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Samsung Gear S3 errors that frequently occur during run tracking

(Topic created on: 11-04-2017 08:40 PM)
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Troubleshooter
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I have owned my gear S3 for a few weeks.  Largely I am happy with the functionality, and i use this for running tracking to replace my previous fitness tracker.

 

I have noticed over having done a few runs with this watch that the following things occur;

 

Occasional spurious values of heart rate will pop up frequently during a run.  Instances of up to 220 bpm occasionally come up as an outlier and clearly had a read problem.   I have never had a genuine heart rate of 220 !! :smiling-face:     However most of the readings are ok and within a couple of BPM to my previous HR monitor.  

 

The GPS startup for the running is not generally very good.   I have had a few instances where if the watch is being used standalone and with leaving the phone at home, where the initial GPS fix appears that it can take up to 5 minutes to gain track of enough SVs for a position fix (it will need at least 4 observations).   This is possibly due to not having the phone local with a network connection to assist the initial GPS fix, and hence it is probably forced to make a cold start fix... but this is a pain in the ***** when darting off and finding that the time has ticked away but the positioning has missed about 4-5 minutes of tracking.    NB:  It doesn't seem to have a problem when the phone is in my armband... 

 

TIP:   One workaround for this problem is to start the run session as soon as you get outside and then pause it instantly.   Whilst left on pause do your normal stretches and preparations... and then when you leave for the run after ~ 5 minutes of prep... the watch SHOULD have got a track of the GPS signals.  

 

The worst problem that I have experienced with inaccuracy with my gear S3 happened on Sunday during the Brighton marathon.   I started the running tracking as above... and to give the GPS time before the start.  I started the race and the tracking distance was perfect for the first few miles... the 1 mi and 2mi boundaries were spot on the location of the organisers markers.  

 

However on mile 5 or 6 I found that my run distance had lost 0.6 miles during the mile split.  within that one mile period the watch had lost more than half of the distance !  For the entire duration of the rest of the run the distance of my tracking was consistently 0.6miles out. 

 

This is really not good for the experience.   At least with this run i had the reliable street markers from the organisers to understand the error... but had I been out on a training run and wanting accuracy in distance, I may not have properly realised this error...  and would have run further (Actually I probably would have noticed when that particular mile had taken me 13 minutes instead of 8 minutes, but by then the damage is done !)

 

 

Whilst looking at the archived graphical data from the marathon run in samsung health on Sunday evening, and observing my SPEED parameter from the run, it is very apparent from the data that there was a large anomaly that occurred at around 50 minutes from the start of the run, and where my pace changed from 7 miles an hour down to zero and continually jumped between a running speed of 0 and 7 for around 5 minutes, I can only guess whilst it resolved a good GPS fix again.  

 

However, there should be no apparent reason why the watch lost track when it already had a good track... it was not a particularly built up area... and t must have had a reasonable position fix as it had already been tracking for considerable time.  

 

I find it hard to understand why there is no indicator on the watch / samsung health app to show when there is a position fix or not ? Just a simple Green or Red satellite sign  as an indicator to show when to start off for your run or not... perhaps a firmware update / fix idea for the next build of update ??  Any comments mods ?

 

p.s. I work in GPS for my daily job, so I understand the GPS sub-system pretty well :smiling-face:   I would certainly like to see this user experience improved in the future by way of a firmware update that could be made to improve this user experience... there are a few bugs that I have listed in this post and I would hope these could be fed back to the relevant teams as constructive feedback.  

 

Kind Regards

Smiley

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SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
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3 REPLIES 3
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Has anyone else had any performance issues that are similar to these problems that I have seen with the gear s3 tracking in the health app ?   Surely there are many other gear S3 users out there that use the health app  ?   I have attached a screenshot to this response...

IMG_4354.png

 

Is there anyone active on this forum :smileyhappy:

 

Thanks smiley.

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SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro SM-R510 in Graphite
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TracyR
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Hey @smiley,

 

A quick reset of the watch should help in re-calibrating the Gear S3’s functions. This should help with the frequent heart rate spikes and the GPS function on the Gear S3. However, if this does not work, it will be best if an engineer inspects the device to see if it is functioning within specifications.

 

:womanhappy:


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Troubleshooter
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Hi @TraceyR

 

Thankyou for your response. I have previously already attempted a reset of the watch when I googled the issues i was experiencing and I saw similar advice to another user with a similar complaint about the GPS.

 

I have also read somewhere that someone had taken the device for an exchange device and the replacement worked just fine... it this true that there are some 'defective' items that could potentially be the cause ?

 

An example, Tonight I went for a run after work.  I waited outside for 5 minutes with the tracking paused whilst I was stretching... and then I left for my run. I noticed after mile 1 that the time taken for the first mile was 9 and half minutes...  usually I run consistently at 8mins per mile.  Therefore I knew that there is a problem with the first mile.  The GPS had not started adding distance to the run until approx 2 minutes into the run.  The attached photo shows that the data did not start when I started running... there was a delay to the speed data, although the time starts when I leave...the distance does not start until it has a GPS fix.  

 

For the social runner this mght not seem too bad... although for the serious runner this is catastrophic.   This means that the entire run is inaccurate... the distance was 0.3miles out for the whole session... the average pace was incorrect... and this does not represent a good user experience.  I actually ran approx 7.8 miles although the completed run stated 7.54 miles.

 

The worst part of this bug is in the  user experience, and that  the runner does not even know when a GPS fix has been made.  I stood for 5 minutes to give it time to gain a fix tonight, and yet it still took a further ~ 2 minutes after I left.   If there was an indicator to state that a GPS valid fix was made... then i would await until this had been established, but there is no such ackowledgement to the user.   It may be that sometimes a fix is made quicker...sometimes slower.   However the runner has no idea when this is successful or not. 

 

The heart rate is naccurate although I am not so concerned about this function as this is just an indicator and does not screw up the actual dstance / time data.  If there are some non-genuine spikes then this can be ruled out...  although I have to say that this also jumps around like crazy sometimes during a run... and I have never maxed out over 200 bpm !

 

There are some very good things with the watch... playing music, the golf tracking app, notifications are useful.  

 

However, I am close right now to returning this device back to Amazon for a refund as it is not 'fit for purpose' for the intended use.   It is marketed as a smartwatch and as an 'advanced  fitness tracking device'.   Unfortunately for the main usage for me it does not accomplish this without major flaws in the health app.  

 

Do you think that it is possible a replacement device may work better ? Is it worth me sending back to Amazon for a replacement to see if it is better ?

 

Your response would be appreciated. 

 

Kind Regards
Smiley

 

IMG_4358.PNG

- Smiley
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro SM-R510 in Graphite
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