Don't believe the hype about good battery life.

[1812dave]

Today I started out at 69%, turned on MapMyRun and had it running for an hour and a half (exactly). At the end, I'm down to 22%. If you don't want to do the math that is roughly 32% per hour. This makes the second feature that will deplete the battery so quickly that one can't use the features for more than an unacceptably short time. The other feature is streaming music to a BT speaker, which drops battery life exactly 20% per hour.

Guess I jumped the gun by buying just the second iteration of the Gear. Battery life is only good if you don't USE the watch for anything other than some alerts and the occasional couple of brief phone calls.

I was a fool to presume that I could run the app for at least 4 hours or more during an active day outdoors to get distance stats, etc There's always a fly in the ointment, isn't there? A product with very cool features, as long as you barely use them.

 

[1812dave]

What I want to know is this how it is for those of you who check your battery life when: 1) streaming music to a BT speaker, and/or 2) Use GPS enabled MapMyRun? I want to sort this out before I can't exchange the watch.

TIA.

 

[1812dave]

Samsung rep said the battery will deplete quickly when we use "apps". He couldn't be very specific about what or why.

 

[1812dave]

Got my wife running a battery depletion test on her watch, using MapMyRun...will report the results soon.

 

[lizardchest]

Samsung rep said the battery will deplete quickly when we use "apps". He couldn't be very specific about what or why.

Same with my phone, or remote control car, or flashlight, or anything else that uses batteries. If you use it, it will drain faster than just sitting there doing nothing.
I'm sure when Samsung estimated their battery life, they estimated high. Kind of like the mpg sticker on cars - best case scenario. I'm okay charging my watch every other night, or hell, even for a couple of hours during the day when I'm at my desk. My friend has a Pebble, and that's his only comeback when I answer a call on my watch, "Oh, gotta charge my Pebble, it's been 10 days! /s" Yeah. So what? A full fledged tablet beats out a Kindle paperwhite on features, right? Does it matter that one has to charge the tablet more often than the Kindle???

While I agree that Samsung shouldn't have said 5+ days (with light usage, "hyper-miling"), I'm still quite pleased with the functionality and battery life for what this device does. It has a tiny battery(300mAh), compared to a phone(Note 2-3100mAh). The "lighter" OS was needed. It will be interesting to see how Android Wear makes it work...

 

[1812dave]

My wife's watch dropped 38% per hour using GPS enabled MapMyRun. WOW! Just wow. even a bit worse than mine.

 

[1812dave]

Of course I know it has a small battery and isn't a mini-equivalent of a nuclear reactor, but my issue is that for FUNCTIONS, the watch becomes very, very limited. I don't know if it's even sensible for many apps to be ported to the Tizen OS if this is the result: use an app--kill the battery in minutes to a couple of hours.

I'm thrilled (/s) that jackson is all giddy over your post...

and let's be clear: I still like the watch. I'm just disappointed that the apps I'm interested in using, kill the battery.

 

[clitrenta]

I guess it's all in how you use it. Any time you're using a device that has GPS running constantly, it's going to run the battery down faster. I don't use any of that on my G2 at this time and my watch goes an entire day and still has plenty left in the tank. You would think you'd be able to do what it's intended for but if you think about it, the same will result if you use your phone as a GPS navigator in your car. The battery simply won't last long.

 

[tcjohnsson]

Of course I know it has a small battery and isn't a mini-equivalent of a nuclear reactor, but my issue is that for FUNCTIONS, the watch becomes very, very limited. I don't know if it's even sensible for many apps to be ported to the Tizen OS if this is the result: use an app--kill the battery in minutes to a couple of hours.

I'm thrilled (/s) that jackson is all giddy over your post...

and let's be clear: I still like the watch. I'm just disappointed that the apps I'm interested in using, kill the battery.

Dave, give it up. 90% of the people that frequent this forum would be happy if they strapped a rock to their wrist. Some people (like you and me) have higher expectations. You're preaching to a massive fanboy club here... it's futile. Just be happy your watch works. Mine is flooded with water. I'm still waiting for Jackson to respond to my post about my camera being destroyed by a trail run... that thread has been oddly silent. LOL.

 

[clitrenta]

Dave, give it up. 90% of the people that frequent this forum would be happy if they strapped a rock to their wrist. Some people (like you and me) have higher expectations. You're preaching to a massive fanboy club here... it's futile. Just be happy your watch works. Mine is flooded with water. I'm still waiting for Jackson to respond to my post about my camera being destroyed by a trail run... that thread has been oddly silent. LOL.

Well now that was arrogant.

 

[tcjohnsson]

Well now that was arrogant.

Nah. Just a little bitter. I wished more people on this forum had higher expectations and were a bit more critical. Criticism is healthy and good for manufacturers. It allows them to make the next generation of products better. No need to take things personally... just reporting the facts. If people would stick to that instead of blindly defending product just because the problems some are having are not shared by others, this would be a much more useful forum for users and Samsung. Fanboyism creates a highly-biased environment that is NOT helpful for people seeking help for real issues.

 

[lizardchest]

and let's be clear: I still like the watch. I'm just disappointed that the apps I'm interested in using, kill the battery.

I get what you're saying. I've hated the efficiency of batteries for decades. But I've accepted that there is and has to be a trade-off between functions and battery life. People have different thresholds of what they're willing to put up with. I have no qualms with the battery in my Neo, even if I have to charge it more than a Pebble. We'll have to see how AW does on battery, that may kill development w/ Tizen.
Or maybe just lack of interest in Tizen will do that to itself....

And I'm not going to speak for Jackson, I personally think life is too short to put up with something that doesn't make you happy. It's like listening to an acquaintance ***** about his girlfriend non-stop, then when you suggest he break up with her, he says "No, she's great! I love her!" Don't be afraid to go out there and find something that suits you better!
There is very little in this world(aside from genocide, murder, rape, child soldiers, etc.) worth getting bent out of shape about, especially a watch.
Anyhow, it's your money and your wrist. I sincerely hope that your experience with the Gear gets closer to what you hope it will be!

 

[1812dave]

I guess it's all in how you use it. Any time you're using a device that has GPS running constantly, it's going to run the battery down faster. I don't use any of that on my G2 at this time and my watch goes an entire day and still has plenty left in the tank. You would think you'd be able to do what it's intended for but if you think about it, the same will result if you use your phone as a GPS navigator in your car. The battery simply won't last long.

I thought the PHONE is using GPS and the WATCH is merely displaying data from the app, MapMyRun. I doubt GPS data is going to the watch, as one HAS to have the watch present and the APP ON THE WATCH running.

 

[1812dave]

Dave, give it up. 90% of the people that frequent this forum would be happy if they strapped a rock to their wrist. Some people (like you and me) have higher expectations. You're preaching to a massive fanboy club here... it's futile. Just be happy your watch works. Mine is flooded with water. I'm still waiting for Jackson to respond to my post about my camera being destroyed by a trail run... that thread has been oddly silent. LOL.

I wasn't intending at the outset to preach. My intention was to find out IF ANYONE ELSE HAS THE SAME BATTERY LIFE ISSUES, using the 2 apps I mentioned. I want to know if my particular unit has a bad battery. Now that my wife has performed a drain test with hers, I know my watch is exhibiting "normal" behavior with respect to battery life when using MapMyRun. From that I will deduce that if she streamed music to the same BT speaker that I have used at home, she'll have similar, lousy results there too.

It totally sucks that yours got water infiltration. I hope you get it resolved. I think we are all bummed for you.

 

[1812dave]

thanks., as I stated before battery life when not running music via BT, or MapMyRun is totally acceptable to me. It meets my expectations (from the "due diligence" I did prior to purchase). The part that bites is how drastically the battery runs down using certain features/apps. That won't push me to return the watch.

 

[lizardchest]

Nah. Just a little bitter. I wished more people on this forum had higher expectations and were a bit more critical. Criticism is healthy and good for manufacturers. It allows them to make the next generation of products better. No need to take things personally... just reporting the facts. If people would stick to that instead of blindly defending product just because the problems some are having are not shared by others, this would be a much more useful forum for users and Samsung. Fanboyism creates a highly-biased environment that is NOT helpful for people seeking help for real issues.

I did have higher expectations than what I got. I'm just not angry about it. I understand the limitations. I don't feel betrayed by Samsung b/c my battery life is not what they claimed.

If you used this forum for "seeking help for real issues", instead of what most of your posts are, I really think most people would try to help! I see a lot of trouble-shooting here for the people really looking for help. The people who just say "this watch sucks!" don't get the same community help. You have had multiple, legitimate issues with your Gear, PJ. I hope AT&T replaces it, and your experience with the new one is better.

 

[JacksonEdwardHarrison]

Thanks for thinking of me guys. Let's do lunch. :-*

 

[Hielko]

Maybe mapmyrun is just not well designed? And maybe you use a bluetooth headset that is not using optimized low energy bluetooth?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[1812dave]

Maybe mapmyrun is just not well designed? And maybe you use a bluetooth headset that is not using optimized low energy bluetooth?

Posted via Android Central App

it is a Jambox with BT 2.x, and maybe that's the issue.

 

[1812dave]

I have recharged my Gear 2 and with ROUGHLY 2 hours of ON time, it's used a....drumroll please, a mere ONE percent of the battery. Now that's very cool.