Avid runner frustrated with Gear S (been deliberating s health vs Nike)- s health gives inaccurate splits, and poor map color coding in stats afterwards while Nike plus stats are unreadable while running (red ticker tape at bottom) AND sometimes gps kicks in at 0.25 miles in run. Well I think I have found a work around.
Lotta steps but really easy.
1) will be using nike plus app for run
2) make sure watch fully charged
3) disconnect phone and watch from each other using gear app (watch in standalone)
4) on watch turn off gear network-ie set to always off- (this auto turns off mobile network)
5) (revelation)- go to accessibility under settings on watch and turn on "invert colors" this makes Nike app stats (formerly dark red) HIGHLY visible during run-watc will be flaming white colors
6) turn off all motions (ie so when you lift up watch nothing happens)
7) allow at least 15 second auto screen off time or even 30 seconds - 10s (default) is too short while running to see scrolling stats.
Because of 6 above, I press button to turn on watch and take a peak while running, and then hit button again to turn off - this saves battery as well because with motion activated to turn on watch, I believe watch is often being triggered on and you don't know it.
8) connect Bluetooth headset if you wish
9) first turn on s health and pause pedometer...(battery saver)
10) then go to "run"on s health and start a run! This will activate and lock GPS (takes about 1 minute)....once run starts GPS is locked....immediately end the run. Now, clear all active apps. Start your music through Samsung music player (as Nike doesn't shuffle).
10) now open Nike app and start run...click "no" to music (already playing)..because you did the fake run with s health, you'll notice gos turns green 2 seconds into run (otherwise takes a minute into run).
Getting good battery life. Should be adequate for half marathon/2 hours
Tnx for the tips...only thing that bothers me is turning of mobile network. Is it just for saving battery or is it for another reason? I like the idea to be reachable in case of emergency, or if something happens to me while running...
Maybe a suggestion regarding the gps kicking in too late with nike+. Haven't tried it yet myself, but when starting the run, can't you immediately press pause and wait for a minute or so and then resume the run? So allowing the gps to get a lock? Will try it next time I go for a run....
Glen, yes, you can leave gear net on to be reached. Should have specified these tips are to max out batter for 2hr plus run.
Try the accessibility tip. Makes seeing the red row at bottom much easier. Couldn't see it on my watch at max bright while running in sun.
Update. Really sunny day. Tried it again. Ran for 45 mins with h above formula. Battery down 30% - not bad.
But still couldn't follow small text scrolling while running. What a bummer.
I think turning off pedometer/mobile network/makes Nike app last for 2+ hours for long race. But - a) hard to track pace and time b) very touchy to accidentally pause run while trying to hit button on bottom of gear s or to change music.
S health with hr off (unless you need it) will only drain batter 20% in 45 mins and you can flip up watch with motion on and see time and distance (do math in head) and know how your doing. But stats after are garbage. (No real splits) -broken and basic in app
Thanks Jeff and all for good info of how to improve the Gear S for running using Nike+
Unfortunately I can not find the tip:
5) (revelation)- go to accessibility under settings on watch and turn on "invert colors" this makes Nike app stats (formerly dark red) HIGHLY visible during run-watc will be flaming white colors.
- I have searched but I do not have any "accessibility" in the settings menue on watch and have not found "invert colours" anywhere in any menues.
My experience so far of the Gear S for exercising:
-My intention when buying the Gear S was purely for exercising, to be able to leave the phone at home and just use the Gear S with a bluetooth headset while running. The thought of a stand alone feature device where I could utilize Endomondo, Runkeeper, etc. was very much wanted, but after have using the Gear S for a month or so now I have to say that I am very disappointed of the lack of stand-alone function. Almost all exercise apps are intended to run on the phone and the Gear will just be a remote display, so based on this I could have bought any other smart watch.
The main feature with Gear S to be a fully stand-alone unit is unfortunately not at all being utilized by anyone.
All the available apps that can be used partly as stand-alone (S health and Nike+) but both are lacking so many features that I feel almost that I have been just as good using my Polar training watch as a simple timer and heart rate logger.
What I would love that both S health and Nike+ would add as feature is voice feedback (pace, time, heart rate, distance) during exercise. Also to be able to coach during exercise like Endomondo or Runkeeper when having a training plan. The S health app has some limited functions but after using it a couple of times I realized it was rather useless.
I probably are going to end up bringing my phone while running to be able to use real training functions, which means that I have no use for the Gear S and will leave it at home.
You probably realize I am rather disappointed but would love to find out if there are any apps or possibilities to get the true potential out of the great Gear S.
Best regards,
ronron_s said:
Thanks Jeff and all for good info of how to improve the Gear S for running using Nike+
Unfortunately I can not find the tip:
5) (revelation)- go to accessibility under settings on watch and turn on "invert colors" this makes Nike app stats (formerly dark red) HIGHLY visible during run-watc will be flaming white colors.
- I have searched but I do not have any "accessibility" in the settings menue on watch and have not found "invert colours" anywhere in any menues.
My experience so far of the Gear S for exercising:
-My intention when buying the Gear S was purely for exercising, to be able to leave the phone at home and just use the Gear S with a bluetooth headset while running. The thought of a stand alone feature device where I could utilize Endomondo, Runkeeper, etc. was very much wanted, but after have using the Gear S for a month or so now I have to say that I am very disappointed of the lack of stand-alone function. Almost all exercise apps are intended to run on the phone and the Gear will just be a remote display, so based on this I could have bought any other smart watch.
The main feature with Gear S to be a fully stand-alone unit is unfortunately not at all being utilized by anyone.
All the available apps that can be used partly as stand-alone (S health and Nike+) but both are lacking so many features that I feel almost that I have been just as good using my Polar training watch as a simple timer and heart rate logger.
What I would love that both S health and Nike+ would add as feature is voice feedback (pace, time, heart rate, distance) during exercise. Also to be able to coach during exercise like Endomondo or Runkeeper when having a training plan. The S health app has some limited functions but after using it a couple of times I realized it was rather useless.
I probably are going to end up bringing my phone while running to be able to use real training functions, which means that I have no use for the Gear S and will leave it at home.
You probably realize I am rather disappointed but would love to find out if there are any apps or possibilities to get the true potential out of the great Gear S.
Best regards,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I felt the same way as you. The hardware is fantastic, but the software is not... i really liked the fact having a little phone on my wrist in case of emergency or something, but there are just no decent running apps. And the fact that I can't pair a ble heart rate belt (built in sensor is not accurate enough) made me decide to sell the gear s. I will miss it, there were a few cool apps for it, but I really needed a decent sports watch. So I bought a garmin fenix 3 with the money I got from the gear...really happy now, and it does basic notifications too! Battery lasts weeks instead of hours. ...
Hey at least you gave it a try. Where I run and workout, I have needed to make a call for an emergency. Don't care how accurate my heart rate is when I'm looking for something to stop the bleeding, while calling for help.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app
Trail runner here. I bought the Gear S so I could leave my Note 2 in the car. I need a phone in case of emergency, and wanted to still be able to track my runs in stand-alone mode.
I started off with SHealth and got super frustrated by how long the GPS took to lock in on my location, especially since I got the Gear S in November, and standing around in the freezing cold is not my kind of fun.
I have since switched to Nike + in stand-alone mode. Bummer that Nike + does not measure elevation and HR, which is quite a let-down, but it is more important to me that I can hit start and the GPS starts tracking. I do this in stand-alone mode - no connection to phone at all:
1) Turn off Airplane mode (I always have it in aiplane mode when not running, mobile network is on when running, I feel it helps with tracking)
2) Turn on location tracking
3) Turn on Nike +
3) Start run
The tracking is instantaneous, and battery is down to about 60% after 2 hours, not too shabby, eh?
I have hand gesture wake disabled and 15 min screen dim. Once I am done with my run, I swipe left, then up to synch the latest run, since I always get the message that the latest run could not be synched automatically. Also, did you guys know if you swipe left during your run, you can see a map of your run? Accidental discoveries on my end.
I read that the latest update combines Nike + and SHealth and slowed down the GPS in the nike+ app. Can you guys confim this?
All in all I agree with you all: it's a great watch phone with shoddy software, meager apps in the app store, and the ones they have are mostly not stand-alone.
I'm glad i dicscovered Nike +, though I can't stand Nike shoes (Altra Zero all the way) and wish Nike would update this app to auto-pause and take advantage of the altimeter and HR sensors on the Gear S.
Maybe their app for the next Gear, the Oris, will do it.
I had high hopes for using Gear S for running. Unfortunately, the runner has to put more energy in setting up and controlling the watch than into the running itself. It is all too cumbersome and unreliable. The black-on-red quickly scrolling metrics on Nike+ are beyond stupid: impossible to read while running. It may be the 1st stopwatch/running application that doesn't show the running time.
What's next? A revolutionary wrist watch that doesn't show the time?!
S
Bought a new toy today. Was looking for a nice watch to replace pebble. Mainly I need good notification handling, long battery life and always-on screen.
Now this is a nice device, however it is heavily focused on fitness. Problem is, I don't care about that a tiny bit and this is really irritating.
So, is it possible to completely disable sports part and only use it as notification device?
Let's start about watch faces. Is there a face without symbols of foot and heart, but showing total notification count instead?
Good question .... indeed for me the same "notification" priority instead of "sports" ....
Have you seen "Watch Droid Assistant"? It does enhanced notifications and lets you read past notifications, so you may want that.
You can also turn off the widgets for sports stuff in the phone app.
Not sure about having a notification count on the watchface, but you can get loads of custom faces online (lots here https://sawfb.fabiobarbon.click/ ) so you can have one that's less sport focused if you like. Just plug the watch into a PC and drop the watchfaces into the WatchFaces folder.
I should mention that I also just got this watch today so I am still learning, but it seems good so far.
I'm looking for the exact same thing! I have a personal phone and a company phone. I bought this watch only for the company phone so that way I can quickly get alerts about calls, texts and emails. But, I don't want any of the sports/health/fit/whateveryoucallit features on the phone.
Anyone been able to accomplish this? I checked every setting I could find and disable it, but I was hoping there would be a hard switch for it.
There is no way nor need to disable the fitness features, simply make sure continuous heart rate isn't enabled, as well as "Activity reminders" in Settings, then if you don't start to record an activity it will oy register steps, what cannot be disabled and doesn't affect anything else.
The best experience for notifications on Pace/Stratos/Verge is AmazMod + SuperFit or GreatFit.
If you don't want or can't install Amazfit Watch app on your (Android) phone, then you can try WatchDroid, a freemium app that can send notifications to these watches after you install the companion service app on watch itself too.
I ve the internatinal latest version.
All is functioning perfectly except... the weather.
I had previously severall suunto and last year a fenix 5.
I trail in the mountain and like to receive notification on rain or storm which I had on my previous watch..
The stratos deliver inacurate weather condition, sometime it's blocked on the same temperature the whole day then sudenly change.
Today it's even lowering the temparture from 11 to 10°C from 8 to 10AM as the real temperature is increasing now 19°C..difference of 8°
that's a drawback of this watch.
I live in belgium so I can have the alert for rain setting up via an application called buienalert..
But no other application available on IOS to alert me when I go to france, the watch do not managed alot of third party IOS applications
It's disapointing on this aspect.
New Verge user here, runner, previous Garmin Forerunner 310XT (5Yo) owner.
While running outdoors, regular run or intervals I set pace alerts but it only shows every 5mins on regular run and if intervals are shorter than 5mins no alert is shown.
Pace alerts are crucial to runners like me and if they are not shown at least every 5 seconds (when running out off desired pace range) or let say every 3 times pace value refresh on watch screen, it´s a useless feature.
Any custom ROM/FW to solve that?
ADB command to change alert fire event schedule?
Any chance to put my hands on original "Run" app sources maybe? (C, java, Kotlin, assembly, whatever?)
Model A1811 ROM 3.2.7.0
Thanks!
Yo everyone o/
Just got my hands on a GTS and while it's a very nice piece of hardware I'm curious about something. As it stands right now, when I go to the notification toggles on the Zepp app to select which ones I want to redirect to my watch I get a short pre-populated list and an extra one in the bottom that says "Other". If I enable this "Other", every notification gets redirected which is not what I'm looking for.
My use case is that I'd like only my Slack notifications to go to my watch, but there is no toggle for specific apps that are not on the list. Any clue if that list can be rebuilt, or if there is anything else I can do to achieve this?
Thanks!
You can make feature request in Amazfit support forum. I highly doubt it would happen anytime soon
iyengar said:
You can make feature request in Amazfit support forum. I highly doubt it would happen anytime soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Case in point, I've sent that suggestion several times in the last 2 years I've owned the Amazfit Bip. I always receive a thank you email something to the effect of "we are constantly improving and updating.... " but so far nothing. I'm in the same boat and would like to filter the notifications to only a couple items, most especially from my continuous glucose monitor as opposed to getting all notifications. This is an IOS application limitation as there are several Android options such as Gadget Bridge, Alert Bridge, etc.
klister said:
Case in point, I've sent that suggestion several times in the last 2 years I've owned the Amazfit Bip. I always receive a thank you email something to the effect of "we are constantly improving and updating.... " but so far nothing. I'm in the same boat and would like to filter the notifications to only a couple items, most especially from my continuous glucose monitor as opposed to getting all notifications. This is an IOS application limitation as there are several Android options such as Gadget Bridge, Alert Bridge, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I think from what I saw on my friend's iPhone, notifications redirection on iOS is quite limited. it is true that Zepp on Android allows you to have all apps notifications to be redirected to the watch selectively one by one. However, it is good also to limit them otherwise your watch will keep on vibrate at each notification. it can be painful at a certain level...