Samsung Galaxy Watch 42mm Battery Life

[Android Central Question]

All,

Just interested to see what sort of battery life everyone is getting (mainly from the 42mm but would be interested in the 46mm too).

Currently my Galaxy Watch is draining roughly 2% every half an hour, which is far worse than my Gear S3.

I've read the claimed 4 days battery life but there's no way it'd do that.
When you consider that it has a smaller battery but roughly the same hardware as the S3 I suppose this makes sense.

Craig

 

[belodion]

Would you like this moved to the Galaxy Watch forum?

 

[c7aig]

Yes please, sorry!

 

[belodion]

Okay, done, and welcome as a new member.

 

[j_hansen]

I'm still waiting for my 46mm lte version but from all the reviews I have seen and read the realistic battery life seems more like 2 days for the 42mm and 3/4 days for the 46mm

 

[enthuz]

My 46mm is getting about 2-3 days depending on how much I'm abusing, I mean using, it. As for my wife's 42mm, she gets 1-2 days now. It was around a good 2 days until she started playing with the settings and features getting to know it better...firs smartwatch. I will have to look into it more this week.

 

[c7aig]

My 46mm is getting about 2-3 days depending on how much I'm abusing, I mean using, it. As for my wife's 42mm, she gets 1-2 days now. It was around a good 2 days until she started playing with the settings and features getting to know it better...firs smartwatch. I will have to look into it more this week.

I think this might be my problem. The first day I used it the battery seemed on par with my S3, but as I changed settings to match my S3 setup it seems to have effected battery life.

 

[jrsharp70]

I'm on the 46mm version.

The only thing I can't comment on right now is GPS while running.
The gear S couldn't do a GPS run more than 30 min.
The gear S2 could not make it through a half marathon with GPS and music playing. (non LTE)
The gear S3 could make it through a 2:15 run with about 15% remaining
I haven't run with the Galaxy watch on GPS since I have been into cross training lately. But so far with the always on display off, I have charged the watch once since I got it 5 days ago, it dropped to 50% and I charged it just to do it. I am also wearing it to bed.

I activated the barometer since then, and installed the smartthings app, so we will see. I don't see this watch dying in < 3 days. i bet I could push 4 days with no GPS.

My wife's 42mm is another story. She charges it every night, so I have to check. I suspect she could go a few days without using GPS.

Truthfully, the only reason I don't use AOD is I'm afraid of burn-in. But i'll do a test in a few days after I charge it again.

 

[c7aig]

I'm on the 46mm version.

The only thing I can't comment on right now is GPS while running.
The gear S couldn't do a GPS run more than 30 min.
The gear S2 could not make it through a half marathon with GPS and music playing. (non LTE)
The gear S3 could make it through a 2:15 run with about 15% remaining
I haven't run with the Galaxy watch on GPS since I have been into cross training lately. But so far with the always on display off, I have charged the watch once since I got it 5 days ago, it dropped to 50% and I charged it just to do it. I am also wearing it to bed.

I activated the barometer since then, and installed the smartthings app, so we will see. I don't see this watch dying in < 3 days. i bet I could push 4 days with no GPS.

My wife's 42mm is another story. She charges it every night, so I have to check. I suspect she could go a few days without using GPS.

Truthfully, the only reason I don't use AOD is I'm afraid of burn-in. But i'll do a test in a few days after I charge it again.

That's quite impressive for the 46mm!

I currently have AOD off, GPS off unless running, NFC off and WiFi auto.
I just did a reset to see if it improves things. I think I lost about 70% over 20 hours from my last charge.

 

[jrsharp70]

That's quite impressive for the 46mm!

I currently have AOD off, GPS off unless running, NFC off and WiFi auto.
I just did a reset to see if it improves things. I think I lost about 70% over 20 hours from my last charge.

We just got back from the gym she listened to music on spotify in offline mode and tracked her treadmill run and her workout and she is down to 56%. So she will charge it tonight for sure. I'd say you are getting close to the same.
It seems comparable to the larger Apple watch in battery life. It is clearly not a 2 day watch.

My swim + workout with music has me at 80%, and I wore it all night. I've also got a new watch face that takes more battery. My wrists are quite small, but I find the size acceptable given the battery. I wish it were all silver. Spotify still sucks as an app on the watch, but I'm hoping it improves.

 

[c7aig]

We just got back from the gym she listened to music on spotify in offline mode and tracked her treadmill run and her workout and she is down to 56%. So she will charge it tonight for sure. I'd say you are getting close to the same.
It seems comparable to the larger Apple watch in battery life. It is clearly not a 2 day watch.

Did the 42 start at 100% before your wife used it for the gym?

I charged mine last night to 100%, wore it to bed and slept for 8 hours, when I woke up it had lost 17%. My S3 would've lost about 5%.

Tonight I'll reset to factory defaults but and I won't restore my backup, so it'll be a standard setup, then I'll charge it to 100% and see what it does tomorrow, if it's still poor I'll return it and stick with my S3.

 

[terry lampard]

Just received my pre ordered galaxy watch so far a lot to take in, but 1 issue is the lake of battery life I charged it Sunday night took nearly 3 hours! Just had to charge again Tuesday morning another 3hours. It's the 42mm version.

 

[c7aig]

So I've given up and returned my galaxy watch. The battery just doesn't last long enough for me. I'll stick with my Gear S3 and hope that a software update (Tizen 4?) Brings some of the galaxy watch features to it.

 

[jrsharp70]

So I've given up and returned my galaxy watch. The battery just doesn't last long enough for me. I'll stick with my Gear S3 and hope that a software update (Tizen 4?) Brings some of the galaxy watch features to it.

The 42mm is really an every night charge unfortunately. About the same that my apple watch series 2 got.

 

[djrakowski]

The 42mm is really an every night charge unfortunately. About the same that my apple watch series 2 got.

I'm OK with that. I'm not planning to use it as a sleep tracker, so I'll most likely charge it every night (or every other night if I can get away with it).

 

[mrek38]

I just returned the Galaxy 42mm Bluetooth+LTE because of battery life. I had it only three days. What a disappointment! For example, today at 4:45 AM I took it off the charger and I watched it lose 18% of power in 1 hr 15 minutes. It was at 0% power by 10:45 AM - six hours in all. I had already reduced the brightness, disconnected all other bluetooth connections on my phone, and changed the watch face to one recommended for improving battery life (suggestions I had read on this forum). And, although I had returned this within 5 days of its purchase - I was still charged the "restocking" fee and the "activation" fee ($80). My carrier graciously refunded the restocking fee, but could not refund the activation fee because I was beyond the limit of 3 days beyond purchase (even 'tho this was a Christmas present received on the 25th, and was returned on the 28th, it was 5 days beyond purchase). I will never know for sure - but I wonder whether the battery might have drained as the watch continually was switching to mobile data whenever it got too far away from the phone. This watch had been the Christmas present of my dreams. I guess it just shows "Be careful what you wish for."

 

[jimjam_arch]

General use I drain just under 2% per hour. So every other night for general use. If I go for a run and listen to spotify over headphones i bite a chunk of around 20-30% off that.

 

[jimjonesG7]

People disappointed with the 42mm... Should be dissapointed in themselves.. Do your research?.... Before you buy. And keep your expectations at a realistic level.

There's loads more people happy with their purchase than the ones who are not.

 

[NIckkr]

People disappointed with the 42mm... Should be dissapointed in themselves.. Do your research?.... Before you buy. And keep your expectations at a realistic level.

There's loads more people happy with their purchase than the ones who are not.

I have to say I agree. Almost every single review of the 42mm points out that the smaller capacity battery means the 46mm is a better bet if extended battery life is important to you as it is going to be a heavily used as a fitness tracker.

 

[NIckkr]

I'm OK with that. I'm not planning to use it as a sleep tracker, so I'll most likely charge it every night (or every other night if I can get away with it).

Just stick it on charge when you wake up and by the time you have had a shower, breakfast and got dressed it will be fully charged. Having to charge every day doesn't have to be a pain, just needs a little planning. Continually topping the battery up is better for it anyway ( as discussed here in other threads)