Overheating anyone?

[kbboykin]

Saw this article on Android Central: https://www.androidcentral.com/galaxy-watch-4-letdown. Decided to test it today with my GW 4 LTE. Went for a 1.7 mile brisk walk with everything on: LTE, Bluetooth, WiFi, Location, (no NFC) and tracking my walk via SH app (not auto-detected). Watchface was Pixel Watchface with Battery, Steps as complications. No overheating whatsoever. And interestingly, same amount of battery usage: 7% over the 32 minute walk. Anyone here having issues with this?

 

[Talderon]

I use my watch to track my walks and cycling with everything on (although, I do not have an LTE version) and never had any issues with heat in any way!

 

[arunma]

I've had this problem, but it's not as bad as what the guy who wrote the article was describing. Every morning I run for an hour with LTE, Spotify, Bluetooth headphones, and GPS tracking. So basically the full gamut of battery draining features. While I do lose about 50% of my battery in an hour, I rarely experiece the "watch cooling" issue.

How rarely? Well, I got my watch a day before launch. First morning out on a run, it happened about a minute in. This has been an issue on all of my previous Galaxy Watches so I wasn't surprised. I later exchanged my watch for unrelated, screen burn in issues (I've got a whole other thread on that). First day out with my new watch, it happened again, but this time about 55 minutes into my run. So after about three weeks with this watch (and two different watches, no less), it's happened twice.

I wonder if maybe the reviewer guy got a bad watch. I'm a very heavy user of the watch's battery-taxing features and it doesn't happen to me all that often. It's extremely annoying though, especially when you're in the middle of a workout. I've found that the fastest way to get the use of your watch back is to just restart it. I think this is a software issue because the watch doesn't feel hot when this happens. But I downloaded a battery monitor app which also records temperature, so I'll let you guys know what I find.

 

[a22matic]

My issue is the Watch 4 can't play music (or anything) independently through the watch speakers like my Watch 3 can. It's a known issue, but a bad one.

I have had overheating issues, but never on a workout (note I have a LTE model, but since I can't stream Spotify or YouTube music without a phone, I workout with my Galaxy Watch 3 on my other wrist for music only). Today I ran SH & Google Fit simultaneously, and the Watch 3 didn't overheat.

I think the LTE is the culprit with overheating. During setup and when doing a lot at home trying to figure out the Watch is when I got the dreaded Airplane mode (overheating errors).

 

[mlblack16]

My issue is the Watch 4 can't play music (or anything) independently through the watch speakers like my Watch 3 can. It's a known issue, but a bad one.

I have had overheating issues, but never on a workout (note I have a LTE model, but since I can't stream Spotify or YouTube music without a phone, I workout with my Galaxy Watch 3 on my other wrist for music only). Today I ran SH & Google Fit simultaneously, and the Watch 3 didn't overheat.

I think the LTE is the culprit with overheating. During setup and when doing a lot at home trying to figure out the Watch is when I got the dreaded Airplane mode (overheating errors).

That's odd about not being able to play media through the watch speakers (assuming I understood you correctly).

I just transferred an MP3 from my phone to the GW4 Classic BT and it played loud and clear.

I will say there were many prompts to grant access to files and permissions to approve - all on the watch itself - before I got to the point of being able to pull up the file on my watch and play through the speakers.

 

[a22matic]

That's odd about not being able to play media through the watch speakers (assuming I understood you correctly).

I just transferred an MP3 from my phone to the GW4 Classic BT and it played loud and clear.

I will say there were many prompts to grant access to files and permissions to approve - all on the watch itself - before I got to the point of being able to pull up the file on my watch and play through the speakers.

Yeah, I can't stream those two music apps through the watch speakers (via LTE or download songs to the watch itself like I can on the Watch 3). I don't use the download MP3 to the Watch option. Irritating for sure.

I can play music through the watch speakers just fine using Bluetooth (phone, etc.). When I'm out running, I don't wear buds or log around my Note 10+ with me, instead relying on the dependable Watch speakers.

I checked all my permissions and they're good. Hopefully am update comes out soon.

 

[jlangner]

No Lte and no heat, used on numerous 2.5 mile walks.

 

[lyingfromyou]

I got the overheat warning while I was outside yesterday. It came through like a regular notification and then my watch rebooted..

It wasn't warm or anything. Strange

The watch wouldn't take a screenshot and of course I didn't have my phone. If it happens again I'll try to get a picture!

My suspicion is either the radio trying and not getting a signal or a haywire app in the background.. I was around a bunch of trees at the time

 

[arunma]

So for the first time, I got an overheating notification that actually made sense. I was out jogging on a particularly hot day on a path with very little shade, and when I turned around to head back, my watch was directly exposed to the sun for about ten minutes. I got the notification, restarted it like usual (this is usually faster than waiting for it to cool down), and soon got another notification. Later I checked the temperature logs from my battery monitor app, and at that time, the battery was at around 102 degrees F. So it really was overheating.

I guess this thing does serve a purpose. But as I and others have already said, it's definitely buggy and most of the time the watch thinks it's overheating when it really is not.

 

[CKwik240]

It might be helpful to know which watch, size, color, and if LTE or GPS version. One could compile that info and see if there is a trend. Or out could confirm if it's occurring with all the GW4 models.

Why? Classic vs non-classic have some physical differences. Namely, the non-classic has more screen area. I know if I leave my phone in the sun, the screen gets pretty warm even when it's off. It appears to absorb solar energy as heat.

Watch color can affect how much heat gets absorbed through the frame. Darker colors absorb more heat.

Larger sized watches will have a lower surface area to volume ratio. Could be used to determine if it can dissipate enough heat.

LTE watches might add more heat than GPS only.

There could be other factors, but that's what I thought of.

 

[arunma]

It might be helpful to know which watch, size, color, and if LTE or GPS version. One could compile that info and see if there is a trend. Or out could confirm if it's occurring with all the GW4 models.

Why? Classic vs non-classic have some physical differences. Namely, the non-classic has more screen area. I know if I leave my phone in the sun, the screen gets pretty warm even when it's off. It appears to absorb solar energy as heat.

Watch color can affect how much heat gets absorbed through the frame. Darker colors absorb more heat.

Larger sized watches will have a lower surface area to volume ratio. Could be used to determine if it can dissipate enough heat.

LTE watches might add more heat than GPS only.

There could be other factors, but that's what I thought of.

Good point, especially the surface area to volume ratio. I've got a 46 mm LTE Classic watch. I'll add that it's silver, which should prevent more radiative heat transfer than the black version.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

Good point, especially the surface area to volume ratio. I've got a 46 mm LTE Classic watch. I'll add that it's silver, which should prevent more radiative heat transfer than the black version.

Same watch here. I've forced it to LTE mode. I streamed iHeartRadio for 4 hours no issues. I've talked for 35 minutes thru the speaker phone with no issues. I tried downloading a app from play store while streaming music and boom, the over heat cool down message came up. That happened before streaming for 4 hours. I restarted watch and then streamed the 4 hours

 

[arunma]

Same watch here. I've forced it to LTE mode. I streamed iHeartRadio for 4 hours no issues. I've talked for 35 minutes thru the speaker phone with no issues. I tried downloading a app from play store while streaming music and boom, the over heat cool down message came up. That happened before streaming for 4 hours. I restarted watch and then streamed the 4 hours

Interesting, so it was the one additional function that pushed it over the edge?

Like I said, I stream for an hour every day over LTE and except on rare occasions (including the other day when it would have been legitimately exposed to too much heat), I don't have problems either.

I've heard of people having their watch need to cool after just a few minutes of making a cellular call. Given the display issues I complained about (which forced me to exchange my watch), I wonder if Samsung has QC issues with the GW4.

 

[felloffthetruck]

Have the LTE model and it started overheating just walking around the block in full sun. Is this something that can be fixed with a software update of is the hardware flawed?

Is the LTE model the only one with the overheating problem?

 

[lyingfromyou]

Have the LTE model and it started overheating just walking around the block in full sun. Is this something that can be fixed with a software update of is the hardware flawed?

Is the LTE model the only one with the overheating problem?

Mine is the LTE Galaxy Watch 4 Classic 46mm Black

Mine did it while I was walking the dog. It was in standalone mode when it did it. Hasn't happened since

My watch wasn't hot to the touch. Hopefully it's just a bug that can be squashed