First of all, my GNex gps works.
But, my experience so far were bad and got into my big frustration.
I went to France by car, about 1200 km.
During this trip I used three devices:
- HTC Desire, stock Android 2.2, no sim card
- Nexus S, stock Android 4.0.4
- Galaxy Nexus, stock Android 4.0.4
All used the same navigation software, Sygic 11.2.6.
Weather was very good, bright and clear.
The navigation performance, HTC Desire is the most solid and stable. No jumpy routing. It was almost flawless.
The Nexus S was also stable, no jumpy routing and again almost flawless. Sometimes between high buildings area, it could lost the gps signal.
The GNex was terrible! Very often the routing was jumpy, especially when my car stop. The navigation think my car was in other road! That caused the routing to spin and I must drive further to stabilize the routing. It was frustrated and I lost confidence with using it as car navigation, period.
The HTC is my main device for car navigation, because its so stable, no jumpy no spinny routing, solid performance. But one day the battery run flat for no reason. Thats why I must use my supposed to be the best device, the GNex to replace it to continue. But alas, as I explained above, it was terrible experience. I was lucky that I brought my Nexus S, to save the day.
This GNex bad car navigation is my biggest frustration.
I cannot fault the weather brcause it was clear sunny and I could get sat fix.
I cannot fault the Sygix either because the other two devices were fine, no problem.
But why is this jumpy and spinny routing on GNex?
Ok, I cannot test Google Navigation, because I cannot afford data connection during this trip, roaming.
So, my question, have you ever got the same experience? Terrible, jumpy, spinny routing with GNex car navigation?
Is there any way to improve? Or makebthe gps work much better?
Is there any ROM specialized to improve the gps for navigation?
Thanks
I believe the GPS unit in the GN is weak compared to my old iPhone 4. Though, I was able to get decent, more accurate performance by disabling "Google's location service". I use the GPS for directions in Google Maps as well as RunKeeper and it's really made a difference for me.
Side note, my iPhone locked in my GPS location while I was at work (5-story building, 3rd floor) without a hitch. The GN tries to lock, but it's 50/50...
I hope this helps... Good luck!
Doubt it'll help...
But it WILL help get a faster lock in the case of a GPS drop.
Mine locks in in like 3-5 seconds after using Faster GPS.
I, however, very rarely use GPS for actual navigation.
In fact...I haven't had to yet with my GNex. So I can't say if I do/don't have a problem.
Before Navigating, i usually open GPS test Plus to lock-in my location...then it's smooth sailing after that. Btw, i use CoPilot Live Premium.
PS. It takes the phone around 10 secs to get an accurate lock in.
babymatteo said:
Before Navigating, i usually open GPS test Plus to lock-in my location...then it's smooth sailing after that. Btw, i use CoPilot Live Premium.
PS. It takes the phone around 10 secs to get an accurate lock in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is this CoPilot?
Does it run smooth?
When the car stop at traffic light for quite long periode, does it jump or spin to other road?
PS: I turned off Google Location Service already, never used it.
My first nexus also had a very bad GPS unit.
I got new one and it was much better but after installing 4.0.4 it is worse again.
If this will not be fixed with the next update I will sell my Nexus and maybe buy a HTC one x.
By the way, this is a short video that shows the problem with my first device. If this is the problem you have you should change your device to a new one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ueTSHyZHyw
Gesendet von meinem Galaxy Nexus mit Tapatalk 2
FWIW, I've had little to no issue using the stock GPS and built-in Navigation.
I get weird GPS navigation sometime where it thinks I'm off the rode to the right and driving through houses basically. Or i get turned around for no reason. The kicker is that I check GPS test and my accuracy is spot on with a healthy number of satellites so I'm not sure just a weak signal problem.
Hi all,
I got an used Galaxy Nexus (unrooted, stock everything) a few months ago, with plans to use it as an outdoor gps for hiking, biking and maybe paragliding (so I wanted a barometer in it).
I live in Florida (that as you may know is all very flat... maximum altitude is about 100 meters above sea level), and I was very pleased with it (the phone, not the flatness of Florida!) until I took a trip to Colombia in December. There, I had two "bad" experiences with the Google Nexus GPS:
- I took a hike that brought me to an altitude of about 4800 m. Around an altitude of 4000 m (the last recorded point is 3992 m), the GPS lost fix and would not get it again, although GPS Status would show plenty of satellites (9 or 10) all green (that according to GPS Status help means "satellite is used while determining the location"). After rebooting and starting GPS status (but I've tried other programs too, in case you wonder) the GPS will display that it had a fix for just a second or less (coordinates would appear in the GPS Status screen, and one single point woudl be recorded, with aan altitude of 4400 m although I was probably at 4800 m) and then loose it again, never to be reacquired.
- On my flight back, I tried to record the flight. I got a fix while just before takeoff and maintained it until... 3995 m! Then, fix was lost, again never to be reacquired again (actually, I did try again when the plane was at about 1000 m, and I was able to get a fix and record the landing with no problems)
Now, for someone that likes mountaineering, 4000m is a pretty low limit! I really don't care about recording commercial flights, it's just for fun, but a GPS that stops working above 4000m while you are hiking in the mountains could mean trouble.
I've searched around the internet (including this post on XDA), but I haven't find anyone complaining about this issue at this level. Many people complain/discuss about ITAR limits, but those are much higher than what I experienced.
So, I'm wondering if is it a problem with my unit, a problem with the Galaxy Nexus, or just a coincidence? Anyone had a similar experience?
BTW, I had an T-Mobile G-2 (HTC) that worked very well both for flights and mountaineering.
Giacomo
That would explain why the gnex won't get a fix while at cruising altitude..
Beamed from my iPad Mini
Hi,
I had the same issue with my galaxy SII i9100g.
I had a mountain climbing with a summit of 4500 meters, in the beginning we really didn't need gps tracking because there was signs showing the track in the mountain. I checked the device and everything was fine the first day the signals were ok and I had my position on the phone. but in the second day when it got foggy we were in trouble as I wanted to know our altitude. and gps signals wouldn't fix. I had ten or so satellites in view but the message said "waiting for gps fix" and it didn't fix at all. I also restarted the device but it wouldn't help.
in another trip on a plane I started recording the route with gps, and I noticed last recorded point was at an altitude of 3985 meters. and when the plane reached higher altitudes i lost the fix.
I think they should give us warning about using such devices in hiking trips. it could make real trouble for me.
It might be a problem specific to the GPS receiver used in Google Nexus. Giving that I've noticed GPS late fix problems with my Nexus (compared to a Galaxy S3), I'll try checking out the internet myself too.
Have a good day!
I find it remarkable that high-tech companies such as Google or Samsung keep managing to put in design flaws or outright defects that can easily kill people. The one described here is an outstanding example. If using the GPS with good success while hiking, nobody in his right mind would ever get the idea that the GPS would suddenly stop working above a certain altitude. So some programmer has intentionally put in a deadly trap (unless you want to believe that a command like "if (altitude >= 4000) return null;" can be written inadvertently). This is sabotage of a very dangerous kind.
Another less obvious example is the design of the power button, which can easily be activated inadvertently. If somebody needs the phone to navigate and survive in the wilderness and decides to power the device down until the next critical point to keep the battery charged for a long time, the device can easily lose all power just because of an inadvertent power push in a bag or pocket. The obvious solution here is a recessed power button or, in a cinch, that the device automatically powers down again if no user action happens within reasonable time after power-up.
The rule is generally that the design is stupid, the defect is obvious, at least one solution is also obvious, and even when the flaw or defect is brought to their attention, it is not fixed. Dangerous idiots at work. Perhaps they reckon if somebody actually dies, it will be impossible to prove that the smartphone design defect was a contributing factor. It is the responsibility level of a school child.
I am sure there are more examples for this behavior.
I am not saying that people should hang their lives on their smartphones. If the smartphone is the only thing that keeps you alive, then you have already made a planning mistake. But we all know that one can get into situations inadvertently where several things go wrong in unlikely ways. In such a case you can get into a situation where your life depends on the GPS in your smartphone, and then either of the defects described above could conceivably seal your death.
My screenshot from the plain
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
giacomociani said:
Hi all,
I got an used Galaxy Nexus (unrooted, stock everything) a few months ago, with plans to use it as an outdoor gps for hiking, biking and maybe paragliding (so I wanted a barometer in it).
I live in Florida (that as you may know is all very flat... maximum altitude is about 100 meters above sea level), and I was very pleased with it (the phone, not the flatness of Florida!) until I took a trip to Colombia in December. There, I had two "bad" experiences with the Google Nexus GPS:
- I took a hike that brought me to an altitude of about 4800 m. Around an altitude of 4000 m (the last recorded point is 3992 m), the GPS lost fix and would not get it again, although GPS Status would show plenty of satellites (9 or 10) all green (that according to GPS Status help means "satellite is used while determining the location"). After rebooting and starting GPS status (but I've tried other programs too, in case you wonder) the GPS will display that it had a fix for just a second or less (coordinates would appear in the GPS Status screen, and one single point woudl be recorded, with aan altitude of 4400 m although I was probably at 4800 m) and then loose it again, never to be reacquired.
- On my flight back, I tried to record the flight. I got a fix while just before takeoff and maintained it until... 3995 m! Then, fix was lost, again never to be reacquired again (actually, I did try again when the plane was at about 1000 m, and I was able to get a fix and record the landing with no problems)
Now, for someone that likes mountaineering, 4000m is a pretty low limit! I really don't care about recording commercial flights, it's just for fun, but a GPS that stops working above 4000m while you are hiking in the mountains could mean trouble.
I've searched around the internet (including this post on XDA), but I haven't find anyone complaining about this issue at this level. Many people complain/discuss about ITAR limits, but those are much higher than what I experienced.
So, I'm wondering if is it a problem with my unit, a problem with the Galaxy Nexus, or just a coincidence? Anyone had a similar experience?
BTW, I had an T-Mobile G-2 (HTC) that worked very well both for flights and mountaineering.
Giacomo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which model is you GN?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Jar3112 said:
Which model is you GN?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a Samsung Galaxy Nexus I9250.
I should also mentioned that in the meanwhile I have found on various forums a (very limited) number of users reporting the same problem with the same phone, but no one reporting that it works for him. So I start to be confident that it is a problem of this particular model...
Does anyone else have this issue? My GPS loses connection to the satellites every couple minutes. And yes, I have the latest map update.
Must be the bug in update. Try to use 3rd party app! Just because i never updated mine, and is working like a charm
Sent from my LG-E988 using xda app-developers app
The GPS in my phone is not very accurate. Maybe its just this phone. I only get relatively good GPS reception at night.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk
Thanks guys. I'm starting to think it may just be this phone as well. The first map told me I was 3 miles away from my house....lol...and the second was accurate but keeps dropping the signal. I do have carhome. I'll try that and see what happens.
I also have this issue though the GPS (which is used a lot by me) was quite OK in the beginning after I bought my LG OG PRO.
I read in one of the Samsung NOTE forums that people mention the same problem claiming that the drops come when there is an "interruption" (which can be an incoming call or SMS or switching from 3G antenna to 3.5G for example). After reading this I realized that my GPS gets lost always after an incoming call plus I see at least a couple of places along my daily driving routine where GPS is lost exactly at the same place every day (making antenna switch assumption logical).
There were no any conclusions or suggested solutions in these forums, people even do not know if it is software or hardware related.
Anyone has such an issue too? Any recommendations for possible fix?
I can't believe but it seems I solved the problem with GPS - 15-20 seconds for GPS lock, no dropping and GPS test application shows very nice picture of 8-9 satellites constantly locked up while most of the signal bars are yellow (i.e. the signal strength is good).
I searched a lot as it really bothered me because I use my GPS very much plus I can say that beside this annoying thing I am very satisfied with my LG OG Pro, but nothing helped until I found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBpNtWvY454 (it explains the solution for Nexus 5, but my problem is identical)
Basically, the problem is that there are special contacts on the motherboard connected to the GPS antenna which is part of the back cover and the contacts are not tightened well to the GPS antenna (look at the attached picture where I put the red arrows at the relevant places). Due to the bad touch between the contacts and the antenna, the GPS does not work properly. So, all you need to do is to remove your back cover, gently "un-glue" the GPS antenna end (the rectangle part on the back cover containing 2 golden dots), lift it up a little and put a piece of paper that will tighten the antenna and mother board contacts when the back cover is returned. Good luck.
It is NFC Antenna, you cant fix GPS this way.
I have same issue, but i think NFC and GPS antennas are different. I am disassemble the phone and pull up all golden springs - but gps still very weak(((
Any solution?
same GPS problem for my g pro.
GPS is weaker and weaker
I realigned all the pins inside the phone and fixed it for a bit, but the signal was still weak. I figured it was the modem. I installed a custom rom and it worked like a charm!
So I noticed that Google fit has some accuracy issues even while using a smart watch as a step counter. I had the same issue in my LG G Watch and Urbane as well. Google fit always under reports the distance and steps for some reason but thankfully Huawei has their own solution in the form of a built in fitness tracker. The Huawei app reports the distance and steps far more accurately for some reason which is odd because they use the same data to report your activities but I assume their algorithms are different.
An example of this is in the picture below. I walk to classes from my car every morning and I know the distance to be ~0.70 miles from Google maps and using run keep as well as other fitness apps. The Google fit app would always report this as 0.5-0.6 miles for some reason. The Huawei seems to be right on the dot with 0.69 miles which surprised me to see this morning. I downloaded their fitness app to see how to compared to Google fit. While it may not be as pretty or functional it has more accurate data. Google fit also has issues updating data when you manually input a workout which bothers me. It either under reports the time, steps, calories or activity that you out in no matter for many times you re-enter the data and it saves it. Now let's talk about the step counter; I was bored one fast so I decided to count about how many steps it takes me to walk the above path. I was in the military so I'm used to doing weird things like pace counting which is easy to convert to steps. I average around 1400-1500 steps in this route depending on where j walk exactly which can change a little depending on what sidewalk is the least busy without the usual morning joggers I see. Google fit reported 1456 steps, 14 minutes of activity and 0.65 miles walked. The Huawei on the other hand gave me 1503 steps, 13 minutes of activity and 0.69 miles walked. This is subtracting the few steps I had around my apartment this morning seen in the total below. I trust the Huawei data more than the Google fit one based on experience with Google fit and I hope to see it improve more with Marshmallow. I know the difference might not seem like a lot but it adds up over the course of the day and can be off by 0.5 miles and 1000+ steps like it was the other day.
Share your experiences with Google fit and other fitness apps below. I hope this helps people out when it comes to understanding how the accuracy of each one is from experience. I will update he OP periodically with more data as time goes on.
Thanks for posting this, I didn't know there was a separate Huawei watch fitness application. I downloaded it and will check it out. It doesn't look like the application has Heart Rate tracking. But, I just discovered that Google fit does appear to have some HRM function. In the graph view, if I tap on the bottom right corner, where it says "active time", there is a drop down menu that has Heart Rate listed. Don't know how this works yet... have to check it out later.
Here is the activity track from today. As you can see Google fit over reports the time slightly but sometimes it under reports the time. I think the time is closer to the Huawei app but I honestly didn't keep track to compare it to. I just know its not as long as the Google fit app says but slightly less from my average on Mondays. The steps and distance are interesting in this case. The Huawei reports a further distance than the Google app as mentioned before but their step count is much closer now than it has been lately. Both apps have the same data for my height age etc... so we cna see the differences in their reporting. Its not as bad as if has been with Google Fit. I expect small variances but not the larger one with the distance.
I'll let everyone decide what's more accurate but I'm leaning toward the Huawei one. The Google fit app doesn't always work consistently or sometimes its counting time when I'm stationary so I hope this gets fixed in Marshmallow.
swngdncr said:
Thanks for posting this, I didn't know there was a separate Huawei watch fitness application. I downloaded it and will check it out. It doesn't look like the application has Heart Rate tracking. But, I just discovered that Google fit does appear to have some HRM function. In the graph view, if I tap on the bottom right corner, where it says "active time", there is a drop down menu that has Heart Rate listed. Don't know how this works yet... have to check it out later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it works but I haven't tried it with the Huawei only the Urbane. The Huawei app isn't ideal but at least it saves me from charging l viewing all of that data solely on the watch
Tried again tonight. Did a walk after temp dropped into the high 90's. Used RunGPS, Agilefit, and the Fitness Tracking App. Both RunGPS and Agilefit got a heart rate, but in both cases the Heart rate froze after just a couple of minutes and stayed at the same rate for the entire time I tried using the application. Fitness Tracking, though it has a menu item for Heart Rate, recorded no Heart Rate data at all. I can't find any setting in the application related to Heart Rate tracking or data. So, so far, still a 100% failure rate with the HRM. If anyone has any positive experience with the HRM please share. I really want to love this watch, but no HRM function at all is probably a deal breaker.
After a few days of comparing the two the Huawei seems to stop be more accurate but that's only with reason of course. Google fit thinks I'm riding a bike or running while in walking which is annoying
Any new reviews or update regarding HRM and sports tracking ...i was really thinking about hauwei watch, but for the sports data monitoring problems that were mention by u guys.. I think I'm hesitant now and may change my mind about it
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
I exchanged my watch yesterday at the local BB. The new one seems to be working better. I haven't tried while exercising yet, but when I started an exercise app with Heart Rate monitoring, the HR appeared continued to monitor and didn't freeze for about 10 minutes. I'll try it again tomorrow and let you know how it goes. I'll also see if the step count is more accurate. So, if you can wait a day, I can tell you more tomorrow afternoon. -cjr-
tafo said:
Any new reviews or update regarding HRM and sports tracking ...i was really thinking about hauwei watch, but for the sports data monitoring problems that were mention by u guys.. I think I'm hesitant now and may change my mind about it
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
swngdncr said:
I exchanged my watch yesterday at the local BB. The new one seems to be working better. I haven't tried while exercising yet, but when I started an exercise app with Heart Rate monitoring, the HR appeared continued to monitor and didn't freeze for about 10 minutes. I'll try it again tomorrow and let you know how it goes. I'll also see if the step count is more accurate. So, if you can wait a day, I can tell you more tomorrow afternoon. -cjr-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thnx bro for ur feedback...don't worry? I can wait for a month, because I'm going to the states in Nov.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
OK, the HRM is definitely working on this watch-- but not very accurate. Played 2.5 hrs of tennis. RunGPS reported an average HR of 90, typically my average HR playing tennis would be in the 120's. The recorded max HR was 171, that is consistent with what chest strap monitors have reported, but the low was 40, my resting pulse is about 58-60, so the low is way off.
The HR readings actively changed until 1:18 (workout time) Then it froze from 1:18 until 2:02. At 2;02 it the HR readings start to change again until 2:16, then freezes until the last reading at 2:30. The watch died at some point towards the end. I only had about 50% charge on it when I started. But, apparently there were two fitness applications running, because Endomodo also recorded 2:34 workout time. I'm using the free version, so I don't have any access to the statistics that Endomodo recorded. Huawei Wear app only logged 2,732 steps and 1.16 miles, which is about 1/2 what my FitBit Surge would record for that much tennis time. Google Fit registered 2,718 steps, .1 miles, and 4 minutes of active time. Active time way off.. basically it didn't recognize tennis as active time at all. What i don't know for certain is whether the HR froze on the watch, or whether the BT connection to the phone was lost, which would cause the fixed HR numbers. So, can't really recommend the watch for fitness monitoring yet. On my FitBit, I had to wear a sweat band to keep the watch up a little higher on my wrist. I did this with the Huawei watch. Next time I'll try it w/o the sweat band so it sits lower on my wrist and see if it makes a difference. -cjr-
tafo said:
Any new reviews or update regarding HRM and sports tracking ...i was really thinking about hauwei watch, but for the sports data monitoring problems that were mention by u guys.. I think I'm hesitant now and may change my mind about it
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tafo said:
Thnx bro for ur feedback...don't worry I can wait for a month, because I'm going to the states in Nov.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
swngdncr said:
OK, the HRM is definitely working on this watch-- but not very accurate. Played 2.5 hrs of tennis. RunGPS reported an average HR of 90, typically my average HR playing tennis would be in the 120's. The recorded max HR was 171, that is consistent with what chest strap monitors have reported, but the low was 40, my resting pulse is about 58-60, so the low is way off.
The HR readings actively changed until 1:18 (workout time) Then it froze from 1:18 until 2:02. At 2;02 it the HR readings start to change again until 2:16, then freezes until the last reading at 2:30. The watch died at some point towards the end. I only had about 50% charge on it when I started. But, apparently there were two fitness applications running, because Endomodo also recorded 2:34 workout time. I'm using the free version, so I don't have any access to the statistics that Endomodo recorded. Huawei Wear app only logged 2,732 steps and 1.16 miles, which is about 1/2 what my FitBit Surge would record for that much tennis time. Google Fit registered 2,718 steps, .1 miles, and 4 minutes of active time. Active time way off.. basically it didn't recognize tennis as active time at all. What i don't know for certain is whether the HR froze on the watch, or whether the BT connection to the phone was lost, which would cause the fixed HR numbers. So, can't really recommend the watch for fitness monitoring yet. On my FitBit, I had to wear a sweat band to keep the watch up a little higher on my wrist. I did this with the Huawei watch. Next time I'll try it w/o the sweat band so it sits lower on my wrist and see if it makes a difference. -cjr-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good test bro. So far I'm reckoning that the HW is not a good tool for sports tracking, as u said and many have the same experience u had... The big question is : is the inaccuracy due to hardware or software problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
There was a review I read a couple of days ago, might have even been on the Moto 360 2nd gen... He basically said that the HRM on these devices, all of them, are essential worthless and just a toy for entertainment. He didn't do any analysis of the HRM or fitness functions in his review. It may be that the technology just isn't there yet... but the companies should probably adjust their advertising to reflect the actual functionality of the HRM etc. On my Fitbit Surge, I did find it reasonably accurate for bicycling, hiking or walking (if I didn't swing my arms too much).. but for anything with any significant movement of my hands/arm, it would be way off. Did a 5 hr bike ride in Death Valley wore both my Garmin and the Surge, and the average HR they reported was virtually identical. We'll see how the Huawei does on my next bike ride... -cjr-
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tafo said:
Good test bro. So far I'm reckoning that the HW is not a good tool for sports tracking, as u said and many have the same experience u had... The big question is : is the inaccuracy due to hardware or software problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
swngdncr said:
There was a review I read a couple of days ago, might have even been on the Moto 360 2nd gen... He basically said that the HRM on these devices, all of them, are essential worthless and just a toy for entertainment. He didn't do any analysis of the HRM or fitness functions in his review. It may be that the technology just isn't there yet... but the companies should probably adjust their advertising to reflect the actual functionality of the HRM etc. On my Fitbit Surge, I did find it reasonably accurate for bicycling, hiking or walking (if I didn't swing my arms too much).. but for anything with any significant movement of my hands/arm, it would be way off. Did a 5 hr bike ride in Death Valley wore both my Garmin and the Surge, and the average HR they reported was virtually identical. We'll see how the Huawei does on my next bike ride...
-----------------------------------------
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point about these consumer fitness features. Of these, I have found the Mio Fuse to be pretty accurate. I think the challenge with these HRMs is staying accurate through movement and skin moisture/sweat. The Fuse has been the most consistent wrist device for me.
I have done a few workouts with the Huawei Watch to compare. If I take a reading while I'm standing totally still, and the watch is in the correct position, it's really close to the Fuse, within a few beats per min. If I am not so still, or the watch is a little askew (I don't wear it very tight as a watch) then it can be pretty inaccurate. The Fuse isn't perfect either but it is continuously monitoring during a workout, so at least I can gauge HR trends well enough.
OK, did a short bike ride today. The HRM worked most of the time, but did freeze twice, once for about 5 min and once for about 3 min. At other times, it was mostly within 1-2 BPM of my chest strap. But, to get the level of accuracy, I had to do the same thing as I did on my Fitbit Surge. Open up the watch band and shove the watch up on my wrist a couple of inches. If I left it down on my wrist just above the wrist bone, it was pretty inaccurate. I did also make an observation. A few times when it was way off from the Cheststrap (Garmin), if I pushed on the watch to make better contact with arm, the HR would immediate jump up and match the Garmin. Tomorrow I will try opening up the wrist band again, push it up on my wrist and put a sweatband over it that will hold it tight up against my arm and see what that does. -cjr-
tafo said:
Good test bro. So far I'm reckoning that the HW is not a good tool for sports tracking, as u said and many have the same experience u had... The big question is : is the inaccuracy due to hardware or software problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bailyc said:
Good point about these consumer fitness features. Of these, I have found the Mio Fuse to be pretty accurate. I think the challenge with these HRMs is staying accurate through movement and skin moisture/sweat. The Fuse has been the most consistent wrist device for me.
I have done a few workouts with the Huawei Watch to compare. If I take a reading while I'm standing totally still, and the watch is in the correct position, it's really close to the Fuse, within a few beats per min. If I am not so still, or the watch is a little askew (I don't wear it very tight as a watch) then it can be pretty inaccurate. The Fuse isn't perfect either but it is continuously monitoring during a workout, so at least I can gauge HR trends well enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the watch for a couple days and played with the watch "heart rate" monitor and the google fit one. Both of these I have to stop what I'm doing and check my heart rate that takes about 5-10 seconds. I'm assuming that is what people are using since I was not aware of any active heart rate monitor available. I've used it on a treadmill, mountain bike riding, and doing a Insanity T25 tape. I put it up against a basic polar t34 chest strap and found it to be withing 3-5 bpm. I did have a couple times where it did not register right but I think that was handler error because I was wearing it low on the wrist when checking. I also have been using endomondo for a map tracker on the bike rides that makes life easier since I can easily see, pause, and start the app from the watch while I'm riding w/o having to touch my phone. The only expected downside is the increased battery drain while using it.
Todays effort with the Huawei watch for fitness tracking was a big failure. I guess I can't add an image w/o a URL, but the HR froze 6 times in 2 hrs., Twice it was frozen for 16-17 minutes. When it did read the HR, the values were way, way low. The log has my HR in "resting" zone for 90% of the time. Trust me, I've done this enough times to know that my average HR is in the 120s, or higher if it is a very athletic match.
profilerz said:
I've had the watch for a couple days and played with the watch "heart rate" monitor and the google fit one. Both of these I have to stop what I'm doing and check my heart rate that takes about 5-10 seconds. I'm assuming that is what people are using since I was not aware of any active heart rate monitor available. I've used it on a treadmill, mountain bike riding, and doing a Insanity T25 tape. I put it up against a basic polar t34 chest strap and found it to be withing 3-5 bpm. I did have a couple times where it did not register right but I think that was handler error because I was wearing it low on the wrist when checking. I also have been using endomondo for a map tracker on the bike rides that makes life easier since I can easily see, pause, and start the app from the watch while I'm riding w/o having to touch my phone. The only expected downside is the increased battery drain while using it.
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I've also been playing with Endomondo and the watch. There's some very nice functionality built in to the wear app. I found an interesting feature within Endomondo, but I'm not sure it actually does anything. Maybe you can check and report back to confirm?
When I go into Endomondo (phone app) and head into Settings>Manage Smartwatches>Android Wear, there's an option at the bottom to "Enable heart rate." When it's selected and I start a workout on the Endomondo Wear app, the HR monitor is on continuously. I can peek under the watch and see the green light on all the time, until I end the workout.
But interestingly, it doesn't seem to actually retrieve the HR continuously, or even at all, either on the phone app during a workout or on the wear app during a workout.
I'm hopeful that even if it doesn't work now, maybe one day this watch can do continuous monitoring. If it's tight enough, it might work.
In the meantime, I use my Fuse as the HR monitor only, and view all workout data on the watch. It works really well. Good combination and the watch is like my mini workout computer.
---------- Post added at 10:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
swngdncr said:
Todays effort with the Huawei watch for fitness tracking was a big failure. I guess I can't add an image w/o a URL, but the HR froze 6 times in 2 hrs., Twice it was frozen for 16-17 minutes. When it did read the HR, the values were way, way low. The log has my HR in "resting" zone for 90% of the time. Trust me, I've done this enough times to know that my average HR is in the 120s, or higher if it is a very athletic match.
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I had a similar experience earlier with HR. But I wasn't sure if it was the HR app itself or something else. Sometimes I'm getting performance issues with the watch in general. Slow to respond, won't wake up quickly, that sort of thing. I think it's a rogue app in my case. Anyway, back to HR, it reported mine as 51 BPM a few times. My HR was more like 146. Definitely not right!
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Just doing a test this evening, not exercising, just running the apps while chilling on the couch. Using Endomondo, it does continuously track HR, like you, I could see the little green lights on. However, the screen needs to be set to "always on". If the screen times out, the HR sensor lights go out. However, on the test this evening, I basically got one HR reading and it froze, staying at 64, even when I got up and started jumping around, it never moved off of 64bpm. But, as best I can figure out , the free version does not have any statistics tracking/reporting. You have to get the paid version if you want to see your HR statistics other than average and Maximum HR. Using RunGPS, the lights went on and stayed on, but same thing happened, it froze at 67BPM. And, even when I stopped the training, the HRM lights stayed on. Then, all of a sudden it started reading my HR again and was actively changing, even though I had stopped the recording of the training. Then it froze again... I assume that the fact that RunGPs will report HR even when there isn't an active training session running is just a difference in how the applications work. But, the freezing problem happens in all the applications I've tried so far. I really hope this is some kind of firmware problem that can be fixed. I assume that if the HR monitor doesn't work, that it would be a product defect that would be covered under the 1 yr. product warranty. The 15 day return policy from the retailer isn't likely long enough for Huawei to do a firmware update that might fix this. Interesting to note, Amazon is already offering used/returned watches at a discount.
bailyc said:
I've also been playing with Endomondo and the watch. There's some very nice functionality built in to the wear app. I found an interesting feature within Endomondo, but I'm not sure it actually does anything. Maybe you can check and report back to confirm?
When I go into Endomondo (phone app) and head into Settings>Manage Smartwatches>Android Wear, there's an option at the bottom to "Enable heart rate." When it's selected and I start a workout on the Endomondo Wear app, the HR monitor is on continuously. I can peek under the watch and see the green light on all the time, until I end the workout.
But interestingly, it doesn't seem to actually retrieve the HR continuously, or even at all, either on the phone app during a workout or on the wear app during a workout.
I'm hopeful that even if it doesn't work now, maybe one day this watch can do continuous monitoring. If it's tight enough, it might work.
In the meantime, I use my Fuse as the HR monitor only, and view all workout data on the watch. It works really well. Good combination and the watch is like my mini workout computer.
---------- Post added at 10:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
I had a similar experience earlier with HR. But I wasn't sure if it was the HR app itself or something else. Sometimes I'm getting performance issues with the watch in general. Slow to respond, won't wake up quickly, that sort of thing. I think it's a rogue app in my case. Anyway, back to HR, it reported mine as 51 BPM a few times. My HR was more like 146. Definitely not right!
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bailyc said:
I've also been playing with Endomondo and the watch. There's some very nice functionality built in to the wear app. I found an interesting feature within Endomondo, but I'm not sure it actually does anything. Maybe you can check and report back to confirm?
When I go into Endomondo (phone app) and head into Settings>Manage Smartwatches>Android Wear, there's an option at the bottom to "Enable heart rate." When it's selected and I start a workout on the Endomondo Wear app, the HR monitor is on continuously. I can peek under the watch and see the green light on all the time, until I end the workout.
But interestingly, it doesn't seem to actually retrieve the HR continuously, or even at all, either on the phone app during a workout or on the wear app during a workout.
I'm hopeful that even if it doesn't work now, maybe one day this watch can do continuous monitoring. If it's tight enough, it might work.
In the meantime, I use my Fuse as the HR monitor only, and view all workout data on the watch. It works really well. Good combination and the watch is like my mini workout computer.
---------- Post added at 10:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 PM ----------
I had a similar experience earlier with HR. But I wasn't sure if it was the HR app itself or something else. Sometimes I'm getting performance issues with the watch in general. Slow to respond, won't wake up quickly, that sort of thing. I think it's a rogue app in my case. Anyway, back to HR, it reported mine as 51 BPM a few times. My HR was more like 146. Definitely not right!
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try that out next time I ride. I will say I noticed when I was on the treadmill this morning it (the treadmill) was registering a heart rate now and then (although not right) while I was on it. It never did that when I did not have the watch on unless I placed my hands on the sensor so I'm assuming it was attempting to grab it from the watch. I will say that I didn't expect that so the watch was not properly tightened on my wrist so I wouldn't expect an accurate reading since it was bouncing around a bit. As for accurate readings I have found that when I do manually check my heart rate I usually push the watch up my arm about one inch from my hand and get a fairly accurate reading as long as I'm standing still. I only do this because I read on my wifes fitbit forum that some people actually wear a fabric wrist band to keep their fitness tracker higher up on the arm and in place for more accurate readings.
Oh, that is interesting. I'll have to play around some more and see if I notice any capturing or freezing. Mine was definitely nothing but I tried for only a couple minutes. I do have the free version and I'm not sure what the paid actually shows over the free, but I will say that when I use the Fuse band for HR in conjunction with the watch, I can view the current HR continuously report (literally changes by the second) as well as average and maximum. I think, like you said, there are probably added trends that are visible in paid. I'm not sure if paid would offer better HR functionality for the watch but I would hope it could one day perform just as well as the Fuse. Fingers crossed for either a watch and/or an Endomondo update sometime soon!
swngdncr said:
Just doing a test this evening, not exercising, just running the apps while chilling on the couch. Using Endomondo, it does continuously track HR, like you, I could see the little green lights on. However, the screen needs to be set to "always on". If the screen times out, the HR sensor lights go out. However, on the test this evening, I basically got one HR reading and it froze, staying at 64, even when I got up and started jumping around, it never moved off of 64bpm. But, as best I can figure out , the free version does not have any statistics tracking/reporting. You have to get the paid version if you want to see your HR statistics other than average and Maximum HR. Using RunGPS, the lights went on and stayed on, but same thing happened, it froze at 67BPM. And, even when I stopped the training, the HRM lights stayed on. Then, all of a sudden it started reading my HR again and was actively changing, even though I had stopped the recording of the training. Then it froze again... I assume that the fact that RunGPs will report HR even when there isn't an active training session running is just a difference in how the applications work. But, the freezing problem happens in all the applications I've tried so far. I really hope this is some kind of firmware problem that can be fixed. I assume that if the HR monitor doesn't work, that it would be a product defect that would be covered under the 1 yr. product warranty. The 15 day return policy from the retailer isn't likely long enough for Huawei to do a firmware update that might fix this. Interesting to note, Amazon is already offering used/returned watches at a discount.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse