Dismal battery life

[haus]

I've been using samsung smart watches since the original gear running Android (pre-tizen). I'm used to using them for photos, notifications, and various apps like my notes in gear. Occasional phone calls (less than 20 minutes). At the end of day 1 I'm rarely below 80%. I could comfortably go 2 days before having to charge.

Gear S2 3g. 60% at 7pm after pretty impressive performance today. I took another member's suggestion to unpair my gear 2 which seemed to help. Then...24% at 8pm. Shut itself off at 9pm. It was in do not disturb mode the whole time, connected to bluetooth with my phone which was on the table in front of me. What's going on? Cellular is on automatic (so off due to bt). GPS off. Heart rate off. Location off. There must be a setting I'm missing. I don't use watch always on mode. The thing was literally on my wrist, screen off, draining the battery 60% in 2 hours entirely on its own.

Really disappointing.

 

[perezs07]

How do you turn off heart rate?

 

[AlanRudy]

I've had the watch since last Monday and I experienced a very similar battery drain when I barely did anything with the watch. However, I had similar, if not more, usage of watch yesterday and had good battery life. Doesn't make a lot of sense but going to give it more of a chance. If you can, keep me posted if your battery life is still always bad.

 

[Blknight96]

I've had the watch since last Monday and I experienced a very similar battery drain when I barely did anything with the watch. However, I had a similar, if not more, usage of watch yesterday and had good battery life. Doesn't make a lot of sense but going to give it more of a chance. If you can, keep me posted if your battery life is still always bad.

Yes I've experienced similar issues with the battery life. Charged to 100% percent and as soon as I took it off the charger it would drop instantly to 99%. After doing some reading through previous posts, I took a couple of other folks recommendations and one of those turning of the NFC and changing the heart rate monitor to moderate.

Took it off the charger again 100% and didn't see it drop to 99% instantly and after 5 minutes or more still saying 100%. I'll give it the ultimate test when I go to work this afternoon and see how long it lasts me throughout.

 

[haus]

How do you turn off heart rate?

Heart rate was completely off. I don't use it except when I'm running.

Really want to figure this out. I saw a gear info app in the app store, maybe it has app/battery stats?

 

[AlanRudy]

How do you turn off heart rate?

Click Shealth app, rotate bezel to settings, rotate to "Auto HR" to adjust frequency/turn it off.

 

[AlanRudy]

Another idea I thought of is if recent apps being opened affect battery life, so I'm going to try to remember to "close all" every now and then. Does anyone think this could be a possible issue? It seems like it would if resources are being used on something for recent apps.

 

[perezs07]

Click Shealth app, rotate bezel to settings, rotate to "Auto HR" to adjust frequency/turn it off.

Thank you sir.

 

[Thelt2000x]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to share my experience so hopefully I can help with the battery issue. Some of these options are just my personal preference. This applies to the Verizon variant.

When I first got the watch I went from 87% to 5% in like 5 hours. Why? because everything was turned on and, hello, I was on it every 2 mins because it was a new toy. I have used several different settings to fine tune this baby. First I tired the auto switch for data. When connected to BT data would turn off. When disconnected from BT data would turn on and put into remote connect. This seemed to drain my battery quickly. I think because it kept having to switch. Because I have a pretty big phone (note 4) I often just leave my phone and walk away. So everytime I get up my watch is trying to switch the connection which I believe kills the battery. With this I didn't like the fact that I had to manually turn on call forwarding (verizon does not have the auto call forwarding option) so again, everytime I got up I would have to turn it on or possibly miss a phone call (which is why I got the watch). So then I left call forwarding on all the time along with BT. Because I left call forwarding on all the time this also left data on all the time. No more auto data switch. This also killed my battery real quick like. Here is my final set up and I'll explain a few this so you understand my reasoning.

Right now I have the follow setup:

1. I have BT off leaving it in remote connect all the time. The only time I will connect to phone via BT is if I need to make setting changes that requires them to be connect with BT. This also eliminates standby mode possibly missing a call or text. Also this eliminates the constant mode switching which I believe kills the battery. Finally, this have improved my phone battery life. Having it connect to my phone with BT all days long pummeled my phone battery. Having it connected through data does seem to help.

2. Call forwarding is always on. Why? Well, why not? With Verizon (I cannot speak to other carriers) call forwarding is not instant. When I get a call it will ring to my phone for about 15 seconds. If I don't want to answer it and have it go to my phone VM I will simply let it ring a few times and reject the call. Boom. Phone VM. If I'm not by my phone it will forward after about 15 sec and I can either answer or push to my watch VM.

Some of the other options settings:

1. WiFi off - I personally do not see the need to keep it on. Watch uses so little data does not seem worth the battery life.

2. Always on is off - I do not need my watch to show the time when I am not looking at it.

3. NFC off - Don't need it on.

4. Brightness set at 5.

5. Auto heart rate is off - Don't need it on all the time.

I can't think of any other settings.

Yesterday I spent 2 (830am to 1030am) hours with the BT on and call forwarding on. It went from 100% to 80% with moderate use. Once I turned BT off and kept it in remote mode with using the settings above I had 48% left when I went to bed (1030am to 1130pm). During this time I received notifications, installed/Uninstalled some apps. Messed with nike+ and shealth, change some watch faces, tested GPS with maps. I would say overall just moderate use.

This morning I put the watch on at 830am. It is now 1100 and I am at 93%. I think that's like 3% an hour. (Fuzzy math lol)

I hope this helps some of you out there. IMO, the battery is not the main issue with this watch. However, the lack of app support is but that us another discussion.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[haus]

Thanks Thelt2000x, I have pretty much the same settings, except I do leave BT on and connected since I'm usually pretty close to the phone. I used my Gear 2 this way and battery life was phenomenal. Last night we were watching a movie and the Gear S2 was just draining itself. Screen wasn't on, phone was on the coffee table 3 feet away. It's like some bad code was pegging the CPU, or a radio was scanning/stuck in a loop, but there was no indication of that at all, and the watch wasn't hot.

On these watches there should be code that monitors 'top' and alerts when there's a runaway process, or at least the option to see that.

Incidentally the other day I got a warning about the watch being too hot and putting itself in power saving mode to cool off. I think I had location services on at the time. The watch was very hot on the back. I've only installed one app (My Notes in Gear) and I wasn't running that app at the time. Everything else is stock, fresh out of the box.

 

[Thelt2000x]

Thanks Thelt2000x, I have pretty much the same settings, except I do leave BT on and connected since I'm usually pretty close to the phone. I used my Gear 2 this way and battery life was phenomenal. Last night we were watching a movie and the Gear S2 was just draining itself. Screen wasn't on, phone was on the coffee table 3 feet away. It's like some bad code was pegging the CPU, or a radio was scanning/stuck in a loop, but there was no indication of that at all, and the watch wasn't hot.

On these watches there should be code that monitors 'top' and alerts when there's a runaway process, or at least the option to see that.

Incidentally the other day I got a warning about the watch being too hot and putting itself in power saving mode to cool off. I think I had location services on at the time. The watch was very hot on the back. I've only installed one app (My Notes in Gear) and I wasn't running that app at the time. Everything else is stock, fresh out of the box.

Hmm....I have not one had my watch go into power saving mode due to it being too hot. Maybe a defective watch? I'm not sure. It's a shame to hear everyone having battery issues. I can say without a doubt the battery on this thing has greatly surpassed my expectations but only after I turned off BT and leave it in remote connect all the time. I am usually by phone most of the time but I have noticed even if I go into the next room the BT connection stops and switched on remote. Took my watch off charger at 830 and it's almost 1230 at the posting of this. My watch is at 91%.

Edit: by the way I am not sure if people are hesitant to keep it on remote due to missing notifications but so far I have not missed any.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[perezs07]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to share my experience so hopefully I can help with the battery issue. Some of these options are just my personal preference. This applies to the Verizon variant.

When I first got the watch I went from 87% to 5% in like 5 hours. Why? because everything was turned on and, hello, I was on it every 2 mins because it was a new toy. I have used several different settings to fine tune this baby. First I tired the auto switch for data. When connected to BT data would turn off. When disconnected from BT data would turn on and put into remote connect. This seemed to drain my battery quickly. I think because it kept having to switch. Because I have a pretty big phone (note 4) I often just leave my phone and walk away. So everytime I get up my watch is trying to switch the connection which I believe kills the battery. With this I didn't like the fact that I had to manually turn on call forwarding (verizon does not have the auto call forwarding option) so again, everytime I got up I would have to turn it on or possibly miss a phone call (which is why I got the watch). So then I left call forwarding on all the time along with BT. Because I left call forwarding on all the time this also left data on all the time. No more auto data switch. This also killed my battery real quick like. Here is my final set up and I'll explain a few this so you understand my reasoning.

Right now I have the follow setup:

1. I have BT off leaving it in remote connect all the time. The only time I will connect to phone via BT is if I need to make setting changes that requires them to be connect with BT. This also eliminates standby mode possibly missing a call or text. Also this eliminates the constant mode switching which I believe kills the battery. Finally, this have improved my phone battery life. Having it connect to my phone with BT all days long pummeled my phone battery. Having it connected through data does seem to help.

2. Call forwarding is always on. Why? Well, why not? With Verizon (I cannot speak to other carriers) call forwarding is not instant. When I get a call it will ring to my phone for about 15 seconds. If I don't want to answer it and have it go to my phone VM I will simply let it ring a few times and reject the call. Boom. Phone VM. If I'm not by my phone it will forward after about 15 sec and I can either answer or push to my watch VM.

Some of the other options settings:

1. WiFi off - I personally do not see the need to keep it on. Watch uses so little data does not seem worth the battery life.

2. Always on is off - I do not need my watch to show the time when I am not looking at it.

3. NFC off - Don't need it on.

4. Brightness set at 5.

5. Auto heart rate is off - Don't need it on all the time.

I can't think of any other settings.

Yesterday I spent 2 (830am to 1030am) hours with the BT on and call forwarding on. It went from 100% to 80% with moderate use. Once I turned BT off and kept it in remote mode with using the settings above I had 48% left when I went to bed (1030am to 1130pm). During this time I received notifications, installed/Uninstalled some apps. Messed with nike+ and shealth, change some watch faces, tested GPS with maps. I would say overall just moderate use.

This morning I put the watch on at 830am. It is now 1100 and I am at 93%. I think that's like 3% an hour. (Fuzzy math lol)

I hope this helps some of you out there. IMO, the battery is not the main issue with this watch. However, the lack of app support is but that us another discussion.

Posted via the Android Central App

The main issue is false advertising. How can they this is a two day battery watch. Look at all the options one has to turn off to get through the day. I'm on my 3rd day, and yes after tinkering the settings and reading others comments the battery is A lot better. I took off charger at 630 am. Right now it's almost 330pm and I'm at 87%. I'm good with that I guess. But also I haven't even really touched the watch, only gotten maybe 2 notifications.

 

[haus]

Today is a bit better. The battery was running down pretty fast this morning (about 90% after being off the charger for about an hour), but now after about 7 hours off the charger I'm at 67% with very light use (a few notifications, and I sent a short email with it in remote mode). Maybe yesterday was a fluke. Something like that has happened a couple of times with the gear 2, but that was extremely rare, and I think the last time it happened I left my bluetooth headphones on after running (I haven't paired headphones or a headset to the S2 yet).

 

[Thelt2000x]

Today is a bit better. The battery was running down pretty fast this morning (about 90% after being off the charger for about an hour), but now after about 7 hours off the charger I'm at 67% with very light use (a few notifications, and I sent a short email with it in remote mode). Maybe yesterday was a fluke. Something like that has happened a couple of times with the gear 2, but that was extremely rare, and I think the last time it happened I left my bluetooth headphones on after running (I haven't paired headphones or a headset to the S2 yet).

Good to hear. I am at 69%. About 10 1/2 hours

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Sammuel1973]

Thanks for this thread. I am on the market for the next standalone smartwatch, and great battery life is among the top of my requirements. I had the Gear S, and it's battery was very poor after playing 1 hour music (as mp3 vs streaming) at the gym. I think making too many concessions on features defeats the purpose of enjoying the watch.

 

[Thelt2000x]

Thanks for this thread. I am on the market for the next standalone smartwatch, and great battery life is among the top of my requirements. I had the Gear S, and it's battery was very poor after playing 1 hour music (as mp3 vs streaming) at the gym. I think making too many concessions on features defeats the purpose of enjoying the watch.

Well if you play music on this watch for an hour I could imagine it would pummel your battery. Remember this watch is only 300mah. That's 10x smaller than most regular cell phones. Everybody must have realistic expectations.

By the way if you are in the market for a new standalone watch. This is the only one. If you have any questions let me know. I will try my best to answer.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Thelt2000x]

Delete

 

[Sammuel1973]

Well if you play music on this watch for an hour I could imagine it would pummel your battery. Remember this watch is only 300mah. That's 10x smaller than most regular cell phones. Everybody must have realistic expectations.

By the way if you are in the market for a new standalone watch. This is the only one. If you have any questions let me know. I will try my best to answer.

Posted via the Android Central App

Thanks! No offense to Samsung or any standalone smartwatch makers, but if they market the device with the ability to stream or play mp3 music while we bike (as seen in marketing promos or videos), go for a run, etc. and taking calls, then battery life needs to live up to the hype. Either improve on battery technology or have a swappable battery feature. After a run in morning, it doesn't make sense to have only 50% battery life left when there's still a full day ahead. Maybe an update would help?

 

[FitzAusTex]

Thanks! No offense to Samsung or any standalone smartwatch makers, but if they market the device with the ability to stream or play mp3 music while we bike (as seen in marketing promos or videos), go for a run, etc. and taking calls, then battery life needs to live up to the hype. Either improve on battery technology or have a swappable battery feature. After a run in morning, it doesn't make sense to have only 50% battery life left when there's still a full day ahead. Maybe an update would help?

Currently, to play music for an hour, or take an hour run using watch GPS, etc., and still have a high % of battery afterwards, would require strapping something the size of a cellphone to one's wrist.

 

[Sammuel1973]

Currently, to play music for an hour, or take an hour run using watch GPS, etc., and still have a high % of battery afterwards, would require strapping something the size of a cellphone to one's wrist.

Ha, I agree that's why for me personally, I may hold off on any current standalone smartwatches. I am not asking for same battery life as my smartphone, and since it isn't, for me, a swappable battery could make sense. As it stands, these ads are misleading, imo. Oh well...