S3 Frontier/Classic - Battery Drain poll...

thrusk · ‎03-07-2018

I'd like to try a quick poll/questionnaire on experiences of battery life on the S3...

As people only tend to report when there are issues, it would be interesting to hear from both sides of the fence, particularly if you have had no battery issues and owned the watch for more than a few months.

There are clearly a lot of reported cases of drain, but it's not obvious if this relates to the firmware version, hardware issues, installed apps, always-on, GPS/WiFi, usage, etc... There are quite a few who report no issues, but it's not always specified how long these have been used in earnest. My experience so far is I've needed to get a replacement of my watch only 2 weeks after buying from new, noticing that battery plummeted immediately after upgrading firmware so I'm currently holding off any updates until this is confirmed/fixed...

If you've had it repaired/replaced, a response per repair/replacement would be helpful.

Could you reply with the following:

Model number (e.g. SM-R760)
Tizen version (e.g. 3.0.0.2)
Software version (e.g. R760XXU2CRC3)
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? (e.g. 2.5 days+)
How long have you had the watch? (e.g. 6 months from new / 3 months since last repair)
Do you use Always On screen? (yes/no)
Do you leave Location/GPS on? (yes/no)
Do you leave WiFi on? (yes/no)
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage (e.g. use a lot of apps/custom watch faces, infrequent interaction, do a lot of exercise using GPS, serial number ??, when you bought the watch...)

BandOfBrothers · ‎04-07-2018

@thrusk wrote:

Could you reply with the following:
Model number SM-R760
Tizen version 3.0.0.2
Software version R760XXU2CRE3
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? Approx 3 days.
How long have you had the watch? Brand New from a Samsung Experience Store. 7 Months old.
Do you use Always On screen? No.
Do you leave Location/GPS on? No.
Do you leave WiFi on? No.
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage I use custom faces but not the ones from options where you make your own as some of these are known to be battery depleters. I use only a few apps and have not activated Samsung Health although I do use Steps. I have set my watch to auto dim. I also turn my watch Off overnight as it's not needed to be On then which will help with my usage times.

Hi @thrusk

My answers are above.

If you need any further info then please just ask.

Daily Driver > Samsung Galaxy s²⁵ Ultra 512Gb ~ Titanium Black.

The advice I offer is my own and does not represent Samsung’s position.
I'm here to help. " This is the way. "

thrusk · ‎09-07-2018

Thanks @BandOfBrothers - reassuring to hear you are still enjoying decent battery life after 7 months and on the latest firmware version...

My current watch after approximately 1 month from new still seems to be working OK. I've since had the push alert for the "CRE3" update which I'm ignoring for now as the watch and battery is working so well at the moment! (Previous watch battery tanked almost immediately after the update.)

Anyway - current watch:

Model number SM-R760
Tizen version 3.0.0.2
Software version R760XXU2CRC3
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? 2-3 days.
How long have you had the watch? 1 month (new from Argos - direct replacement)
Do you use Always On screen? No
Do you leave Location/GPS on? Yes
Do you leave WiFi on? Yes (Auto)
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage Happy with battery at the moment. Using the watch fairly actively for daily use (time, notifications, messaging), exercise (steps and workouts including GPS) and sleep tracking (Samsung Health). Not using any third-party apps and using standard watch faces, at least until I'm confident the battery lasts for normal use.

The previous watch:

Model number SM-R760
Tizen version 3.0.0.2
Software version R760XXU2CRE3 (updated)
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? < 1 day (2-3 days prior to updating firmware)
How long have you had the watch? 2 weeks (returned for replacement after noticing drain issue)
Do you use Always On screen? No
Do you leave Location/GPS on? Yes
Do you leave WiFi on? Yes (Auto)
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage Normal usage as per current watch (not excessive, not overly restricted in terms of settings). Battery drain started almost immediately after the 'CRE3' software update which makes me suspect that as the cause rather than hardware. I did use some custom watch faces and have some custom apps installed, however, these were fine prior to the update; a factory reset and going back to plain watch faces and no apps installed didn't resolve the battery drain issue either. Hence replaced.

Ryan13 · ‎12-07-2018

Gear s3 frontier . I believe the issue comes from the Samsung apps, application. My watch ran perfectly for about 3 days on single charge then I downloaded the samsung apps and right after noticed my battery draining quickly. My battery now lasts 5 hr. The application doesn't even get removed on a factory reset. App ruined my watch.

Ryan13 · ‎12-07-2018

Galaxy apps application is what I meant.

mraaj · ‎31-07-2018

Could you reply with the following:

Model number SM-R770
Tizen version 3.0.0.2
Software version R770XXU2CRG3
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? 2-3days / with Bluetooth 18hours
How long have you had the watch? 15month
Do you use Always On screen? No
Do you leave Location/GPS on? No
Do you leave WiFi on? No
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage: As i become my Gear S3 Classic watch in the year 2017/03 all was fine, running with old OS. The watch runs roundabout 4days with enabled Bluetooth and different designs. I use this watch with the iphone 6 and gear app, no issue, no battery drain. After upgrade with the tizin OS the battery drained very fast, with Bluetooth enabled it will run roundabout 18hours. If i disable this it will be run 2days. With the design NEON it will reduce the runtime too, with gk58_piv it works normal same as default design. So here is the BUG in Tizin, i installed the Battery update but it will do nothing better as before.

LukaFranc · ‎02-08-2018

Model number (e.g. SM-R760)
Tizen version 3.0.0.2
Software version R770XXU2CRG3)
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? 24 hours
How long have you had the watch? 1 .5 year , I replaced the battery a few days ago. With the new battery I have 24 hours, before I had 10 hours
Do you use Always On screen? No
Do you leave Location/GPS on? No
Do you leave WiFi on? No
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage I only use one of the original watch faces and haven't add any application. The serial number is R5AHC01SKSV

thrusk · ‎02-08-2018

I've now succumbed to the nag and updated to R760XXU2CRE3 a few weeks ago, and recently another small update R760XXU2CRG3. I have not yet updated Samsung Health (thanks for the heads up @Ryan13) or other system apps - and so far so good for the past few weeks.

Model number SM-R760
Tizen version 3.0.0.2
Software version R760XXU2CRG3
How many days/hours do you get from a full charge? Approx 1.5 days (2-3 with AOD off).
How long have you had the watch? 2 months
Do you use Always On screen? Yes
Do you leave Location/GPS on? Yes
Do you leave WiFi on? Yes (Auto)
Any comments/observations related to battery levels and usage Battery levels after 2 months seem OK despite upgrading the firmware as previously suspected causing the drain. A much better experience than with the first watch which was either faulty or some other software aspect was causing excessive drain. Using the watch moderately as shown above and still getting 1.5-2 days before needing to charge and 2.5-3 days with AOD off. Experimenting with various watch faces and AOD on/off and not noticed any in particular to cause more drain than others. Still using for sleep and exercise tracking.

sygys · ‎15-08-2018

One thing i do wonder is how the new galaxy watch will do in 2 years. They say 4 to 7 day battery life now. When i bought the gear s3 1,5 years ago they said it was going to last 3 days. It never managed to reach the 3rd day but 2 days was easily possible. When the ugly gear sports was announced my gear s3 received an update a few days later in wich all of a sudden the battery would only last 22 hours max. Now i received an update lately after the new galaxy watch is announced and my battery is at 41% just after 10 hours. And lets be clear... i dont get more then a few whatsapp messages on it a day and a couple of emails. i never read anything on the gear and i only use it to fast glympse notifications and see the time. besides that i removed almost all notifications from it so i only get email ans whatsapp on it. and still after half a day its at 35% battery. I did a full reset multiple times but without any difference.

I would love to buy the new galaxy watch and note 9. But with the criminal behaviour samsung is having i dont think i will. Its nice that the galaxy watch lasts 3 to 4 days... it will the first year until the next watch is announced and then samsung will again shorten the battery life on purpose?

I first want to see samsung releasing an update for the old gear s3 in wich it will again last more then a day before i buy any new samsung products. this doesnt smell anymore... it stinks!

In the past phones were made slow with updates to push people to the newer versions. The next step mostly samsung is using is ruining the battery on purpose with the same goal.

This has to stop right now!

Mrowin · ‎19-08-2018

Semi unrelated i have a old gear s2 classic and the battery wont even last me 10 hours with any settings.