Few questions before buying please !

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kaalalto

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2013
255
74
Toulouse
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Dears,
I already have a Gear S3 smartwatch and I really like it. I got a S21 Ultra 5G and I'm very happy by the association.

Recently, I've seen a very nice ad of the new Watch 3 and I'm interested in buying one in order to switch from my "old" Gear S3.

However, I would like to ask some questions before :

1) I live in Morocco, and based on the website, ECG and blood pressure aren't enabled yet in my country. But my phone is a DBT CSC (Germany). It is enough to activate those options on the watch ?

2) If not, there is a way to force it without loosing warranty ?

3) Can we finally and natively receive and display pictures in WhatsApp conversations without a third party app ?

4) How is the battery life ? My S3 allows up to 3 days without charging...

Thanks in advance !
 

icecool217

Member
Oct 4, 2009
32
10
Dears,
I already have a Gear S3 smartwatch and I really like it. I got a S21 Ultra 5G and I'm very happy by the association.

Recently, I've seen a very nice ad of the new Watch 3 and I'm interested in buying one in order to switch from my "old" Gear S3.

However, I would like to ask some questions before :

1) I live in Morocco, and based on the website, ECG and blood pressure aren't enabled yet in my country. But my phone is a DBT CSC (Germany). It is enough to activate those options on the watch ?

2) If not, there is a way to force it without loosing warranty ?

3) Can we finally and natively receive and display pictures in WhatsApp conversations without a third party app ?

4) How is the battery life ? My S3 allows up to 3 days without charging...

Thanks in advance !

1 & 2) Have you considered selecting a region (already available on the watch) that has ECG and BP? Not sure what the native regions are if you buy from Morocco. Perhaps head to Samsung store and ask if they can demo what's available with factory reset. Then you wouldn't have to worry about warranty.

3) Yes. I can see the pictures directly on the watch when receiving whatsapp notification.

4) I find that it lasts around 3 days before charging or 5-6 days if I turn it off after getting home from work. Again, lots of features turned off like LTE, wifi and nfc to increase the battery life.

Not sure if yours is the classic or the frontier but there's been a post with a bit of user experience. Post

Experience:
I came from the S3 frontier and changed it for a number of reasons
- ECG/BP are gimmicks (nice to have but not dealbreaker).
- No MST but then a lot of new terminals use NFC so minimal issue
- S3 cannot use the new wireless charging pads while the watch 3 (I can charge my phone, buds and watch all at the same time)
- originally felt the S3 frontier lasts longer on a charge but gotten used to the GW3 and now pretty satisfied
 
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kaalalto

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2013
255
74
Toulouse
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Thanks for your clear message !
For the answers to 1 & 2, I just plan to buy the watch, I didn't bought it yet, so I'm asking before !

Right now I have an S3 frontier and I really like it, specially its battery life.

Edit : in case it can help, the model available in Morocco is the SM-R840NZKAMEA

It is possible to get BP and ECG with this model by flashing another region's firmware ?

Thanks !
 
Last edited:

kodiak799

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2012
228
46
BP and ECG truthfully are gimmicks. They seem to work well enough, but probably not for someone who would actually need to take regular readings.

Sammie is rumored to be coming out with a Galaxy Watch 4 for WearOS. I'd definitely wait to compare if I were you. Not many apps for Tizen.

Frankly, the GW3 promised a lot and delivered very little. The SPo2 feature is garbage, nor is the sleep tracking very good (probably related).
 

icecool217

Member
Oct 4, 2009
32
10
Your watch should come with a number of different countries. When you initially set up your watch (either using phone or standalone mode), you will be asked to first select language, and then select country. The country selection will be limited. That's the part where we don't know what country is available from the firmware installed and to make matters complicated, do not know which country has ECG & BP approved unless we look up those countries.

For #1, you can install the Samsung Health Monitor directly. Link

Caravana provided a SHM 1.1.0.167 v.5 mod.apk that has both ECG and BP. That's how I got mine started even. You may need to use the airplane mode to stop SHM from asking to update to latest version 1.1.0.189. I documented how I roughly got it working Link 2
At least with this method, you won't have to do flash to another country.
 

kaalalto

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2013
255
74
Toulouse
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Many thanks for your replies.
About BP and ECG, I agree with you. I'm a doctor and I know that those options are just gimmicks in my point of view.

The real reason I want to switch is picture handling for WhatsApp discussion, that I miss in Gear S3. I know there is some additional apps I can install to have it, but supporting it natively would be better, specially for battery life I think.

However, I think I'll wait for the next release. I don't think Samsung will adopt Wear OS, as even its TV are running Tizen and not Android TV...but who knows !

Thanks again !
 

kodiak799

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2012
228
46
However, I think I'll wait for the next release. I don't think Samsung will adopt Wear OS, as even its TV are running Tizen and not Android TV...but who knows !
Got it. I rushed out to get the GW3 because I thought the sleep tracking and SpO2 would be best-in-class. Unfortunately, those two features are barely functional.

And I can't even sync health data right now because my phone was rooted. That's just very, very poor on Sammie's part. Needless to say, that's not what I bargained for locking myself into a more limited ecosystem.

Really hoping now that Google bought Fitbit we'll have some real competition in smart watches.
 

mario1959

Member
May 2, 2018
32
5
Seraing
La TA et l'ECG sont vraiment des gadgets. Ils semblent fonctionner assez bien, mais probablement pas pour quelqu'un qui aurait réellement besoin de faire des lectures régulières.

La rumeur dit que Sammie sortira avec une Galaxy Watch 4 pour WearOS. J'attendrais certainement de comparer si j'étais vous. Pas beaucoup d'applications pour Tizen.

Franchement, le GW3 promettait beaucoup et livrait très peu. La fonction SPo2 est une poubelle, et le suivi du sommeil n'est pas très bon (probablement lié).
Pour la mesure SPO2, c'est tout à fait faut ce que vous dites, si la sangle est bien serrée, la mesure est plus que correcte.
 

kodiak799

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2012
228
46
Pour la mesure SPO2, c'est tout à fait faut ce que vous dites, si la sangle est bien serrée, la mesure est plus que correcte.

Disagree. I've tried loose and tighter than anyone would wear a watch, and the SpO2 readings are consistently inconsistent and generally a few points low. That has been the experience of many, many users. All the fingertip monitors out there register in seconds and just work.

And you can bet Sammie knows it's garbage because they've never delivered on their promise for sleep tracking. I've not tried, but I bet it would produce an error most of the time while laying down.

Granted, the ECG and BPM work surprisingly well. Whatever the reason, I doubt SpO2 will ever get fixed, if it even can.
 

kodiak799

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2012
228
46
Anyone who recently bought the GW3 or considering it should do a search for news on the Galaxy Watch 4. It's supposed to be running WearOS, so unless you're fairly price sensitive it's going to be a no-brainer to wait 2-3 months.

My GW3 will be for sale the day after the GW4 is released :LOL:
 

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    Dears,
    I already have a Gear S3 smartwatch and I really like it. I got a S21 Ultra 5G and I'm very happy by the association.

    Recently, I've seen a very nice ad of the new Watch 3 and I'm interested in buying one in order to switch from my "old" Gear S3.

    However, I would like to ask some questions before :

    1) I live in Morocco, and based on the website, ECG and blood pressure aren't enabled yet in my country. But my phone is a DBT CSC (Germany). It is enough to activate those options on the watch ?

    2) If not, there is a way to force it without loosing warranty ?

    3) Can we finally and natively receive and display pictures in WhatsApp conversations without a third party app ?

    4) How is the battery life ? My S3 allows up to 3 days without charging...

    Thanks in advance !

    1 & 2) Have you considered selecting a region (already available on the watch) that has ECG and BP? Not sure what the native regions are if you buy from Morocco. Perhaps head to Samsung store and ask if they can demo what's available with factory reset. Then you wouldn't have to worry about warranty.

    3) Yes. I can see the pictures directly on the watch when receiving whatsapp notification.

    4) I find that it lasts around 3 days before charging or 5-6 days if I turn it off after getting home from work. Again, lots of features turned off like LTE, wifi and nfc to increase the battery life.

    Not sure if yours is the classic or the frontier but there's been a post with a bit of user experience. Post

    Experience:
    I came from the S3 frontier and changed it for a number of reasons
    - ECG/BP are gimmicks (nice to have but not dealbreaker).
    - No MST but then a lot of new terminals use NFC so minimal issue
    - S3 cannot use the new wireless charging pads while the watch 3 (I can charge my phone, buds and watch all at the same time)
    - originally felt the S3 frontier lasts longer on a charge but gotten used to the GW3 and now pretty satisfied