Hi all!
When I bought my Gear 2 Neo to use with my HTC One M8, I knew it was not officially supported, but I read some encouraging posts here on XDA, so I decided to give it a go. So far, my overall experience has been completely dreadful:
Battery Life! When I saw 30% per hour drain on my Gear 2 (with not too much of "display on" time), I thought I've got a defective device. However, things came immediately back to normal when I disconnected the Gear from the phone. Did anyone else have such experience? Solved, issue with the specific custom ROM.
Using in conjunction with Bluetooth earpiece is a complete nonsense. I don't want to receive calls on the Gear when I have the earpiece connected to the phone. But guess what, you can't have them connected at the same time! WTF?
Where are the apps? All pre- and post-release materials suggested Gear 2 comes with plenty of useful apps, but where are they? I'm particularly interested in Runtastic, but, according to their Facebook page, their Gear 2-compatible app hasn't been released yet, and no ETA so far. Runtastic claims Samsung didn't ask if their app was available before putting its name on the press release. WTF?
No alarm functionality on the watch itself without a need in the phone, and non-Samsung phone alarm doesn't get propagated to the Gear.
I'd really appreciate if other Samsung and non-Samsung phone users could share their experiences with regards to the areas above.
Thanks!
mpogr said:
Hi all!
When I bought my Gear 2 Neo to use with my HTC One M8, I knew it was not officially supported, but I read some encouraging posts here on XDA, so I decided to give it a go. So far, my overall experience has been completely dreadful:
Battery Life! When I saw 30% per hour drain on my Gear 2 (with not too much of "display on" time), I thought I've got a defective device. However, things came immediately back to normal when I disconnected the Gear from the phone. Did anyone else have such experience?
Using in conjunction with Bluetooth earpiece is a complete nonsense. I don't want to receive calls on the Gear when I have the earpiece connected to the phone. But guess what, you can't have them connected at the same time! WTF?
Where are the apps? All pre- and post-release materials suggested Gear 2 comes with plenty of useful apps, but where are they? I'm particularly interested in Runtastic, but, according to their Facebook page, their Gear 2-compatible app hasn't been released yet, and no ETA so far. Runtastic claims Samsung didn't ask if their app was available before putting its name on the press release. WTF?
No alarm functionality on the watch itself without a need in the phone, and non-Samsung phone alarm doesn't get propagated to the Gear.
I'd really appreciate if other Samsung and non-Samsung phone users could share their experiences with regards to the areas above.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow that's a lot. Let's see if I can come up with some answers..
1. I hear that battery drain is a known bug when connected to the HTC one. Not sure why it happens but it's been reported for mostly that device.
2. I'm pretty sure in order to use the Bluetooth earpiece with the Gear you need to connect the gear to your phone, go into Settings on your Gear 2, Go into Bluetooth, and connect it there so instead of having both attached to the phone, you have it Phone>Gear>Bluetooth (IE NOT Bluetooth>Phone<Gear|)
3. Samsung Apps store is not available on NON Samsung devices.
4. This is true and many people are looking for a fix. Nothing can be changed right now.
CarbonWyre said:
Wow that's a lot. Let's see if I can come up with some answers..
1. I hear that battery drain is a known bug when connected to the HTC one. Not sure why it happens but it's been reported for mostly that device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange indeed. Could be related to the Sense flavour of BT stack. I have a spare Google device (Galaxy Nexus), will try the Gear with it to see if the battery drain issue is cured.
CarbonWyre said:
2. I'm pretty sure in order to use the Bluetooth earpiece with the Gear you need to connect the gear to your phone, go into Settings on your Gear 2, Go into Bluetooth, and connect it there so instead of having both attached to the phone, you have it Phone>Gear>Bluetooth (IE NOT Bluetooth>Phone<Gear|)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to the process described here, the audio device needs to be paired with the phone and not the Gear, while the Gear is somehow able to make the phone switch between the phone audio coming through it to the earpiece. There is also this video describing how it works from the user perspective.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way with my HTC One M8. It looks like it uses ONLY the "Phone Audio" profile while connected to the Gear, which effectively disables any other device relying on the same profile (e.g. the earpiece) to connect to the phone. If, nevertheless, you force the phone to connect to the earpiece, the Gear gets disconnected. I suspect, on Samsung devices, a different BT protocol (probably BLE) is used for communicating to the Gear, so it can stay connected to the phone while the "Phone Audio" is taken by another device. This could also explain the power drain above, as BLE is supposed to be much more energy efficient. The question is, of course, how to make HTC One to use it (BLE is obviously supported by the device).
It is possible to connect my earpiece to the Gear, but only as media device (my earpiece supports this profile as well). In that case it can be used for listening to music played on the Gear. But it doesn't help in the phone call scenario. In any case, the "transfer to earpiece" operation described in both tutorials (you can see the corresponding icon on the right side of the Gear screen in the video above) is not available, no matter if the earpiece is paired to the phone or paired/connected to the Gear directly (the icon is greyed out).
Again, I'll try to put a custom BLE-enabled ROM on my Galaxy Nexus (standard ROMs don't enable BLE on that device, despite the fact the hardware is present) to see if it behaves any differently.
CarbonWyre said:
3. Samsung Apps store is not available on NON Samsung devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true, but there are good people around who can make them available for outsiders like us... The problem is Runtastic app for Gear 2 or Fit (not to be confused with Gear 1) is not available yet, according to Runtastic themselves, and no ETA so far. This is despite Samsung press releases. Had I known this before buying my Gear, I would have given it second thought...
CarbonWyre said:
4. This is true and many people are looking for a fix. Nothing can be changed right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is particularly annoying. What I really don't understand is why any other app notifications do get to the Gear, but alarms (even from 3rd party apps) don't. I'm completely baffled by that!
I have my gear connected to my HTC m7 and I got three days of battery out of a single charge
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
thesparky007 said:
I have my gear connected to my HTC m7 and I got three days of battery out of a single charge
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that w/the GEAR2/NEO or,w/the original GALAXY GEAR?
KOLIOXDA said:
Is that w/the GEAR2/NEO or,w/the original GALAXY GEAR?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gear 2 neo
thesparky007 said:
gear 2 neo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THX,that's encouraging to hear. :good:
One thing I've noticed w/my M8 & GEAR FIT:
If I'm not using the FIT (leave @ home etc...., out of range), the battery life takes a little bit of a hit. Otherwise, yesterday for example, battery life was stellar, still @ 50% after 18 hrs of total phone on-time.
Apparently, the FIT MANAGER app cannot be force closed, only disabled, so, I'll just do that when not using the FIT.
As for the GEAR MANAGER (for GEAR/GEAR2/NEO) it can be force closed.
So,I'm remaining optimistic regarding battery life once my GEAR2 arrives, especially since such is a YMMV, not only w/this discussion, but battery life in general.
KOLIOXDA said:
THX,that's encouraging to hear. :good:
One thing I've noticed w/my M8 & GEAR FIT:
If I'm not using the FIT (leave @ home etc...., out of range), the battery life takes a little bit of a hit. Otherwise, yesterday for example, battery life was stellar, still @ 50% after 18 hrs of total phone on-time.
Apparently, the FIT MANAGER app cannot be force closed, only disabled, so, I'll just do that when not using the FIT.
As for the GEAR MANAGER (for GEAR/GEAR2/NEO) it can be force closed.
So,I'm remaining optimistic regarding battery life once my GEAR2 arrives, especially since such is a YMMV, not only w/this discussion, but battery life in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was quite surprised and satisfied with it as well!
I downloaded the sdk and was able to view the log of the gear and I can see there are a lot of errors for s health and other samsung services so if official support comes through from samsung, id imagine battery life will get better.
OK, reading all the replies, it is apparent nobody else has the same kind of dreadful battery life. So it must be the custom M8 ROM I'm using (Insert Coin). I'm going to reflash a different one (will try Android Revolution HD, as this one is supposed to be as close as possible to stock) and see how it behaves.
I did try flashing a BLE-supporting ROM to my old Galaxy Nexus, but it couldn't connect to the Gear. The Gear Manager was stuck forever while attempting to connect.
OK, with Android Revolution HD 5.0 for HTC One M8 the battery life is MUCH better, I think it'll stretch to 2-3 days the way it's going now. So one annoyance is solved.
However, the others are still pending resolution. The one I'm particularly annoyed by is the issue with Bluetooth earpiece. I just can't use the Gear if I have to answer the phone on it or on the phone, as I've been using Bluetooth earpieces for the last 12 years (since they appeared on the market more or less) and don't see myself changing it just because of this Gear stupidity. I'm investigating possible solutions (e.g. using Tasker or similar apps). Will post results here.
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
have anyone try the gear 2 with xpeira z1 or z2
iread in some website that the z ultra is work
but ineed the z1 or z2
can someone try it
bluetooth switching
mpogr said:
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi may i know which tasker application did u use to resolve this?
thanks
---------- Post added at 03:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:37 AM ----------
dericion said:
hi may i know which tasker application did u use to resolve this?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
btw i m using xperia z ultra
mpogr said:
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please do a step-by-step guide on this mate? Just like me, there are many of us non Sammy users who are facing the same dilemma. Cheers.
HTC M8 & Gear2
HTC ONE M8 and Gear2 neo
flyguye said:
Could you please do a step-by-step guide on this mate? Just like me, there are many of us non Sammy users who are facing the same dilemma. Cheers.
HTC M8 & Gear2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does anyone have a doc'd process and prerequisites on how to make these two devices even work. I have seen countless youtube videos with people walking through what the thing does and even paired to a htc one m8. I have done all the side loading of the APK's etc. Staging stuff where they suggested and so on. Still coming up with it not working. There is some magic that I am missing some where.
so far I have done:
Installed the Stubpak.apk one by one. Then installed Gear Manager, The phone see's that gear2 then pops up a Parsing Error and goes into the gear manager app pairing screen for ever. Nothing happens after that.
If anyone can shed some light that would be great.
Thanks in Advance.
how do you do it?
mpogr said:
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I'm new to tasker just wondered what the steps were to make it do this phase thanks so much
I tested on HTC One X running CM 11. Battery drain is like 40-50% in 6 hours.
fibs said:
I tested on HTC One X running CM 11. Battery drain is like 40-50% in 6 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a look at this thread.
matthot69 said:
Hi I'm new to tasker just wondered what the steps were to make it do this phase thanks so much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a look at this thread.
mpogr said:
Have a look at this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I thought your "solution" was a different custom ROM? Even if I sync an account with few (10) contacts it's the same issue for me...
dlog_system only shows Power Manager messages all day e.g.
06-04 13:05:36.359 303 303 I POWER_MANAGER: core.c: default_trans(1381) > S_LCDOFF -> S_SLEEP : check fail
Just got my Note Edge yesterday and I love it. But I can't get it to work with my Gear S watch? Very frustrating and I can't figure it out unless they just aren't compatible. Can anyone help?
I have a Note Edge paired with the Gear S that works great. I can use the Gear S via Bluetooth or cell. When you said that you just got the Edge, it makes me think that this Gear was set up with another phone prior to the Edge. If so, you'd have to factory reset the Gear.
My Gear Neo 2 is really finicky with the Edge. I think it is the flakey bluetooth on the entire Note 4 line. Every once in a while (maybe twice a week or more), I have to restart the watch to get it to talk to the phone again. I am totally awaiting the official Lollipop update for my Verizon variant as there are a large number of bluetooth changes in it. I am getting a bit concerned that Lollipop doesn't appear to be on the immediate radar for Verizon now that the S6 is out there
Anyway, I would try and factory reset the watch and start the connection process over. A bit inconvenient but I bet it will work.
i've got both and they're work very well. the bluetooth connection is stable and the reconnection after a disconnect is very fast. i see no trouble
Gregdec said:
Just got my Note Edge yesterday and I love it. But I can't get it to work with my Gear S watch? Very frustrating and I can't figure it out unless they just aren't compatible. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download Samsung Gear Manager from galaxy apps..
Ok I want a watch I can receive calls from and I tried the Gear S2 and the battery life was horrible and from what researching the only other option that has phone capabilities is the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition. I was going to get the W200 version even though im on AT&T.
QUESTIONS:
1) Is there any more wearables that have a sim card I can receive and make calls without my phone being around in case I forgot it at home.
2) I have a Nexus 6 and will have to use the call forwarding instead of AT&T NumberSync like it did for the Gear S2 anyone have trouble with it?
3) I love Google hows it run on the wearable and is a good watch for the $$$...
Thanks!
Oxicottin said:
Ok I want a watch I can receive calls from and I tried the Gear S2 and the battery life was horrible and from what researching the only other option that has phone capabilities is the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition. I was going to get the W200 version even though im on AT&T.
QUESTIONS:
1) Is there any more wearables that have a sim card I can receive and make calls without my phone being around in case I forgot it at home.
2) I have a Nexus 6 and will have to use the call forwarding instead of AT&T NumberSync like it did for the Gear S2 anyone have trouble with it?
3) I love Google hows it run on the wearable and is a good watch for the $$$...
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
1)There is also the Finow X5 with 3G, lots of info. on this forum and youtube. Around $140,-
2) I have the W200 in Europe and use that also without any problem.
3)I like the watch, although i wasn't into smartwatches until this one. I think it's worth the money, but that's a matter of opinion.
Regards.
Is the Finow X5 the other only one? I have searched everywhere for other watches that have sim cards or 3g,4g or lte and onle came up with the two. Thanks for the reply!
Hello,
I have no idea. maybe some unknown brands.
But i think we will see some more in the next couple of months.
Regards.
Battery Life
Oxicottin said:
Ok I want a watch I can receive calls from and I tried the Gear S2 and the battery life was horrible and from what researching the only other option that has phone capabilities is the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition. I was going to get the W200 version even though im on AT&T.
QUESTIONS:
1) Is there any more wearables that have a sim card I can receive and make calls without my phone being around in case I forgot it at home.
2) I have a Nexus 6 and will have to use the call forwarding instead of AT&T NumberSync like it did for the Gear S2 anyone have trouble with it?
3) I love Google hows it run on the wearable and is a good watch for the $$$...
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what you considerable horrible battery life for a watch being used as a phone, but I have the W200A and used it for a call that lasted probably around 30 minutes or so. The call was long enough that it said that my watch was reaching max temperature or something and suggested that I end the call. At the conclusion I'd say I'd discharged at least 20% of my battery on that call. It stands to reason that it's more meant to have brief conversations given the size of the accessory and available volume for battery. On the upside I was informed that the call was crystal clear (and far better than my iPhone in a Lifeproof case).
I'd be surprised if any watches have great battery life when actively using it as a phone, although mine is always connected to cellular (and on standby to take calls) as well as connected to Numbersync and I can get about 15 hours - a full day - using it normally.
I cant connect to NumberSync because I have a Nexus 6 and its not supporting HD Voice on AT&T. Im going to have to forward my calls like i did on the Gear S2. I mainly like the ability to recieve my texts and emails while im at work since im not allowed to carry my phine but I can wear a watch so there is an advantage and the calling is a plus but wont grt used much.
After messing around looking at reviews for the Ubane 2 I ran into another watch that took a sim card KingWear KW88 SLEEK then from there the Chinese market of watches started popping up like crazy with cameras and as much crap as you can fit on a watch I guess you get what you pay for and the quality was horrible and went down hill so I'm going to buy the Ubane 2 its on sale this weekend for $337.... It might be Chinese/Korean or what ever but with a better quality standards at least and with a well known company like LG behind it.
Thanks,
Got my note 7 yesterday (love it!) My watch is set to vibrate for everything (no sound) as this is working fine for notifications but when I get a call the phone and the watch ring. I even tried setting the phone to vibrate too and it still rings (same ringtone as the phone). Is anyone else having this issue?
I am having the same issue. Since i never have my phone set to ring (Always rely on my S2 classic for alerts) I just set my Note 7 ringtone to "Silent" no it seems to "Work" ok.
Not the ideal solution, but a "fix" for now...
Thank you.... I'm glad it's not just me. I called Samsung today about it and they were clueless...
I've sent a message to Samsung. Hopefully this gets patched. I'm pretty sure turning off bluetooth audio will stop the issue. Anyone tried it? In bluetooth settings.
Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk
I will try that but, then we can't use it to answer calls. It is definitely a bt issue....i tested it by turning off bt and calling the watch's phone number and it vibrated as it's supposed to. Hopefully enough people contact samsung so that they can get working on a fix for this.
Watch ring ? Or vibrates ?
Wysłane z iPad za pomocą Tapatalk
Me too
Yes I'm having the same issue too. It's really annoying. It's just with the Note7 since it didn't happen with my S7E. Sucks since I can't wear it at work now since I have my phone on vibrate I don't need my watch ringing.
me23brown said:
Yes I'm having the same issue too. It's really annoying. It's just with the Note7 since it didn't happen with my S7E. Sucks since I can't wear it at work now since I have my phone on vibrate I don't need my watch ringing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a "quick fix" change the phone ring tone to "silent" that works for me.
Thanks but when I tried that neither the watch or the phone would vibrate so I wouldn't know if I was getting a call or notification.
I called samsung about this, has anyone else? I think the the more people that report it the better chance we have of getting a fix for it quicker.
I was able to get it to work but both the ringer AND media in the phone need to be on vibrate. Basically what I did was open the sound setting on my phone and was messing with the settings while calling my phone from another phone until I found the right mixture. This is what worked for me. Now my phone and watch vibrate. I would suggest doing what I did until you find the right mixture.
If I take it off vibrate on my phone they both ring. Hope this helps.
I've got a ticket opened with Samsung. My first inquiry got redirected. Hope this one sticks.
Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk
Happening with me as well, did an online chat with samsung support to report it and gave them a link to this topic.
Has anyone heard anymore about this? I've periodically checked for an update/fix but haven't seen anything.
Same issue
I've had this problem too. been having the issue Since day one with the note 7. I've called Samsung at least 3 times about it. They were clueless. The first 2 times they kept telling be to call my carrier. I know it's not a carrier issue. For god sakes you're the maker of the watch! Brought it to the Samsung kiosk... Also clueles only answers i can seem to get are factory reset it, which didn't work. Come on Samsung! I'm going to try some of the options you guys gave.
Was having the same issue after I got my new phone setup with my gear... tried mutiple things, ended up doing a factory reset on my watch, reconnected to my n7 and my previous settings were restored to my watch via gear manager...and I was back in business.. no more ringing from the watch...
I've reset watch 3 times.....but I'll try 1 more
bump
Mine is doing it also. I have factory reset wach times
4th factory reset didn't fix it
Hi there, I have a question, how much is Gear S3 worth with a phone that is not a Samsung?
Can I read all notifications and calls? Which apps does Tizen offer?
Thanks.
xpissio said:
Hi there, I have a question, how much is Gear S3 worth with a phone that is not a Samsung?
Can I read all notifications and calls? Which apps does Tizen offer?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had if with an S8 then got a pixel 2xl and it works 99% the same way. I had to turn off phone calls on it though (a feature I rarely used) because stock Android saw it as just another Bluetooth, so it would route all calls to it even when I answered/started the call on the phone. When I had my s8 it was smart enough to know if I answered or started the call on my phone, I didn't want audio sent to my watch. But texts and notifications all work the same.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
I don't use the pay part, but, I've used the Gear S3 Frontier on my Mate 9, and my newer Essential PH-1 and no real issues.
It does have a quarkie issue that if I have my BT headseat on, and the watch connected, (with the essential on Pie),
I get the notification sounds/lights on the watch but not the phone or the BT headset, which doesn't do it, on the
Mate 9, which is still on Oreo. I've heard it is a Pie thing.
Now my Essential today (4 September) just received the September security patch/updates but I haven't checked
to see if that issue is fixed because I'm still on "vacation" and don't have any "borg implant" stuck in my ear.
Mine works perfectly in OnePlus 6 rooted in stock OOS 5.1.11. Calls work perfectly fine, no quirks. I use Textra and WhatsApp with no issues and can read the whole conversation, not just the last message on both and use Bluemail and it works fine as well. Can reply to all 3 just fine as well. Never miss any notifications. The watch it not rooted and just bought it 3 weeks ago.
Only gps doesn't work with my Huawei p20 pro. Everything else does.
Just paired my OnePlus 6T, no issues.