Lovin' My Gear S - And, an Observation

[DeepSeaGoddess]

I've had my gear S for a short time, about 3 weeks but, so far...LOVIN' it.

I did make an observation recently that I wanted to see if anyone else had noticed this.

When I first set it up, I used one of the basic clocks that had digital time display with 3 icons for notifications, step count, and weather. Battery life has been great for me with a day and a half and sometimes almost 2 days, depending on how I use it. I keep it paired with the phone most of the time. The only time it isn't is when I run with it.

Anyway, I started playing around with watch faces in the watchstyler app. Shortly after this I started to notice significant battery drain. Even at night with the watch in 'sleep' mode. One night it drained 40% overnight! So, I switched back to one of the clock faces that came with the gear app. Instead of a basic clock face, I switched to one of the clock faces listed under 'style clocks' . Again, I started seeing significant battery drain. So, I switched back to the original digital 'basic clock' I used when I first set it up...now, I'm back to awesome battery life again.

Long story short, has anyone else noticed that even the style clocks that come with the gear app drain the battery significantly?

 

[tech_fan]

I charge mine every night and also most of the time, I shut it off while I am charging. I have used my Watch styler app to create a custom face and design. I do not see a big battery drain when I do verses the stock one. I know that initially I had some weird experiences with Watch Styler in terms of getting the design to display correctly on the watch but that got fixed on the new release.

When I do the watch styler though, its basic. I use a picture as the background and analog face with the date. The other parts like bluetooth indicator, etc.. I do not use. Maybe that might effect it, if you use that?

Also for me, when I go to the gym, I used to stream music from the device. The device would get VERY hot after streaming for about 25 minutes so, I stopped doing that. My Moto 360 would heat up if I used the stopwatch.

 

[InfamousUnknown]

Fancier watch faces can have a significant effect on battery.

But it probably depends on how you have the watch configured. If you have it configured to go to the last page when it wakes up vs the basic clock then every time you move your arm and it pops on it is displaying a lot more pixels.

When I had a colorful face the battery drain was significant compared to the black and white one. When my wife has her face with her favorite dictator on it she will drain battery in less than a day. The plain face lasts 2 days.

 

[DeepSeaGoddess]

That makes sense...the watchstyler one was a picture and I had several app shortcuts on it so I can see how that used more! I did not have it set as the last screen though. However, even when I used one of the style clocks(that had the constantly moving second hand) that came with the gear app, it drained the battery fast. I'm back to the basic digital clock with 3 app shortcuts and get almost 2 days now.....I'm fine using that but, just trying to see if others are experiencing the same thing.

Too bad they can't do something to improve the battery life with the style clocks....maybe they will. Till then, better battery is more important to me than a stylish clock.

 

[xendula]

I noticed that as well, and also use just a simple watchface for that reason. Too bad, really.

Something else:
I use the Gear S the same way as you: mostly connected over BT, except when I go running without my phone. I had noticed a huge battery drain continuing AFTER my runs were already over, and finally figured out that locations services continued to run in the background even after my run had continued tracking. Now, I check to make sure everything is off again after my runs, but always bring the battery pack.

 

[DeepSeaGoddess]

I noticed the exact same thing after running. I started rebooting it and now it's fine. I figured something was still running in the background!!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[TomOfTx]

I have been using a digital clock watch face with weather, notifications, and calendar, all wake motions turned off, GPS turned off, WiFi turned off, step counter turned off, and have been only using 1.25-1.5% battery per hour with the watch mostly connected to my Note 4 via bluetooth. If I turn on power saving mode, the battery life has been even better. I recently tried the app "Gear S Notification Extender", which works very well, but it has increased the battery drain by an additional 0.5% per hour, so I have disabled the app for now as I have not needed to reply to messages from the watch.

On the days when I am remotely connected to my Note 4 and the battery drain increases to 10-15% per hour, it is understandable considering the power needed to communicate with the cell tower directly from the watch. Overall, I have been very happy with the Gear S and the battery life.