[Q] Exercise tracking only for moving activities? - Samsung Galaxy Gear

I was checking out the Fit and Gear 2 in BB today and the exercise tracking/coaching apps seemed to only be set up for various activities that involve movement such as jogging, hiking, and biking. I was hoping to use it to track gym workouts (whether weightlifting or aerobics workouts), but there didn't seem to be a "general" exercise setting that simply tracked heart rate and let you know if you were above or below a target. Did I miss a mode somewhere?
I suppose that I could put it in one of the "running" or "biking" modes and just let it believe that I was actually going somewhere, but a review of the fit mentioned that it won't even start a session in biking mode if it can't get a GPS lock. I'm guessing that the running mode might get bored and cancel out if it didn't detect pedometer inputs.
Has anyone tried using it for simple general-purpose heart rate monitoring and tracking?

Related

[REQ]No-ring areas

Not sure if this was requested before or done, but I figured it would be really useful if there is an app on the Fuze which detects where your location is through the phone's GPS and can automatically turn the phone to vibrate, or silent, or even off in certain areas on a map, and even at certain times.
This could be useful for someone who does not want to have his or her phone ring inside a church/temple/synagogue/place of worship, classroom, library, at home, or anywhere that can be located on a map. Even during certain time periods of certain days.
The user could map out a radius (circle or perimeter) around the coordinates of the spot of which the phone is required to switch to silent or vibrate upon entering the radius. Obviously this could only work outdoors, and certain places indoors, but a lot of us do travel outdoors and have areas where we do not want our phones to interrupt our personal business.
I know google maps can detect your exact location, or at least detect your location inside a radius, but can it be used for an application to command your phone to change its settings? Just thought I could start a discussion on this and see what the XDA community thinks of the idea and if it's plausible or just not worth the effort. Thanks.
Check out G-Profile... There is also another app in Dev and Hacking with this function.
I like the problem solving creativity...
but no, it is not worth it. Not sure how much you've experimented with gps but in addition to draining your battery rapidly the phone needs to be able to listen to the satellites very clearly, something that is not easy when it's not on your dashboard or you're holding it out from you and upright in a wide open area. So for your purposes it's not a practical option.
As far as Google Map's tower calculation poor man's gps goes, that is easier on the battery and you don't need a perfect signal however if you're not in a dense area with a lot of towers you'll be getting at the very best 600 meter accuracy. Not good enough if you don't want false positives or negatives for your application.
What it is adequate enough for however is, say, if you're driving home from work, your phone detects a cell tower twenty miles from your home and sends your computer a signal to fire up the lights, air conditioner and pool heater (search for trackme by strayton).
As for toggling rings for when you step inside a library, church or classroom, you'll have to stick, in my recommendation, to using the long end key vibration press yourself. Or just leave it on vibrate if you're in these places so frequently that you come up with this idea.
Still, I like the way you think; that's why we keep getting sweet apps so keep on thinking brotha.
Doug
Yes, GPS polling is quite expensive for a relatively simple task.
G-Profile works well because much of it is event-driven (eg: profile is activated only at a certain time, or only when you plug in a headset, etc) and therefore there is close to no battery overhead. Keep in mind, it also works with more than just schedule-based profiles (time, day). You can configure profiles based on which accessories are connected. I think you might also be able to configure profiles based on which wifi network you're connected to (eg: Home network vs School/Work network).
Using GPS location is conceptually a more elegant solution, but either way you will still have to manually define different profiles, so using a program like G-Profile is no more complicated than a GPS-based profile switcher, and actually much more flexible/precise.

[Q] How to disable compass?

I'm increasingly convinced that the compass may be at least partly to blame for poor gps tracking. I'd like to experiment with disabling and/or tweaking the compass but don’t know where to start fiddling with compass settings.
Suggestions?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
There has been some work on what causes the gps problems with captivate, notably by developers CLShortFuse and Da_G. Some of the discussions are quite technical. I don't recall the compass being implicated, however. If you are interested in pursuing gps info, search out threads by the above two developers. For starters, try this one.
I know this is an old thread, but I think there is something to it...
@creepyncrawly: I came to the same conclusion last night. The Captivate gets brilliant SNo while sitting on my desk. If I turn it while still on the desk, I lose all satellite locks. I think that is what introduces the error.
Open up GPS Test and watch the compass output. It's all over the place, while for me at least, the lat/long stay pretty steady. For example, completely still it wobbles, a lot. When I rotate the phone, the bearing wildly fluctuates. Turning it 180 degrees doesn't give a 180 degree shift in bearing either.
I think the phone is being mislead into thinking its moving by either the accelerometers or the compass. I think my next test will be a good strong magnet in close proximity while the phone is stationary.
I tried killing the compass daemon, but it comes back. I've tried removing it from the init script, but it must be a protected file. Next trick will be to just delete the binary I think.
My second idea is decreasing the port speed of the GPS module, not sure that would do anything constructive though.

[Discussion] Do you like your Gear Live?

Thoughts on it, display in sunlight, battery life, handling of notifications, look/feel of it on your wrist..... basically anything to do with the watch!
i like it. granted that its a new class of its own, i still get confused especially when i get multiple notifications on an app (ie hangouts). its confusing where the group text starts or if im still being shown a private text..
the screen is kinda hard to read in direct sunlight but tilting it a bit or using a different watch face helps.
i like the feel of it.. i preferred this over the g watch coz of the added feature and the look.
I really like it; however, screen is difficult to see in sunlight at times; screen is also a smudge magnet which adds to difficulties in seeing the display outdoors.
Love it - compared to the sony smartwatch and the Galaxy Gear it really has great improvements. Only Day 2, but my initial thoughts:
Pros
- Look/feel - it is little large (I don't have big wrists) but still stylish.
- Screen: awesome that the clock is always on, this was my biggest gripe about the Gear
- Usefulness: I've spent time training Google Now, and that's really paid off. Notifications mean i take my phone out of my pocket a lot less, and Google Now surfaces reminders and other useful info pretty well (although you don't have a lot of control over the order of notifications etc). The fact that it syncs dismissed notifications on the phone immediately is, in a word, awesome
- Apps: early days yet on this, but most big apps I'm sure will integrate so you can do the key features easily
- Voice recognition works great so far
Cons
- No speaker means if you want to do stuff without looking at the screen with your voice, it's harder. But seems like something I can live with
- Charging dongle is kinda annoying to fit on, and have to remember to travel with
- Starting an app (say Fit) takes a few too many swipes (if you're in a place where you don't want to be speaking to your wrist...)
A lot of the other potential "cons" like not many watch face designs, no feature to locate your phone (I know there's an app for this though) I reckon will play out over time and Google can fix pretty quickly...
A
eurorauser said:
, no feature to locate your phone (I know there's an app for this though) I reckon will play out over time and Google can fix pretty quickly...
A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at this one for that: Wear Aware
i'm pleasantly surprised with how much i'm enjoying it.
my first full day with it will be tomorrow so i haven't taken it outside in the sunlight much yet, but checking email, counting steps, reading and replying to texts (i use evolve and it works great) is great and much more reliable and smoother than it was on my OG gear, and it's proving to be far more useful than my pebble.
the strap is actually quite comfortable and i'm glad i didn't buy a new strap before getting the watch.
the charging cradle, if you put it on tab side first it snaps in much easier. it's annoying but i haven't found it to be the spawn of lucifer as some people were screaming about it. treat it like part of a $200 gadget and it will be fine. mash it on like the hulk and it's going to break, it is plastic tabs after all.
i used it for about 7 hours today and it's now around 65% remaining. moderate use, but i def was clicking and swiping for no reason since it's new as well. i am pretty sure i'll have to charge it every night, but i don't sleep with a watch on and i charge my phone every night too, so i don't see it as being a big issue. my pebble lasted longer, but it would often die since i didn't have a set pattern on when to charge and would head out and a few hours later realize i had 20% left.
so in short, i'm happy, yes there are growing pains but those are the early adopter blues.
So far very please for what it can do. Regarding bot visible in sunlight, tell me what phone is visible in sunlight. None of them are great, only the kinfpdle due to the ink screen it has. I can wait till indoors or in shade. 9 more days testing and then deciding to keep or not. Off charging cradle at 6:30am today and as of this post still has 34% left. About the same as my previous Gear watch.
Ian B
The number of apps pouring in each day are a great sign for the platform as a whole. The Tizen gears were nothing like this.
Quick reply.... I like it. Had Nero, no comparison.
I've had a few issues and design factors that I'd like changed:
Hate the alarm mute icon. I would love to figure out a way to hide that on the clock face. Would make the watch look more watchie if you will.
Also would like to only wake the watch from the button vice touchscreen, or atleast an option to set that insettings.
Does anyone else find themselves open palming your watch to put it in hybernate?
FynxSyndct said:
Does anyone else find themselves open palming your watch to put it in hybernate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pressed it against my forehead earlier because I was in bed and my other arm wasn't free.
SkuzFoz said:
I pressed it against my forehead earlier because I was in bed and my other arm wasn't free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This really made me LOL
I'll be the lone wolf in the wilderness by bucking the trend and saying that I'm very disappointed with my Gear Live. I'm a gadget lover and really wanted to love this device. But I was far more enthusiastic about this thing before I actually received it. Once I had one, I quickly grew disappointed with it.
Out of the box, pairing with my Nexus 5 took multiple attempts. Once I finally did get it paired, only the stock apps would work. Any apps that I downloaded from the Play store would run on my phone but the watch interface would never show up (no matter how many times I tried to force the apps to sync via the Android Wear app or rebooted the watch).
Factory resetting the watch and starting again cleared up that problem but I still found the functionality of the watch to be quirky at best. Add to that the fact that the screen is virtually impossible to read outdoors, the lack of support for continuous heart rate monitoring, and the sudden dramatic drop in my Nexus 5's battery life (which cleared up after I uninstalled the Android Wear app).
Bottom line for me is that this isn't ready to replace my old fashioned watch. So until I read about some new killer Wear app that I can't live without, the Gear Live had gone back into its box to be stored away. I'm hoping that the software will mature quickly to a point where I can give it another try.
Does gear live suport sleep monitoring? Can it automatically figure out that user is cycling?
How good is the fitness tracking on it?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Watch 3 HR data drops off during Activity

Hey, got a question for those that exercise, or work out using their Galaxy Watch 3. Specifically, walking, but also running, treadmills,etc.
Do you see a dropping of your heart rate data at random times during your activity? Heart rate data appears perfect during the day, but will drop randomly during a walk, or treadmill activity.* This has happened both times I've tried the activities, I've only had the watch 3 days.
Anyone found a fix?
Can't speak for running, but for brisk walking the heart rate monitoring has been very good and consistent for me (within 1-2 of a chest strap monitor average after an hour).
It needs to be snug, not tight (it should not be able to slide around on your wrist in any direction). And should be above the orbital bone on your wrist.
Beretta143 said:
Hey, got a question for those that exercise, or work out using their Galaxy Watch 3. Specifically, walking, but also running, treadmills,etc.
Do you see a dropping of your heart rate data at random times during your activity? Heart rate data appears perfect during the day, but will drop randomly during a walk, or treadmill activity.* This has happened both times I've tried the activities, I've only had the watch 3 days.
Anyone found a fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem when in cycling mode :/ At first i thought it was related to tightness of the strap or placement, but no matter how tight or loose it is, it drops, and seems to come back by random seconds or minutes after i notice it has gone.... Seems to only be in exercise mode, as i've never caught it doing it otherwise (i have continuous monitoring enabled)
In any case, the heart sensor really stops working at times during physical activities, especially running. And even at times during the day in a normal situation it stops working.
In any case I did not have this kind of problem with my Galaxy watch active 2.
I hope there will be an update soon.
To elaborate: This happened again for me today, and i took off the watch and could see the green sensor light still going.... tried to clean it and put it back on, but no success.... after ~10 minutes more on my bike, it "magically" started registering HR again.... Very weird.... Hope it is SW and not HW related though
At times I have the same problem with the heart sensor. In any case, it's very frustrating for a watch that calls itself sports / Fitness.
Well i found out that if i move the watch on my wrist during ECG, it ends with "Atrial fibrillation" and the curve looks like garbage
If i have the watch tight on the wrist, it ends sinusal and regular, clean...
So i'd guess that the drops might come from the watch not being secured enough on the wrist. Just tighten it very well before walk/run.
mafy31 said:
Well i found out that if i move the watch on my wrist during ECG, it ends with "Atrial fibrillation" and the curve looks like garbage
If i have the watch tight on the wrist, it ends sinusal and regular, clean...
So i'd guess that the drops might come from the watch not being secured enough on the wrist. Just tighten it very well before walk/run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my first thought as well. But it behaves the same way when tightened everywhere from "comfortably loose" to "i think i cut off blood circulation to my hand" :/
early firmware issues perhaps? did you reboot the watch (pressing the bottom button until you see "rebooting" on the display)?
if you experienced better results from older galaxy watches then give the firmware some time to mature.
i use my elliptical daily and whilst i don't like to have a watch on my arm , i left it on to test the auto exercise feature. it picked up i was using an elliptical and the stats/vitals all looked in line with what i expected -- so no dropouts in hr. ive the lte version.
If it's not firmware (and probably not - mine was great out of the box), then it's a hardware issue (wasn't there a clear film on the back of the watch - did you remove that?).
I have not tested running, but brisk walking, riding an exercise bike, and sleeping and all other times of the day the heart rate is spot on for me. It definitely doesn't "drop" and stop reading. If anything, it would just spit out an inaccurate reading for a bit during strenuous exercise.
Epedemic said:
That was my first thought as well. But it behaves the same way when tightened everywhere from "comfortably loose" to "i think i cut off blood circulation to my hand" :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi exactly the same i tightened the strap of the watch to have traces of it. And always inconsistencies with the heart sensor while running. In any case looking forward to having the next update.
marctronixx said:
early firmware issues perhaps? did you reboot the watch (pressing the bottom button until you see "rebooting" on the display)?
if you experienced better results from older galaxy watches then give the firmware some time to mature.
i use my elliptical daily and whilst i don't like to have a watch on my arm , i left it on to test the auto exercise feature. it picked up i was using an elliptical and the stats/vitals all looked in line with what i expected -- so no dropouts in hr. ive the lte version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long did you have it track your workout? It seems the problem usually first starts after x minutes, and from there on it seems (to me) completely random when it starts working again (during the workout). I think i will try to see if i can spot it doing it, stop the workout mode, and see if it does HR instantly in "non-workout-mode"... I encourage others to try this too to gather some data.
*edit*: Reboot have been tried to no effect right before workout, but not during (which also kinda defeats the point), and there is no film on the watch.
Looking around, i found this thead about a similar problem one of the older watches: https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-Watch/Galaxy-watch-heart-rate-sensor/td-p/389847/page/7
Going to try out some of the things: 1st: turning off diagnostics. Will keep you in the loop. *edit*: Nope didn't work.
Next: Turning off always on NR monitoring. *edit*: Nope!
Third: Turning off sensor permits for power saving. *edit*: Nope, also didn't work.
Epedemic said:
How long did you have it track your workout? It seems the problem usually first starts after x minutes, and from there on it seems (to me) completely random when it starts working again (during the workout). I think i will try to see if i can spot it doing it, stop the workout mode, and see if it does HR instantly in "non-workout-mode"... I encourage others to try this too to gather some data.
*edit*: Reboot have been tried to no effect right before workout, but not during (which also kinda defeats the point), and there is no film on the watch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run errands and I always have the problems. The heart rate sensor stops at times .... And when it resumes it completely wrong. With very random measurements.
Beretta143 said:
I run errands and I always have the problems. The heart rate sensor stops at times .... And when it resumes it completely wrong. With very random measurements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My readings seems fine, once it, randomly, resumes. (Eg 140-160 when biking at a fast but not furious (hehe) pace)
Compared to the apple watch it's very finicky. I have to tighten the watch band ridiculously in order to get HR and ECG.
I think the Apple watch is a better overall product.
Update incoming: https://doc.samsungmobile.com/SM-R855F/TGY/doc.html Hope this is what we're looking for.... (Not out in NEE region yet though)
Epedemic said:
Update incoming: https://doc.samsungmobile.com/SM-R855F/TGY/doc.html Hope this is what we're looking for.... (Not out in NEE region yet though)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good news.

Should I get this watch or another one

I hope this is in the right forum, please move if not.
I am looking for a smart watch for my mother. She's in her 70's and I want something to monitor her heart just in case.
*Note I understand no smartwatch is accurate or can it predict unforeseen health concerns. I understand the risks. She's not predisposed to heart conditions.
I've been doing research and it seems like either the Watch 3 or Active 2 are good choices because of the ECG function and also that it has active monitoring for heartrate and blood pressure. However, reading on the forums it seems its only recently that Korea health department has accepted the watch to be used as ECG monitors, and so we have to manually install apks to the watch. Does it require a Samsung phone to do it or can I use other phone brands?
Just to confirm, do the watches have watch screens that constantly display (active display) of heart rate and BP? I know ECG needs to be manually triggered for it to do its measurements.
I am not considering hybrid watches as I want a screen big enough for my mom to see numbers.
Please shoot me any other recommendations, but needs to have active display for your heart rate and BP. I have looked into the Omnron brand but its about $500 which is too expensive.
Thanks in advanced!
BPM is also on demand - I doubt any device monitors it constantly. Beside the handful of guidelines to take BP correctly (which is why it's not constantly measured), it simply doesn't need monitored constantly. That said, the BPM seems to be relatively accurate, but still requires monthly calibration.
Same thing for ECG. Honestly there are cheaper wearables that do a fine job of monitoring heart rate 24/7. In my experience, those devices can't read heart rate when in a-fib, so that's kind of an indirect indicator. I think the Apple Watch might claim to detect a-fib. The GW3 is not yet fully baked, so if you're seriously concerned about detecting a-fib look elsewhere.
I'm not a doctor and I'm not giving a rec or advice here. Bottom line is the GW3 is not the miracle device you're hoping for.
if you gotta ask , then get another one
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong: but none of the Samsung watches actively monitor heart rate other than beats-per-minute (and you can set the high and low rates). If the watch senses rates outside of your settings for a few minutes while not exercising, it's supposed to alert the user. No Afib or other alerts, as I believe an iWatch does. As noted above, the ECG and BP are on demand. There are watch faces that can show active heartrate
agbva said:
There are watch faces that can show active heartrate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't speak to that, or how often it updates. I know on Android Wear in dim mode the heart rate updates, at most, once per hour. GW3 does do active heart rate monitoring, but not sure if, or how often, it would update in dim mode.
Best to look at a Fitbit. They display an active heart rate that updates fairly frequently. New Fitbits may also have active a-fib monitoring.
That said, GW3 is the only watch I'm aware of that has fall detection. Combined with a cellular plan that could be a big winner for the elderly crowd. I haven't used it, but I believe the GW3 will call or message emergency contacts if you don't cancel it within 1 minute of a fall detected. GW3 might also have a heart rate alarm that goes off if your heart rate goes above a certain threshold (which is probably what you really want).
As far as heart rate trends, it takes a few clicks in the Samsung Health app but GW3 will show you the high and low heart rate by hour....another click and it will show you the average as well as all the readings for that hour. Not sure the highs and lows are super accurate - maybe only +/- 5-10 beats. My suspicion is that is because it calculates too fast (i.e. only counts for 3-5 seconds, and so that half-beat is the source of variance).
kodiak799 said:
BPM is also on demand - I doubt any device monitors it constantly. Beside the handful of guidelines to take BP correctly (which is why it's not constantly measured), it simply doesn't need monitored constantly. That said, the BPM seems to be relatively accurate, but still requires monthly calibration.
Same thing for ECG. Honestly there are cheaper wearables that do a fine job of monitoring heart rate 24/7. In my experience, those devices can't read heart rate when in a-fib, so that's kind of an indirect indicator. I think the Apple Watch might claim to detect a-fib. The GW3 is not yet fully baked, so if you're seriously concerned about detecting a-fib look elsewhere.
I'm not a doctor and I'm not giving a rec or advice here. Bottom line is the GW3 is not the miracle device you're hoping for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ECG function should be enough to detect arrhythmia. Don't need A-fib. It just seems like a hassle to install, but I need confirmation that a non-samsung phone can install the ECG function.
agbva said:
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong: but none of the Samsung watches actively monitor heart rate other than beats-per-minute (and you can set the high and low rates). If the watch senses rates outside of your settings for a few minutes while not exercising, it's supposed to alert the user. No Afib or other alerts, as I believe an iWatch does. As noted above, the ECG and BP are on demand. There are watch faces that can show active heartrate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know iwatch does that. I know for a fact that they don't constantly monitor heart rate, but they measure in intervals. That's all I want, but I need to make sure that there's a watch face that can display BP or heart rate on the front without going into the settings.
kodiak799 said:
I can't speak to that, or how often it updates. I know on Android Wear in dim mode the heart rate updates, at most, once per hour. GW3 does do active heart rate monitoring, but not sure if, or how often, it would update in dim mode.
Best to look at a Fitbit. They display an active heart rate that updates fairly frequently. New Fitbits may also have active a-fib monitoring.
That said, GW3 is the only watch I'm aware of that has fall detection. Combined with a cellular plan that could be a big winner for the elderly crowd. I haven't used it, but I believe the GW3 will call or message emergency contacts if you don't cancel it within 1 minute of a fall detected. GW3 might also have a heart rate alarm that goes off if your heart rate goes above a certain threshold (which is probably what you really want).
As far as heart rate trends, it takes a few clicks in the Samsung Health app but GW3 will show you the high and low heart rate by hour....another click and it will show you the average as well as all the readings for that hour. Not sure the highs and lows are super accurate - maybe only +/- 5-10 beats. My suspicion is that is because it calculates too fast (i.e. only counts for 3-5 seconds, and so that half-beat is the source of variance).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which fitbit do you recommend? I was looking at their bands, but I don't think they all have ECG function?
Thanks for the replies. Please give me suggestions of what other smartwatches I can consider.
Hi,
I'm sorry for being a bit off topic but how did you manage to install bp/ecg with nonSamsung phone? I've tried some tpks, signed them and tried sdb install but I always get -1 error...
Regards.
Deviatorz said:
which fitbit do you recommend? I was looking at their bands, but I don't think they all have ECG function?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really know much about Fitbit. We got my dad one several years ago that also pairs with a phone to show the heart rate history. Most [all?] smartwatches update minimal things on the watchface in dim mode in order to save battery.
You can buy a good Omron BPM/ECG monitor for $180. No watch is going to actively measure and display BPM or ECG.
I don't think you will find a watch that does everything you want, so you'll probably have to accomplish that with multiple devices.
As far as I remember gw3 fall detection only works in workouts. I couldn't prove that yet though...
Well this watch has a lot of potential for a new owner ?
Deviatorz said:
The ECG function should be enough to detect arrhythmia. Don't need A-fib. It just seems like a hassle to install, but I need confirmation that a non-samsung phone can install the ECG function.
I didn't know iwatch does that. I know for a fact that they don't constantly monitor heart rate, but they measure in intervals. That's all I want, but I need to make sure that there's a watch face that can display BP or heart rate on the front without going into the settings.
which fitbit do you recommend? I was looking at their bands, but I don't think they all have ECG function?
Thanks for the replies. Please give me suggestions of what other smartwatches I can consider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the ECG function does on the GW3 is detect Afib. You also need to touch the watch button with the finger from your hand to use the ECG function, so it can't continuously monitor you.
I only have a Samsung phone so I can't advise on how it works with non-Samsung Android phones.

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