Question Does Samsung Health produce wildly inaccurate elevation gain stats for anyone else on their S21fe? - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

I've had my s21fe for a few months now and have been happy with it apart from 1 thing.
I have nearly 1000 tracked hikes on my Samsung account using Samsung Health since 2014 when I was using a s5. I've had a few s series devices since and never had any issues, but my s21fe is giving me utterly ridiculous elevation gain stats.
I noticed this pretty much straight away and raised it with Samsung and have run lots of tests and provided lots of logs.
On a recent test I walked approximately 1 mile in a circular route around my home which is pretty flat and tracked it simultaneously using Samsung Health, alltrails and komoot. Alltrails and komoot noted about 50ft of elevation gain, but Samsung Health reckoned it was nearly 1,100. When you look at the elevation plot in the app the graph just bounces up and down all the time (it looks like an EEG plot).
I've done loads more tests like this and alltrails and komoot are able to produce accurate records and elevation gain stats and graphs, but Samsung Health is completely broken for me, which to my mind suggests that the device is probably okay.
The device has been returned to the Samsung service centre who have reported no hardware fault, so I'm now turning to the XDA community to see if this is a widespread issue or just my device.
Just for clarity, the device has had lots of factory resets, cache wipes etc and I've run Samsung Health from stock with no apps installed in case am third party app is impacting on the stats and it has made no difference. The app itself seems to be okay as I've done a hike whilst running Samsung Health on a S9 and a s21fe and the S9 gets the stats pretty much spot on according to calculations I've done based on paper maps, whereas the s21fe calculation is thousands of feet out.
As noted art the outset, I hike a lot and do about 2000 miles a year and have 8 years of stats, but the elevation gain stats I've got since getting my s21fe at the start of February are junk and this is pretty important to me.
So, does this work okay for other s21fe users and does anyone have any suggestions as what I should do next to try and rectify this?

Maybe one of the 3rd party apps is causing this...

Thank you for your reply. The exact same thing had been observed after a factory reset and just inputting my Samsung account into Health and nothing else done to the advice.
So unless it is something that is installed as stock by Samsung that is causing this, then 3rd party apps can be ruled out. Also, if this is the case other users here may have noticed the same, hence me posting about it here to see if anyone else has noticed anything similar.

Related

[Q] Galaxy Nuxus GPS issue above about 4000 m (13000 ft) altitude. Only my problem?

Hi all,
I got an used Galaxy Nexus (unrooted, stock everything) a few months ago, with plans to use it as an outdoor gps for hiking, biking and maybe paragliding (so I wanted a barometer in it).
I live in Florida (that as you may know is all very flat... maximum altitude is about 100 meters above sea level), and I was very pleased with it (the phone, not the flatness of Florida!) until I took a trip to Colombia in December. There, I had two "bad" experiences with the Google Nexus GPS:
- I took a hike that brought me to an altitude of about 4800 m. Around an altitude of 4000 m (the last recorded point is 3992 m), the GPS lost fix and would not get it again, although GPS Status would show plenty of satellites (9 or 10) all green (that according to GPS Status help means "satellite is used while determining the location"). After rebooting and starting GPS status (but I've tried other programs too, in case you wonder) the GPS will display that it had a fix for just a second or less (coordinates would appear in the GPS Status screen, and one single point woudl be recorded, with aan altitude of 4400 m although I was probably at 4800 m) and then loose it again, never to be reacquired.
- On my flight back, I tried to record the flight. I got a fix while just before takeoff and maintained it until... 3995 m! Then, fix was lost, again never to be reacquired again (actually, I did try again when the plane was at about 1000 m, and I was able to get a fix and record the landing with no problems)
Now, for someone that likes mountaineering, 4000m is a pretty low limit! I really don't care about recording commercial flights, it's just for fun, but a GPS that stops working above 4000m while you are hiking in the mountains could mean trouble.
I've searched around the internet (including this post on XDA), but I haven't find anyone complaining about this issue at this level. Many people complain/discuss about ITAR limits, but those are much higher than what I experienced.
So, I'm wondering if is it a problem with my unit, a problem with the Galaxy Nexus, or just a coincidence? Anyone had a similar experience?
BTW, I had an T-Mobile G-2 (HTC) that worked very well both for flights and mountaineering.
Giacomo
That would explain why the gnex won't get a fix while at cruising altitude..
Beamed from my iPad Mini
Hi,
I had the same issue with my galaxy SII i9100g.
I had a mountain climbing with a summit of 4500 meters, in the beginning we really didn't need gps tracking because there was signs showing the track in the mountain. I checked the device and everything was fine the first day the signals were ok and I had my position on the phone. but in the second day when it got foggy we were in trouble as I wanted to know our altitude. and gps signals wouldn't fix. I had ten or so satellites in view but the message said "waiting for gps fix" and it didn't fix at all. I also restarted the device but it wouldn't help.
in another trip on a plane I started recording the route with gps, and I noticed last recorded point was at an altitude of 3985 meters. and when the plane reached higher altitudes i lost the fix.
I think they should give us warning about using such devices in hiking trips. it could make real trouble for me.
It might be a problem specific to the GPS receiver used in Google Nexus. Giving that I've noticed GPS late fix problems with my Nexus (compared to a Galaxy S3), I'll try checking out the internet myself too.
Have a good day!
I find it remarkable that high-tech companies such as Google or Samsung keep managing to put in design flaws or outright defects that can easily kill people. The one described here is an outstanding example. If using the GPS with good success while hiking, nobody in his right mind would ever get the idea that the GPS would suddenly stop working above a certain altitude. So some programmer has intentionally put in a deadly trap (unless you want to believe that a command like "if (altitude >= 4000) return null;" can be written inadvertently). This is sabotage of a very dangerous kind.
Another less obvious example is the design of the power button, which can easily be activated inadvertently. If somebody needs the phone to navigate and survive in the wilderness and decides to power the device down until the next critical point to keep the battery charged for a long time, the device can easily lose all power just because of an inadvertent power push in a bag or pocket. The obvious solution here is a recessed power button or, in a cinch, that the device automatically powers down again if no user action happens within reasonable time after power-up.
The rule is generally that the design is stupid, the defect is obvious, at least one solution is also obvious, and even when the flaw or defect is brought to their attention, it is not fixed. Dangerous idiots at work. Perhaps they reckon if somebody actually dies, it will be impossible to prove that the smartphone design defect was a contributing factor. It is the responsibility level of a school child.
I am sure there are more examples for this behavior.
I am not saying that people should hang their lives on their smartphones. If the smartphone is the only thing that keeps you alive, then you have already made a planning mistake. But we all know that one can get into situations inadvertently where several things go wrong in unlikely ways. In such a case you can get into a situation where your life depends on the GPS in your smartphone, and then either of the defects described above could conceivably seal your death.
My screenshot from the plain
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
giacomociani said:
Hi all,
I got an used Galaxy Nexus (unrooted, stock everything) a few months ago, with plans to use it as an outdoor gps for hiking, biking and maybe paragliding (so I wanted a barometer in it).
I live in Florida (that as you may know is all very flat... maximum altitude is about 100 meters above sea level), and I was very pleased with it (the phone, not the flatness of Florida!) until I took a trip to Colombia in December. There, I had two "bad" experiences with the Google Nexus GPS:
- I took a hike that brought me to an altitude of about 4800 m. Around an altitude of 4000 m (the last recorded point is 3992 m), the GPS lost fix and would not get it again, although GPS Status would show plenty of satellites (9 or 10) all green (that according to GPS Status help means "satellite is used while determining the location"). After rebooting and starting GPS status (but I've tried other programs too, in case you wonder) the GPS will display that it had a fix for just a second or less (coordinates would appear in the GPS Status screen, and one single point woudl be recorded, with aan altitude of 4400 m although I was probably at 4800 m) and then loose it again, never to be reacquired.
- On my flight back, I tried to record the flight. I got a fix while just before takeoff and maintained it until... 3995 m! Then, fix was lost, again never to be reacquired again (actually, I did try again when the plane was at about 1000 m, and I was able to get a fix and record the landing with no problems)
Now, for someone that likes mountaineering, 4000m is a pretty low limit! I really don't care about recording commercial flights, it's just for fun, but a GPS that stops working above 4000m while you are hiking in the mountains could mean trouble.
I've searched around the internet (including this post on XDA), but I haven't find anyone complaining about this issue at this level. Many people complain/discuss about ITAR limits, but those are much higher than what I experienced.
So, I'm wondering if is it a problem with my unit, a problem with the Galaxy Nexus, or just a coincidence? Anyone had a similar experience?
BTW, I had an T-Mobile G-2 (HTC) that worked very well both for flights and mountaineering.
Giacomo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which model is you GN?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Jar3112 said:
Which model is you GN?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a Samsung Galaxy Nexus I9250.
I should also mentioned that in the meanwhile I have found on various forums a (very limited) number of users reporting the same problem with the same phone, but no one reporting that it works for him. So I start to be confident that it is a problem of this particular model...

Step count not accurate in LG Health

Has anybody else noticed odd results with LG Health?
I carry both my G4 and an S5 mini (work phone) in my pockets all day and always get a difference of at least 2000 steps less on the G4 at the end of the day. Some days the difference is much higher. On occasion I also carry my old S4 as well and the Samsung devices show many more steps than the G4. I got the same results before and after rooting.
Is there a way to calibrate this or is there a problem with the way I walk
Sent via LG G4
Is your height and weight added into the profile?
I noticed the same thing too.
Just picking my phone up from the desk and sending out a message gives it a few steps. And considering I do this multiple times, it's completely inaccurate.
Sfkn2 said:
Is your height and weight added into the profile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes everything is updated.
@spartan268 it sounds like yours is counting too much. My G4 is showing fewer steps than my Samsung devices.
Sent via LG G4
Agreed, there is an issue. I see the G4 dramatically under-counting my steps, compared to my old phone where I'd get about 1000 more steps per day on the old phone (same routines between the two phones).
What's even funnier is if you run two different step counting apps at the same time on your G4, they will diverge quite a bit. I use both the LG Health and the Google Fit app, and they both read low, and they both read much different than each other (like sometimes over a thousand steps difference in a single day between the two apps).
That really is bizare. I thought it was just a possible calibration that could fix this but getting different results on the same hardware is insane.
Sent via LG G4
Google Fit and LG Health does not use the same algorithm to measure steps. All apps receive the same data, but they all interpret it in a different way. In fact, no pedometer is 100% accurate. I run a few different apps on my phone for this, and I even wear a FitBit. None of them show the same amount of steps.
Yeah what I've found incredibly frustrating is when it records cycling steps when really it's just me on a bus or in a car. And there isn't even any way to pause the counter or delete the inaccurate info
My understanding of google fit vs lghealth, is that lghealth tends to measure with sensors movement and Google fit with distance through GPS and doesn't rely on sensors movement.
I find Google fit more accurate relates to walking real long distances.
However won't work if you have a walking carpet thingie or a sport bike that doesn't move. Lghealth will work better here. I use lghealth just not to use two apps, it's still syncing with Google fit and I use Google fit when I try a cm/aosp based ROM. Whatever they say I want both info in the same spot. Fit.Google.com

Note 7 Successful Life! Now what?

I kept my Note 7 from Verizon. I disabled Samsung's update app through ADB which prevented ALL of the device killing updates from ever even appearing. This is the second version Note 7, with the green battery charging icon, that I obtained after I brought my first Note 7 back for the first recall.
I have since used my Note 7 ever since, with zero problems of any kind. And I just ordered my new Note 9 to replace it, 512GB and 8GB RAM. Fantastic journey!!!
I'm going to keep m Note 7 and was wondering if any definitive solutions for replacing the battery ever emerged? My Note 7 is at the point where it's battery's capacity has simply diminished from normal use. I have every single battery sucking feature always enabled - high accuracy location scanning, etc. I get a few hours out of a full charge before I'm getting low, plus I get precipitous zeroing in cold weather. Like, the phone shuts off if I leave it in the front pocket of my jacket when downhill skiing, when the battery gets below 40%.
So, I *would* like to replace the battery at some point, for that issue. Will an FE battery just go into it as a direct replacement? I did buy an S8+ battery at one point, after reading that it looked like it would fit/work, but I never got around to trying it. And tonight I just read later that it supposedly won't fit/work. So, I was rewarded for my inaction, in that case
:good:
-John
Can you share your ROM?
johnpjackson said:
I kept my Note 7 from Verizon. I disabled Samsung's update app through ADB which prevented ALL of the device killing updates from ever even appearing. This is the second version Note 7, with the green battery charging icon, that I obtained after I brought my first Note 7 back for the first recall.
I have since used my Note 7 ever since, with zero problems of any kind. And I just ordered my new Note 9 to replace it, 512GB and 8GB RAM. Fantastic journey!!!
I'm going to keep m Note 7 and was wondering if any definitive solutions for replacing the battery ever emerged? My Note 7 is at the point where it's battery's capacity has simply diminished from normal use. I have every single battery sucking feature always enabled - high accuracy location scanning, etc. I get a few hours out of a full charge before I'm getting low, plus I get precipitous zeroing in cold weather. Like, the phone shuts off if I leave it in the front pocket of my jacket when downhill skiing, when the battery gets below 40%.
So, I *would* like to replace the battery at some point, for that issue. Will an FE battery just go into it as a direct replacement? I did buy an S8+ battery at one point, after reading that it looked like it would fit/work, but I never got around to trying it. And tonight I just read later that it supposedly won't fit/work. So, I was rewarded for my inaction, in that case
:good:
-John
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for mistopic, but can you share your ROM somehow?
My N930V is simply killing me. Interface lags are constant with lots of crashes.
I believe to have the first version without green battery, maybe it's software is not as good as second one.
Can't find any solutions for this on the web unfortunately.
johnpjackson said:
I kept my Note 7 from Verizon. I disabled Samsung's update app through ADB which prevented ALL of the device killing updates from ever even appearing. This is the second version Note 7, with the green battery charging icon, that I obtained after I brought my first Note 7 back for the first recall.
I have since used my Note 7 ever since, with zero problems of any kind. And I just ordered my new Note 9 to replace it, 512GB and 8GB RAM. Fantastic journey!!!
I'm going to keep m Note 7 and was wondering if any definitive solutions for replacing the battery ever emerged? My Note 7 is at the point where it's battery's capacity has simply diminished from normal use. I have every single battery sucking feature always enabled - high accuracy location scanning, etc. I get a few hours out of a full charge before I'm getting low, plus I get precipitous zeroing in cold weather. Like, the phone shuts off if I leave it in the front pocket of my jacket when downhill skiing, when the battery gets below 40%.
So, I *would* like to replace the battery at some point, for that issue. Will an FE battery just go into it as a direct replacement? I did buy an S8+ battery at one point, after reading that it looked like it would fit/work, but I never got around to trying it. And tonight I just read later that it supposedly won't fit/work. So, I was rewarded for my inaction, in that case
:good:
-John
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
John, I have a little insight on replacing your battery. Luckily, all Samsungs S6 and up have the same connector. If you are able to find a battery that fits, whether it be an S7 or S7 edge battery, you might be able to do this repair yourself! I haven't had the opportunity to attempt this repair, as I live in a small town, and the device is almost unheard of nowadays. I work at a mobile repair shop with a national branch, known as CPR Cell Phone Repair. I'll do a little more research on this, and give you a reply with an answer on whether or not it's possible.
The battery protection circuit has been *unofficially* identified as the culprit of these devices. So in that case, use a different device's battery, right?
Thanks,
-Mark
Markb001 said:
John, I have a little insight on replacing your battery. Luckily, all Samsungs S6 and up have the same connector. If you are able to find a battery that fits, whether it be an S7 or S7 edge battery, you might be able to do this repair yourself! I haven't had the opportunity to attempt this repair, as I live in a small town, and the device is almost unheard of nowadays. I work at a mobile repair shop with a national branch, known as CPR Cell Phone Repair. I'll do a little more research on this, and give you a reply with an answer on whether or not it's possible.
The battery protection circuit has been *unofficially* identified as the culprit of these devices. So in that case, use a different device's battery, right?
Thanks,
-Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, I bought a new battery for an S7 edge for it, but never tried installing it because I did some more reading and thought I saw something that made me think it wouldn't fit or have the correct connector or something.
But, I still have the phone and the new battery and it would be way cool to still do the replacement! The original battery is just really tired and beat. It was diwn to holding maybe a third of its original charge capacity. It would be like having a new phone again if I got a working replacement battery into it!! ??
johnpjackson said:
You know, I bought a new battery for an S7 edge for it, but never tried installing it because I did some more reading and thought I saw something that made me think it wouldn't fit or have the correct connector or something.
But, I still have the phone and the new battery and it would be way cool to still do the replacement! The original battery is just really tired and beat. It was diwn to holding maybe a third of its original charge capacity. It would be like having a new phone again if I got a working replacement battery into it!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me know how it goes! I'm interested!

S20 - Major issues

Morning All,
The last Samsung I had was an S2… so im reaching out to the Samsung people on here and those with a bit more insight than me…
I’ve had my S20 for a few days now (2nd one after my initial one was faulty).
I’m having major issues with it to the point I actually hate this phone.
Issue 1: Battery Drain
So, my first handset had to go back because the battery drain was so bad Samsung thought it must be faulty. My 2nd device isn’t much better.
I’ve come from a 2-year-old p20 pro which would use about 5% and hour with me using it none stop.
This S20 is using 5% every 30 mins... with no usage. As an example, I unplugged my phone at 100% at 8am this morning, it’s now 8:57 and my battery is at 87%... I’ve not used it.
Iv trawled XDA and tried a few things in terms of the screen settings, refresh rates, dark more, Natural instead of vivid, disabled apps, power control on apps, turn off 5g etc and then installing all my apps manually instead of Smart Switch on initial setup.... It’s still not lasting a day even with minimal usage.
It’s really really poor, I’m now thinking my first handset wasn’t faulty.... just this S20 is rubbish.
Issue 2: Wow how bad is the camera
So, my other issue is the camera... one of the main selling points on this handset is practically useless.
Again, coming from a P20 Pro I’m used to amazing photos, but that handset is 2 years old... surely Samsung has caught up? nope.
Iv given up using the 64mp mode because every photo is blurred, the auto focus simply doesn’t work... the standard photo mode (10mp) i think does auto focus, but there is such a lag between pressing the shutter button and the photo taking it makes everything blur.
Can anyone help or is this (flagship) phone simply a waste of time?
Just for ref:
SM-G981B
Exynos990
G981BXXU1ATCT
O2-UK
Sounds like you have a defective handset. I have the s20 ultra and the camera ****s on the p30 pro
Unfortunately, this is the situation at the moment. Still waiting to fix camera problem with focus. I read, that the S20 Ultra user no longer complain about this problem, but still here in S20+, maybe in S20 too.
The battery is very bad. I used in 60hz, because in 120hz i can't make the day. I do SOT in 4g about 3-4 hours. Hopefully they will fix things with next update... too many people complain about Exynos S20 series....
its not a defective hand set, iv already sent one back thinking it was defective but this one is the same. Looks like everyone has the same issue. I guess its the **** exynos chip that we get fobbed off with.
I presume all of the reviewers were sent a snapdragon version and the mass produced ones used the garbage processor.
So i clocked it this morning it took 7 hours and 40 mins to go from fully charged to dead. the camera is just straight up garbage at the moment, yes you say the ultra is sorted but i think they treat that desperately to the s20 and the plus which you would expect given that the most expensive handset (£1,200 in the UK).
It's because it's an Exynos chipset phone. Those are crap for battery, as for the camera Samsung post processing isn't real good. I would imagine that future software updates will straighten this out but only time will tell.
Sent from my IN2025 using Tapatalk

Question Phone running hot and shutting down

Anyone ever notice their phone getting hot and shutting down features or even turning off? I know this might be kinda extreme... My 6 pro has been shutting down all sorts of things just to cool the phone and eventually shutting off. This has been happening while I'm in a sauna after working out with the lowest brightness on even. But my Note 10 plus never even mentioned anything to me ever even with full brightness. Thanks for the help
It happened to me once with a Galaxy S7 but it was in a heatwave that said I read on forums that several users complained about an overheating problem on the pixel 6.
As the chip is made in partnership with Samsung and it is well known that exynos chips overheat other than waiting for software upgrades or sending it back there is nothing that can be done.
stalls said:
My 6 pro has been shutting down [...] while I'm in a sauna.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stalls said:
But my Note 10 plus never even mentioned anything to me ever even with full brightness. Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting that your Note 10 Plus works in a sauna-environment. I would definitely call that an extreme situation where no phones needs to properly work, after all we are talking about an ambient temperature of ~ 65°C to 90°C, that's much hotter than even a desert. Most commercial products only operate up until 70° Celsius, Industrial usually up to 85°, Military ones even higher.
Personally I would never/have never taken my phone inside a sauna out of fear it might get damaged, after all it's a thousand dollar product. Treating it with care and caution is usually a wise choice, if longevity is of any concern.
Most smartphone (and desktop) processors can only take about ~100 Degrees Celsius (internal, chip temperature), before they throttle down into the abyss and try to cool down (to prevent permanent damage). But if they are in a sauna... there is no cooling down, lol. Afterall they lack a dedicated fan. As an example: It's a situation comparable with your ambient room temperature in the summer - if you have 30° Celsius in your room, but outside it's 40°, your room of course will not cool down, but heat up even more. ESPECIALLY not if you have several heaters on (= processor, display, et cetera).
That's why it's quite the achievement of your Note 10 to properly function in that kind of situation, that seems like a well-balanced phone in terms of heat/cooling. Props to Samsung in that case.
According to several reports in this forum, Tensor can get quite toasty, even in a normal environment. It shutting down in a sauna does not surprise me. There's probably nothing that you can do here, expect switch the phone or hope for a Google firmware update that lowers the coreclock.
I haven't had any overheating. I think the very first day when I was setting up the phone and restoring from my cloud backup it got a little warm, but mine hasn't overheated at all or shut down anything. I am probably not pushing the envelope of what any phone could handle, however.
Haven't witnessed any overheating on my unit.
Never had this happen on any of my recent phones including my Note 10 plus and my buddy has a new 20 Samsung as well.. No problems for them or anyone else with their iphones and a few others while they are in sauna as well.. even my samsung ear buds murder this thing lol
NOTE TO ALL POTENTIAL 6 OR 6P BUYERS: this is not a common phenomenon. Just want to put that out there.
I use GSAM bettery monitor (with the ADB mods) and it works great to watch the temp. Once or maybe twice it got warm (107F) when I was backing up the entire unit to my NAS (or vice versa). Ever since it gets warmer when I use it more, and then cooler when I don't.
stalls said:
Anyone ever notice their phone getting hot and shutting down features or even turning off? I know this might be kinda extreme... My 6 pro has been shutting down all sorts of things just to cool the phone and eventually shutting off. This has been happening while I'm in a sauna after working out with the lowest brightness on even. But my Note 10 plus never even mentioned anything to me ever even with full brightness. Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you answered your own question buddy... The temperature in the sauna ranges typically between 60oC to 95oC. Your Pixel phone is designed to operate up to 45oC at extreme situations.
I'm afraid the problem lies with the owner in your case, not the device itself.
A Sauna?! A SAUNA?? Did I read that right? I .... I .... I just don't understand. And when my sister "washes" her Galaxy S20 under the tap, the first thing she says: "Samsung says it's OK! The phone is Waterproof and Heat Proof and Mud Proof!" ... ok the last two things are false but every galaxy owner I've come across thinks their phone can be used in a shower, hmmm....
Again... I knew I would catch some crap for posting this.. but I'm trying to figure out why most and yes I said most phones do not have a problem including my old note 10+ and also my other friends phones and random people as well..
My Note would be full brightness and wouldn't even really feel hot. Warm yes and it would continue to work just perfect.. I even tried to put my 6 pro in battery saver mode which shuts down cores and it still could not last 5 mins at the lowest brightness.. My Note in performance mode and full brightness would last the full 25+ minutes I would be in there.
Looking for advice or answers. I've stated comparisons with the same scenarios with two completely different phones of my own along with others. One works great and another does not..

Categories

Resources