Don't know, but I do like the Gear Circle design and can wait until available if it isn't. Most of my calls are through my BMW/MINI BT stereo system with steering wheel controls. At home I have a full size Curve Bluetooth Handset. Haven't been using it for years with my old cell, but might pull it out again to try it with this little guy.
My Standalone Experience: AT&T Gear S as my only phone
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Don't know, but I do like the Gear Circle design and can wait until available if it isn't. Most of my calls are through my BMW/MINI BT stereo system with steering wheel controls. At home I have a full size Curve Bluetooth Handset. Haven't been using it for years with my old cell, but might pull it out again to try it with this little guy.
Believe it or not, I don't use email at all on my cell phone. With that said, I doubt you can do that without being paired, but the Gear S does have WiFi and BT, so who knows? Sorry I can't help you with that.
I'm wondering if you can set this up with a compatible cell phone that doesn't have a SIM card installed, just using WiFi. I may try that if I can get my S DUOS upgraded to V4.3 and then download the Gear software via WiFi, but that will be some time before I get around to playing with the pairing and setup stuff. Just want to use it as is for now and get a good feel for the device.
Thx for the reply. So I assume if you go to settings on the watch there is nothing about email, incoming mail server, etc?
Thx for the reply. So I assume if you go to settings on the watch there is nothing about email, incoming mail server, etc?
Only says, "No emails", with a dialog box that says, "No Connection" with "OK" button.
One puzzling thing is the temperature near the 3:00 location on the watch face. Mine says 93* F, but I know it isn't 93* F in my home. Does anyone know what this temperature represents? Maybe the high for the day at the GPS location of the watch??? Just guessing...
It's now 9:45pm here and it's at 50% now. Not going to charge it tonite. I'm going to let it go all the way, then snap on the battery charger block that comes with it and see what happens. I like to let new batteries go dead two of three times after the initial charge to break them in, if you will. Be interesting to see how long the initial full charge on each will carry me. Good night all.
Only says, "No emails", with a dialog box that says, "No Connection" with "OK" button.
thx again for the reply. I suspect you just tapped on the email icon. If you go to the settings icon is there anything about setting up email or setting up an account?
Also, have you tried connecting it to a PC to copy music onto it? If that doesn't work any idea how you get music onto it?
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thx again for the reply. I suspect you just tapped on the email icon. If you go to the settings icon is there anything about setting up email or setting up an account?
Also, have you tried connecting it to a PC to copy music onto it? If that doesn't work any idea how you get music onto it?
I don't see any email setup in settings. I know music can be put onto the Gear S, but not how to do it. Maybe this Samsung Gear S R750 User Manual will help.
Up at 5:15am. Gear S had 42% battery. So it used 8% while just sitting overnight for 7.5-8 hours. I did not put it into “Do not disturb” mode while sleeping. Don’t know if that will power down anything to save battery life or not.
Without charging overnight and with the battery backup in my pocket my day begins…
Without charging overnight and with the battery backup in my pocket my day begins…
Pool Shark 2
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- Nov 10, 2014
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From your experience so far, it appears the battery life is better than many expected.
When you were at the AT&T store, did they mention anything about the extended-size (I think it is supposed to be 600 mAh) battery/quick charger Samsung was demo-ing for the Gear S a few months ago?
When you were at the AT&T store, did they mention anything about the extended-size (I think it is supposed to be 600 mAh) battery/quick charger Samsung was demo-ing for the Gear S a few months ago?
From your experience so far, it appears the battery life is better than many expected.
When you were at the AT&T store, did they mention anything about the extended-size (I think it is supposed to be 600 mAh) battery/quick charger Samsung was demo-ing for the Gear S a few months ago?
The battery/quick charger that came with mine says 350mAh on it. Haven't even had to connect it yet. I want to see if the phone warns me when the battery gets low. While logged on here, I've been messing with the phone quite a bit. At 33% now and it's (let me flick my wrist - lol...) 8:15am. Used up 9% in the last 3 hours playing around.
Pairing with BMW/MINI software in their cars worked fine today. Crystal clear through the car stereo and the steering wheel controls functioned perfectly. This is where most of my calls are made, so the BT Earpiece I got really isn’t needed in my case. I took that back today and will wait for the Gear Circle to hit the USA or possibly order one from another country, if I decide to put music on my Gear S and use it while snow skiing or bike(ElliptiGO) riding.
Contrary to what I thought earlier, the Gear S does let you respond to calls and messages from the “notifications” screen. You just swipe “up” (not down) and the three dots appear at the lower right. Tap them and up comes a window with Call, Open app and Clear. Nice!
At 11:50am with 15% battery left the Gear S told me my power was getting low and that I should recharge it soon; just like I had hoped. The screen had two options “power saver mode” and “ok.” I didn’t act fast enough with my 15 second screen setting to tap on power saver mode, so I let it do whatever it does without any action and didn’t recharge it. I want to see what will happen next.
It is about 12:35pm and at 12% battery with no secondary warning yet...
Some personal thoughts after my first couple days with the Gear S:
Personally I like the simplicity of the operating system. I can understand pretty much all of it, unlike bloated smart phones that are actually full on computers with tiny little screens (in comparison to computers). I find I need those big screens when I want to “compute and surf”, so I’ll leave that activity to my tablet, laptop or desktop with a suitable screen.
I find it best to “adapt” to the new product rather than get stuck in the “my other device does this or that, in this or that way” (Why can’t this?) mode of frustration. Product designers put a lot of effort into making new break though devices such as this efficient and capable for what they are. IMHO they hit a home run with the Gear S.
It simply amazes me that a device this small can do so much and look so good doing it!
Contrary to what I thought earlier, the Gear S does let you respond to calls and messages from the “notifications” screen. You just swipe “up” (not down) and the three dots appear at the lower right. Tap them and up comes a window with Call, Open app and Clear. Nice!
At 11:50am with 15% battery left the Gear S told me my power was getting low and that I should recharge it soon; just like I had hoped. The screen had two options “power saver mode” and “ok.” I didn’t act fast enough with my 15 second screen setting to tap on power saver mode, so I let it do whatever it does without any action and didn’t recharge it. I want to see what will happen next.
It is about 12:35pm and at 12% battery with no secondary warning yet...
Some personal thoughts after my first couple days with the Gear S:
Personally I like the simplicity of the operating system. I can understand pretty much all of it, unlike bloated smart phones that are actually full on computers with tiny little screens (in comparison to computers). I find I need those big screens when I want to “compute and surf”, so I’ll leave that activity to my tablet, laptop or desktop with a suitable screen.
I find it best to “adapt” to the new product rather than get stuck in the “my other device does this or that, in this or that way” (Why can’t this?) mode of frustration. Product designers put a lot of effort into making new break though devices such as this efficient and capable for what they are. IMHO they hit a home run with the Gear S.
It simply amazes me that a device this small can do so much and look so good doing it!
The first charge battery test continues…
About 4:50pm at 5% battery life the Gear S warned that battery power is critically low and said to charge it now. I didn’t.
A call came in at 2% that I didn’t recognize (area code 657), so I let it go to the mail box, but forget that I haven’t set that up yet. Oh well. (Note to self: Set up mail box!)
Shortly thereafter… 1%... Then a warning your battery power is critically low, charge now to keep using it came on. About a minute later it went 0% DOA at 5:45pm and shut down. So the first charge on the phone battery only went from 2:00am 11-10-14 to 5:45pm 11-11-14 with what is typical normal use for me, with a little extra fiddling around with the phone screens to climb the learning curve thrown in. That’s just short of 40 hours and basically covered 1 ½ to 2 days.
Next I snapped the quick charge battery pack backup on and a lightning bolt battery picture showed up with a 1% below it; indicating the charging process had begun. I turned the phone back on, but a message came up stating that continuing use while charging may prevent the battery from charging properly. So I turned the phone back off and let it charge while off.
The % indicator slowly started to increase over the next hour up to 50%, and then it didn’t light up anymore when I shook it, so I assumed it was fully charged. Turning the phone back on indicated that it had a 50% charge. I unsnapped the backup unit and was back in business by 7:00pm.
I’m thinking a 50% charge is all a fully charged battery attached to a fully drained battery can charge the drained battery, because at that point each battery is at 50% and power no longer transfers between the two. I could be wrong about that, but it seems to make sense. If so, the backup may be good for a second 25% charge after the phone runs out of juice again. That too is pure speculation on my part.
Here’s a quick summary at this point:
1) The Gear S will warn you at 15% battery charge that it is getting low.
2) It will warn you again at 5% battery charge that it is critically low and you need to charge it now.
3) At 1% it gives you a final warning that the battery is critically low and you must charge it now to continue using it, then shuts down shortly thereafter.
4) The phone battery itself lasted ~40 hours in "my" real word use test (of course, your mileage may vary).
5) The quick charge battery backup takes ~1 hour to charge the phone battery and should remain off during that time.
6) The backup battery provides a 50% charge transfer to the phone battery.
That’s where this “real world” battery test stands at this time. I’ll let the phone battery go through the entire cycle once again to 0% and reattach the quick charge battery backup without having recharged it to see what happens. I’m guessing the 50% charge will get me to tomorrow afternoon of day three. We will see.
About 4:50pm at 5% battery life the Gear S warned that battery power is critically low and said to charge it now. I didn’t.
A call came in at 2% that I didn’t recognize (area code 657), so I let it go to the mail box, but forget that I haven’t set that up yet. Oh well. (Note to self: Set up mail box!)
Shortly thereafter… 1%... Then a warning your battery power is critically low, charge now to keep using it came on. About a minute later it went 0% DOA at 5:45pm and shut down. So the first charge on the phone battery only went from 2:00am 11-10-14 to 5:45pm 11-11-14 with what is typical normal use for me, with a little extra fiddling around with the phone screens to climb the learning curve thrown in. That’s just short of 40 hours and basically covered 1 ½ to 2 days.
Next I snapped the quick charge battery pack backup on and a lightning bolt battery picture showed up with a 1% below it; indicating the charging process had begun. I turned the phone back on, but a message came up stating that continuing use while charging may prevent the battery from charging properly. So I turned the phone back off and let it charge while off.
The % indicator slowly started to increase over the next hour up to 50%, and then it didn’t light up anymore when I shook it, so I assumed it was fully charged. Turning the phone back on indicated that it had a 50% charge. I unsnapped the backup unit and was back in business by 7:00pm.
I’m thinking a 50% charge is all a fully charged battery attached to a fully drained battery can charge the drained battery, because at that point each battery is at 50% and power no longer transfers between the two. I could be wrong about that, but it seems to make sense. If so, the backup may be good for a second 25% charge after the phone runs out of juice again. That too is pure speculation on my part.
Here’s a quick summary at this point:
1) The Gear S will warn you at 15% battery charge that it is getting low.
2) It will warn you again at 5% battery charge that it is critically low and you need to charge it now.
3) At 1% it gives you a final warning that the battery is critically low and you must charge it now to continue using it, then shuts down shortly thereafter.
4) The phone battery itself lasted ~40 hours in "my" real word use test (of course, your mileage may vary).
5) The quick charge battery backup takes ~1 hour to charge the phone battery and should remain off during that time.
6) The backup battery provides a 50% charge transfer to the phone battery.
That’s where this “real world” battery test stands at this time. I’ll let the phone battery go through the entire cycle once again to 0% and reattach the quick charge battery backup without having recharged it to see what happens. I’m guessing the 50% charge will get me to tomorrow afternoon of day three. We will see.
From your experience so far, it appears the battery life is better than many expected.
When you were at the AT&T store, did they mention anything about the extended-size (I think it is supposed to be 600 mAh) battery/quick charger Samsung was demo-ing for the Gear S a few months ago?
Pool Shark 2 - My experience stated above with the extra battery pack explains why Samsung may be experimenting with a 600mAh quick charge backup. That way the backup may transfer half its' charge to the phone's smaller battery, thus giving it a 100% charge or closer to it. I wonder if Samsung or AT&T wil end up giving us new adaptors a second 600mAh backup if they switch to that as the standard?
Do you know what results they got with the larger backup battery?
The energizer smartphone system (phone with backup charger) just keeps on going and going and going…
At 2:20pm with 15% battery life left it warned me once again that the power is low. This time I put it into “Power Saver Mode” via the pop-up message. The screen changed to black and white with: time, date, % power, a phone icon and a message icon. Cool! This is actually the most “functional” screen for a talk and text user like me. Everything is right on the first screen that lights up. And it doesn’t come on when you move your wrist in Power Saver Mode. You have to press the button to get the time/date/power screen with phone/text icons. It might even turn vibration off or put it on the lowest setting, because I got a text message and didn’t know it until they called when I didn’t answer.
Today’s use was basically nil. The watch was on my wrist all day. I checked time on and off, sent between 5-10 texts only, and took just one call. So today’s battery consumption is close to standby.
It’s almost 5:00pm and there is 11% battery left. When it goes DOA for the second time, I will snap the backup charger back on without having recharged it from the first use yesterday. I want to see if my thought that the backup charger still has 50% left in it and will transfer 25% of that to the phone is true (ADDED: IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY - DARN!)
I’ve completed day three without ever recharging anything so far. After I do the test just mentioned, I’ll recharge the backup and phone back to full charge. If it does get 25% out of the second use of the backup charger, I’m not going to use it back to zero again (I want to fully charge and drain this brand new battery several times to break it in right). Clearly a light user like me will get decent battery life and standby life seems really good IMHO for what it is.
The next full charge test will be done with the phone in Power Saver Mode from the start. Hopefully I can find where to activate that without a pop-up message. BT will only be turned on while I’m in my car, otherwise I’ll turn it off. That will be my “max-life” test to know what I can get away with if needed.
Hope this is helping others that might want to use the Gear S like I do.
At 2:20pm with 15% battery life left it warned me once again that the power is low. This time I put it into “Power Saver Mode” via the pop-up message. The screen changed to black and white with: time, date, % power, a phone icon and a message icon. Cool! This is actually the most “functional” screen for a talk and text user like me. Everything is right on the first screen that lights up. And it doesn’t come on when you move your wrist in Power Saver Mode. You have to press the button to get the time/date/power screen with phone/text icons. It might even turn vibration off or put it on the lowest setting, because I got a text message and didn’t know it until they called when I didn’t answer.
Today’s use was basically nil. The watch was on my wrist all day. I checked time on and off, sent between 5-10 texts only, and took just one call. So today’s battery consumption is close to standby.
It’s almost 5:00pm and there is 11% battery left. When it goes DOA for the second time, I will snap the backup charger back on without having recharged it from the first use yesterday. I want to see if my thought that the backup charger still has 50% left in it and will transfer 25% of that to the phone is true (ADDED: IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY - DARN!)
I’ve completed day three without ever recharging anything so far. After I do the test just mentioned, I’ll recharge the backup and phone back to full charge. If it does get 25% out of the second use of the backup charger, I’m not going to use it back to zero again (I want to fully charge and drain this brand new battery several times to break it in right). Clearly a light user like me will get decent battery life and standby life seems really good IMHO for what it is.
The next full charge test will be done with the phone in Power Saver Mode from the start. Hopefully I can find where to activate that without a pop-up message. BT will only be turned on while I’m in my car, otherwise I’ll turn it off. That will be my “max-life” test to know what I can get away with if needed.
Hope this is helping others that might want to use the Gear S like I do.
Last edited:
Sammuel1973
Well-known member
- Nov 24, 2013
- 990
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The Gear S still had 9% power when I went to bed. At about 5:00am I heard it power off. Got up and snapped the already used once backup battery on hoping it would recharge the watch ~25%, but no luck. It appears the backup uses all its’ power when used the first time. My thought (or hope) was misguided. Darn!
IMHO Samsung needs up the current 350mAh of the backup battery so that it supplies a full 100% charge when used. Someone mentioned they were experimenting with this already. Let’s hope it comes to fruition.
I think it is safe to say the Gear S can get “most” light and moderate users through each day, with about a two day standby time. I got three days out of the phone and backup power combo the first time out of the gate. Very happy with those results, but the longest battery life possible is always best, so Samsung shouldn’t rest in this regard.
It’s back on the charger now for a 100% recharge. The next battery test will be with the Gear S in Power Saver Mode from the start. Here’s what it does and how to turn it on from the manual:
Power saving feature
Save the battery power by limiting the Gear’s functions. In power saving mode, the Gear performs the following:
• Displays colours on the screen as grey tones.
• Deactivates features excluding phone, messages, and notifications.
• Deactivates the mobile data connection.
• Deactivates the Wi-Fi feature.
• Limits the performance of the Gear’s CPU.
On the All apps screen, tap Settings → Power saving → Power saving mode → Enable
Power saving mode. To deactivate this mode, tap → Disable Power saving.
To set the Gear to connect the mobile network, tap → Mobile networks.
IMHO Samsung needs up the current 350mAh of the backup battery so that it supplies a full 100% charge when used. Someone mentioned they were experimenting with this already. Let’s hope it comes to fruition.
I think it is safe to say the Gear S can get “most” light and moderate users through each day, with about a two day standby time. I got three days out of the phone and backup power combo the first time out of the gate. Very happy with those results, but the longest battery life possible is always best, so Samsung shouldn’t rest in this regard.
It’s back on the charger now for a 100% recharge. The next battery test will be with the Gear S in Power Saver Mode from the start. Here’s what it does and how to turn it on from the manual:
Power saving feature
Save the battery power by limiting the Gear’s functions. In power saving mode, the Gear performs the following:
• Displays colours on the screen as grey tones.
• Deactivates features excluding phone, messages, and notifications.
• Deactivates the mobile data connection.
• Deactivates the Wi-Fi feature.
• Limits the performance of the Gear’s CPU.
On the All apps screen, tap Settings → Power saving → Power saving mode → Enable
Power saving mode. To deactivate this mode, tap → Disable Power saving.
To set the Gear to connect the mobile network, tap → Mobile networks.
Not going to perform the Power Saver Mode battery test. Here's why. In Power Saver Mode incoming phone calls go diectly to voice mail. That doesn't work for me, so someone with more time on their hands than I will have to try it if they want to know. Back in normal mode for the second full charge...
Also, I tried to find the Power Saver Mode watch face, but it isn't in the choices. Not sure why? That is another feature that should be added to the Gear S. The Power Saver Mode watch face has: time, date, % power, phone icon and text icon right on the watch face. I like that.
I'm off to a local Kinko's or Staples with the User Manual .PDF on a memory stick to get it printed on 8.5" x 11" paper for easy reading and referrence.
I'm 55 and old school. ;-)
Also, I tried to find the Power Saver Mode watch face, but it isn't in the choices. Not sure why? That is another feature that should be added to the Gear S. The Power Saver Mode watch face has: time, date, % power, phone icon and text icon right on the watch face. I like that.
I'm off to a local Kinko's or Staples with the User Manual .PDF on a memory stick to get it printed on 8.5" x 11" paper for easy reading and referrence.
I'm 55 and old school. ;-)
Good news. Using the reset method outlined in the video in THIS THREAD I was able to reset my AT&T R750A and delete the contact list that got accidently loaded from the AT&T rep's phone when he set this up for me as a standalone sole cell phone device. Saved me a trip back to the store. My phone is now clean and working great.
The first charge battery test continues…
About 4:50pm at 5% battery life the Gear S warned that battery power is critically low and said to charge it now. I didn’t.
A call came in at 2% that I didn’t recognize (area code 657), so I let it go to the mail box, but forget that I haven’t set that up yet. Oh well. (Note to self: Set up mail box!)
Shortly thereafter… 1%... Then a warning your battery power is critically low, charge now to keep using it came on. About a minute later it went 0% DOA at 5:45pm and shut down. So the first charge on the phone battery only went from 2:00am 11-10-14 to 5:45pm 11-11-14 with what is typical normal use for me, with a little extra fiddling around with the phone screens to climb the learning curve thrown in. That’s just short of 40 hours and basically covered 1 ½ to 2 days.
Next I snapped the quick charge battery pack backup on and a lightning bolt battery picture showed up with a 1% below it; indicating the charging process had begun. I turned the phone back on, but a message came up stating that continuing use while charging may prevent the battery from charging properly. So I turned the phone back off and let it charge while off.
The % indicator slowly started to increase over the next hour up to 50%, and then it didn’t light up anymore when I shook it, so I assumed it was fully charged. Turning the phone back on indicated that it had a 50% charge. I unsnapped the backup unit and was back in business by 7:00pm.
I’m thinking a 50% charge is all a fully charged battery attached to a fully drained battery can charge the drained battery, because at that point each battery is at 50% and power no longer transfers between the two. I could be wrong about that, but it seems to make sense. If so, the backup may be good for a second 25% charge after the phone runs out of juice again. That too is pure speculation on my part.
Here’s a quick summary at this point:
1)The Gear S will warn you at 15% battery charge that it is getting low.
2)It will warn you again at 5% battery charge that it is critically low and you need to charge it now.
3)At 1% it gives you a final warning that the battery is critically low and you must charge it now to continue using it, then shuts down shortly thereafter.
4)The phone battery itself lasted ~40 hours in "my" real word use test (of course, your mileage may vary).
5)The quick charge battery backup takes ~1 hour to charge the phone battery and should remain off during that time.
6)The backup battery provides a 50% charge transfer to the phone battery.
That’s where this “real world” battery test stands at this time. I’ll let the phone battery go through the entire cycle once again to 0% and reattach the quick charge battery backup without having recharged it to see what happens. I’m guessing the 50% charge will get me to tomorrow afternoon of day three. We will see.
How come you didn't plug it into an outlet to get it back to 100%, is that possible, or you only get to 50%?
How come you didn't plug it into an outlet to get it back to 100%, is that possible, or you only get to 50%?
Because I wanted to see how long the phone plus backup battery will last. Sure you can plug it in to recharge it anytime you want to get a full 100% charge, but the extra battery backup that comes with the smartwatch only charged the phone 50% when attached to my fully drained 0% power phone. All I'm doing is testing it at this point to learn what will happen when and what it can do.
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