and Apple watches were over-estimating your steps?

taislice said:
I'm playing devil's advocate here, but is it possible that the GW is more accurate than the GS3 or Apple watch? What if the GS3 and Apple watches were over-estimating your steps?
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Idk. I've recently noticed that if I fully charge and leave it on the charger for a fews minutes, it becomes super accurate. Once it gets down to < 70%, then it goes haywire. Yes, the other two could be overestimating, but they are more in line with what I'm actually measuring.

Mine seems pretty much the same. A walk around my work parking lot is about 2200 steps which was measured by my S8+ prior to getting the GW. The GW seems to be tracking a similar figure.

Related

Poll! How do you feel now?

After a couple days, what are your feels?
austontatious said:
After a couple days, what are your feels?
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I like it, my issues are not with the hardware, although I won't lie and say I don't wish for more battery life. My issues are with how beta android wear feels. Hopefully google will give it some TLC, but google seems like a company that puts a lot of effort into something, releases it then forgets it.
Anyhoo, especially after seeing the atrocity that is the apple watch I'm going to keep my 360 and of course eventually grab a Note 4. It's kind of a gimmick right now, but at least it's a nice looking gimmick and I'll give google the benefit of the doubt.
austontatious said:
After a couple days, what are your feels?
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I have no problems with the speed of it - haven't noticed any stuttering or anything that people have mentioned. However, the battery is complete crap. I tried to use it today when I played 18 holes of golf w/ the Swing by Swing app (which actually works _very_ well w/ the watch, showing distance and letting you input your scores on the watch). The watch went from 95% to 0% on hole 12, about 3 hours in (slow play!). I only turned the watch on a few times a hole and didn't get any messages or anything in the meanwhile. The watch has also gone from 100% to 5% when used as a sleep tracker for 5 1/2 hours.
It's OK. I realized from day one that this is SQUARELY first/early adopter territory. As far as the battery goes, luckily, recharging takes only a little time. I found the secret is the mid day recharge. I turned off ambient mode and my phone was at 75% after almost 5 hours. Over lunch I tossed it on an old Nokia charger I had for 20 minutes and had over 90%. Right now it's 8:30p and I have 60%.
Midday charge while you're at the desk for 20 minutes erases all worries. Should you have to do it... No. But if you do it eliminates a pretty annoying issue.
The leather band annoys me, because I hate leather bands. The Pebble bands don't do it for me, just my opinion sorry, just being honest. Was it so fu^king hard to allow enough room for any band? The "notch" is just a slap in the face.
Dusty Rhodes said:
It's OK. I realized from day one that this is SQUARELY first/early adopter territory. As far as the battery goes, luckily, recharging takes only a little time. I found the secret is the mid day recharge. I turned off ambient mode and my phone was at 75% after almost 5 hours. Over lunch I tossed it on an old Nokia charger I had for 20 minutes and had over 90%. Right now it's 8:30p and I have 60%.
Midday charge while you're at the desk for 20 minutes erases all worries. Should you have to do it... No. But if you do it eliminates a pretty annoying issue.
The leather band annoys me, because I hate leather bands. The Pebble bands don't do it for me, just my opinion sorry, just being honest. Was it so fu^king hard to allow enough room for any band? The "notch" is just a slap in the face.
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Yep, we all have to realize we are kind of alpha testing here. The Moto 360 version 2 will probably be decent, and version 3 will be awesome.
And maybe by the next version Motorola find a way to keep the small bezel and have a fully round screen.
I agree, it's OK. I sold my Gear 2 to get this because I didn't like the square/plastic combo, and thought I didn't like the OS, but frankly the way the interface worked was much better than Android Wear. It had a great looking display and got 3-4 days of battery life!
But it's a watch, so looks mean a lot... I may have to return this bad boy and wait for the LG R, or the Moto 362, lol...
-My only hope is that since this is Android there will be some decent development happening, but after reading some posts I'm not so sure...
I'm in the UK so still waiting for it to be released here. Blessing in disguise for me as I'm not one to be an early adopter so by the time it is released, I'll have the wealth of knowledge from US user comments/reviews before I pull the trigger on it.
I think the device is doing quite well for a first release. The battery on ambient mode lasts all the way until I get home from work and will last a workout as well counting all my steps and monitoring my heart rate several times. I also think overall the watch looks pretty executive. Has a professional look and feel to it. Can't help but think all the square smart watches are too "kid-like".
As previously mentioned, once android wear adds features and apps start catching up I think there is really great potential for the device.
I love it. Does what I need it to do, which is notify me and let me respond to texts and certain apps. I can use it for navigation and some Google questions. I take it off the charger around 6am and by the time i charge it at night (around 10pm) it still has 30-40%. I am a light user... meaning, I dont need (and turned off) Google Now (watch telling me info w/out asking). I don't care for step count or heart rate cuz I run at night anyway. I dont care to add games or browsing apps on it. That is what my phone is for. What I use it for may not be worth $250, but its the best looking (IMO) and there are not much AW options out right now.
Just glad I don't have to constantly check my phone for any important notifications from work or family.
The only thing i wish it had was a speaker phone.
I'm on my 4th day and really like it but I'll be honest I wished Samsung had a round watch and running Android Wear all because I plan to get the Note 4.
Besides that my battery seemed to improve with every charge. Only thing I wish was to be able to turn off vibration and still see notifications when it comes. So far if I scroll top to bottom it will turn off vibration and notifications. Unless I'm doing it wrong.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
After the 1st day of having it I thought I would sell it because I didn't think the watch did much and I thought I'd be judged by friends and coworkers for buying a smart watch (half kidding) but android wear has grown on me and everyone who's seen it loves it.

Huawei Watch Fitness/Activity Tracking mini review

So I noticed that Google fit has some accuracy issues even while using a smart watch as a step counter. I had the same issue in my LG G Watch and Urbane as well. Google fit always under reports the distance and steps for some reason but thankfully Huawei has their own solution in the form of a built in fitness tracker. The Huawei app reports the distance and steps far more accurately for some reason which is odd because they use the same data to report your activities but I assume their algorithms are different.
An example of this is in the picture below. I walk to classes from my car every morning and I know the distance to be ~0.70 miles from Google maps and using run keep as well as other fitness apps. The Google fit app would always report this as 0.5-0.6 miles for some reason. The Huawei seems to be right on the dot with 0.69 miles which surprised me to see this morning. I downloaded their fitness app to see how to compared to Google fit. While it may not be as pretty or functional it has more accurate data. Google fit also has issues updating data when you manually input a workout which bothers me. It either under reports the time, steps, calories or activity that you out in no matter for many times you re-enter the data and it saves it. Now let's talk about the step counter; I was bored one fast so I decided to count about how many steps it takes me to walk the above path. I was in the military so I'm used to doing weird things like pace counting which is easy to convert to steps. I average around 1400-1500 steps in this route depending on where j walk exactly which can change a little depending on what sidewalk is the least busy without the usual morning joggers I see. Google fit reported 1456 steps, 14 minutes of activity and 0.65 miles walked. The Huawei on the other hand gave me 1503 steps, 13 minutes of activity and 0.69 miles walked. This is subtracting the few steps I had around my apartment this morning seen in the total below. I trust the Huawei data more than the Google fit one based on experience with Google fit and I hope to see it improve more with Marshmallow. I know the difference might not seem like a lot but it adds up over the course of the day and can be off by 0.5 miles and 1000+ steps like it was the other day.
Share your experiences with Google fit and other fitness apps below. I hope this helps people out when it comes to understanding how the accuracy of each one is from experience. I will update he OP periodically with more data as time goes on.
Thanks for posting this, I didn't know there was a separate Huawei watch fitness application. I downloaded it and will check it out. It doesn't look like the application has Heart Rate tracking. But, I just discovered that Google fit does appear to have some HRM function. In the graph view, if I tap on the bottom right corner, where it says "active time", there is a drop down menu that has Heart Rate listed. Don't know how this works yet... have to check it out later.
Here is the activity track from today. As you can see Google fit over reports the time slightly but sometimes it under reports the time. I think the time is closer to the Huawei app but I honestly didn't keep track to compare it to. I just know its not as long as the Google fit app says but slightly less from my average on Mondays. The steps and distance are interesting in this case. The Huawei reports a further distance than the Google app as mentioned before but their step count is much closer now than it has been lately. Both apps have the same data for my height age etc... so we cna see the differences in their reporting. Its not as bad as if has been with Google Fit. I expect small variances but not the larger one with the distance.
I'll let everyone decide what's more accurate but I'm leaning toward the Huawei one. The Google fit app doesn't always work consistently or sometimes its counting time when I'm stationary so I hope this gets fixed in Marshmallow.
swngdncr said:
Thanks for posting this, I didn't know there was a separate Huawei watch fitness application. I downloaded it and will check it out. It doesn't look like the application has Heart Rate tracking. But, I just discovered that Google fit does appear to have some HRM function. In the graph view, if I tap on the bottom right corner, where it says "active time", there is a drop down menu that has Heart Rate listed. Don't know how this works yet... have to check it out later.
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I believe it works but I haven't tried it with the Huawei only the Urbane. The Huawei app isn't ideal but at least it saves me from charging l viewing all of that data solely on the watch
Tried again tonight. Did a walk after temp dropped into the high 90's. Used RunGPS, Agilefit, and the Fitness Tracking App. Both RunGPS and Agilefit got a heart rate, but in both cases the Heart rate froze after just a couple of minutes and stayed at the same rate for the entire time I tried using the application. Fitness Tracking, though it has a menu item for Heart Rate, recorded no Heart Rate data at all. I can't find any setting in the application related to Heart Rate tracking or data. So, so far, still a 100% failure rate with the HRM. If anyone has any positive experience with the HRM please share. I really want to love this watch, but no HRM function at all is probably a deal breaker.
After a few days of comparing the two the Huawei seems to stop be more accurate but that's only with reason of course. Google fit thinks I'm riding a bike or running while in walking which is annoying
Any new reviews or update regarding HRM and sports tracking ...i was really thinking about hauwei watch, but for the sports data monitoring problems that were mention by u guys.. I think I'm hesitant now and may change my mind about it
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
I exchanged my watch yesterday at the local BB. The new one seems to be working better. I haven't tried while exercising yet, but when I started an exercise app with Heart Rate monitoring, the HR appeared continued to monitor and didn't freeze for about 10 minutes. I'll try it again tomorrow and let you know how it goes. I'll also see if the step count is more accurate. So, if you can wait a day, I can tell you more tomorrow afternoon. -cjr-
tafo said:
Any new reviews or update regarding HRM and sports tracking ...i was really thinking about hauwei watch, but for the sports data monitoring problems that were mention by u guys.. I think I'm hesitant now and may change my mind about it
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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swngdncr said:
I exchanged my watch yesterday at the local BB. The new one seems to be working better. I haven't tried while exercising yet, but when I started an exercise app with Heart Rate monitoring, the HR appeared continued to monitor and didn't freeze for about 10 minutes. I'll try it again tomorrow and let you know how it goes. I'll also see if the step count is more accurate. So, if you can wait a day, I can tell you more tomorrow afternoon. -cjr-
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Thnx bro for ur feedback...don't worry? I can wait for a month, because I'm going to the states in Nov.
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OK, the HRM is definitely working on this watch-- but not very accurate. Played 2.5 hrs of tennis. RunGPS reported an average HR of 90, typically my average HR playing tennis would be in the 120's. The recorded max HR was 171, that is consistent with what chest strap monitors have reported, but the low was 40, my resting pulse is about 58-60, so the low is way off.
The HR readings actively changed until 1:18 (workout time) Then it froze from 1:18 until 2:02. At 2;02 it the HR readings start to change again until 2:16, then freezes until the last reading at 2:30. The watch died at some point towards the end. I only had about 50% charge on it when I started. But, apparently there were two fitness applications running, because Endomodo also recorded 2:34 workout time. I'm using the free version, so I don't have any access to the statistics that Endomodo recorded. Huawei Wear app only logged 2,732 steps and 1.16 miles, which is about 1/2 what my FitBit Surge would record for that much tennis time. Google Fit registered 2,718 steps, .1 miles, and 4 minutes of active time. Active time way off.. basically it didn't recognize tennis as active time at all. What i don't know for certain is whether the HR froze on the watch, or whether the BT connection to the phone was lost, which would cause the fixed HR numbers. So, can't really recommend the watch for fitness monitoring yet. On my FitBit, I had to wear a sweat band to keep the watch up a little higher on my wrist. I did this with the Huawei watch. Next time I'll try it w/o the sweat band so it sits lower on my wrist and see if it makes a difference. -cjr-
tafo said:
Any new reviews or update regarding HRM and sports tracking ...i was really thinking about hauwei watch, but for the sports data monitoring problems that were mention by u guys.. I think I'm hesitant now and may change my mind about it
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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tafo said:
Thnx bro for ur feedback...don't worry I can wait for a month, because I'm going to the states in Nov.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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swngdncr said:
OK, the HRM is definitely working on this watch-- but not very accurate. Played 2.5 hrs of tennis. RunGPS reported an average HR of 90, typically my average HR playing tennis would be in the 120's. The recorded max HR was 171, that is consistent with what chest strap monitors have reported, but the low was 40, my resting pulse is about 58-60, so the low is way off.
The HR readings actively changed until 1:18 (workout time) Then it froze from 1:18 until 2:02. At 2;02 it the HR readings start to change again until 2:16, then freezes until the last reading at 2:30. The watch died at some point towards the end. I only had about 50% charge on it when I started. But, apparently there were two fitness applications running, because Endomodo also recorded 2:34 workout time. I'm using the free version, so I don't have any access to the statistics that Endomodo recorded. Huawei Wear app only logged 2,732 steps and 1.16 miles, which is about 1/2 what my FitBit Surge would record for that much tennis time. Google Fit registered 2,718 steps, .1 miles, and 4 minutes of active time. Active time way off.. basically it didn't recognize tennis as active time at all. What i don't know for certain is whether the HR froze on the watch, or whether the BT connection to the phone was lost, which would cause the fixed HR numbers. So, can't really recommend the watch for fitness monitoring yet. On my FitBit, I had to wear a sweat band to keep the watch up a little higher on my wrist. I did this with the Huawei watch. Next time I'll try it w/o the sweat band so it sits lower on my wrist and see if it makes a difference. -cjr-
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Good test bro. So far I'm reckoning that the HW is not a good tool for sports tracking, as u said and many have the same experience u had... The big question is : is the inaccuracy due to hardware or software problems?
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There was a review I read a couple of days ago, might have even been on the Moto 360 2nd gen... He basically said that the HRM on these devices, all of them, are essential worthless and just a toy for entertainment. He didn't do any analysis of the HRM or fitness functions in his review. It may be that the technology just isn't there yet... but the companies should probably adjust their advertising to reflect the actual functionality of the HRM etc. On my Fitbit Surge, I did find it reasonably accurate for bicycling, hiking or walking (if I didn't swing my arms too much).. but for anything with any significant movement of my hands/arm, it would be way off. Did a 5 hr bike ride in Death Valley wore both my Garmin and the Surge, and the average HR they reported was virtually identical. We'll see how the Huawei does on my next bike ride... -cjr-
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tafo said:
Good test bro. So far I'm reckoning that the HW is not a good tool for sports tracking, as u said and many have the same experience u had... The big question is : is the inaccuracy due to hardware or software problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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swngdncr said:
There was a review I read a couple of days ago, might have even been on the Moto 360 2nd gen... He basically said that the HRM on these devices, all of them, are essential worthless and just a toy for entertainment. He didn't do any analysis of the HRM or fitness functions in his review. It may be that the technology just isn't there yet... but the companies should probably adjust their advertising to reflect the actual functionality of the HRM etc. On my Fitbit Surge, I did find it reasonably accurate for bicycling, hiking or walking (if I didn't swing my arms too much).. but for anything with any significant movement of my hands/arm, it would be way off. Did a 5 hr bike ride in Death Valley wore both my Garmin and the Surge, and the average HR they reported was virtually identical. We'll see how the Huawei does on my next bike ride...
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Good point about these consumer fitness features. Of these, I have found the Mio Fuse to be pretty accurate. I think the challenge with these HRMs is staying accurate through movement and skin moisture/sweat. The Fuse has been the most consistent wrist device for me.
I have done a few workouts with the Huawei Watch to compare. If I take a reading while I'm standing totally still, and the watch is in the correct position, it's really close to the Fuse, within a few beats per min. If I am not so still, or the watch is a little askew (I don't wear it very tight as a watch) then it can be pretty inaccurate. The Fuse isn't perfect either but it is continuously monitoring during a workout, so at least I can gauge HR trends well enough.
OK, did a short bike ride today. The HRM worked most of the time, but did freeze twice, once for about 5 min and once for about 3 min. At other times, it was mostly within 1-2 BPM of my chest strap. But, to get the level of accuracy, I had to do the same thing as I did on my Fitbit Surge. Open up the watch band and shove the watch up on my wrist a couple of inches. If I left it down on my wrist just above the wrist bone, it was pretty inaccurate. I did also make an observation. A few times when it was way off from the Cheststrap (Garmin), if I pushed on the watch to make better contact with arm, the HR would immediate jump up and match the Garmin. Tomorrow I will try opening up the wrist band again, push it up on my wrist and put a sweatband over it that will hold it tight up against my arm and see what that does. -cjr-
tafo said:
Good test bro. So far I'm reckoning that the HW is not a good tool for sports tracking, as u said and many have the same experience u had... The big question is : is the inaccuracy due to hardware or software problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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bailyc said:
Good point about these consumer fitness features. Of these, I have found the Mio Fuse to be pretty accurate. I think the challenge with these HRMs is staying accurate through movement and skin moisture/sweat. The Fuse has been the most consistent wrist device for me.
I have done a few workouts with the Huawei Watch to compare. If I take a reading while I'm standing totally still, and the watch is in the correct position, it's really close to the Fuse, within a few beats per min. If I am not so still, or the watch is a little askew (I don't wear it very tight as a watch) then it can be pretty inaccurate. The Fuse isn't perfect either but it is continuously monitoring during a workout, so at least I can gauge HR trends well enough.
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I've had the watch for a couple days and played with the watch "heart rate" monitor and the google fit one. Both of these I have to stop what I'm doing and check my heart rate that takes about 5-10 seconds. I'm assuming that is what people are using since I was not aware of any active heart rate monitor available. I've used it on a treadmill, mountain bike riding, and doing a Insanity T25 tape. I put it up against a basic polar t34 chest strap and found it to be withing 3-5 bpm. I did have a couple times where it did not register right but I think that was handler error because I was wearing it low on the wrist when checking. I also have been using endomondo for a map tracker on the bike rides that makes life easier since I can easily see, pause, and start the app from the watch while I'm riding w/o having to touch my phone. The only expected downside is the increased battery drain while using it.
Todays effort with the Huawei watch for fitness tracking was a big failure. I guess I can't add an image w/o a URL, but the HR froze 6 times in 2 hrs., Twice it was frozen for 16-17 minutes. When it did read the HR, the values were way, way low. The log has my HR in "resting" zone for 90% of the time. Trust me, I've done this enough times to know that my average HR is in the 120s, or higher if it is a very athletic match.
profilerz said:
I've had the watch for a couple days and played with the watch "heart rate" monitor and the google fit one. Both of these I have to stop what I'm doing and check my heart rate that takes about 5-10 seconds. I'm assuming that is what people are using since I was not aware of any active heart rate monitor available. I've used it on a treadmill, mountain bike riding, and doing a Insanity T25 tape. I put it up against a basic polar t34 chest strap and found it to be withing 3-5 bpm. I did have a couple times where it did not register right but I think that was handler error because I was wearing it low on the wrist when checking. I also have been using endomondo for a map tracker on the bike rides that makes life easier since I can easily see, pause, and start the app from the watch while I'm riding w/o having to touch my phone. The only expected downside is the increased battery drain while using it.
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Click to collapse
I've also been playing with Endomondo and the watch. There's some very nice functionality built in to the wear app. I found an interesting feature within Endomondo, but I'm not sure it actually does anything. Maybe you can check and report back to confirm?
When I go into Endomondo (phone app) and head into Settings>Manage Smartwatches>Android Wear, there's an option at the bottom to "Enable heart rate." When it's selected and I start a workout on the Endomondo Wear app, the HR monitor is on continuously. I can peek under the watch and see the green light on all the time, until I end the workout.
But interestingly, it doesn't seem to actually retrieve the HR continuously, or even at all, either on the phone app during a workout or on the wear app during a workout.
I'm hopeful that even if it doesn't work now, maybe one day this watch can do continuous monitoring. If it's tight enough, it might work.
In the meantime, I use my Fuse as the HR monitor only, and view all workout data on the watch. It works really well. Good combination and the watch is like my mini workout computer.
---------- Post added at 10:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
swngdncr said:
Todays effort with the Huawei watch for fitness tracking was a big failure. I guess I can't add an image w/o a URL, but the HR froze 6 times in 2 hrs., Twice it was frozen for 16-17 minutes. When it did read the HR, the values were way, way low. The log has my HR in "resting" zone for 90% of the time. Trust me, I've done this enough times to know that my average HR is in the 120s, or higher if it is a very athletic match.
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Click to collapse
I had a similar experience earlier with HR. But I wasn't sure if it was the HR app itself or something else. Sometimes I'm getting performance issues with the watch in general. Slow to respond, won't wake up quickly, that sort of thing. I think it's a rogue app in my case. Anyway, back to HR, it reported mine as 51 BPM a few times. My HR was more like 146. Definitely not right!
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Just doing a test this evening, not exercising, just running the apps while chilling on the couch. Using Endomondo, it does continuously track HR, like you, I could see the little green lights on. However, the screen needs to be set to "always on". If the screen times out, the HR sensor lights go out. However, on the test this evening, I basically got one HR reading and it froze, staying at 64, even when I got up and started jumping around, it never moved off of 64bpm. But, as best I can figure out , the free version does not have any statistics tracking/reporting. You have to get the paid version if you want to see your HR statistics other than average and Maximum HR. Using RunGPS, the lights went on and stayed on, but same thing happened, it froze at 67BPM. And, even when I stopped the training, the HRM lights stayed on. Then, all of a sudden it started reading my HR again and was actively changing, even though I had stopped the recording of the training. Then it froze again... I assume that the fact that RunGPs will report HR even when there isn't an active training session running is just a difference in how the applications work. But, the freezing problem happens in all the applications I've tried so far. I really hope this is some kind of firmware problem that can be fixed. I assume that if the HR monitor doesn't work, that it would be a product defect that would be covered under the 1 yr. product warranty. The 15 day return policy from the retailer isn't likely long enough for Huawei to do a firmware update that might fix this. Interesting to note, Amazon is already offering used/returned watches at a discount.
bailyc said:
I've also been playing with Endomondo and the watch. There's some very nice functionality built in to the wear app. I found an interesting feature within Endomondo, but I'm not sure it actually does anything. Maybe you can check and report back to confirm?
When I go into Endomondo (phone app) and head into Settings>Manage Smartwatches>Android Wear, there's an option at the bottom to "Enable heart rate." When it's selected and I start a workout on the Endomondo Wear app, the HR monitor is on continuously. I can peek under the watch and see the green light on all the time, until I end the workout.
But interestingly, it doesn't seem to actually retrieve the HR continuously, or even at all, either on the phone app during a workout or on the wear app during a workout.
I'm hopeful that even if it doesn't work now, maybe one day this watch can do continuous monitoring. If it's tight enough, it might work.
In the meantime, I use my Fuse as the HR monitor only, and view all workout data on the watch. It works really well. Good combination and the watch is like my mini workout computer.
---------- Post added at 10:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
I had a similar experience earlier with HR. But I wasn't sure if it was the HR app itself or something else. Sometimes I'm getting performance issues with the watch in general. Slow to respond, won't wake up quickly, that sort of thing. I think it's a rogue app in my case. Anyway, back to HR, it reported mine as 51 BPM a few times. My HR was more like 146. Definitely not right!
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bailyc said:
I've also been playing with Endomondo and the watch. There's some very nice functionality built in to the wear app. I found an interesting feature within Endomondo, but I'm not sure it actually does anything. Maybe you can check and report back to confirm?
When I go into Endomondo (phone app) and head into Settings>Manage Smartwatches>Android Wear, there's an option at the bottom to "Enable heart rate." When it's selected and I start a workout on the Endomondo Wear app, the HR monitor is on continuously. I can peek under the watch and see the green light on all the time, until I end the workout.
But interestingly, it doesn't seem to actually retrieve the HR continuously, or even at all, either on the phone app during a workout or on the wear app during a workout.
I'm hopeful that even if it doesn't work now, maybe one day this watch can do continuous monitoring. If it's tight enough, it might work.
In the meantime, I use my Fuse as the HR monitor only, and view all workout data on the watch. It works really well. Good combination and the watch is like my mini workout computer.
---------- Post added at 10:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
I had a similar experience earlier with HR. But I wasn't sure if it was the HR app itself or something else. Sometimes I'm getting performance issues with the watch in general. Slow to respond, won't wake up quickly, that sort of thing. I think it's a rogue app in my case. Anyway, back to HR, it reported mine as 51 BPM a few times. My HR was more like 146. Definitely not right!
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try that out next time I ride. I will say I noticed when I was on the treadmill this morning it (the treadmill) was registering a heart rate now and then (although not right) while I was on it. It never did that when I did not have the watch on unless I placed my hands on the sensor so I'm assuming it was attempting to grab it from the watch. I will say that I didn't expect that so the watch was not properly tightened on my wrist so I wouldn't expect an accurate reading since it was bouncing around a bit. As for accurate readings I have found that when I do manually check my heart rate I usually push the watch up my arm about one inch from my hand and get a fairly accurate reading as long as I'm standing still. I only do this because I read on my wifes fitbit forum that some people actually wear a fabric wrist band to keep their fitness tracker higher up on the arm and in place for more accurate readings.
Oh, that is interesting. I'll have to play around some more and see if I notice any capturing or freezing. Mine was definitely nothing but I tried for only a couple minutes. I do have the free version and I'm not sure what the paid actually shows over the free, but I will say that when I use the Fuse band for HR in conjunction with the watch, I can view the current HR continuously report (literally changes by the second) as well as average and maximum. I think, like you said, there are probably added trends that are visible in paid. I'm not sure if paid would offer better HR functionality for the watch but I would hope it could one day perform just as well as the Fuse. Fingers crossed for either a watch and/or an Endomondo update sometime soon!
swngdncr said:
Just doing a test this evening, not exercising, just running the apps while chilling on the couch. Using Endomondo, it does continuously track HR, like you, I could see the little green lights on. However, the screen needs to be set to "always on". If the screen times out, the HR sensor lights go out. However, on the test this evening, I basically got one HR reading and it froze, staying at 64, even when I got up and started jumping around, it never moved off of 64bpm. But, as best I can figure out , the free version does not have any statistics tracking/reporting. You have to get the paid version if you want to see your HR statistics other than average and Maximum HR. Using RunGPS, the lights went on and stayed on, but same thing happened, it froze at 67BPM. And, even when I stopped the training, the HRM lights stayed on. Then, all of a sudden it started reading my HR again and was actively changing, even though I had stopped the recording of the training. Then it froze again... I assume that the fact that RunGPs will report HR even when there isn't an active training session running is just a difference in how the applications work. But, the freezing problem happens in all the applications I've tried so far. I really hope this is some kind of firmware problem that can be fixed. I assume that if the HR monitor doesn't work, that it would be a product defect that would be covered under the 1 yr. product warranty. The 15 day return policy from the retailer isn't likely long enough for Huawei to do a firmware update that might fix this. Interesting to note, Amazon is already offering used/returned watches at a discount.
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Click to collapse

Should I buy Samasung Galaxy watch?

Hi all,
I have been attracted towards smartwatches since the time they came. However, there are many reasons that I didn't buy any till today, money, technology and android user.
Although, now I am in the position of buying and I am aiming to buy a Samsung Galaxy watch. I have watched many reviews of that watch on youtube from big streamers to small. Also read many threads on the forum about it and it seems that there were issues with the initial firmware but after updates they were solved.
I am looking to buy the BT 46mm version.
Since this is my first SW and it costs a kidney (also I am a student), I had some concerns with it.
1. Does the battery stays for at least 3days (AOD off, BT and WiFi on)?
2. Can I install third party apps on it (getting apks from google wear store and installing on the phone)?
3. Connection with non-Samsung phones (I have OnePlus 5).
Thank you very much.
Have a great day.
This watch is not powered by Android Wear so I highly doubt that you will be able to get apk to install and run. I don't even know if there is a way to sideload apk onto the phone. Getting the watch to pair to your OnePlus should not be a problem. I am still thinking of buying this watch but the lack of available apps is definitely a turn off for me too. I am coming from a Moto 360.
1. Does the battery stays for at least 3days (AOD off, BT and WiFi on)?
Yes. Even more if you do not start training apps. They drain battery like hell
2. Can I install third party apps on it (getting apks from google wear store and installing on the phone)?
No. Watch is on Tizen system
3. Connection with non-Samsung phones (I have OnePlus 5).
This should not be a problem. The original watch mail app will not work for you - it works only with Samsung phones. You can act with mail notifications though.
Take in mind that as I heard Oneplus has some problems with BT connection - but I am not shure about that
Mister-B said:
This watch is not powered by Android Wear so I highly doubt that you will be able to get apk to install and run. I don't even know if there is a way to sideload apk onto the phone. Getting the watch to pair to your OnePlus should not be a problem. I am still thinking of buying this watch but the lack of available apps is definitely a turn off for me too. I am coming from a Moto 360.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much the answers it will surely help me in deciding.
I have been a watch collector of high end mechanical watches all my life, and I was always laughing at people with black screen watches on their wrists, until my best friend bought one and started to explain me what he can do with the watch. I bought my Samsung Galaxy watch 4 LTE about 2 weeks ago and I think I only removed it from my wrist to charge it. It is unbelievable how much I became addicted to the practicality of the watch. I am looking at the screen hundreds of times a day, using navigation, reading texts, emails, setting timers, using fitness apps etc. I consider myself a power user, and lowest battery I reached was 26% by the end of the work day. ( watch is on my wrist usually from 8 am to 9 pm ) On weekends, with lighter use I get around 65% by the end of the day. So I still have to charge it every night, but that does not bother me. Included Samsung wireless charger charges them very quickly, I can't tell exactly, but it is fast ( maybe under 1.5 hr? ) My brightness is always set to full 10. ( there is levels from 1 to 10 ) It is true, fitness apps take most of the battery power, and Navigation is power drain, because I keep the screen ON all the time for directions (you can keep it black while driving and it can be turned ON only before the turns )
I would also love to have more apps available, especially apps from Nest and Ring, because I am checking that frequently. The phone my watch is paired to is Note 9. I do recommend, if you can afford it, to buy the LTE version.
dont get one if you are planning to use the HR monitor, it is still useless after 2 updates.

Series 6 Apple Watch distance tracking not accurate

I’ve tried many Apple watches and non Apple watches. None of them are accurate with tracking distance.
I go to a track. I go a mile or whatever. Every single watch is not accurate. It will say .25 for one lap. Then gets worse every lap. Each lap is worse then the one before.
Or it can be accurate for 2 laps. .50. But then gets worse each consecutive lap.
I have tried Apple Watch series 3, 5 and now 7. Fitbit sense. Garmin venue 2 plus. They all exhibit the same behavior but with different results.
I just returned the Apple Watch 7 Nike edition lte. The build in Apple walk workout open goal said 0.41 after a half mile. The Nike app for the next time I walked a mile said I went 0.88 even though I went 1.0 mile.
I’ve been to different tracks too. Always the same issue. Gps is connected and good. No clouds. Everything is good.
What the heck is going on?
How can i connect my smartwatch with my phone? can someone please guide me
buggs1a
I suggest of reading an article.
What training with the Apple Watch Ultra taught me about multiband GPS and failure
Turns out, running is a mental sport.
www.theverge.com
I also agree. I run often and my apple watch is not keeping the right calculations

Question What do you all think about the Pixel Watch?

Does it look good? I think it does!
Want to see some hand's on detailed reports for for a 1st generation smartwatch....
And how it compares to 5th generation Samsung Galaxy Watch 5!
It looks nice, even though I'm not too sure about these bezels and super rounded screen (scratches anyone?).
Got it for free through the 7 Pro pre-order though so we'll see.
I'm curious if it's going to work with Spotify. It shows that it will work with YouTube Music. When I purchased my Fitbit Ionic, they said it would work with Spotify but it doesn't. Being able to use Spotify without my phone is a must for me to purchase this watch. Does anyone know for sure if Spotify will work? I'd like to preorder.
The price is not helping it.
Some spec comparisons:
Pixel Watch Vs Galaxy Watch 5/5 Pro: Is Google Too Late?
Google has finally launched the Pixel watch, but how does it fare with the Galaxy Watch 5? Here's Pixel Watch Vs Galaxy Watch 5.
fossbytes.com
QueenVanderveen said:
I'm curious if it's going to work with Spotify. It shows that it will work with YouTube Music. When I purchased my Fitbit Ionic, they said it would work with Spotify but it doesn't. Being able to use Spotify without my phone is a must for me to purchase this watch. Does anyone know for sure if Spotify will work? I'd like to preorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Spotify is mentioned here: https://support.google.com/googlepixelwatch/answer/12662429
I'm getting one (as is my wife) but only as they are coming free with our Pixel 7 pro's. I've had many smart watches along the way but the only one I've settled with really was the withings. I'll give this a go though. I do worry it looks small (diameter). Not convinced I will like the daily charging again. I wonder how many will actually buy at full price rather than own them from similar deals.
We don't have any good deals in the US. No free watch with 7 pro purchase. I do feel like the diameter is too small
My opinion may not be the most representative because this is the first smart watch I own, but after having it for ~24 hours, I think it's pretty good! Probably a bit overpriced, the battery is a little bit on the low side, but I had no problem with fluidity or anything like that, I originally thought the screen would be too small, but it's fine honestly, the watch's UI is pretty well optimised to work with this screen, overall a good watch in my opinion, I just don't really know about the durability, seems fragile..
Views so far on the pixel watch, coming from a galaxy watch 4 classic 46mm. only had it just over 24 hours
Like it so far, fluid design, comfortable on the wrist, personally i would of preferred it to be slightly bigger but it doesn't bother me too much its small.
Spotify does work on it
cant get ecg working in the uk, investigating further
battery life has been just as much as the galaxy watch 4
assistant works well
step counts seems a bit too high
vibrations are much better than the galaxy watch
love the scroll wheel on the side compared to the bezel scroll on the galaxy
Watch bands come on and off very easily (reviews seemed to have issues with it but i didn't at all)
would i pay the asking price, not a chance its way over priced, £379 for the LTE, it should be 279 and i then i would consider it.
Anyone want me to try something go ahead and ask
QueenVanderveen said:
I'm curious if it's going to work with Spotify. It shows that it will work with YouTube Music. When I purchased my Fitbit Ionic, they said it would work with Spotify but it doesn't. Being able to use Spotify without my phone is a must for me to purchase this watch. Does anyone know for sure if Spotify will work? I'd like to preorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works fine with Spotify, but it won't play any music directly from the watch. I find the latter part a little odd considering it has a speaker for taking calls.
Corvida said:
It works fine with Spotify, but it won't play any music directly from the watch. I find the latter part a little odd considering it has a speaker for taking calls.
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Click to collapse
Ugh, then I won't purchase the watch! I had to download Deezer with my Ionic which was fine, however then I had to pay another subscription to another music program. Thanks for answering this question!
I like it so far! Only tinkered with it to set it up but it looks nice, everything is fluid. The stock band seems to be comfortable too.
I think it looks a little small on my wrist compared to the OG Huawei Watch and I don't have big wrists!
It came for free with the Pixel 7 Pro, I don't think I would buy it otherwise. It's too expensive. It should have been 250 euros for the Wi-Fi model and 299 for LTE.
Will post more impressions when my P7P is set up and running.
Phil750123 said:
Views so far on the pixel watch, coming from a galaxy watch 4 classic 46mm. only had it just over 24 hours
Like it so far, fluid design, comfortable on the wrist, personally i would of preferred it to be slightly bigger but it doesn't bother me too much its small.
Spotify does work on it
cant get ecg working in the uk, investigating further
battery life has been just as much as the galaxy watch 4
assistant works well
step counts seems a bit too high
vibrations are much better than the galaxy watch
love the scroll wheel on the side compared to the bezel scroll on the galaxy
Watch bands come on and off very easily (reviews seemed to have issues with it but i didn't at all)
would i pay the asking price, not a chance its way over priced, £379 for the LTE, it should be 279 and i then i would consider it.
Anyone want me to try something go ahead and ask
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ECG app kept telling me to update the app - but the app said it was up to date. on the phone uninstall the Fitbit app and the Fitbit ECG app and then it will give you the option to update them.
Oh .... and unlike my withings they dont mean put fingers on top of the screen they definitely mean the crown on this watch. missed that a few times just by being presumptuous!
So far, I'm really liking it. Wish band availability was a bit better. Would love to have a fabric band but I can wait. Setting up the various parts seems a little convoluted. Trying to figure out which apps you need to get to make everything function and what you can actually set and what is just done automagically. Getting my main credit card onto the watch was a bit of an adventure that I finally solved.
The last puzzle piece was trying to figure out the camera remote app working between the watch and my phone. (Pixel 6 Pro) I kept getting connection errors. Finally this morning, I was able to get it to connect. Seems that when I'm on a wifi network for my phone and watch, they don't know how to detach from the network in order to talk to each other. Which makes me wonder what fiasco I'm in for when both disconnect from each other and attempt to reattach to the wifi network.
Overall, I'm not sure I'd really want it much bigger. FitBit integration has been nice to have again. (My work place ties our health insurance discount to a "health" app that's just one giant gamification. FitBit is well known for inflating step counts. Making it easier to hit point levels.) The weather app not being permanently broken like it was on my Fossil is great. And MyRadar showing radar on my watch..... amazing!
I got mine through T-Mobile. They do half off when you add a line for the watch. Unfortunately, I have two apps that keep me from completely ditching my phone at this point. (Signal and Google Voice)
I don't see any more recent reviews or opinions and I'm looking for feedback from users or those who have decided it is not for them. I posted on another forum but will also ask here.
So, what are the on-going feelings about this watch? Happy, okay, disappointed?
I've got a dying Samsung Gear S3 (battery lasts about two hours). I've been quite happy with the Gear S3 for a number of years.
I see Amazon now has a return window through Jan for the Holiday shopping season. I suspect that while still new it may go on sale sometime in the next few months. I am concerned about its "bezel-less" face and hitting it into things.
So looking for opinions now that you've had it for a month or so.
Oh, I do have the Pixel 6 Pro phone on Google Fi.
Thanks in advance.
Ok Got Mine (LTE Version)
I can't make any comparisons to other watches since this is my first...
But I'll tell you my experience so far.
1 - Face is small but manageable. Nearly impossible to type on however which I suspect os common with most watches. Expect to use Voice for the most part.
2 - I expected to find a lot more App support than I did. a whole load of Fitness monitoring crap but not much else. Expect to use the many tools found here on XDA to sideload stuff the watch should have but doesn't. Most work well, some will not.
3 - While I went for the LTE I have yet to see any benefit to it as most things merely send you to the phone for the most part.
4 - Battery life is quite good.
5 - My main uses are to control Spotify, Google Assistant and read notifications while the phone is charging.
6 - DOES NOT SUPPORT NEST DOORBELL!!!! WHY? Have to look at the phone to see who is at the door.
7 - Comes with a Qi Charger pad but no AC plug to plug it into. Thankfully I have an Anchor 3 port quick charger. The Qi Charger is magnetic but any jostling or vibration of the table will make it stop then ding when it reseats.
8 - The Watch App (on Phone) is great toa point but is limited in options. A good Watch Face Editor is needed here.
9 - While you can set Tiles, Open Apps should also show up as tiles. (this maybe my lack of how to use this device perhaps there is away to see opened apps another way)
10 -All in allI love it,but as I said there may be much better options out there for the price and better app support.
Since I had the Unlimited Plus Data plan from Google Fi for my Phone it didn't cost a penny to add the Watch to the Service.
Hope that helps someone....
Asphyx said:
Ok Got Mine (LTE Version)
I can't make any comparisons to other watches since this is my first...
But I'll tell you my experience so far.
1 - Face is small but manageable. Nearly impossible to type on however which I suspect os common with most watches. Expect to use Voice for the most part.
2 - I expected to find a lot more App support than I did. a whole load of Fitness monitoring crap but not much else. Expect to use the many tools found here on XDA to sideload stuff the watch should have but doesn't. Most work well, some will not.
3 - While I went for the LTE I have yet to see any benefit to it as most things merely send you to the phone for the most part.
4 - Battery life is quite good.
5 - My main uses are to control Spotify, Google Assistant and read notifications while the phone is charging.
6 - DOES NOT SUPPORT NEST DOORBELL!!!! WHY? Have to look at the phone to see who is at the door.
7 - Comes with a Qi Charger pad but no AC plug to plug it into. Thankfully I have an Anchor 3 port quick charger. The Qi Charger is magnetic but any jostling or vibration of the table will make it stop then ding when it reseats.
8 - The Watch App (on Phone) is great toa point but is limited in options. A good Watch Face Editor is needed here.
9 - While you can set Tiles, Open Apps should also show up as tiles. (this maybe my lack of how to use this device perhaps there is away to see opened apps another way)
10 -All in allI love it,but as I said there may be much better options out there for the price and better app support.
Since I had the Unlimited Plus Data plan from Google Fi for my Phone it didn't cost a penny to add the Watch to the Service.
Hope that helps someone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Asphyx
Thanks for a pretty thorough review of attributes and limitations. I think I can also add it to my Fi account although, not the unlimited. I've not had LTE support before but the Samsung also sends me to the phone for more info or detail. And typing on the watch face is a real challenge there, too.
Any apps that you'd recommend? From here or Google store? I understand that its charger is proprietary and that other Qi charging stations do not work which is too bad.
Again, thanks.
Been using the watch for a few days now and it's nice. I still wish it were a little bigger. Battery life is OK, I actually used mine for 2 and a half days (not including nights) with light use.
I'm glad I got it for free with my P7P. Would I buy it at full price? No because I'm not big on smartwatches (or watches in general for that matter).

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