I would require some assistance - from the Gear 1 users who still use it, and are willing to help. Basically since the Tizen update I have the same-ish battery life as with Android as long as I don't use the Auto-Lock feature, which was my favorite. As soon as this feature is enabled, I can barely make it through the day with one battery charge.
Now here my question, could, whoever cares to help, try to enable this feature on his/her phone for one day, and report back the results?
Basically what I am suspecting is, that with Tizen update, Samsung killed the Bluetooth Low Energy layer. It is now only used until the device is connected (for Advertising), after that, the watch and the phone switch to standard BT EDR. I can trace with a Bluetooth Low Energy analyzer that the BT LE connection is dropped, however I cannot trace the BT EDR connection with my analyzer so far. I will try to get a spectrum analyzer to check in which bands the watch actually keeps communicating with the Phone, but I am almost definitively positive that it is not BT LE. Which means, Samsung is either willingly trashing the Gear 1 in favor for Gear 2+ (for marketing purposes), as the Gear 1 has bigger battery than the Gear 2, or they screwed up both, due to a problem in the Android 4.4.x, where the BT LE stack is partly broken (by Google), so they can use it also on their newer phones, which have 4.4.x running on them.
thanks,
meh
I use auto-lock all the time.
I used it the Gear 1 launched and have used it since switching shortly after the Tizen update.
I haven't noticed a problem with battery life. If anything, the battery is better.
The biggest effect on battery life for me is the watch face.
I get the best battery life using one of the inbuilt digital faces with a black background.
I use the shortcut watch face with black background and orange font.
If I use any of the analog faces (inbuilt or downloaded from store) then battery life is a lot worse.
On a typical day, I can have 50% battery left after about 12 hours.
Using my favourite analog face (Moonlight) it will usually be about 20% after about 12 hours.
Always with auto lock and motion wake on. Screen brightness at 3.
Interesting topic on BT low energy-if I recall, the android galaxy gear needed 4.3 jelly bean in order to utilize BTLE. Some Samsung phones at the time, gs3 as an example, used proprietary methods to utilize BTLE.
Can you provide screenshots or testing data on your findings?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using XDA Free mobile app
stevedrz said:
Interesting topic on BT low energy-if I recall, the android galaxy gear needed 4.3 jelly bean in order to utilize BTLE. Some Samsung phones at the time, gs3 as an example, used proprietary methods to utilize BTLE.
Can you provide screenshots or testing data on your findings?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well at the moment, I just managed to brick the gear completely while trying to downgrade to android ... seems to be hanging at boot, and Odin keeps trying to setup a connection; so it seems beyond saving. Will try to flash it from work once more, if it fails, I am free of the Samsung curse If not, I will add the logs today from both android (and tizen hopefully).
cheerios,
meh
Back with more info ...
I managed to unbrick my Gear, and to flash Android back on it. It seems it has the same behavior. Advertisings are only used to notify that the watch is there, as soon as the mobile phone sees it, it will (and on android might even not) connect shortly on BLE and then move to BT Classic.
See the attached picture / diagram of the BT LE connection that happens, until the watch terminates it.
I honestly do not understand why Samsung is not using the BLE layer more, it would bring, as far as I used BLE so far, much more battery performance, perhaps twice what is offered for now.
Please take this only as measurements from someone with some experience and limited tooling related to what can be traced on BT LE. There might be some magic what might be going on, which I am unable to trace, like private BT LE connections and so on. If someone has a broadband BT capture device at hand (they are very expensive) to monitor all channels at the same time, we might get additional information, for now, I just have this basic toy, which can trace on a single channel at a time, so it needs to get the start of the connection, and hop the hopping sequence of the bluetooth LE sequence synchronous to the master/slave communication. If Samsung handles some private hopping data, which I am not able to trace - they still might use BT LE, but I doubt it, as BT LE APIs are very limited on Android, so only very few magic can be done from the phone.
And what I was saying in the part about Android 4.4.x and BT LE in my first post above, my affirmations are based on my development experience with BT LE on Nexus 5 (which had major problems, including BT Chip / BT stack rebooting randomly while BT LE energy was used - especially when RSSI reading, and on Android L RSSI reading is disabled / does not work at all).
Oh, and what I forgot to mention is:
a.) Tizen has the exact same behavior
b.) the radiated tx power of the watch measured by the phone is 0dB! I am not sure how accurate the phone is, but that is basically 30-50dB more than any slave I could find to toy with (and I have several: stuff from work, step counter from fitbit, and other ...).
And now one more point:
c.) It seems that now the Android version has the same current consumption as the Tizen (Auto-Lock drains the battery). I think Samsung changed something in the Gear Manager when Gear 2 was released.
cheers,
meh
richlum said:
I use auto-lock all the time.
I used it the Gear 1 launched and have used it since switching shortly after the Tizen update.
I haven't noticed a problem with battery life. If anything, the battery is better.
The biggest effect on battery life for me is the watch face.
I get the best battery life using one of the inbuilt digital faces with a black background.
I use the shortcut watch face with black background and orange font.
If I use any of the analog faces (inbuilt or downloaded from store) then battery life is a lot worse.
On a typical day, I can have 50% battery left after about 12 hours.
Using my favourite analog face (Moonlight) it will usually be about 20% after about 12 hours.
Always with auto lock and motion wake on. Screen brightness at 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And to your answer, in the first 3 months or so of the Samsung Gear 1 (or at least until Samsung started to release the Gear 2), I had with Android, Motion Wake, Auto-Lock, Weather Watch Face (sync weather every 6 hours), Brightness 3, Pedometer active ~2 Days (or a bit more) of active battery life (around every 2nd night I had to charge it - but never every night, right now I can get the same performance only if I disable the Auto-Lock), so yes, something dramatically changed in the way Gear Manager talks to the Watch.
And if you want proof that something did something wrong with the Bluetooth, you can check by disabling bluetooth on your watch, then you get ~10% battery used / day. If you do not move it, even less.
cheerios,
meh
And here the final piece of proof ... I managed to get a broadband analyzer, and as it can be shown, by the tiny fat spikes, which represent communications on the BL Classic Band (yes I know it is the same as the BT LE, but I had the digital analyzer for BT LE also active at the same time, and there was no BT LE communication). So unless some other proof comes up, I can conclude that the Samsung Gear (at least the Gear 1) does not use BT LE anymore, except for Advertising packets while the Gear is disconnected, and it is stopped as soon as the Gear connects to the phone over BT Classic; all other communication happens over BT Classic.
Additionally, since with the actual (latest version of) Gear Manager and my Tizen watch downgraded to Android again, to the version where I still had 2 days with Auto Lock feature on it was not the Tizen update which thrashed that feature and generally the battery consumption, as the Android flashed watch behaves identically now. So either Samsung changed BT LE to BT Classic communication in one of the Gear Manager updates when they moved to Android 4.4.x as Android 4.4.x has problems with BT generally, and especially with BT LE data exchange (at least on Nexus 5, but I doubt it is only a device issue, as the Android part itself fails in loosing pairing data and ongoing connections), or it was always over BT Classic, but they had looser timings previously when on Android, to not drain the Watch so fast, as Android was also helping to the job a lot - thus the longer Screen Unlock timings in the Android days, and now faster, as they can communicate a lot more often, since the Tizen OS does not drain that much battery anymore.
Related
Hi, I purchased S3 mini around december 2012, one of the main reasons why I bought it was the gps/glonass-feature, since I figured it would provide me with more accurate tracking while running. Previously I had used a Samsung Galaxy Gio phone for running, and with rooting and a gpsfix (changed the server) it provided accurate gps in long half-marathon runs and so forth. The issue with that phone was that the battery life was terrible.
Now, the S3 mini is brilliant in battery consumption, but the gps accuracy has been horrid. It locks a satellite within seconds, several satellites are in use immediately. So, nothing to complain there. However, it is almost one street off, throughout my run. It tracks usually 1-2 kilometers less distance than the Gio, which manages to stay on the road I'm running on perfectly. If I'm to believe the S3 mini, I frequently run in water and through people's backyards...
Now, I have attempted the usual tricks, cleared agps, updated it before runs, calibrated the compass with GPS status indoors and outdoors. But nothing seems to work. Many times the gps will track perfectly when I'm headed, let's say northwards for several kilometers, but then when I turn to go west-east or southwards (for example) the gps accuracy goes off. I'm hoping this is an issue that could be easily fixed, since it's a shame that such a fabulous phone like the s3 mini fails to be a good running partner.
My S3 mini is not rooted, most of the gps fixes only fix satellite locking. My issue is inaccuracy, and yes, many people think it's normal, but having had perfect tracking with an entry-level smart phone like Samsung Galaxy Gio, I fail to understand why my S3 Mini does not excel in this area.
What else should/could I try? or just use my gio while running and hope it doesn't run out of battery in 1,5 hours.
I have also noticed the inaccurate gps of the s3 mini. After some positional testing I have decided that the gps is just not V good on this phone including being mounted on shoulder.
I also have an issue where gps locks up and freezes when the phone sleeps. I have yet to overcome this. I'm hoping it's a kernel issue brought about by flashing.
After years of smartphone soul searching, I now use a Garmin 405cx for sports, etrex10 for work and hiking, and a tomtom for sat navigation. I only now rely on the shoddy gps for View ranger Os mapping on the phone. Based on its performance I've started purchasing paper maps and now use those to navigate while walking and hiking.
This makes me very sad. I love android and like the s3mini. However yesterday I contemplated throwing it across lane 3 of the M20.
Sent from my GT-I8190 using Tapatalk 2
Hi, I have a same problem with my new Samsung Galaxy S3 mini and Sports Tracker. And many other reporting this problem. Sports Tracker works fine with my ZTE Blade. The first I thought that the fault is in bad GPS module in my phone. But the GPS work fine with Navi software. I realized that in Navi software the phone screen is always on and with Sport Tracker go in stanby. And when the screen go in standby the gps stop working. And when the signal is repeatedly interrupted then for a long time does not want to connect. Solution is that you in Sport Tracker settigs set Screen backlight to Always on. Now the problem is that the random clicking Stop suspended yor current workout. I do not know if fault is with Jelly Bean ROM or with Samsung Galaxy phones. Later I again tested navi app IGO Primo and if I turned off the screen GPS also go on off.
Phone screen always ON is also not an ideal solution. Because the signal is still losing, but every once for a second.
I tried various apps: GPS Status (settings: Background behavior/The app will keep the GPS running even the device screen is turned off.
But it does not work).Tracker Booster, Keep My GPS Alive, but without success
Is there any solution for this?
I've got the same problem while using GPS in a running application (like runkeeper, runtastic or endomondo).
I know this is an old thread, but I want to ask if anyone has found a solution for this problem.
I would be very thankful!
I have the exact same problem. After two months of GPS hell with my SII I got a new SIII mini. Initial GPS lock and detection goes really quick (22 satellites). If I do a quick turn in running it seems that it tracks a bit of until the end. It may be 100 meter or 200 meter on a 10 kilometer (and people indeed say it's normal, but with my SII it was perfect)
Could it be processor related? I run with a bluetooth heart rate sensor, google music, running app, etc. I tend to believe if I switch of 3G that it goes better.
Any other suggestions on this?
I have basically come to the conclusion that the GPS on this phone is ****, primarily due to the OS sleeping it. Which is a battery saving strategy. We do have very good battery life on these devices.
The GPS doesn't have any issues if an app is using it, like (Viewranger recording a track). This prevents the OS sleeping it. However accuracy of the GPS on SGS3M is poor. But really if you after doing serious tasks that require even a hint of accuracy then purchasing a dedicated device is the way forward. If you run try the Garmin range of fitness devices. If it's work try a hiking GPS I use a etrex 20 for assisting in surveying trees. Recording my movements across a site and the locations of any trees with works associated.
I think the phone manufacturer decided that the accuracy issue was not a concern as many navigation apps would snap the users location to roads and such.
Don't hold out for any solution. I can say the only thing to ensure is the latest firmware. I have the latest which isn't available on the "BTU" location code. However the German firmware works fine with my UK device. Check the Dev thread for latest stock rom, (pretty rooted).
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
gaze eademno
ninjalandpirate said:
I have basically come to the conclusion that the GPS on this phone is ****, primarily due to the OS sleeping it. Which is a battery saving strategy. We do have very good battery life on these devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what to think from it. If I track a car drive with it (using Endomondo), it uses a perfect track to road tracking.
Also initial running tracking using Endomondo is fine. It seems that a sudden change in direction (eg a sudden change from south to nord) let's down the accuracy. It's strange because the device has a very good satelite detection and fast lock.
NicolasBE said:
I don't know what to think from it. If I track a car drive with it (using Endomondo), it uses a perfect track to road tracking.
Also initial running tracking using Endomondo is fine. It seems that a sudden change in direction (eg a sudden change from south to nord) let's down the accuracy. It's strange because the device has a very good satelite detection and fast lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This morning I had a spectacular improvement.
What has changed:
I installed the latest 4.1.2 official build from sammobile.com
I ran without 3G location services. (pure on GPS)
I also switched the device from being upside down on my left arm, to being straight on my right arm.
Possible something that has nothing to do with it: my work e-mail policy was not yet enabled on the device.
I also ran a slightly other route (but there was still a sharp turn halfway involved), and the signal corrected itself perfectly.
My bluetooth heart rate was enabled, 3G was enabled and google play music was enabled.
So the thing I'm eager to try is: enabling location services again, and doing the route that caused trouble again.
But to be honest ... I think it's the new 4.1.2 build that solved it.
My gf's phone has XXAMG1 build and it has exactly this same issue. GPS shuts down a couple of minutes from start.
Recently I found out that my GPS becomes inaccurate when I enter into the forest. I use it mostly for navigation while mountain biking. The position defers after 10 to 20 minutes for 200 to 400 metres. The position error direction is almost every time in the direction of departure point that means that GPS position stays behind me. When I check GPS reception with GPS test, there are always 5 to 12 satellites in use with estimated error up to 5 metres. The interest thing is that if I switch GPS off and then again ON, the new first fix is very accurate. After that, if I continue cycling, the position becomes inaccurate again. I have tried different programs (sports tracker, view ranger, orux maps, Google maps) with same results.
Any suggestions very welcome.
Same issue here (example included)
Same issue here. S3 Mini and Endomondo. Tracks start to differ after a certain amount of time (refer to attached JPG)
Chatted with Samsung about this issue and they told me that this is caused by the fact that all Galaxy phones have AGPS, where an internet connection is neccessary for the GPS to work. But I am not sure that this is the problem...
Samsung told me that I am the only person indicating this is a problem so it's probably my phone. Perhaps good to file an official support request at Samsung?
My few thoughts on this...
On stock rom everything was working well. except for the rom itself.
On maclaw cm 10.1. gps worked well until after an hour or so of use for tracking. then gps decided that I'm cca 100 meters away from spot where I was standing. it just translated my position and stayed translated the whole time until I turned gps on/off.
On Stock i8190XXAMJ3 gps was amazing, it was locking onto satelittes even inside the house, but it had the same issue like cm10.1 rom.
Now I'm on S5style_i8190XXANA2_v1 and for now gps look good, didn't have any issue, hope it will stay like this.
just to say, I've played with gps.conf, with various apps like gps status, gps test, resetting agps data, trying different apps for tracking and nothing worked. after a while, gps simply translates my position and stays like that.
to reply to myself...
for some reason every stock rom I flashed with cwm apparently didn't flash baseband with it (or something went wrong), so phone was showing original baseband version. then I flashed baseband ANA2 separately and now gps shows no problems stated in previous post.
I've had the same problem on my S3 mini. I'd tried a few apps to track my sport activities before I've found working one - Navime Sport Tracker. Since then I've been using it and faced no problems with GPS and tracking. Unfortunately app only works in Poland. So you may ask why I'm writing about this. I do so because I reckon that problem sometimes lies in a tracking app itself. E.g. in the same place where Navime was detecting 7-13 satellites Endomondo (with identical GPS settings) managed to find 1 or 2. That's how I solved my problem. And one more thing - I use stock-Samsung Android 4.1.2 (newest).
My usual GPS config:
- GPS is ON (obviously)
- using wireless network to fix GPS is OFF (option on the top)
- GPS data available for Google services is ON (option on the bottom)
- data connection is ON
Proof:
navime.pl/trasa/348283/Katowice-Pszczyna+17.04.2014
Hi pcm266
I know this is a reply to a post a year old, but this is the closest description of the problem I continue to experience. Perhaps you and others are still looking for a solution.
This is NOT simply a matter of poor connections due to loose screws. I tried a month ago tightening screws, checked every setting but the problem persists. Loosened then tightened screws again yesterday. Today I ran with both my S3mini and my old Samsung GIO. The GIO recorded perfectly!
Your sentence "Many times the gps will track perfectly when I'm headed, let's say northwards for several kilometers, but then when I turn to go west-east or southwards (for example) the gps accuracy goes off. " is pretty well what I see happening.
What is puzzling is that S3mini worked perfectly in a race on 29 March. ??? Have not been able to repeat that.
Tightening screws is certainly not helping me. I am sure that this is a software error. There is a consistency in the type of error that is not is the type of error I would expect from intermittent connections.
Another strange thing is that the S3mini tracking is pretty good when travelling in a car. It is when I ran - which is of course much slower than a car - that the tracking is worse. Something to do with collecting too much data and doing some sort of averaging????
My son runs with an S3. Never had a single tracking problem.
A tip re the GIO battery: The Lithium-hydride batteries in laptop battery packs have the same charging characteristics as the batteries in the Samsung phones. I simply soldered wires from the contact points in the phone to a battery taken from an old laptop pack. (Usually when these battery packs fail, most of the individual cells are still good. I use them in all sorts of applications. ) The battery is fastened to the back of the Gio with duct tape. The phone no longer has a simcard in it, so I keep it on airplane mode. The battery stays charged for days!
Guys, I've never experienced this GPS problem. My S3 Mini has completely accurate readings both in car and while walking. You can try and update your phone to a newer firmware version if it's still on a firmware from a year ago. Don't know what else to suggest, God bless my S3 Mini for not having this problem, 'cause I use GPS frequently
Hello, I have the same problem with inaccurate gps after some time. Is there any solution. I use this phone only for running, so for me it is not a problem to flash another rom. I hope someone can give me a solution or a rom that works while running.
http://goo.gl/oE620
Maybe someone would be interested. I remember people talking about it in the S3 forums. Don't know if it was good or not. What do you think?
$19.99!
Looks pretty cool especially for 20bux but seems kinda pointless like just another thing to carry around...but still cool if it was at a store id probably own it already haha
Someone needs to be the guinea pig and try this out. All the YouTube reviews are old and not done very well.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Based on reading Amazon reviews (constant disconnects), the fact this is 2+ year old technology supporting Android 2.x and up and old BT standard, and the fact I have been in contact with MetaWatch guys (and also keeping up with Pebble smart watch updates) who work on this exclusively and still waiting on resolution from Google to address problems with Android 4.x and remote media connection - I would suggest it's not worth it. Another problem, companies wouldn't even care to send you a review sample for their old product, so it's not even worth contacting them.... Just my humble opinion.
Works great on note 2. $18 free shipping on ebay now. Awesome! Imho
---------- Post added at 12:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------
And it's micro usb so no extra charger needed. There's now open firmware, open app alternative, sony updated their app last week, lots of 3rd party apps (play store shows about a hundred). Wicked. At $18 the dev on this is going to explode!
Wow for $19 this is a great deal. Just pulled the trigger.
willfck4beer said:
Works great on note 2. $18 free
shipping on ebay now. Awesome! Imho
---------- Post added at 12:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------
And it's micro usb so no extra charger needed. There's now open firmware, open app alternative, sony updated their app last week, lots of 3rd party apps (play store shows about a hundred). Wicked. At $18 the dev on this is going to explode!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a plug in for this so that Torque can use it as a screen. Best app ever.
plemen said:
Wow for $19 this is a great deal. Just pulled the trigger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah...that's what I thought too when I purchased it last year for $30 from expansys .com
Return/Cancel it if you can. The device never worked properly when it was first released...the Sony App had issues with Android 2.x Gingerbread ,and still doesn't work correctly with any newer version of Android.
The device has to be connected via bluetooth to function. If you are not connected to BT, it will not even display the TIME!!!! Main issue is that the device fails to reliably connect to your phone. Some times it will connect...but most of the time not. There are work around instructions on XDA...but connection issues still exist. Another work around if to always keep the app active...but that drains your battery.
In the even you get it connected to your phone....the plugins for the device are very basic...notifies you that you have a call, a sms, or email. You can see the subject of the email and kinda scroll through ur sms. But the device is more of a hassle than help. Device battery is not great...probably last max 1.5 days if you don't press/use it at all.
Sony released the updated version of this device the "sony smartwatch" msrp 150, but only now for $80...but that still has intrinsic issues. They are just dumping this at low prices before Apple & Samsung announce their "smartwatch" devices
Edit: willfck4beer posted that their is an openDev alternative app. This didn't exist when I owned the device..which is what my review is based off of. Maybe it's time for me to dig it out of my closet
acuratlsfan said:
Yeah...that's what I thought too when I purchased it last year for $30 from expansys .com
Return/Cancel it if you can. The device never worked properly when it was first released...the Sony App had issues with Android 2.x Gingerbread ,and still doesn't work correctly with any newer version of Android.
The device has to be connected via bluetooth to function. If you are not connected to BT, it will not even display the TIME!!!! Main issue is that the device fails to reliably connect to your phone. Some times it will connect...but most of the time not. There are work around instructions on XDA...but connection issues still exist. Another work around if to always keep the app active...but that drains your battery.
In the even you get it connected to your phone....the plugins for the device are very basic...notifies you that you have a call, a sms, or email. You can see the subject of the email and kinda scroll through ur sms. But the device is more of a hassle than help. Device battery is not great...probably last max 1.5 days if you don't press/use it at all.
Sony released the updated version of this device the "sony smartwatch" msrp 150, but only now for $80...but that still has intrinsic issues. They are just dumping this at low prices before Apple & Samsung announce their "smartwatch" devices
Edit: willfck4beer posted that their is an openDev alternative app. This didn't exist when I owned the device..which is what my review is based off of. Maybe it's time for me to dig it out of my closet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my 2 cents:
-Latest firmware from Sony keeps watch functioning even if BT connection lost - so clock never flashes 0:00 as it used to.
Don't know why but Sony keeps this updated - just last week new app update.
-Latest firmware and Sony App seem to work great with Note 2, Evo 3d, Evo 4g across various flavors of Gingerbread, ICS, and Jellybean across HTC and Samsung - unrooted stock even... CM makes it incredibly solid connection.
Nonetheless, imho it is a very solid connection.
-3rd party apps are just constrained by imagination and devs. I'm seeing about 100 different plugin apps.
There seems to be a lot of app dev spawned by new sony smartwatch (while they are not compatible, I'm seeing a lot of apps that have been developed with minor modification and released on both devices simultaneously.)
-at $18 with free shipping, Dev is only going to continue - this thing runs a standard Chi-bios RT OS.
---------- Post added at 03:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:43 PM ----------
willfck4beer said:
my 2 cents:
-Latest firmware from Sony keeps watch functioning even if BT connection lost - so clock never flashes 0:00 as it used to.
Don't know why but Sony keeps this updated - just last week new app update.
-Latest firmware and Sony App seem to work great with Note 2, Evo 3d, Evo 4g across various flavors of Gingerbread, ICS, and Jellybean across HTC and Samsung - unrooted stock even... CM makes it incredibly solid connection.
Nonetheless, imho it is a very solid connection.
-3rd party apps are just constrained by imagination and devs. I'm seeing about 100 different plugin apps.
There seems to be a lot of app dev spawned by new sony smartwatch (while they are not compatible, I'm seeing a lot of apps that have been developed with minor modification and released on both devices simultaneously.)
-at $18 with free shipping, Dev is only going to continue - this thing runs a standard Chi-bios RT OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My favorite Apps right now:
Remote Camera (allows live view of camera --- and remote shutter release)
Espresso Watch 1 *** Sexy looking watch app
Espresso Watch 4 *** (Watch with brackground downloaded from imgur based on a keyword you specify e.g. "booty")
Fake call (perfect to get out of a conversation that is going on and on)
Confusion
Launcher (recreates your entire app drawer on liveview to selectively launch any app)
SmartChrome --- I set to "classic.slashdot.org"
POSVIEW -- shows your position on google maps
Liams map plugin -- shows position, but allows some better config options like nighttime, hackermode, ...
AH Watch - sexy watch faces
Contact Call
.txt reader liveview
SendSMS
Tell It
Live Watches
Answer-it
Timer
a007 spy app
Watch-Calendar
Light/liveview
Weatherview
Sun clock
Vibrate alarm
Is 4 hours battery life this true? Don't want to have to charge my watch everyday...
one80oneday said:
Is 4 hours battery life this true? Don't want to have to charge my watch everyday...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question about 4 hour battery life. Is this max batt life even when idling? I mean, even if you don't access any apps, you still keeping BT sync connection so battery is draining. I can imagine that running additional apps will put more strain on the battery. Since this gadget is a few years old, it will not have the highest capacity in terms of what has been available back then. My new Blue Buds X have 8hr battery built into a tiny earpiece by itself. I'm just thinking this Sony device was ahead of its time. If they can re-release it now with updated hardware and support for all the latest BT standards that would have been great!
one80oneday said:
Is 4 hours battery life this true? Don't want to have to charge my watch everyday...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this depends on your duty cycle/usage YMMV
Some data points:
If I engage a program like remote camera viewer - where the processor, bluetooth, and screen are kept on at full blast uninterrupted... it seems the battery will die after about an hour.
If I'm using the watch to browse emails, txts, facebook, that periodically arrive, then the watch may go for 2 days.
If I've left the watch at a friends house on... but disconnected ... It's still been fine after 4 days IIRC.
I think this thing is prime for tweaking, underclocking?, reduced duty cycle, tweaked BT interractions, reduced polling frequency, oled screen tweaks, creative solar projects, battery upgrades, and the like to increase it's life. I'm working on a flexible, thin film solar band that will trickle charge this ***** constantly and/or a tiny coin-cell module to charge on the go.
I really think for $18 this thing is AWESOME and has so much potential - especially at the hands of the XDA Dev community.
I think one promising aspect is the open firmware being dev'ed... if this thing runs a standard Chi-bios RT OS... we could tweak the **** out of it. imho.
---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:06 PM ----------
vectron said:
Good question about 4 hour battery life. Is this max batt life even when idling? I mean, even if you don't access any apps, you still keeping BT sync connection so battery is draining. I can imagine that running additional apps will put more strain on the battery. Since this gadget is a few years old, it will not have the highest capacity in terms of what has been available back then. My new Blue Buds X have 8hr battery built into a tiny earpiece by itself. I'm just thinking this Sony device was ahead of its time. If they can re-release it now with updated hardware and support for all the latest BT standards that would have been great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally, I'll see two full days of usage before I have to charge.
"Power: Low usage, 1 week/ Typical usage, 3-4 days/ Heavy usage,1 full day"
But, as you said, this was released several years ago with old technology and the batterylife has been degrading while sitting in the factory, on the shelf, etc..
Perhaps we could simply extricate the old battery and replace with a new one? Perhaps one with a higher mah capacity?
There've been several tear downs and mods to the watch already and it seems relatively straight forward to open her up.
I've noticed that this thing has maintained a connection via bluetooth through a brick wall and spaced about 10 feet apart... as the power usage increases based on distance squared, perhaps the open firmware could allow the user to selectively set a more statistically representative transmit power/distance to go from wrist to phone through cotton vs. brick and 10ft. This might have tremendous power savings. imho. something as simple as "low power mode" vs. "high power mode."?
Sony advertises : "Bluetooth - up to 10m range" this seems like overkill for most use-cases.
As the screen is OLED, I believe that substantial savings can be had by programming an inverse color scheme to use primarily black and thus non-energized pixels.
Sony has released a new one - the smartwatch mn2 - but it's about $100 and doesn't have all that substantial of upgrades.
If you have cash to burn... the Motoactv seems a far superior investment at $150ish... in for a buck... in for a quarter?
But for me, I'm fascinated by what this guy (for less than twenty bucks) can already do and the potential it has once dev interest builds.
If we start looking into more advance options, might as well look into a more superior technology of Pebble or Metawatch smart watches?
vectron said:
If we start looking into more advance options, might as well look into a more superior technology of Pebble or Metawatch smart watches?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
imho none of those can touch the Motoactv... fullblown android, fullblown touchscreen...
But when you start talking advance technology... I believe we are talking $150 and up - about 10 times as much $$$ as the liveview.
When you factor in that liveview also has openwatch api support (in addition to all the native dev and reverse engineering efforts)... I think it's shortcomings are surmountable for $18.
I just got my flexible thin film solar watch band to deliver 59.6milliamps!!!! (on an overcast day) and it successfully charged my BT headset and seemed to accumulate charge in the liveview. If this is the case - we may be able to keep liveview running indefinitely while on your wrist with no need to take off and charge it!!!!
And the liveview can display boobies in full amoled color!!!
Im watch is $300!!!!!
Pebble is $150 and black and white only AND NOT REAL YET : "Preorder"????
both look bulky as hell!!! The Im does look awesome and love the gsm sim.
Liveview:
+standard micro usb port.... use phone charger.
+standard chibios RT OS
+full colour amoled display
+CHEAP
+Sony updates APP; has not deprecated... May30 2013 update with added feature;
+Sony updates firmware;
+Open liveview app reverse engineering effort active and functional
+Open firmware making progress
+CHEAP
+about 100 apps so far (including Solitaire or blackjack, Torque, remote camera control, remote music control, calculator, fake call ...)
+TINY
+imho XDA loves cheap/free. At this cost, we should send a couple to TeamWin or someone like Samsung did for CM7 and just let those fxuckers run wild with it.
link to solar watch band?
vectron said:
link to solar watch band?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I"m actually making the solar wrist band myself.
But this is the thin film I'm using:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thin-Film-L...675?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8132e5db
I'm getting promising results but nowhere near 420mA advertised.
After the voltage converter(2V to 5Vusb) on an overcast day... I'm getting about 59.6mA
WHICH is cool because to keep the old girl topped off, she only seems to be sipping 45mA to keep screen on the whole time at full brightness!!!!!!!!!!!!
Current usage in different operating states:
Full battery; NOT CHARGING:
.9ma OFF (LED,charge determination circuit?)
28ma ON, Disconnected, screen off
30ma ON, connected, screen off
36ma ON, connected, screen DIM
45ma ON, connected, screen FULL BLAST
70ma ON, connected, screen FULL, Processor FULL, BT FULL*** running remote camera view on full color, full update freq...
EMPTY BATTERY:
73milliamps draw when liveview is OFF and charging at substantially EMPTY battery;
90ma Standby no connection and charging;
96ma ON with Screen ON and charging;
94ma ON, connected, screen OFF
96ma ON, connected, screen ON.
OK, pulled a trigger for $19.99. As I was looking at the ebay seller who has it in bulk - I see messages pop up every 30 seconds about someone is buying it. For the full use with all the cool apps, battery life is not acceptable as a smart watch. I think it will be just a neat gadget to play around with. I'm very interested in that remote camera thing, like one of our baby monitors I guess. I assume everything works when you have it plugged in on a charger, you can still use apps? BTW, this is going to be my first gadget/accessory I have paid money for in the last 5 months, you really got my interest high!!!
My favorite Apps right now:
Remote Camera (allows live view of camera --- and remote shutter release)
Espresso Watch 1 *** Sexy looking watch app
Espresso Watch 4 *** (Watch with brackground downloaded from imgur based on a keyword you specify e.g. "booty")
Fake call (perfect to get out of a conversation that is going on and on)
Confusion
Launcher (recreates your entire app drawer on liveview to selectively launch any app)
SmartChrome --- I set to "classic.slashdot.org"
POSVIEW -- shows your position on google maps
Liams map plugin -- shows position, but allows some better config options like nighttime, hackermode, ...
AH Watch - sexy watch faces
Contact Call
.txt reader liveview
SendSMS
Tell It
Live Watches
Answer-it
Timer
a007 spy app
Watch-Calendar
Light/liveview
Weatherview
Sun clock
Vibrate alarm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
link to the watch you are using for all this please?
willfck4beer said:
....
My favorite Apps right now:
Remote Camera (allows live view of camera --- and remote shutter release)
Espresso Watch 1 *** Sexy looking watch app
Espresso Watch 4 *** (Watch with brackground downloaded from imgur based on a keyword you specify e.g. "booty")
Fake call (perfect to get out of a conversation that is going on and on)
Confusion
Launcher (recreates your entire app drawer on liveview to selectively launch any app)
SmartChrome --- I set to "classic.slashdot.org"
POSVIEW -- shows your position on google maps
Liams map plugin -- shows position, but allows some better config options like nighttime, hackermode, ...
AH Watch - sexy watch faces
Contact Call
.txt reader liveview
SendSMS
Tell It
Live Watches
Answer-it
Timer
a007 spy app
Watch-Calendar
Light/liveview
Weatherview
Sun clock
Vibrate alarm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you search for all these apps? I tried on Google Play, but can't find a lot of it. Like Espresso watch?
Seriously?? Doesn't our phones have clocks on them? Aren't our phones capable of doing all of that? Just my 2 cents. Hey let me go buy a 4 door version of the car I already own
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
I've always found myself explaining to people about how great the Pebble 2 is which many people never really knew about because it's not one of the more expensive and prestigious brands like an Apple Watch. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Tech Junkie and can afford whatever watch I want, but I'm also not one looking to pay a higher price just to wear something to impress people - I want good functionality, practicality and value. Nothing could match my Pebble 2. When I told people I only need to charge it once every 5-7 days, they are flabbergasted. Heart Rate Monitor? Check. HUGE selection of custom 3rd party apps. Check. Design your own custom watch face with dynamic stats (like temp, phone signal strength, etc.)? Check. Waterproof to the point you can swim with it on? Check.
All that, under $150? Check.
Now, my eyes have grown old and I can barely read the text messages that come through as it is a pretty small face. I don't NEED color - I prefer long battery life. So what's out there (I'm an Android Phone User) that people would say is the closest replacement that has a bigger screen? Maybe I just keep wearing my Pebble and wear trifocals all the time - no thanks.
My MUST haves are:
- Long battery life (no more than 2 charges per week are necessary)
- Waterproof (can swim in it)
- Heart Rate Monitor
- Large screen, but I'm not an NFL player so not too gigantic
Nice to haves but not MUSTS:
- SOME degree of customization (some 3rd party apps, custom watch screen design, etc.)
- Built in GPS (I really don't need this - I'm not a runner and my phone is always with me, so would rather avoid paying extra for it, but if I have to have it to get other stuff I must have then so be it.)
All I really need the watch to do is: tell me the date and time, show my text messages and notifications (with setting to increase default text size), track my fitness activities, and don't bug me about charging it every 1-2 days.
Only Garmin Watch
Amazfit bip, Stratos, pace
All Amazfit (bip Stratos....) have almost 0 connected feature, just basic notification a Weather wich works only sometime and nothing else. 0 connected app, so not really smartwatch, maybe just a poor tracker
dersie said:
All Amazfit (bip Stratos....) have almost 0 connected feature, just basic notification a Weather wich works only sometime and nothing else. 0 connected app, so not really smartwatch, maybe just a poor tracker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give some examples of "connected features" you think that most users would find extremely useful in their daily lives? I've found with many devices, a lot of bells and whistles are just that, bells and whistles to brag about having and when you look at your actual use of the device, you find you really don't use those features.
For example, on my Pebble 2, I can reply to text messages both using canned text responses or voice transcription by talking into the watch. I've had the watch for like 3 years and I've used the text reply maybe two or three times and the voice transcription once. When I used it, I thought, "that was sort of cool." But then why didn't I ever use it again? Because it wasn't THAT useful considering 99% of the time I have my phone sitting next to me or in my pants or jacket pocket and talking to my watch I look like a complete DORK. I can just easily type the reply on my phone. The notification is what's important as sometimes I'm in another room, or have it in my jacket in a place I can't hear the notification or feel the vibration.
So I'm still quite interested in what "connected features" a Bip doesn't come with that are so useful?
In my pebble I add item to my shopping list every day with WunderVoice, I read my List on my pebble with WunderPebble : shopping, to do,........, I read my Google Task, I look every time at the moon location, I take quick note and view also memo quickly, I look at my next event calendar, I mark read my mail notification, I can select snooze 5,10, 30min or dismiss my event calendar, I use multiple timers for 25min, 30min, 35min, 40min to look at my grilled meat, I look my phone battery, I can set my phone to vibe or mute with my pebble , I start some task with tasker, I use multi counter to count different things.....
All this can be done with few click in 10s, in this time I have not the time to put my phone out my pocket
dersie said:
In my pebble I add item to my shopping list every day with WunderVoice, I read my List on my pebble with WunderPebble : shopping, to do,........, I read my Google Task, I look every time at the moon location, I take quick note and view also memo quickly, I look at my next event calendar, I mark read my mail notification, I can select snooze 5,10, 30min or dismiss my event calendar, I use multiple timers for 25min, 30min, 35min, 40min to look at my grilled meat, I look my phone battery, I can set my phone to vibe or mute with my pebble , I start some task with tasker, I use multi counter to count different things.....
All this can be done with few click in 10s, in this time I have not the time to put my phone out my pocket
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With most all of that, shopping list, tasks, moon location, notes - can you explain what *specific benefits* there are to using your watch instead of your phone to input information (via keyboard or voice) and to read lists of information (considering the phone has a much bigger screen)? Why is using the watch so much better to do those things?
Easier and quicker
dersie said:
All Amazfit (bip Stratos....) have almost 0 connected feature, just basic notification a Weather wich works only sometime and nothing else. 0 connected app, so not really smartwatch, maybe just a poor tracker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was not the main scope of the op
dersie said:
Easier and quicker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, you must be beside yourself trying to figure out what to do with all that spare time the watch creates being so much quicker?
I just switched back from an Amazfit Pace to my Pebble 2 SE. Notifications just don't work reliably on the Amazfit, and all the fitness stuff is too much for me. I just want a geeky watch with working notifications. That's a Pebble 2 SE
chaozz said:
I just switched back from an Amazfit Pace to my Pebble 2 SE. Notifications just don't work reliably on the Amazfit, and all the fitness stuff is too much for me. I just want a geeky watch with working notifications. That's a Pebble 2 SE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also returned my pace due to bad battery life and notification reliability. I'm using a BIP and the notifications are there in real time(using gadgetbridge like before with PTS) and it gives me a minimum of 4 WEEKS of battery life :highfive:
No single freeze or glitch since months, absolutely reliable for that price! Custom watchfaces easily made.
My 2nd Pebble 2 HR just died & I've been shopping to replace it, but havent found anything that does everything I need it to, or that my Pebble used to. I had upgraded to Rebble prior to their deaths, paid for voice and weather since Rebble was up. I had found some good sites to investigate: Smartwatch Series website lets you look at detailed valuations of specs and comparisons of many smartwatches.
Battery is one of my biggest anxieties, but glowing screens or timeouts also was a concern. I tried the Samsung Gear Sport, then the Samsung Galaxy Active 2, and although they had many great features and 2+ days of use between charges (Active 2 only) with comparable use-time to my pebble, the screen glowed if on all the time, and when I went swimming, the screen face would change unless I locked it before entering the water.
I settled with a compromise... I was able to get a new PowerWatch 2 Luxe edition (usually $699) for $400. Still, way to expensive, but, I get messages (no reply), health basics, always on LCD screen (no glow) with back-lit ability, Heat Rate and GPS, and NO CHARGING NEEDED. EVER. Solar and thermoelectric engine (backup wireless charging dock included just in case) keep it charged always. I can't do voice, can't customize my watch face, can't load apps (stopwatch and timer are there), and no weather.
dumbquestion said:
My 2nd Pebble 2 HR just died & I've been shopping to replace it, but havent found anything that does everything I need it to, or that my Pebble used to. I had upgraded to Rebble prior to their deaths, paid for voice and weather since Rebble was up. I had found some good sites to investigate: Smartwatch Series website lets you look at detailed valuations of specs and comparisons of many smartwatches.
Battery is one of my biggest anxieties, but glowing screens or timeouts also was a concern. I tried the Samsung Gear Sport, then the Samsung Galaxy Active 2, and although they had many great features and 2+ days of use between charges (Active 2 only) with comparable use-time to my pebble, the screen glowed if on all the time, and when I went swimming, the screen face would change unless I locked it before entering the water.
I settled with a compromise... I was able to get a new PowerWatch 2 Luxe edition (usually $699) for $400. Still, way to expensive, but, I get messages (no reply), health basics, always on LCD screen (no glow) with back-lit ability, Heat Rate and GPS, and NO CHARGING NEEDED. EVER. Solar and thermoelectric engine (backup wireless charging dock included just in case) keep it charged always. I can't do voice, can't customize my watch face, can't load apps (stopwatch and timer are there), and no weather.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting charging design maybe something for the future watches and prices will drop hopefully...
Why not just buy a brand new Pebble 2 on Ebay for low $100 range? You could by two of them, one for future, and save money while we all wait for someone to actually design a good watch for a good price, like the Pebble 2. The only thing lacking on the Pebble 2 is that it's not designer/fancy looking. Otherwise it is still by far the best bang for the buck - battery lasting nearly a week! Lots of apps and customizations. Puts these higher priced watches to shame in the flexibility of the functionality and battery life. But it's no status symbol that people want for their watch, unless you consider being an intelligent buyer a status symbol. LOL.
jazee said:
Why not just buy a brand new Pebble 2 on Ebay for low $100 range? You could by two of them, one for future, and save money while we all wait for someone to actually design a good watch for a good price, like the Pebble 2. The only thing lacking on the Pebble 2 is that it's not designer/fancy looking. Otherwise it is still by far the best bang for the buck - battery lasting nearly a week! Lots of apps and customizations. Puts these higher priced watches to shame in the flexibility of the functionality and battery life. But it's no status symbol that people want for their watch, unless you consider being an intelligent buyer a status symbol. LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem when buying those pebbles: the battery is several years old and might not have a good capacity.
Actually I'm testing a Honor Magic Watch 2 and it's very good, actually one week usage with GPS and lots of calls and down to 49%:good:
strongst said:
The problem when buying those pebbles: the battery is several years old and might not have a good capacity.
Actually I'm testing a Honor Magic Watch 2 and it's very good, actually one week usage with GPS and lots of calls and down to 49%:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read a review and it sounds promising if you can live without the ability to download apps.
My main question would be, on my Pebble, I can get notifications from all the apps on my phone and select which ones I want to get and which ones I don't want to get, so I'm not just limited to SMS and Email notifications. Can this watch do that, so for instance if the Amazon app displays a notification about a shipment on my phone, will it show on the watch?
Also wondering if a firmware upate fixed this...
"Talking of notifications, we found these to be a little buggy. Most of the time phone notifications came through to the device without issue, but now and then they didn’t come through until some time after they should have, and we also found some notifications came through to the watch multiple times, though we never worked out why."
jazee said:
I read a review and it sounds promising if you can live without the ability to download apps.
My main question would be, on my Pebble, I can get notifications from all the apps on my phone and select which ones I want to get and which ones I don't want to get, so I'm not just limited to SMS and Email notifications. Can this watch do that, so for instance if the Amazon app displays a notification about a shipment on my phone, will it show on the watch?
Also wondering if a firmware upate fixed this...
"Talking of notifications, we found these to be a little buggy. Most of the time phone notifications came through to the device without issue, but now and then they didn’t come through until some time after they should have, and we also found some notifications came through to the watch multiple times, though we never worked out why."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything is working so far. Your quote to my post for example, was notified by fair mail which I selected and shown then on the watch, see pics As long as a notification pop-up is shown on the status bar it will work, but one app did not work it's delta.chat. Don't know why, still investigating. Maybe a app or health issue
strongst said:
Everything is working so far. Your quote to my post for example, was notified by fair mail which I selected and shown then on the watch, see pics As long as a notification pop-up is shown on the status bar it will work, but one app did not work it's delta.chat. Don't know why, still investigating. Maybe a app or health issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing you can't prevent notifications from certain apps on only the watch?
Did you consider the Amazfit GTS? They seem similar but the Amazfit I think is considerably cheaper.
jazee said:
I'm guessing you can't prevent notifications from certain apps on only the watch?
Did you consider the Amazfit GTS? They seem similar but the Amazfit I think is considerably cheaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can select the notification what you want to be shown on the watch, see screenshot. Or do you want to have a notification only to be shown on the watch, but not on the phone?
I ordered both watches and the following are my personal pros and cons.
Amazfit GTS: 128€
-can't make calls
-no storage for music
-GPS not that accurate
-no SpO2
Honor Magic Watch 2: 146€
-round design(I wanted a round watch again)
I have the Huawei GT but find it boring as it's just read only
Can anyone give suggestions of the best smart watch to use with the p30 pro ??
I know there is an issue with Garmin
Am looking for Google pay or at the very least the opportunity to reply back to messages from the watch
Ta muchly
Whats wrong with Garmin?
nurps said:
Whats wrong with Garmin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe there is pairing issues
Remember somewhere in the past reading it
For a watch, I only need get info/notification whenever I need it. GT serves this purpose very well with its super long battery time!
If I need reply/interact, I would prefer by phone, not on the small watch screen.
Well so far the initial pairing and connection worked well with the Fenix 5, I hope it stays this way. Otherwise the Fenix 5 presents excellent battery life (up to 20 days if you don't record GPS activities) with an always-on passive lighted display (there is an optional background light with various options). And you can reply to messages with pre-setup texts. Don't know about google pay though.
best watch currently for android is galaxy smart watch why not give it a try.
I have the Skagen Falster 2. Previous to this I had the original Huawei watch. The Skagen is a brilliant little watch (yes is this actually I would say slightly on the small side on my big wrists I was drawn to the watch due to its looks initially and I wanted the extra features of GPS but mainly Android pay.
The screen is excellent quality and a OLED. Black's are really dark plus better energy efficiency Vs the LCD on the Huawei.
Battery life is good for an android wear watch. You really have to charge this every night so you need a charger next to your bed. Take it off and charge it. I use the screen as always on and by bedtime I have had 40% battery remaining (2am bed time). Slim chance of getting 2 days use if you turned the watch off overnight.
The Skagen feels more responsive compared to the Huawei but the processors are largely the same. There is no speaker in the Skagen (some of the watches you can take calls). However, I turned this off when the novelty wore off when I had the Huawei watch. Speaker quality is poor / your phone is normally in hands distance anyway.
I would recommend the Skagen Falster 2.... If you like the look of the watch I don't think you will be disappointed.
Try Huawei Watch 2. It has android pay, Wear OS and works well with P30 Pro. For me it's a better option than Huawei Watch GT (make and receive calls, many apps from play store, etc)