Last weekend i used S-Health in cycling mode on my Gear S2 (paired to a LG 2) for a short tour. It recorded the time and my heart rate and synced the activity with the app on my phone as expected. What it did not record was the distance i traveled. How is your experience with S-Health in cycling mode? Does it record the distance as well? It should i would reckon, not?
What I've noticed is that prior to last weekend most my rides have been recorded by auto which defaults to a time base workout and not distance. So distance is not recorded. Last weekend I decided to manually start a ride specifying the estimated distance that I would be traveling. The results were as follows:
Duration
Distance
Calories Burned
Avg Speed
Max Speed
Avg Pace
Max Pace
Highest elevation
Total Accent
Total Decent
Avg Heart Rate
Max Heart Rate
Weather
Wind Direction
Wind Speed
Humidity
The route was also tracked and displayed on a map in the results showing mile markers. It also provides the ability to save a route as well as export the route to gpx format.
Cool, thanks! Until now i did not even see that I can select different goals
ColMustard said:
What I've noticed is that prior to last weekend most my rides have been recorded by auto which defaults to a time base workout and not distance. So distance is not recorded. Last weekend I decided to manually start a ride specifying the estimated distance that I would be traveling. The results were as follows:
Duration
Distance
Calories Burned
Avg Speed
Max Speed
Avg Pace
Max Pace
Highest elevation
Total Accent
Total Decent
Avg Heart Rate
Max Heart Rate
Weather
Wind Direction
Wind Speed
Humidity
The route was also tracked and displayed on a map in the results showing mile markers. It also provides the ability to save a route as well as export the route to gpx format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow...THANKS! ... I've spent the last hour trying to figure out how to get Endomondo working on the S2....if S Health tracks biking, looks like I won't need Endomondo now.
---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------
The route was also tracked and displayed on a map in the results showing mile markers. It also provides the ability to save a route as well as export the route to gpx format.[/QUOTE said:
How do you export the route to gpx format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you export the route to gpx format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Within S Health on the phone, look at the Cycling history. Once you select a particular event with miles, scroll down to the very bottom of the details page and there will be a button labeled "EXPORT AS GPX FILE".
ColMustard said:
What I've noticed is that prior to last weekend most my rides have been recorded by auto which defaults to a time base workout and not distance. So distance is not recorded. Last weekend I decided to manually start a ride specifying the estimated distance that I would be traveling. The results were as follows:
Duration
Distance
Calories Burned
Avg Speed
Max Speed
Avg Pace
Max Pace
Highest elevation
Total Accent
Total Decent
Avg Heart Rate
Max Heart Rate
Weather
Wind Direction
Wind Speed
Humidity
The route was also tracked and displayed on a map in the results showing mile markers. It also provides the ability to save a route as well as export the route to gpx format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To do that you have to carry your phone with you?
Or you can use the watch alone?
Thanks
Enviado do meu Nexus 7 através de Tapatalk
RM37 said:
To do that you have to carry your phone with you?
Or you can use the watch alone?
Thanks
Enviado do meu Nexus 7 através de Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to carry your phone of course... Gear S2 Smartwatches haven't GPS which is necessary when it's up to get such datas mentioned above.
ram3n said:
You have to carry your phone of course... Gear S2 Smartwatches haven't GPS which is necessary when it's up to get such datas mentioned above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is, unless you have the 3g model, which does have GPS and can be used for running without a phone (at least using the Nike+ app)
Darn!! So....i've discovered that you lose the ability to export the activity .gpx file if you initiate the cycling activity from the watch instead of from the phone. WHY????!!! oh why do they make this so unnecessarily convoluted and difficult? If they'd simply create a desktop website where you could see your activities on the big screen they could eliminate all of these hoops we're jumping through trying to export our data.
fluidj said:
Darn!! So....i've discovered that you lose the ability to export the activity .gpx file if you initiate the cycling activity from the watch instead of from the phone. WHY????!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I start all my rides with the watch and never loose the ability to export the gpx.
fluidj said:
oh why do they make this so unnecessarily convoluted and difficult? If they'd simply create a desktop website where you could see your activities on the big screen they could eliminate all of these hoops we're jumping through trying to export our data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure why you think it's so complicated. On the watch in S Health I select cycle activity, then specify the number of expected miles, then start. When I've completed my ride, I select finish on the watch. That's it, nothing complicated about that. My ride is automatically synced with the phone, I don't have to do anything with the phone app until the end of my ride, then I select the export gpx option, that's it.
ColMustard said:
I start all my rides with the watch and never loose the ability to export the gpx.
Not sure why you think it's so complicated. On the watch in S Health I select cycle activity, then specify the number of expected miles, then start. When I've completed my ride, I select finish on the watch. That's it, nothing complicated about that. My ride is automatically synced with the phone, I don't have to do anything with the phone app until the end of my ride, then I select the export gpx option, that's it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something is going on with my app then. I no longer have the export option. Not sure how to fix it. I'm on a Galaxy Note 4. Really frustrating.
The difficulty I'm referring to is the lack of a desktop viewer/web portal for S Health. Using the app and watch itself is indeed a breeze! Once I get to the bottom of this export issue I'm all set.
I can confirm that the ability to export to .gpx is not available in Ver. #4.6.1.0007 of the S Health app. If you update to this version, you'll lose the ability to export. Uninstalling updates reverts me back to Ver. #4.4.1.0003 restores the ability to export.
fluidj said:
I can confirm that the ability to export to .gpx is not available in Ver. #4.6.1.0007 of the S Health app. If you update to this version, you'll lose the ability to export. Uninstalling updates reverts me back to Ver. #4.4.1.0003 restores the ability to export.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that explains it, I keep postponing the update.
ColMustard said:
Well that explains it, I keep postponing the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good move to make. If by chance you install it by accident...the last version that I found to retain this capability was #4.5.1.0011.
Hopefully it was just an accident or bug and they will bring it back in whatever new update they have for 4.6.1
fluidj said:
Good move to make. If by chance you install it by accident...the last version that I found to retain this capability was #4.5.1.0011.
Hopefully it was just an accident or bug and they will bring it back in whatever new update they have for 4.6.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yeah, I would hate to see Samsung take this feature away. I assuming it's a bug as well.
Do you need to start tracking on your phone or on the the s2? If I start on my s2 it does not track speed, distance, altitude and so on...
And If I start tracking on my phone I dont have it displayed on my gear s2
Hello,
Actually, I use my Samsung S7 with Endomondo installed to monitor my running sessions. Things I need when I run are : pace by kms, sound notification for each km with pace, total distance and also music which is always motivating when you run.
I think about buying a Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 or Gear S3 to monitor my running sessions and leave my Samsung S7 at home. Do you think using just a Gear S2 or Gear S3 could be possible given my needs ?
Thanks for your answers and your help.
Sylvain
I don't think you will be able to use just the watch. Unfortunately none of the big name fitness tracking apps like Runtastic, Strava, Endomondo have or have any intention of creating apps for the Tizen OS that runs on the Gear S2. So that means you are stuck using Samsung's S-Health app to track your runs. You will only get a map of your run IF you start the run from the phone. If you start it from the watch, it only tracks speed, heartrate and splits. I ran 2 races this past weekend. A 5k and a Half Marathon. For the 5k, I started the app on my phone but never had any info on the watch (maybe I need to start it in both places) and did get a map of my run. For the Half I started my run on the watch and was able to see my HR, Speed, Pace, Distance etc on my watch at a glance but didn't get a map of the run when done.
I have written to all the fitness tracker apps asking if they plan to support the Samsung Gear Sx line of smartwatches and they all respond with a very long winded well worded answer of NO. It is unfortunate as I have both an android wear watch and the Gear S2 and much prefer the Gear.
Good luck with your decision.
J...
killarneygetaway said:
I don't think you will be able to use just the watch. Unfortunately none of the big name fitness tracking apps like Runtastic, Strava, Endomondo have or have any intention of creating apps for the Tizen OS that runs on the Gear S2. So that means you are stuck using Samsung's S-Health app to track your runs. You will only get a map of your run IF you start the run from the phone. If you start it from the watch, it only tracks speed, heartrate and splits. I ran 2 races this past weekend. A 5k and a Half Marathon. For the 5k, I started the app on my phone but never had any info on the watch (maybe I need to start it in both places) and did get a map of my run. For the Half I started my run on the watch and was able to see my HR, Speed, Pace, Distance etc on my watch at a glance but didn't get a map of the run when done.
I have written to all the fitness tracker apps asking if they plan to support the Samsung Gear Sx line of smartwatches and they all respond with a very long winded well worded answer of NO. It is unfortunate as I have both an android wear watch and the Gear S2 and much prefer the Gear.
Good luck with your decision.
J...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer.
Finally, I bought the Samsung Gear Fit 2. Yesterday, I tried it during a running session and it works very well. GPS is reliable, so distances runned are good. There is also vocal notifications for pace by km which is a great point for me. The music player works well also.
When I finished my running session, I went back to home and I synced the Gear Fit 2 with my Samsung S7 having the S Health application installed. The last problem is that in S Health my running session has been imported correctly but it seems impossible to have the pace by km for each km runned displayed. May be it's a limitation on the S Health application.
It seems also the GPS export from S Health doesn't work.
sylsau said:
Thanks for your answer.
Finally, I bought the Samsung Gear Fit 2. Yesterday, I tried it during a running session and it works very well. GPS is reliable, so distances runned are good. There is also vocal notifications for pace by km which is a great point for me. The music player works well also.
When I finished my running session, I went back to home and I synced the Gear Fit 2 with my Samsung S7 having the S Health application installed. The last problem is that in S Health my running session has been imported correctly but it seems impossible to have the pace by km for each km runned displayed. May be it's a limitation on the S Health application.
It seems also the GPS export from S Health doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind sharing some additional feedback because I'm also planning to get rid of my phone while running and from a hardware perspective the Gear Fit 2 ticks all the boxes.
I'm especially interested if the heartrate monitor is useful during a workout (e.g. readable and accurate). And what do you think about the software? Most of the critics have been about the software which could have gotten better since the release.
Thanks!
ts-apps said:
Do you mind sharing some additional feedback because I'm also planning to get rid of my phone while running and from a hardware perspective the Gear Fit 2 ticks all the boxes.
I'm especially interested if the heartrate monitor is useful during a workout (e.g. readable and accurate). And what do you think about the software? Most of the critics have been about the software which could have gotten better since the release.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made several running sessions since I bought the Gear Fit 2 and I also used the Gear Fit 2 daily. It's really a great product. Steps counter is accurate, GPS is reliable too. All the data are easily readable when you run for example. The screen is really reactive.
For the heart rate monitor, it is easily readable when you run for example. However, it can be not really accurate when you run if you sweat for example because your wrist is wet. I noticed some errors at this moment. When you are resting, hear rate monitor works perfectly.
killarneygetaway said:
You will only get a map of your run IF you start the run from the phone. If you start it from the watch, it only tracks speed, heartrate and splits.
J...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI if you have the 3G version of the Gear S2 you can enable location services and get a map of your run afterward. In my experience it has been very accurate (in a suburban setting). The drawback is that it kills battery life (like 1% per minute of running).
hausman said:
FYI if you have the 3G version of the Gear S2 you can enable location services and get a map of your run afterward. In my experience it has been very accurate (in a suburban setting). The drawback is that it kills battery life (like 1% per minute of running).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, impossible to run a Marathon with the Gear S2
sylsau said:
So, impossible to run a Marathon with the Gear S2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends how fast you are. 42,195m in 100mins...
Seriously, though, it would probably last longer with location and 3G turned off. I'll get back to you as soon as I decide to start running marathons...
edit: mistakenly wrote 21.097m which is only a half, oops.
hausman said:
Depends how fast you are. 42,195m in 100mins...
Seriously, though, it would probably last longer with location and 3G turned off. I'll get back to you as soon as I decide to start running marathons...
edit: mistakenly wrote 21.097m which is only a half, oops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you run an half marathon in just one hour, you will be very close of the World Record man
sylsau said:
Thanks for your answer.
Finally, I bought the Samsung Gear Fit 2. Yesterday, I tried it during a running session and it works very well. GPS is reliable, so distances runned are good. There is also vocal notifications for pace by km which is a great point for me. The music player works well also.
When I finished my running session, I went back to home and I synced the Gear Fit 2 with my Samsung S7 having the S Health application installed. The last problem is that in S Health my running session has been imported correctly but it seems impossible to have the pace by km for each km runned displayed. May be it's a limitation on the S Health application.
It seems also the GPS export from S Health doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope I'm not upsetting you when I say this but if you can send it back, I recommend you do so. I would fully recommend you go out and get a Garmin Vivoactive HR instead.
killarneygetaway said:
I don't think you will be able to use just the watch. Unfortunately none of the big name fitness tracking apps like Runtastic, Strava, Endomondo have or have any intention of creating apps for the Tizen OS that runs on the Gear S2. So that means you are stuck using Samsung's S-Health app to track your runs.
J...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can sync S-health to Strava if that is the direction you want to go. Strava doesn't have the resources to support all OS's as they are a small company. Mainstream OS's only at this time.
Sword Fish said:
You can sync S-health to Strava if that is the direction you want to go. Strava doesn't have the resources to support all OS's as they are a small company. Mainstream OS's only at this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, we need to install Strava app on Android device and then it's possible to sync S-Health with Strava directly ?
Have this setup yet it still doesn't sync to Strava.
Gear s3 LTE works great for runs without the phone in my experience. I'm a former marathon runner who is focusing on half marathon distances now due to family life and purchased the gear s3 LTE specifically for running. In my experience, in standalone mode with Bluetooth headphones firing while streaming spotify and tracking the run via gps with no phone, I can get through a half marathon distance. If you want more than that, youll have to bring your phone and use the watch connected via bluetoot and can probably easily get a marathon distance. I use s health and actually like it. Has auto pause feature and total distance tracking is usually right on. The instant pace metric seems a bit erratic at times and there have been very very few random times when it has short changed my long runs (happened 1-2 times since I've had the watch). The pace, distance, total time, hr on the voice feedback seems right on.
Hi everyone,
Im a long time android user, currently without a samsung phone.
Im looking for a smart watch, using it as a regular watch (have always been wearing one) in the day-day life and as an activity tracker when doing sport (mountain biking and sometimes running)
I struggle to decide if to go with the samsung or one of the garmin fenix watches.
The altimeter-gps-hrm are the key features that I want to have statistics during my activity, and I've read conflicting opinions about bad readings.
1. Any of you who is also doing some kind of sport activity, Are you satisfied with the watch? Is it accurate enough?
2. Re watch apps and builtin apps, I understand that there is some bloatware, Can it be removed?
3. Re sensors readings and activity tracking, can it be exported to be used with other apps? Can I use orux maps on my phone and having an activity recording on the phone gather also the information from the watch?
4. Is it possible to load gpx files and a map beforehand and follow a route like that, offline, without a phone?
5. Is any of the watch functionality degraded when using a non-samsung phone?
I would like to hear as much information from the watch owners, because its hard to decide, on one hand having a watch that costs ~300$ and has a bright screen, smarter, or spending ~600$ for a watch that is allegedly better at activity tracking, but has a poor screen and functionality otherwise, and is much more expensive
eranyanay said:
Hi everyone,
1. Any of you who is also doing some kind of sport activity, Are you satisfied with the watch? Is it accurate enough?
2. Re watch apps and builtin apps, I understand that there is some bloatware, Can it be removed?
3. Re sensors readings and activity tracking, can it be exported to be used with other apps? Can I use orux maps on my phone and having an activity recording on the phone gather also the information from the watch?
4. Is it possible to load gpx files and a map beforehand and follow a route like that, offline, without a phone?
5. Is any of the watch functionality degraded when using a non-samsung phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi there, I was in your very same position and I ended up getting and, for the moment, keeping the S3 frontier. I had an old Epson ps100 which is very good for tracking HR all day long and spotting any activity, but very bad in all the rest (step counts bad, no floor counts, horrible app with no integration with withings or myfitnesspal). Then I bought the Huawei Fit Watch, cheap and nice, but since I do mostly indoor rowing there was no way to use it but by telling it I was cycling and, then, it would make random acquisition of GPS while I was actually indoor. Then I tried the Fenix 3 HR, amazing watch for tracking sport, dedicated program for indoor rowing, but waaaaay off in terms of active calories burned, it would have me burning active calories while watching TV on the bed! I tried two different units, very same issue. On internet you'll find a lot of people having this issue with all the Garmin HR watches, and no answer from Garmin EVER.
So I ended up trying the S3 Frontier. It costs exactly like the Fenix 3HR right now, but half of the new Fenix 5. Which in Europe arrives today. I won't write a review of the watch, but just try to answer to your questions:
1. Any of you who is also doing some kind of sport activity, Are you satisfied with the watch? Is it accurate enough?
I do indoor rowing every day. Plus stretching with a foam roller. I use "Indoor Cycling" program to track the first and "Yoga" to track the second. The watch gives me the same results in terms of HR and calories than the Epson PS100 and the Huawei Fit. So I would say it is accurate, if you keep skin and hr reader clean and tight. I'm a professional photographer, and when I go out on assignments I use the "Hiking" program to track steps, HR, altitude, and to track my gps route. It works very well, even if I'm out for hours and hours.
2. Re watch apps and builtin apps, I understand that there is some bloatware, Can it be removed?
You can remove some of the original programs, but not all of them. They don't take much space though.
3. Re sensors readings and activity tracking, can it be exported to be used with other apps? Can I use orux maps on my phone and having an activity recording on the phone gather also the information from the watch?
There are other app you can use instead of the native ones, like Endomondo (which gave me horribly high calories counting, though) or MapMyRun, etc. I don't know if you can track simultaneously an activity with both SHealth and Endomondo, though. Never tried. You can surely track you gps with ORUX on your phone while using another app on you watch. Remember that in the worst case scenario, if you disconnect the watch from the phone you can use the internal GPS on the watch to track your hiking using SHealth.
4. Is it possible to load gpx files and a map beforehand and follow a route like that, offline, without a phone?
Kind of. You can load GPX files using either Komoot or Gear Navigator. Komoot is available only for users with a Samsung phone. I don't have it so I can't speak for it. I use Gear Navigator, and it works fine, but it requires the Gear Navigator Companion running on your phone. It gives you a map on the phone so you can see where you are compared to the track, but you still need your phone with you. The new Gear Navigator Standalone states it can use GPX too, and it works without a phone, but it still needs internet access or it refuses to work, so either you have the LTE version of the watch or it will still require a phone for the internet access. So, right now there is no app like Garmin ones which will allow you to have gpx tracks without maps working offline, but you have gpx tracks with maps (even satellite maps) working online. The best is I could track my "free hike" with SHealth, stop at the arrival, use the SHealth on the phone to export the GPX, open it with Gear Navigator, and have the watch showing me how to get back following my steps. That was nice.
5. Is any of the watch functionality degraded when using a non-samsung phone?
Right now some, but some of these get corrected to work with any android phone from time to time. Right now you don't have the "email" app (you can still read incoming emails, but you can't answer them or scroll through them). You don't have Uber and Komoot. You don't have the new matching themes. I can't think of other limitations right now, but probably there are. Nothing major, though, since I'm using mine since 18 days with daily workouts and hikes and all of the smart features (which are waaaaay better than any Fenix or Sunto watch) and I'm good with it.
lucarossini said:
hi there, I was in your very same position and I ended up getting and, for the moment, keeping the S3 frontier. I had an old Epson ps100 which is very good for tracking HR all day long and spotting any activity, but very bad in all the rest (step counts bad, no floor counts, horrible app with no integration with withings or myfitnesspal). Then I bought the Huawei Fit Watch, cheap and nice, but since I do mostly indoor rowing there was no way to use it but by telling it I was cycling and, then, it would make random acquisition of GPS while I was actually indoor. Then I tried the Fenix 3 HR, amazing watch for tracking sport, dedicated program for indoor rowing, but waaaaay off in terms of active calories burned, it would have me burning active calories while watching TV on the bed! I tried two different units, very same issue. On internet you'll find a lot of people having this issue with all the Garmin HR watches, and no answer from Garmin EVER.
So I ended up trying the S3 Frontier. It costs exactly like the Fenix 3HR right now, but half of the new Fenix 5. Which in Europe arrives today. I won't write a review of the watch, but just try to answer to your questions:
1. Any of you who is also doing some kind of sport activity, Are you satisfied with the watch? Is it accurate enough?
I do indoor rowing every day. Plus stretching with a foam roller. I use "Indoor Cycling" program to track the first and "Yoga" to track the second. The watch gives me the same results in terms of HR and calories than the Epson PS100 and the Huawei Fit. So I would say it is accurate, if you keep skin and hr reader clean and tight. I'm a professional photographer, and when I go out on assignments I use the "Hiking" program to track steps, HR, altitude, and to track my gps route. It works very well, even if I'm out for hours and hours.
2. Re watch apps and builtin apps, I understand that there is some bloatware, Can it be removed?
You can remove some of the original programs, but not all of them. They don't take much space though.
3. Re sensors readings and activity tracking, can it be exported to be used with other apps? Can I use orux maps on my phone and having an activity recording on the phone gather also the information from the watch?
There are other app you can use instead of the native ones, like Endomondo (which gave me horribly high calories counting, though) or MapMyRun, etc. I don't know if you can track simultaneously an activity with both SHealth and Endomondo, though. Never tried. You can surely track you gps with ORUX on your phone while using another app on you watch. Remember that in the worst case scenario, if you disconnect the watch from the phone you can use the internal GPS on the watch to track your hiking using SHealth.
4. Is it possible to load gpx files and a map beforehand and follow a route like that, offline, without a phone?
Kind of. You can load GPX files using either Komoot or Gear Navigator. Komoot is available only for users with a Samsung phone. I don't have it so I can't speak for it. I use Gear Navigator, and it works fine, but it requires the Gear Navigator Companion running on your phone. It gives you a map on the phone so you can see where you are compared to the track, but you still need your phone with you. The new Gear Navigator Standalone states it can use GPX too, and it works without a phone, but it still needs internet access or it refuses to work, so either you have the LTE version of the watch or it will still require a phone for the internet access. So, right now there is no app like Garmin ones which will allow you to have gpx tracks without maps working offline, but you have gpx tracks with maps (even satellite maps) working online. The best is I could track my "free hike" with SHealth, stop at the arrival, use the SHealth on the phone to export the GPX, open it with Gear Navigator, and have the watch showing me how to get back following my steps. That was nice.
5. Is any of the watch functionality degraded when using a non-samsung phone?
Right now some, but some of these get corrected to work with any android phone from time to time. Right now you don't have the "email" app (you can still read incoming emails, but you can't answer them or scroll through them). You don't have Uber and Komoot. You don't have the new matching themes. I can't think of other limitations right now, but probably there are. Nothing major, though, since I'm using mine since 18 days with daily workouts and hikes and all of the smart features (which are waaaaay better than any Fenix or Sunto watch) and I'm good with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thank you for the deep insights of your experience with the watch.
I have some followup questions,
1. How well do you feel the Altimeter/Berometer accurate? I read some contradictive opinions, some say they are accurate and some are not. Does it track height, floors, steps well?
2. Hi,
Thank you for the deep insights of your experience with the watch. It really makes me think more positive about buying one.
The main downside is that Im not a samsung user, so Im afraid that I will have less apps, watchfaces or settings/functionality.
I dont care for most apps, but Komoot actually looks nice.
I have some followup questions,
1. How well do you feel the Altimeter/Berometer/GPS accurate? I read some contradictive opinions, some say they are accurate and some are not. Does it track height, floors, steps well? Do you get location right?
2. Isnt there any way to sideload watchfaces/themes or komoot app onto the watch?
eranyanay said:
I have some followup questions,
1. How well do you feel the Altimeter/Berometer/GPS accurate? I read some contradictive opinions, some say they are accurate and some are not. Does it track height, floors, steps well? Do you get location right?
2. Isnt there any way to sideload watchfaces/themes or komoot app onto the watch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Komoot looks nice, but has no map on the watch, only directions. Gear Navigator, instead, has map, and even streetview.
The Altimeter/Barometer has no normal hiccups you could expect on these sensors when mounted on watches. They always had, even my old digital Casio Pro Trek had. Though, thanks to the GPS auto adjustment, they are usually correct. They work very well in detecting floors as long as you swing your arms while climbing up stairs and never stop in the middle. They work very well during hiking or skiing. Garmin has worse luck with the altimeter, my first unit said I was at 6000 meters over sea (I live in Rome, we are barely 20m over sea) an wasn't corrected by the GPS in any way. The GPS works fine, though I think I always had the phone with me while tracking, so it might have been the phone GPS I used...
I just found another app I can't have because I don't have samsung, it is called Pears. However, consider that the new apps are all coming for all the phones (worst luck if you use iOs), and that I don't really feel crippled. Also, the new watch update corrected the way SHealth reads HR during workout and now SHealth has HR zones and evaluate calories accordingly. It is much better, now I feel in line with Garmin during workout (out of workouts Garmin was terrible, S3 wins).
To answer to your last question, though, there is no way I'm aware to sideload apps. You should have to change phone to upload those, since I think when you do the watch gets reset. But, again, they aren't so many. And some of those may not even be available in your country (another little issue, some countries don't have Gear Navigator for example!).
Thanks,
Last thing come to mind, and Im not sure, I see some threads here about watchfaces mentioning themes available at the samsung apps store, is it available for android users in general, without the samsung?
What other tools available out there?
eranyanay said:
Thanks,
Last thing come to mind, and Im not sure, I see some threads here about watchfaces mentioning themes available at the samsung apps store, is it available for android users in general, without the samsung?
What other tools available out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you pair the watch on your phone, the latter will automatically install Samsung Gear App Store. That's the store. You'll find all the hundreds of watchfaces and the (few good) apps there. I also just tested Gear Navigator and it seems to work offline too, using the maps in the cache. So it could work on a long hike in areas without internet. I haven't found a way to load GPX tracks on the Gear Navigator Standalone, though.
Thanks.
I think you got me convinced
So far I thought maybe I'll wait.
I think I will go for it.
Just gotta find some glass screen protector so I wont be sad when it scratches...
eranyanay said:
Thanks.
I think you got me convinced
So far I thought maybe I'll wait.
I think I will go for it.
Just gotta find some glass screen protector so I wont be sad when it scratches...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't put any on mine. The watch has Gorilla Glass on it, it's just slightly worse than the Sapphire the Fenix 3 and 5 have (if you pay 100$ more). The watch has been on my wrist every minute for almost a month, sustained skiing (with several high speed crashes), workouts, children (I have a 5yo and a toddler), dog (australian Shepherd), cooking, BBQing, cycling, and it doesn't have a single, slightest, scratch on the glass nor on the bezel. The protectors are way less strong, they will keep getting scratches, you'll think they saved the glass from those, but I don't think so. That said, it is just my opinion, if you feel safe with one just buy it, they are cheap and disposable
Try to get the watch from Amazon or some other vendors with a good return policy, in case you don't like it. As I said, I changed several HR watches in the last couple of months before finding one I like. You may have a totally different experience. Better safe than stuck with a watch you don't like.
I use Gear S3 to track gym sessions (mostly 45 minutes indoor elliptical). Switched from Polar M400.
Until the last update the pulse and calories count were on the low side (pulse about 5 beats less than Polar, 298 calories for session where Polar counted 400).
Since the update trained once today, pulse and calories got really close to those of Polar.
I have nothing to add except that there is an Uber app.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk
Would you say there is a good smart watch alternative in the Android wear field?
I have been looking at the Huawei watch 2 but it's not as pretty,not having an altimeter, and also seems to have kind of bad battery life. Only their HRM sensor seems an improvement.
A published review from yesterday on wearable.com mentions negative feelings about pace and HRM reading for the s3.
Is it possible to connect a BT or ANT enabled heart rate chest strap?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
eranyanay said:
Would you say there is a good smart watch alternative in the Android wear field?
I have been looking at the Huawei watch 2 but it's not as pretty,not having an altimeter, and also seems to have kind of bad battery life. Only their HRM sensor seems an improvement.
A published review from yesterday on wearable.com mentions negative feelings about pace and HRM reading for the s3.
Is it possible to connect a BT or ANT enabled heart rate chest strap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look up the TicWatch on YouTube. I came really close to buying that.
RaymondPJR said:
Look up the TicWatch on YouTube. I came really close to buying that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What did you do eventually?
What did you buy, or didnt buy, and what was the reason for it?
Im really into the S3 design, Just thinking if I should wait until Sep/Oct where a S4 might get out
I had the Garmin Fenix 3 Sapphire and really like the watch, but the phone interconnectivity was really lacking for my use and I didnt get it with the integrated HRM. I got the Frontier and really like it. For my exercise use the only thing that I don't care for is the Altimeter, it seems to be off quite often (there have been plenty of discussions on that)
I do however like the new app integration of Endomondo. If you want to import GPX files, I am pretty sure you can do that. Not too sure about S Health.
eranyanay said:
What did you do eventually?
What did you buy, or didnt buy, and what was the reason for it?
Im really into the S3 design, Just thinking if I should wait until Sep/Oct where a S4 might get out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the Gear S 3 Frontier in the end for two reasons. The battery life of the TicWatch was not as good plus I found I could get the LTE version Frontier for $349.00 if I ordered direct from Samsung. TicWatch isn't as expensive plus you can use Google apps, but that wasn't enough in the end.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk
I was seriously thinking today about the garmin fenix instead.
But honestly, I do sport activity maybe twice a week, and I prefer to have only good GPS reading, and take into consideration that the altimeter and HRM may be inaccurate
and the screen of the garmin is really disappointing, and as a watch, the watchface there looks very poor
So I think I will go with the gear s3.
I only wonder if its possible to connect HR strap to it. Is it?
Wrist HRM are innaccurate in realtime on more then 100 BPM, basically when your BPM is same around 20 more seconds then it's accurate , it's just the way the blood flows in wrist, while HRM on my phone (s7 edge) is exactly the same as EKG, meaning it's showing realtime bpm as tested by some doctor (artery in finger is almost in direct contact with heart) and wrist veins need time to "update". Altimeter needs to be calibrated when you need to use it, it's using small pressure sensitive membrane , and well it's really sensitive ( calibration is done by downloading relative pressure info for your place where you live and algorythm tries to define your height, and most of the time is correct. Fenix 3 has transreflect screen, meaning that insted of having backlight it's using outside light, hence perfect sun visibility, + you can't really compare 16 color display to SAMOLED 16.7m colors
eranyanay said:
I was seriously thinking today about the garmin fenix instead.
But honestly, I do sport activity maybe twice a week, and I prefer to have only good GPS reading, and take into consideration that the altimeter and HRM may be inaccurate
and the screen of the garmin is really disappointing, and as a watch, the watchface there looks very poor
So I think I will go with the gear s3.
I only wonder if its possible to connect HR strap to it. Is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, unless you're a huge activity person the Garmin is way overkill, and, yeah the screen res on the Fenix 3 was NO comparison to the Gear S3, not even in the same league. 350x350 compared to 218x218 (?)...............
I was able to get my S3 Frontier (Non LTE) on special at Amazon for $300. I like the Frontier far more than the Fenix 3
Sorry to bring suddenly the opposite input, but as a lot of other users are reporting on all the S3 forums around the globe, the new update messed badly with the battery and with other watch functionalities. In my case, a few days after the update the battery started going down twice as fast as before, I am talking about 1% every 10 minutes, which means 6% per hour, so around 17 hours of autonomy. The watch used to last me 48 hours before.
Yesterday the watch went completely crazy for a couple of minutes, opening random apps while I was in the middle of a workout. I was forced to reboot it (loosing all the workout I had done so far on SHealth) and then it was ok again. This morning I had another issue when I tried to install the update for HERE Maps (a good navigator) and it wouldn't let me. I tried all the possible combination of rebooting and cache cleaning, and since I still had the battery issue I decided to go for the hard reset, as suggested by many other users.
A horrible idea.
It took me the whole day with I don't know how many trials to finally finish a restore (bluetooth disconnections, network failures, plugin which stopped working, you name it). The restore, by the way, is just apps, watchfaces, and a few settings. No widget restore. No notification restore (even though it is listed in the backup option). No SHealth restore (I lost all of my tracked info on the watch, not on the phone though). No app order restore. I managed to install the new version of HERE maps, but now I can't install Gear Navigator Companion anymore. It gets downloaded and transferred to watch, but the installation fails every time. So I lost the only app able to use gpx tracks on my watch. And, what do you know, battery is exactly like before, meaning every ten minutes I loose a 1%.
Quite frustrated and wildly disappointed, I'm seriously considering to return the watch and try a Fenix 5s instead. I loved how the S3 worked before the update, though I liked the new way to calculate calories and HR zones. But I can't have a watch that doesn't last at least two days or that provides this kind of random issues after a hard reset and attempted restore... that really scared me.
Another update will come.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk