[Bug Report to Samsung] Always On Not Working

[optimummind]

As many of you guys knows, the Gear S2 - Sport, Classic, and 3G - have a software bug whereby the Always On setting doesn't work/stick.

Even when one sets the Always On to "On," the watchface will turn off (go blank) after a while instead of always showing the Ambient Watchface. The only way to keep the watch display always on is by also keeping on the Wakeup Gesture setting. Doing so, unfortunately, leads to a massive battery drain.

I've contacted Samsung twice about this issue and each time they reply saying I'm the ONLY person to report this issue and for me to perform a Factory Reset. I did do a factory reset with and without restoring my backup data and the Always On bug is still there.

So let us collectively work together and each of us submit a bug report to Samsung. Here is the link to their online submission form.

https://contactus.samsung.com/customer/contactus/formmail/mail/MailQuestionProduct.jsp?SITE_ID=1

The more people submit, the better our chances of getting a fix, sooner rather than later.

 

[DeepSeaGoddess]

I just tried it and It's working for ...it always leave the clock on. How does it react so that I can see if I can recreate and is it a specific watchface or any of them? Thanks!

 

[nickdeck]

In my case, if I take the watch off of my wrist, the face will go completely blank in less than a minute. If I leave it on my wrist and hold it perfectly still, it takes longer to go blank. (Only thing I can figure is taking it off of my wrist, it's sensing no heart beat.)

Either way, it's not following the "always on" behavior. Samsung may consider this a feature (to save battery) rather than a bug.

 

[FitzAusTex]

Don't think it's heart rate, think it is movement. If it doesn't detect movement, it turns off ambient watch face. It happens all the time when I'm laying on the couch and haven't moved my arm for a bit. Think it should definitely not behave this way, or at a minimum should wait to turn off face after a much longer inactivity period. Even though I don't think heart rate factors into this, it does appear that it can also tell if it is on a wrist. I can fool it into not going blank when laying it down on a table by loosely putting my fingers behind watch. While doing this, the green heart rate laser does not activate, thus I don't think heart rate is being used.

 

[nickdeck]

OK, Fitz, you may be right about heart rate. It was the only thing that came to mind when considering how it knew that it was no longer on my wrist. I do know that it goes blank much faster when I take it off.

 

[optimummind]

According to a Korean Gear S2 developer I've been talking to, the real reason why the always on mode still turns off the display is b/c of Samsung's marketing department. In order to continue marketing that the Gear S2 has double the battery life of an Apple Watch, the screen is turned off after a while even in Always-On mode.

Makes sense? Yes. Good for us consumers? No!

This is why I generally dislike any marketing and salespeople.

 

[edubb256]

According to a Korean Gear S2 developer I've been talking to, the real reason why the always on mode still turns off the display is b/c of Samsung's marketing department. In order to continue marketing that the Gear S2 has double the battery life of an Apple Watch, the screen is turned off after a while even in Always-On mode.

Makes sense? Yes. Good for us consumers? No!

This is why I generally dislike any marketing and salespeople.

I think the developer is just trying get rid of you. The explanation does not make sense. It would be like Volkswagen engineers blaming their emissions cheating scandal on marketing, saying that marketing said they had to meet certain emission standards. First of all the always on mode works fine as long as the wake-up gesture is enabled and that would set a lower boundary for any battery life claims. Also, since the Apple watch does not have any corresponding mode (always on, with wakeup gesture disabled) any marketing claim of advantage there would be pretty meaningless.

 

[optimummind]

I think the developer is just trying get rid of you. The explanation does not make sense. It would be like Volkswagen engineers blaming their emissions cheating scandal on marketing, saying that marketing said they had to meet certain emission standards. First of all the always on mode works fine as long as the wake-up gesture is enabled and that would set a lower boundary for any battery life claims. Also, since the Apple watch does not have any corresponding mode (always on, with wakeup gesture disabled) any marketing claim of advantage there would be pretty meaningless.

I'm pretty sure the marketing department at Volkswagen did have some influence on emission & fuel economy development. These departments do have to talk to each other afterall. Same for Qualcomm's marketing dept & their engineering dept (for the lackluster 810).

And the Always-On mode still turns off the display even with wake up gesture turned on. It happened to my S2 just yesterday, which surprised me actually.

Either way, Samsung needs to correct the Always-On behavior and make it truly Always-On.

 

[FitzAusTex]

Whether it was the marketing department or not, this was probably intentional to increase the battery life. Behavior changed with R720XXU2AOJ3 on sport S2. I did not once notice this with R720XXU2AOIL that came on the watch that I got on release day.

 

[nickdeck]

What Fitz said. I didn't notice this latest behavior when I first got the watch, only after the first firmware update.

This brings up an interesting issue. The watch belongs to Samsung until they sell it to me. Do they have the right to change its original behavior after it becomes my watch? I suppose they do if I've opted to use auto updates, but they should offer the option of reverting to the original behavior if I choose to. My particular use of the watch never resulted in battery problems before. It still doesn't, but I'm saddled with different behavior that I don't care for.

 

[optimummind]

Whether it was the marketing department or not, this was probably intentional to increase the battery life. Behavior changed with R720XXU2AOJ3 on sport S2. I did not once notice this with R720XXU2AOIL that came on the watch that I got on release day.

What Fitz said. I didn't notice this latest behavior when I first got the watch, only after the first firmware update.

This brings up an interesting issue. The watch belongs to Samsung until they sell it to me. Do they have the right to change its original behavior after it becomes my watch? I suppose they do if I've opted to use auto updates, but they should offer the option of reverting to the original behavior if I choose to. My particular use of the watch never resulted in battery problems before. It still doesn't, but I'm saddled with different behavior that I don't care for.

Thx for confirming my suspicions. Before settling on my S2 3G, I had gone through launch-day S2 Sport & Classic versions (and their earlier firmware versions) and I don't remember having the Always-On issue.

Yes, I don't think it's right that Samsung change the behavior of the watch like this. It is what makes it more upsetting.