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For me it is 16.4 feet (5 meters). No matter what rom i try, it has never gone lower than that. Has anyone got a more accurate reading before? mine jumps between 16.4ft and 32.8, and sometimes 49.2 ft.
I am currently on Bell's newest jl2, and last night was hovering at 9/10 locks to 11/11 locks with 16.4 ft accuracy and sometimes 32.8 ft. Is it even possible to get better than 16.4 ft?
I heard somewhere that the U.S. Government does not want people to have GPS that is any more accurate than what you have (Security reasons). If this is true or not I do not know.
Ian
Mine also shows 5 meter as best 'accuracy'. Mind you it is not the accuracy, but it is better to interpret it as a 'probable error'. Thus your position may very well be outside the 'accuracy circle' - and it is a guess, which may not be comparable to other phones.
jutezak said:
Mine also shows 5 meter as best 'accuracy'. Mind you it is not the accuracy, but it is better to interpret it as a 'probable error'. Thus your position may very well be outside the 'accuracy circle' - and it is a guess, which may not be comparable to other phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
You can get a 5m accuracy and still be 500m off if you happen to have a Galaxy S.
It has to be something to do with the firmware. Why are all of the readings perfectly divisible by 16.4 feet? I only see this with the Galaxy S phones too. As far as the guess about government restricting accuracy, my friend's htc incredible bounces between 3 and 6 feet, and this lucky SOB gets down to 1 foot towards the end of the video!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5scZhN8i0I&feature=player_embedded
Yes, I can't get any better than 5meter as well.
Now, when I use my handheld mapping Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx GPS, as long as I have a clear view of the sky it'll be accurate to 3 meters, sometimes up to 2 meter accuracy.
Well, I would bet some $ that the HTC is "faking" the accuracy (happy meter). The GPS on any phone has a very hard time getting a reading with an accuracy better than 5 meters independent of the GPS hardware. The accuracy is a statistical figure which will give you the probability (95%) of you being with in the that distance from your true location (so 1 in 20 readings could be 100 miles away in a one foot accuracy even if it is not likely).
The hardware, even if the phone could get a perfect reception and calculation, is not the main problem, for a one or even 10 footer. The problem in these scenarios is the space weather, accuracy of satellites etc. Ordinary earthly weather do not affect the GPS so much as some seems to believe. Anyway, 1 feet is hard to get even with a professional DGPS (differential GPS) and impossible with a GPS in a phone.
I get 5m and sometimes without any reason it jumps to 10m.
Every other smartphone(cheap or not) i used gets accuracy under 3m and most of the time 1m !! I am wondering , what the hell did samsung with the gps chip... I didn't believe that the gps was that bad until i saw other phones...
The main problem with being capped at 5 meters is that in residential areas where streets may be tighter any GPS app will bounce you around like crazy. Basically Google Maps uses the accuracy of 5 meters which is a radius meaning the circle in which Google Maps will think you're in could really be 10 meters wide. Since 10 meters can be on multiple streets at once in Google Maps, it will start bouncing you around.... And heaven help you if you have an accuracy higher than 10 meters, you might as well guess where you are.
Whether other GPS phones are "faking" their accuracy or not (and I don't think they really are), Samsung has CLEARLY developed their GPS firmware to only be accurate in intervals of 5 meters which makes NO sense at all because a phone can easily get more accurate than 5 meters of accuracy seeing as I've never had this problem of bouncing around navigation maps on much MUCH crappier phones than the Galaxy S...
Google accuracy + GPS and you will understand why you do not get under 5 meters. It is near impossible to get lower readings. The phones that get 1 feet are miracles. A dedicated GPS with good antenna sometimes get 3 meters.
Look at this page in german http://www.kowoma.de/gps/gpsmonitor/gpsmonitor.php. Translate it to english and you will be enlighten. He uses a dedicated Garmin antenna on the roof to mesure the error. With 95% he get around 4 meters 2010, with 50% he get 2 meters. You have to scroll to the bottom to get the figures from the archive.
Well you may argue that it is an old GPS but the technology has not been going towards more precision but to smaller and less battery draining components so the accuracy will be roughly the same. It is way better that you try to enlighten yourself about the GPS then nag on SGS so we can skip the rather uneducated guesses. I am not saying tha SGS is a good GPS but you seems to expect some magic that do not exist on any phone.
I regularly get 5m which is approx 15ft.
Nirvana388 said:
I regularly get 5m which is approx 15ft.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the info Nirvana. If I had that accuracy constantly I'm sure I'd get more accurate navigation. How does your phone handle Google Maps Navigation? Does your location jump around or does it uneccessarily reroute?
milsjg said:
Google accuracy + GPS and you will understand why you do not get under 5 meters. It is near impossible to get lower readings. The phones that get 1 feet are miracles. A dedicated GPS with good antenna sometimes get 3 meters.
Look at this page in german http://www.kowoma.de/gps/gpsmonitor/gpsmonitor.php. Translate it to english and you will be enlighten. He uses a dedicated Garmin antenna on the roof to mesure the error. With 95% he get around 4 meters 2010, with 50% he get 2 meters. You have to scroll to the bottom to get the figures from the archive.
Well you may argue that it is an old GPS but the technology has not been going towards more precision but to smaller and less battery draining components so the accuracy will be roughly the same. It is way better that you try to enlighten yourself about the GPS then nag on SGS so we can skip the rather uneducated guesses. I am not saying tha SGS is a good GPS but you seems to expect some magic that do not exist on any phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well my point about the firmware only incrementing by 5 meters at a time still is valid. No other phone does that. It screws up Google Maps if you're not within 32.8 feet (10 meters). Believe GPS Test or don't if you want, but head to head navigation tests will prove the Galaxy S falls short of most mobile phones with GPS in speed and accuracy. I've never read as many complaints about GPS on any other line of phones than the Galaxy S line.
And as far as me believing in "magical phones" capable of pinpoint GPS accuracy, well then I suppose all of the HTC Android devices must have been made by freakin' Dumbledore himself because I've never once seen them bounce around a city so drastically while using Google Maps for navigation like the Galaxy S bounces around... My sister's G1 is better than my Galaxy S for crying out loud... But what do I know, I don't even speak German lol...
Sheesh..... Tough crowd.....
Read the last line "I am not saying tha SGS is a good GPS but you seems to expect some magic that do not exist on any phone.".
However there are some issues with the GPS but I think they are within the tolerance at least for me. HTC may make better GPS phones but all I am trying to say is that there are so many misconceptions floating around the forum that and I just want to keep the discussion on a certain level.
My GPS for one thing do give bigger "false true location" for the first minutes than what is shown as an error. I tolerate that because I know that it takes time to adjust to true location. I think HTC is better in that sense. However my SGS has an extremely good sensitivity. I can get an lock in the basement with concrete walls on every sida (just a a hole for staircase on one side). To my knowledge no HTC unit has accomplish that. On the other hand there seems to be some trouble with Maps and MyTracks (especially) which seems to be way to slow in updating speed. If you use the built in test program for GPS and use http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html to manually set position you get much better readings. This pointing in the direction that there is some software problems. An educated guess is that the GPS has to low priority (read Hardcore thread) or the file system is to slow. We will see what happens with Gingerbread. I suppose it is going to have a faster file system and some prioritizing tweaks.
You make some valid points.... I still won't buy another sgs device but that's my choice. As far as gingerbread is concerned we're getting ahead of ourselves haha..... we don't have to go there though. At least not in this thread.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
checkers2884 said:
It has to be something to do with the firmware. Why are all of the readings perfectly divisible by 16.4 feet? I only see this with the Galaxy S phones too. As far as the guess about government restricting accuracy, my friend's htc incredible bounces between 3 and 6 feet, and this lucky SOB gets down to 1 foot towards the end of the video!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's 1 meter not 1 foot.
I'm thinking of buying the garmin vivosmart but i'm not sure if it is supported by the G2
is there any "smartwear" for taking notifications and display time/day (as small as possible) and it doesn't need to recharge it every night?
Misfit Shine
papathvas said:
I'm thinking of buying the garmin vivosmart but i'm not sure if it is supported by the G2
is there any "smartwear" for taking notifications and display time/day (as small as possible) and it doesn't need to recharge it every night?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Misfit Shine with my LG G2. They are coming out with a "cheaper" model soon, the Misfit Flash, but this will only be about the Shine. As for the website http://www.misfit.com/, so you can check it out. The only thing it doesn't do that you asked about is tracking notifications.
As far as being an activity tracker, it does a pretty good job. There where (don't know if still is) two version of the shine, and it is what it comes with. The version I got came with the magnetic clip and the sports band. The little cheaper model comes with just the magnetic clip. Like most of the trackers, this one is waterproof. Rating for it is 50 meters. So no worries about jumping into the pool with this one and taking a swim.
The major thing about this tacker is that I got mine in April, I just changed the battery a week ago. So it ran for roughly 3-4 months with no charging. But that is the bad part as well, it takes a watch battery. At least the battery is one of the most common ones, and pretty cheap on Amazon. So with this one I was able to get a decent period of time out of it without having to worry about putting it on the charger.
It can tell the time, but does so in a digital/analog way. It shows you where Noon is on it, then shows you the hand, then blinks the minute had for how many minutes past the 5 minute intervals. This is all by the 12 leds on it. To get it to show the time you tap the device two or three times (depending upon settings). This is where the Misfit Flash might be better, as it has a full face button instead of using the accelerometer.
The main negative to this Misfit Shine is that the Android software is a couple of revisions behind ios. It is still useable and will do everything, just annoying seeing a new feature mentioned and seeing that it is only on the ios at this time. Also the software is simple, but they have finally open the API to allow other programs to nab the data. So you might check to see if your preferred health/tracking app has access to it.
Overall I've been quite happy with it. It has survived two trips though the washer, pretty sure it can easily survive more since it is metal. The new Misfit Flash (plastic encloser) might not like the spin cycle as much though.
Hope my little review helps you out some.
Niscandia
PS: I've used it on Cloudy's roms, First on CloudyFlex and now on CloudyG3. I did not try it upon a stock rom.
Sony Smartband
papathvas said:
I'm thinking of buying the garmin vivosmart but i'm not sure if it is supported by the G2
is there any "smartwear" for taking notifications and display time/day (as small as possible) and it doesn't need to recharge it every night?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the Sony Smartband with my G2. Overall I like it. I paid $80 for it when it came out earlier this year. The battery life is pretty good ranging from 3 to 5 days of use. It has a companion app that works with it called Lifelog. Lifelog tracks a lot of info. There is no screen on the smartband, but it does have touch controls and vibrates when your phone receives an email or a phone call. It is water resistant. I shower and wash dishes with it on. I think I will pick up the newest version when it comes out.
The one issue that I have noticed and reported to Sony to fix is that text message notifications do not vibrate the Smartband like emails, phone calls, and alarms do.
Also, the band they use did cause a little irritation to my skin. I'm not sure if it s from the material or from the band rubbing against my skin when I was wearing it.
Just like the other poster I am using Cloudy G3.
Can we use mi Band by Xiaomi with G2 .. I mean all of its features ??
Sent from my LG-D802
Here you can buy a MI Band just 28,99$/piece. If you buy and tested please give information of functions.
http://www.pandawill.com/mobile-phone-c1/wearable-devices.html
I use a Pebble Steel with my G2, works like a charm! Bluetooth LE allows my phone to sip power, I don't notice the difference in battery when I'm connected to it at all. The pebble has a week long battery which is amazing as well.
in general. has G4 been what you expected for general use?
screen, speed, camera batt life, heat, connectivity (too a Mac in my case), blah, blah, blah.
Thanks,
metropical said:
in general. has G4 been what you expected for general use?
screen, speed, camera batt life, heat, connectivity (too a Mac in my case), blah, blah, blah.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen is great quality not as good as the galaxy s6 but it is close second. The speed is great on this phone i don't experience any lag. The camera to me isbetter than any phone out including the iPhone and galaxy s6. Battery life gets me thru a day...i take out off charger at 7 am and when i get home around 6:30 it's no less than 40% and thats with emails coming in all day, few calss, surfing the web and some game play. I dont have any heat problems unless im charging it and playing a game.
Sent from my Porn Infected G4
creglenn said:
.i take out off charger at 7 am and when i get home around 6:30 it's no less than 40% and thats with emails coming in all day, few calss, surfing the web and some game play. I dont have any heat problems unless im charging it and playing a game.
4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried GPS nav with it Waze or other and if so, has that driven up the temp alot?
metropical said:
have you tried GPS nav with it Waze or other and if so, has that driven up the temp alot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried Google maps and it'll warm up a bit but nothing abnormal
Sent from my Porn Infected G4
Thanks again. Good useful info. Pick 'em up Thurs.
Great phone minus touch screen issues. Phantom touches are a nuisance. Especially while lying flat.
Below Average for High End Phone
My last phone was a Note 3 so this is what I'm comparing the G4 to. Had the G4 for 4 weeks now.
1. Heats up compared to the note.
--When using Waze for 80 mile trips the phone heats up like a frying pan.
--Never noticed any heat issues with the Note but always have a hot phone if using internet for longer than 5 min. with the G4 (to be fair I had a silicone case on the Note and never noticed any heat issues. Could have been the case not letting me feel heat?)
2. Battery inconsistant.
--With a 65% charge I used Waze for 1 3/4 hours yesterday and the battery was at 0% charge (turned itself off). Today had 70% charge for return trip using Waze and had 45% battery life left at end of trip. Note 3 was also unpredictable with battery life. Could go 2 days on lite usage and then other times with same usage would have 30% left at end of 1st day. I find that a re-boot usually solves the battery issue on both phones.
3. Screen
--G4 is nice for most tasks. Sucks when watching HBO-Go, Netflix.
--Note 3 had better blacks and much more enjoyable to watch movies on. (to sum it up, G4 is like watching a LCD TV & Note 3 was like a Plasma TV. I have both tv's at home and the plasma picture blows away the LCD tv's. Maybe just my preferance.)
4. Love the 2 tap to wake the phone and the rear toggle just feels right for one handed operation. Big improvement vs non LG phones.
5. Camera
--Not enough usage to do a complete comparison yet. So far the pictures and video look good on the phone but havent downloaded to the computer to compare with my Note 3 pictures yet. I have noticed that the 8x zoom on the G4 makes the pictures look washed out. The Note only had 4x zoom which looked great in day light. The G4 night/low light pictures do look better than the Note 3.
6. Sound.
Volume goes much louder on the G4(a plus). Speaker phone is better on the G4. Music is kind of tinny sounding if the volume is to high vs the Note 3.
7.Build quality.
The Note 3 feels like a better built phone. Note is heavier than G4 and feels more substantial. I do like the fact that the G4 is lighter and smaller than the Note. Easier to hold one handed and not as heavy in the belt holster as the Note.
That's it for now.
I've had no battery issues thus far, Waze or otherwise. Goes a longtime on a charge. But I'm not a heavy user. A glance here and there, 20 emails, 20 texts a day. No video watching.
You'd feel the heat in a silicon case. But mine was ugly on delivery. All kind of issues. I did a reset and that has cleared up most issue.
There are still some intermittencies with WiFi Calling (T-Mob). But usually a toggle of WiFi will fix that.
I like the build Q of my HTC M7 better as well as the stability. But this was a better deal, and unfortunately better featured, otherwise I would have taken a M9.
Perhaps next year there will be a M10 (or MX) and I'll jump.
But I think as phones become more sophisticated, the carriers get more boxed in by the manufacturers.
OBTW, fave feature is the Paste Bin of the G4. Very smart.
Intro
I'm a big fan of smart watches in general; the Gear Fit (GF) was my first true smart watch type device. I've owned a few Android wear watches as well including the LG G Watch, LG Urbane, and Huawei Watch. I really liked the idea of Android Wear it just lacked a lot of benefits for the price. Now, with Samsungs re-emergence into the fitness tracker world I'm hoping for a much improved product. I realized that what I really wanted was a solid fitness tracker with a nice screen, and dedicated GPS; unfortunately none existed until I read about the least fir the Gear Fit 2 (GF2). I'm excited to bring everyone my views as a long time smartwatch and fitness band user (also tried to the Fitbit and xiamoi mi band), so stay tuned for my review today.
Overview:
Samsung made a great looking device this year for people that want less of a smart watch, and more of a fitness band that doesn't look hideous. The Gear Fit 2 (GF2) is very light given how sizable it is compared to the first generation Samsung made. Samsung carried over their seamless band design used in the Gear S2 which is nothing short of fantastic looking. My GF2 does have a small defect on one side where the band meets the frame, but that is not characteristic of all GF2’s, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Unboxing Video
What’s in the box:
Samsung Gear Fit 2
Charging cradle
Documentation
Note: There is no wall adapter included in the box, so you can use any adapter from a reputable brand of course to charge the GF2.
Charging Cradle:
Band Removal & HR Sensor
Sizing and Fitment:
I originally purchased the large band size given how my wrists are 6.5in as I measured via a body tape measure. I found the large to be way too big overall; I had to use the second to last notch inward for it to even remotely not slide around my wrists. Now, if you look at Samsung’s sizing information that I took from their website below, you will see how that might be slightly off what most people would expect like myself. With the small size GF2, I have the band somewhere in the middle in terms of the notches. Since you want the GF2 to read your HR accurately (we can only hope), I would ensure that you can make it slightly tighter if you want to just in case it cannot read your HR correctly. I feel that Samsung made the device itself nearly the perfect size for the average person like myself. For reference I am 5’8” and weight 142lbs, and active daily.
Wrist Measurement:
Large 155-210mm (6.1-8.26in)
Small 125-170mm (4.9- 6.69in)
Build and Design:
Samsung opted to make their GF2 out of anodized aluminum (from the feel and my understanding after checking), which is a big step up from the plastic faux chrome Gear Fit (GF) that was released back in 2014. I really enjoyed all of my Android Wear watches, but I felt something was missing from them to make the purchase feel less like you’re buying a $3-400 notification machine. My Huawei Watch was a beautiful amalgamation of stainless steel, sapphire and modern design, but it couldn’t deliver the extra functionality to justify its price which is why I sold mine after 9 months. If you have very small wrists like my wife, the GF2 will look very strange, and most likely be uncomfortable for daily use (as my wife said). The band is made out of a elastomer type material that is both soft, durable and flexible, plus it is easily changed via Samsung’s proprietary connectors that are also used on the Gear S2. On the right hand side of the display you will find a set of buttons. Each button serves a different purpose, but unfortunately Samsung did not texture the power button like most companies do for phones. The smaller button is used for powering on/off the device, and can be programmed to do different things via quick double press while the bigger button’s main function is to go back.
On the front you will of course find a Super AMOLED panel curved to perfection and wrapped in Gorilla Glass 3 (too bad they didn’t use GG4) that bursts with the vivid colors, deep blacks and other great things you expect from Samsung. I am a huge AMOLED fan, in fact I don’t think I could use another phone (HTC 10 included) that uses a non AMOLED display because they are simply stunning to look at in any light. As for the brightness, you can see it in direct sunlight, but the brightness needs to be manually adjusted since there is no light sensor to be found. There are 10 conventional brightness levels, and 1 (level 11) that is only intended for outdoor usage as the popup notification states when you adjust it that high.
Buttons & Body
Software and Apps:
First, for those of you that don’t already know this device runs Samsung’s own OS called Tizen. This was done because the OS itself is more efficient for wearables than Android which seems to remain true still. My Android Wear watches had batteries 1.5-2x bigger and didn’t last as long as this is supposed to. Since I just got my Gear Fit today (6/10/2016), I cannot speak for how long it will last fully just yet, but my original gear fit lasted 7 days. Granted the original gear fit didn’t have automatic activity tracking, GPS, or HR monitor while working out; I would expect the GF2 to last 1.5-2 days with my usage. I will conduct a full drain test and post daily updates below with notes about what I did that day, brightness level(s) used, GPS on/off etc. (see Battery life test below)
The Gear Fit 2 is compatible with all Android devices running Android 4.4 Kitkat and above which is a good start for Samsung. I am glad they added support for non-Samsung phones because that’s why I stopped using my original Gear Fit. Everything can be managed from the Gear Fit 2 itself, but you need to first set it up on a phone before using standalone mode. Music is also transferred directly to the GF2 via the gear manager like many tasks. There is a little over 2GB free for music and other things which isn’t a huge amount; I wasn’t expecting a lot of storage anyway for music, so while 2GB isn’t ideal it is still enough for some workout music. When I installed the Gear Manager app on my Nexus 6P, the app prompted me to download 2 additional apps for the GF2 to work. I was not a big fan of being forced to install more apps just to use it on my non-Samsung phone, but the apps are not intrusive like some of Samsung’s other apps, so at least it’s not all bad. I haven’t experienced any issues using the GF2 via my Nexus 6P, but you do need to also download S Health if you want to sync your fitness activities. There is no Google Fit integration that I have seen, so I hope Samsung adds it in at some point because Google Fit is more streamlined. S Health does offer some things that Google Fit does not such as sleep tracking via the GF2, yet that isn’t a deal breaker for me.
I tested the GPS lock which seems to be nearly instant, and accurate as far as I could tell. The GPS location icon will blink during activities when you have it enabled (see my software hands on video) making it easy to know whether or not it’s on or off. For notifications you will get a nice little “buzz” which is very noticeable compared to my Huawei Watch and hard to not feel due to how close the fit is strapped to your wrist. On the ‘watch face’ you can also enable a notification icon which is a little yellow dot (on my current face) in the upper left hand corner that lets you know there’s a notification waiting for you.
Currently there are only a handful of 3rd party apps including Spotify, and some watch faces for the GF2. I really hope Samsung gets other developers onboard to make more useful apps for the GF2 like one for your loyalty cards (Starbucks, grocery stores etc) because it really helps out when you need to quickly scan a card. This isn’t a huge deal, but rather it’s something that I miss from my Android Wear watches.
On the software side there are a ton of things to discuss, so I tried to briefly cover what I felt was relevant; however, if anyone has specific questions please feel free to let me know below. I will try to answer all of the questions that I can in a timely manner.
Update [6/12]: As @Sher The Love pointed out there are some small ways Tizen operations on the GF2 that might bother people.
First:
There is no way to have a split view of your distance and speed while tracking activities, or any combination of that data besides the stock (speed, distance, time vs HR), or HR with time.
Second:
While the GF2 does post weather data when you record an activity there is no native app for it on the GF2 itself. There is a way to view weather via some of the 'watch faces', but that isn't always ideal for everyone.
Third:
Samsung only has an option to clear all notifications or none at all; this means you cannot swipe a single one away like you would expect. Now that I've spent more time with the device I can say this is a little annoying, yet at the same time I like clearing all of them at once is nice most of the time.
Lastly:
If you are out of Bluetooth range notifications can be pushed from your phone to the GF2 over WiFi just like an Android Wear watch can. This is a great feature to have, and gives the GF2 more of a smartwatch like ability to go alongside the fitness tracking.
Some of you asked about the constant HRM during workouts, and its accuracy. I wanted to post some screenshots from my HRM throughout the day (today), and data for a short walk I did yesterday which also used GPS for the speed data.
Workout HRM Log Sample
Software Overview Video
Update 6/17
A more in-depth look at the software and hardware:
In-depth Look Part 1
In-depth Look Part 2
In-depth Look Part 3
Gear Manager App:
Gear Manager & S Health App Overview
Music Transfer:
Installed Apps (for non-Samsung phones)
View while tracking an activity:
Activity tracking on the device with GPS map
Battery life test:
I am going to charge my device to 100%, then proceed to wear it without charging until it dies. My settings for the test are as follows (unless otherwise noted)
-GPS: on for activity tracking (only when you start activities)
-Brightness level 5
-Ambient always on mode: Off
-WiFi: Off
-Tilt to wake: Off
-Auto HR monitoring periodically throughout the day
-Sleep tracking
App Notifications: On for about 12 apps (this isn’t a huge amount if you consider how many apps give you notifications daily)
I will add an update 24 hours from the time I post this showing the battery %, and detailing my daily usage.
Day 1 Battery (Start time 2350 6/10):
The sleep tracking isn't accurate, at least not during the first night from what I've seen. I went to bed around 0030, and woke up at 0630. The Gear Fit 2 reported that I went to sleep at 0400 and woke up at 0630 which is only partially accurate.
From 2350 on 6/10 to 0830 6/11 the Gear Fit 2 only drained 4% total which is really good for being idle given it's small battery. I will add more updates about today's usage as I use it today.
Daylight display test while on a walk
Day 1 Battery ~23 hours later
It is now 2237 as I'm typing this, and the battery on my GF2 is sitting at 68%. I used GPS to track a 45 minute walk, and had all of the above things enabled as I mentioned. I also brief had the brightness at 11 for a minute or two so I could show the screen outside for a video. I also had the brightness down to 1 for another video so keep that in mind because both of those could potentially impact battery life. As of right now it looks like the GF2 should last a full 2 days (48 hours), or slightly more using GPS. I will report back with the battery % tomorrow morning when I wake up.
Day 2 Battery
I woke up this morning and the battery drained ~8% overnight since I last checked it. I expect to make it through todsy but possibly not all of tomorrow depending on how much the GPS drains it during activities. I also wanted to point out how the sleep recognition is not accurate after 2 days of checking it; I hope this issue gets addressed in a future update.
Day 2 Battery end of day update
I didn't do any real exercising today as I had initially planned, so I wasn't able to use the GPS aside from when it would track my walking throughout the day. My battery is not at 39% after 48 hours off the charger; it has been on my wrist the whole time aside from when I took showers (I know it's IP68 rated, but I don't want to intentionally expose it to water).
Today I had the automatic WiFi enabled, along with all of the initially mentioned conditions outline in the test. I don't expect to make it through the whole day tomorrow, so I will update the battery test tomorrow morning when I wake up.
Day 3 Battery morning update
The battery drained 8% overnight which put me down to 30% when I woke up. The sleep tracking was slightly better tonight than the previous two nights; it actually came withing 15 minutes of when I went to bed and woke up which is a lot better than before.
I went on a 50 minute walk this morning with my wife; the GPS was on the whole time, and I ensured my phones Bluetooth was off so it would use the GF2's GPS not the one on my phone. The battery started at 28% and ended at 19% during that 50 minute interval which is more realistic than the 4% I saw during a similar period. As of right now I decided to turn the battery draining tilt-to-wake function on to see how big of an effect it has on your battery life. During the past 2 hours it has taken a 5% hit on my battery which is significant compared to how little the GPS drains relative to what both functions are doing. I don't expect to make it through the whole day, so I will post another update when it does die here in the new few hours if I had to guess since I'm using the tilt-to-wake. I enabled that to show people the high drain it causes, and so you can see how it impacts your daily use of the GF2. I hope everyone is enjoying reading about these results; stay tuned for more updates! :laugh:
Day 3 Battery Final update
I went on yet another walk with 9% battery, tilt-to-wake on, GPS on, and brightness level 6. I successfully tracked the entire 72 minute walk with my GF2 dying minutes after I got home; I couldn't have predicted, nor asked for something that perfect, but hey it all worked out!
I am more than happy with the battery life of the new GF2 given its GPS, smaller battery than the original (10mAh smaller), and constant HRM during workouts. The total battery life with my normal usage as described each day was 66 hours; that is better than most if not all Android Wear watches doing the same thing, and a fair amount of fitness trackers that have similar abilities and screens (Microsoft band).
Battery Update 6/17
After giving the GF2 another full cycle I managed to get a solid 3 days of use out of it as opposed to the 2.75 I got before. I turned power saving mode on when my battery hit 10% around 1500 (3pm), and it's now 2310 and my battery is at 7%. Power saving mode does limit the device substantially, but it just goes to show you how big of a difference it can make while still counting your steps. I might get closer to 80 hours of use at this point, so anyone that doesn't use HRM, or GPS should be able to hopefully get 4 days of battery life; if anyone does I would like to know what your set up is/was, so I can post about it here.
I hope this battery test will help everyone out, and give them a good ideal of what to expect with their GF2 based on normal to heavy usage tracking activities.
Summary:
I really like what Samsung has done with this year’s Gear Fit 2; all of the right boxes are checked as far as features, design and build quality go. I wouldn’t change more than a small thing or two personally, so if you want a fitness tracker that has a fair amount of smart watch features I don’t think the GF2 will disappoint you. While there are a limited number of useful 3rd party apps currently, I hope that changes in the future to make things better along with Google Fit integration. The SAMOLED display is nothing short of pure greatness, and the seamless flowing of the screen to band really makes this device stand out.
Wrong forum man
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Brava27 said:
Wrong forum man
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
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It is technically a S7 Edge accessory, therefore I am posting it here unless mods feel that it would be better suited elsewhere. The Gear VR is also a S7 Edge accessory and it's discussed here too. There is no dedicated Gear Fit 2 forum like there was for the original Gear Fit which is another reason I posted it here. I'm open having it moved elsewhere; I figured people that also own the S7 Edge would appreciate seeing this since it relates to the phone.
Unboxing video added
OP Updated:
-Full review posted
-Battery life tested detailed, daily updates for it coming
-Additional video added
Hey, still going through everything. Busy night at work. Middle of watching the walkthrough. I see it has wifi?? Has no idea. Is this like wear where if you step away too far from your phone, wifi will connect and maintain the connection between the watch and phone for notifications?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
tu3218 said:
Hey, still going through everything. Busy night at work. Middle of watching the walkthrough. I see it has wifi?? Has no idea. Is this like wear where if you step away too far from your phone, wifi will connect and maintain the connection between the watch and phone for notifications?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
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It does have WiFi, although I haven't played with it enough to see how it works just yet. I will test that out, and or look into it's purpose. I think it would be nice if the GF2 worked like you mentioned which is how AW watches do it when you move far enough way from your phone. I should have an answer for you later today (since its Saturday now), but if for some reason I forget to update you about that drop me a message/post quote/mention.
Edit: it will scan for networks while disconnected from your phone which might imply notifications will also go over wifi. Here's what it says when you turn wifi on:
https://goo.gl/photos/vCeUZ237XYpSTsFY6
Pilz said:
It does have WiFi, although I haven't played with it enough to see how it works just yet. I will test that out, and or look into it's purpose. I think it would be nice if the GF2 worked like you mentioned which is how AW watches do it when you move far enough way from your phone. I should have an answer for you later today (since its Saturday now), but if for some reason I forget to update you about that drop me a message/post quote/mention.
Edit: it will scan for networks while disconnected from your phone which might imply notifications will also go over wifi. Here's what it says when you turn wifi on:
https://goo.gl/photos/vCeUZ237XYpSTsFY6
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Yeah certainly sounds like it will do just that. Try to connect to wifi when Bluetooth is disconnected. That's a big feature that no other strictly fitness trackers don't have.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
tu3218 said:
Yeah certainly sounds like it will do just that. Try to connect to wifi when Bluetooth is disconnected. That's a big feature that no other strictly fitness trackers don't have.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
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I will test it out today for you when I get a chance; hopefully it works just like that.
I will add another short video showing how the Gear Manager app works, and some of the other features present on the Gear Fit 2.
Great review! Super thorough!
I will be getting one I for Father's Day and am very excited!
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Member conduct.
Thread cleaned.
May I remind you guys of the rules and especially the one below...
2.3 Flaming / Lack of respect: XDA is about sharing and this does not involve virtual yelling (flaming) or rudeness. Flaming or posting with a lack of respect is unacceptable. Treat new members in the manner in which you would like to have been treated when you were a new member. When dealing with any member, provide them with guidance, advice and instructions when you can, showing them respect and courtesy. Never post in a demanding, argumentative, disrespectful or self-righteous manner.
Regards,
Bajanman
Forum Moderator
How does the GF2 screen compare to the S2?
Is it sharper or brighter in the sun?
YankInDaSouth said:
Great review! Super thorough!
I will be getting one I for Father's Day and am very excited!
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Glad to hear, that; let us know how you like it!
Bajanman said:
Thread cleaned.
May I remind you guys of the rules and especially the one below...
2.3 Flaming / Lack of respect: XDA is about sharing and this does not involve virtual yelling (flaming) or rudeness. Flaming or posting with a lack of respect is unacceptable. Treat new members in the manner in which you would like to have been treated when you were a new member. When dealing with any member, provide them with guidance, advice and instructions when you can, showing them respect and courtesy. Never post in a demanding, argumentative, disrespectful or self-righteous manner.
Regards,
Bajanman
Forum Moderator
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Thank you for cleaning things up
usb7 said:
How does the GF2 screen compare to the S2?
Is it sharper or brighter in the sun?
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I don't own a gear S2, so I cannot speak to its outdoor performance. The gear fit is visible in the sun if you crank the brightness up to 10 or 11;(11 is specifically for bright sunlight as it says), but since there is no ambient light sensor you need to manually adjust it for outside.
Pilz said:
Thank you for cleaning things up
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You're very welcome.
I'll be sticking around for the time being to do some lurking...[emoji102] [emoji102] [emoji41]
I added a video under the battery test showing how the display looks in moderate to bright daylight while tracking an activity.
I also would like to know about the WiFi notification possibility.
blitzzin said:
I also would like to know about the WiFi notification possibility.
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I disconnected my GF2 from bluetooth, connected it to my WiFi, and emailed myself to see if anything was pushed to the GF2. To my disappointment nothing popped up, on the GF2, but I might be doing something wrong. I'm going to play around with the WiFi some more and I will hopefully have a more definitive answer for you tomorrow.
OP Updated:
-Battery life test day 1 data added
-Activity tracking video added
-Gear Manager, S Health overview video added
-Daylight brightness test video added
Pilz said:
I disconnected my GF2 from bluetooth, connected it to my WiFi, and emailed myself to see if anything was pushed to the GF2. To my disappointment nothing popped up, on the GF2, but I might be doing something wrong. I'm going to play around with the WiFi some more and I will hopefully have a more definitive answer for you tomorrow.
OP Updated:
-Battery life test day 1 data added
-Activity tracking video added
-Gear Manager, S Health overview video added
-Daylight brightness test video added
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How long do you estimate the battery would last with GPS active while not using Bluetooth streaming? I'm trying to see how long of run someone could go on with GPS. Thanks.
Sher The Love said:
How long do you estimate the battery would last with GPS active while not using Bluetooth streaming? I'm trying to see how long of run someone could go on with GPS. Thanks.
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I had mine connect to my phone via Bluetooth not streaming anything and it only went down 4% in 45 minutes which seems abnormally low. I think the drain should have been much higher, so I will have to let you know tomorrow when I can further verify the battery drain during usage.
If I had to estimate a time using only GPS based on what I've seen now I would say 8 hours, but I doubt it's that high unless Samsung worked some magic with it.
Pilz said:
I had mine connect to my phone via Bluetooth not streaming anything and it only went down 4% in 45 minutes which seems abnormally low. I think the drain should have been much higher, so I will have to let you know tomorrow when I can further verify the battery drain during usage.
If I had to estimate a time using only GPS based on what I've seen now I would say 8 hours, but I doubt it's that high unless Samsung worked some magic with it.
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Thanks. 4% does seem abnormally low for that. 8 hours would be great though. Keep us updated
Sher The Love said:
Thanks. 4% does seem abnormally low for that. 8 hours would be great though. Keep us updated
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I was shocked to see that when I finished my walk, but until proven otherwise tomorrow that's what it showed. I even went as far as to disconnect my GF2 from Bluetooth to ensure it was using its gos and not my phones. When I use it tomorrow I expect to see 10-20% GPS drain per hour given its small battery. I'll keep everything up to date as I get time throughout the dsy
I got the Mate 10 last week (not PRO) and I'm very impressed with the phone, I've tried a lot of phones and this one is really hard to fault, the only thing is that it's not running stock Android, but with Nova Launcher on it, you can make it feel like it, so no biggy here, now the rest, damn impressed with it, amazing camera, had the S8+ before this one and in my opinion, the pictures are simply amazing... great 6" 2k screen, with the regular 16:9 aspect ratio, so no letter boxing when watching videos and because the bezels on the sides are very, very slim, it feels great in the hand too... headphone jack output quality is clear and loud, not as loud as the V30, but very close... IR blaster (missed these on phones), it's awesome when you are in the sofa chilling and the remote is gone on a mystical journey again and no where to be found, but hey, just use your phone to control your TV =D... And now the battery, wow, very impressed, never had a phone that lasted me a full day off the charger, I use my phone heavily, so I always had to top up my other phones around 3pm, after unplugging at 6am, with the Mate 10, I'm getting 8hrs SOT, enough to last me 18hrs off the charger, simply amazing battery beast.
If you are looking for a new phone, with top of the range specs and without breaking the bank, I recommend the Mate 10, right now the true flagship killer IMHO.
absolutely correct! im also getting around 8h SOT and i play alot of heavy games. first i though that the phone is draining battery fast but after seeing SOT i realized that it was just my illusion. the 12 core gpu drains the battery faster but actually not that fast. i have set the screen to 1080p mode and power saving toggle is turned on and the phone is still blazing fast even in heavy games. the camera in DxO mark scored 97 (100 in picture quality) and that is truly amazing. knowing that at this point i can respond to those note 8 and iphone x owners who brag about their phone being a camera topper and performance beast. in newer antutu 7 people say that kirin 970 already beaten up the SD845. if thats real then i dont know why would someone not get this phone. the audio quality is just jaw dropping. not to mention the powerful theme engine huehuehue.
also the charging speed is insane. 0 to 100% in just 80 minutes is awesome.
Saadkhalid786 said:
absolutely correct! im also getting around 8h SOT and i play alot of heavy games. first i though that the phone is draining battery fast but after seeing SOT i realized that it was just my illusion. the 12 core gpu drains the battery faster but actually not that fast. i have set the screen to 1080p mode and power saving toggle is turned on and the phone is still blazing fast even in heavy games. the camera in DxO mark scored 97 (100 in picture quality) and that is truly amazing. knowing that at this point i can respond to those note 8 and iphone x owners who brag about their phone being a camera topper and performance beast. in newer antutu 7 people say that kirin 970 already beaten up the SD845. if thats real then i dont know why would someone not get this phone. the audio quality is just jaw dropping. not to mention the powerful theme engine huehuehue.
also the charging speed is insane. 0 to 100% in just 80 minutes is awesome.
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Yep, I swap phones very often, every week or 2 weeks, but I don't know what to get now, because I'll feel like I've just downgraded and there will be nothing new to try, the only one I'm considering right now is the Mi MIX 2 or Essential phone, because of the narrow top bezel, but other than that, I know I'll have a worst phone compared to the MATE 10, so there is really no reason to get another phone, when the Mate 10 is this good. Oh well, guess I found the perfect phone for me, finally xD
This looks like as good as any place to add my thoughts on my ALP-L29 (Mate 10 non pro).. I'm not going to rattle specs, just highlight features I enjoy..
1 month in, 3 firmware updates thus far, unrooted and still content..
Design:
Though the idea of a glass sandwich makes for slippery surfaces, drops, constant fingerprints and extra weight, it is stunningly beautiful. The ergonomics are very good with no sharp edges, balanced perfectly and is one of the few devices with a symmetric design. The volume/power button placement isn't ideal though, I prefer a better separation or texture to identity what I'm pressing, and using these for screenshots is awkward. Thankfully there are several ways to bypass this minor issue. I use my device on a desk and appreciate the front fingerprint scanner location as well.
Hardware:
The inclusion of an ir blaster wasn't a feature I looked for, but find myself using frequently. My daughter constantly leaves the TV remote in odd places and I save stress/time just using my phone instead. I really enjoy the desktop mode, and the added functionality of the usb 3.0.. I travel frequently and am looking forward to leaving the laptop at home. The headphone jack was and is still a main reason I didn't choose the pro model. The rest of the hardware is as described, awesome battery life, great camera and blazingly fast fingerprint scanner..
Software:
Emui is different, not bad, but feels a bit heavy.. I forgive most of this due to its included theming, functions like gesture/voice controls and uniqueness over not just being another "android".. I still threw Nova on it because the stock launcher is too limited (as most stock launchers are). The updates have been regular, no rogue apps eating battery and everything has been super stable. There are flaws though. The non removable battery notifications of heavy apps is annoying, the knuckle gestures (while sometimes useful) rarely work as accurately as I'd like and there is performance optimization problems. I find small lags sometimes while scrolling, slight touch accuracy/unresponsiveness several times (across updates, maybe hardware related), and its aggressive ram/battery management sometimes reloads even single apps..
Being a phone:
At the end of the day this is a phone, and as a phone it works very well. I travel through Paris daily by metro, and signal strength has been good and keeps cellular connection better than my old phone. I don't miss messages or calls, though the mobile data cuts out a bit more than my last device which I find odd.. It'll have reasonable signal but doesn't try to keep poor mobile data connection, maybe to save battery?.. This happens as well with the switch between 2g/3g/4g, often preferring the lower band unless signals are ideal (toggling airplane mode helps coax it to grab the higher band). Call quality has been excellent, loud and no complaints about the microphone output.
Conclusion:
As I've stated, I'm very content, and recommend this device. It's a powerful flagship, great for media consumers, gamers, photo junkies and those who need a bit more productivity out of their device. It has stamina for a full days usage and charges in mere minutes for a few extra hours if needed.. The positives far outweigh any minor annoyances. This is the first device I haven't eagerly wanted to unlock, root and mod..
Not going to rehash what all the previous users have already stated. Even the little quirks can be ironed out with a little research and playing around with the numerous settings. Great phone! Highly recommended. I do believe that after many years of phones going in the opposite direction from what I wanted that I have finally found the one that ticks all the boxes for me! I cannot imagine another phone satisfying me as much...unless Huawei makes another one with all the same ports but with newer SOC's.