Watch 7 LTE Ultra - battery drain and feedback

[Richard-Tx]

First, I have had/used every Galaxy Watch (i.e. S3 Gear thru Watch 6 Classic).  Very familiar with using the features and removing unwanted apps and disabling unused features.  My only purpose for these watches are the health apps, LTE (enabled via TMobile), step counter.  Do a lot of running in hot/cold weather.

Last year, I had to return the Watch6 LTE classic due to logistical and technical issues and went back to my Watch 5 Pro LTE (W5P).  Have had the W5P since day 1 and the battery is rock solid, even after almost 2 years.  I look at two major areas of a watch.  Battery life and how it handles very hot weather.  Watch 5 Pro was perfect in both areas - Never a complaint from me.  However, I decided to get the new Watch 7 Ultra (W7U).  Even though I was not very impressed by the specs, I figured it was time to upgrade and that I got a great trade-in value for the W5P.  In addition, it had a 590maH battery - same as the W5P.  My display is never on unless I tap screen.  (i disabled "Always On").

So, getting to the point on my W7U experience after using it so far:

-  Ordered on Day1, received on July 19.  (faster than what was originally stated - good).

- Watch is a bit thicker and seems heavier.  Marine band is a bit wider.

- These are newer style quick-release bands.  Can't use previous bands (pin style).  These are not D-Buckle bands.  I really liked the original D-Buckle bands because I could get an exact fit/adjustment on my wrist.  In addition, with the D-Buckle, very quick to put on/take off the watch.  W7U bands take extra time now to put on / take off.  😞

- Speaker/Sound more powerful than W5P. - Great improvement over W5P.

- Titanium casing, just like the W5P.  This is good for better heat dissipation.  I have not had a change yet to try the W7U in >100 degree weather, whereas we have not seen the high tempt this year (yet).  The W5P easily handled 100+ weather.  Just don't make LTE phone calls in 100+ degree or else the watch will overheat.

- Quick button has very limited usage.  Why Samsung????  Anyways, I set it for the water lock feature.

- You can't place the W7U flat on a charging pad because the band prevents the watch from sitting flat on the pad.  However, once you place the W7U flat on the pad, you can put something on top of the watch to keep it flat.  Then it will make electrical/magnetic contact with the pad and start charging.

- Touch screen very responsive.  No delay in scrolling thru each menu.

- Screen very bright.

- The home and back buttons are directly on the side, which is different from the W5P which had the button on the side as well, but at a slight angle.  The W5P made it easier to press those two buttons.  When the buttons are directly on the side, you have to torque your finger/hand slightly to make contact with those buttons.  (of course everyone will have a different opinion on this button placement.

- Samsung still has NOT fixed the infamous problem where when you swing your arm, the display screen turns off.  WHY SAMSUNG??  Why do you turn off the screen when you swing your arms?  Didn't you learn/listen at all from all the complaints us runners informed you since the W5P.   Leave the display on and rely on the screen timeout to turn off the display when not in use.

Anyways I could go on-on, however, there is one item that I take the most concern with now is the battery life on the W7U.  As previously stated, my W5P battery life has been perfect from day 1 and still is solid after more then 1.5 years.  My W5P and W7U settings are manually set by me to be identical. 

However, I have noticed that the W7U seems to drain the battery by 35-40% faster than my W5P.  Yes, you read correctly.  I have watched my battery usage like a hawk on the W5P and it has aways been consistent and sturdy.  Never had a concern even as I speak now.  But, on the W7U, the battery drain is excessive.  As an example, while sleeping,  the battery went from 66% to 44% over a 7-hour period, as compared to my W5P that would go from 88 - 82% over that same period.  It's not clear to me why the excessive drain on the W7U, but even with power management turned on, the drain is still excessive. 

The only two items that could cause this are maybe the LTE signal or the health sensors.  Will soon experiment by turning these off to see if this makes a difference.

Overall, the W7U does not really offer any more "exciting" as compared to my W5P, but I really need to see what is happening to this battery.  Not happy about this battery drainage.   Curious if other W7U (LTE) users have the same battery issue.

[notforhire]

after a week with the 7 and coming from the 6 Classic, my battery life is slightly better, charging time seems fine to me, and the AGE labs don't matter to me........I'm already diabetic. I'll keep checking that feature here and there to see if there's any value to me, but I'm not counting on it. how long have you had your 7? did you set it up via Smart Switch from your 6? or did you manual setup?

[Nurse2talk2]

Smart Switch. Hey, there is a possibility the metrics were off on the 6 and the 7 is doing a better job which means I have more work to do. I am a fitness fanatic so I ask a lot of my devices but the 7 should be able to keep up. I will have to test this theory!

[RJ009]

Got my Watch 7 coming from Eatch 6 Classic! I don't have issues, but the internal capabilities are way better than the 6 version. The heart rate sensor is better, as well as the other features. I have no issues with the battery life since it charges faster than the 6. But, I guess it's because I don't overload my watch with apps, nor try to do everything I can do on my phone on my watch. Battery life for me is good.

[userwqhOA4M9XC]

My battery only last 24 hours even on battery save mode. Not sure what is causing it to drain so fast

[clown30]

I'm with the same problem. I barely have 4 hours of active screen.

[vigilantwatcher]

Has anyone had issues with battery drain on the Galaxy watch 7 when you're not wearing it? 

When I charge it at night to 100% around 10 pm, I wake up to the watch having 40% battery the following morning at 6 am! The funny thing is, the battery life is excellent when I'm actually wearing the watch. The drain is when I'm not wearing it 😂. 

[Rose4uKY]

Yes I am having big problems with my watch 7 the 40mm  It won't hold a charge and has to be charged twice a day. Went to bed with 48% woke up it was dead and turned off. My watch 6 I would wake up with 45% or more every day and I used turn wrist to wake feature which I shut off on this watch didn't help.  I actually used smart switch so my 6 transferred over and once I got the 7 up it did a backup so  after the draining for a couple days I did a reset but it backed up my same stuff and restored the same stuff and still draining bad  I saw wifi got turned on so I turned it off waited it out still draining. Decided one last option reset and don't restore start fresh.  I tried 8 times and my watch wouldn't connect to do a reset it kept going through the same motions over and over and I gave up and was ready to return it when it finally reset and I didn't do smart switch or any of my apps I had before. It's now a fresh start  I still think I have a bad watch but I know it takes a day or 2 to learn your usage . It also told me too hot cannot charge never seen that ever. 

I don't know what to do I am so upset cause I only paid $49 bucks for the watch after discounts and trade ins. They already have my trade in so I was told I have to call e-commerce which I'll do tomorrow. I'm giving it over night one last time to see since I am on a fresh start on no restore from old watch. But when I 1st set up this watch it had new watch faces now that I am on a fresh install and no backup I don't see them anymore it's weird. But I hope you get yours worked out. I am hoping mine was a glitch from an old app I don't know. I do know the new watch has a newer OS and One UI so I don't know what's causing my drainage.

[NYTeeSI]

My Watch 7 also had very bad battery drain. The battery didn't last more than 7 hours until it was dead.

I ordered the Watch 7 and Buds Pro 3, and I had a problem with both. Samsung had me send them to a service center for repair. Sucks that I have to have them repaired when they should be replaced.

[usersUteHz62cg]

Ive been having issues with mine too. My almost 5 year old active 2 has better battery life with all its features on. I turn off every feature and connection (except bt) my watch 7 will be under 90% just sitting around not being used in about an hour. Power save mode is pretty usless as it won't make it 24 hours even with that( it says it should). I'm giving it the weekend and the returning it. Fitness Watches arent useful if they ways have to be on the charger.

[PCGX4Fun]

Same problem here. I get 11 hours before it is 5%. Coming from a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro that gave me 2 days. I installed the 7 as new and left a few apps behind. I thought it might be an old watchface, but having been using their watchface for the last few days and not better. They advertised a smaller battery than the 5 Pro but 30% more efficiency with the better processor and WearOS 5. So far I'm not seeing it. Very disappointed long time Samsung user. NowI'm worried about the Buds 3 Pro I ordered.