The start of another day. I’ve got a fair few chores to do today and no time for playing with my new watch so my plan is to go for minimal use and see how the battery pans out.
With that in mind I’ve got pretty much everything turned off or on minimum. In detail that means I’m only going to have either WiFi or cellular data on depending on whether I’m indoors or out. Preferences I will be keeping set to 4G though as quite a few locations I’ll be in today including at home mean I only get a cellular signal on 4G and not 2 or 3. So far it’s been on for 2 hours and I’m only down to 92%.
One thing that may have an impact over stock settings is that I have quite a few apps loaded over stock which will likely be running (and using resources and battery) in the background. Given that one of my reasons for buying the Thor 4 was to have this level of connectivity without the need to always carry a phone, I’ll be testing it today with them all running. The key apps I’ve added that are likely to be using background data are: WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Gmail and Home (a family tracking app).
Zeblaze Thor 4 Battery Update
Ok, as I mentioned above I’ve been giving the Thor 4 a full day battery test today. This is the third day I’ve been using the watch and so far with each successive charge it’s endurance and capacity feels like it’s been improving. The first two days saw me using it very heavily and getting battery life of as little as 4 hours. Today however has been what I would imagine would be a more typical days use.
So, my test began at 7am when I took the watch off charge after an overnight charge to 100%. I immediately turned on WiFi and set the screen brightness to low (ideal when in doors) but did put it up to medium or high at times when needed outside. The screen I have manually turned on or off throughout the day, only having it on when necessary.
The watch has a 4G SIM installed with the network preference set to 4G. So for the entire day the watch has been connecting to a mixture of 2G, 3G and 4G signals depending on my location throughout the day. When I’ve been indoors with internet WiFi I’ve had cellular data turned off and WiFi turned on. Outdoors I’ve done the opposite and turned the WiFi off but turned cellular data on. I haven’t used GPS at all today or made or received any calls but I have been streaming music via bluetooth to the car music system for about an hour and a half and received various notifications and messages via Messenger, email and text throughout the day. Towards the end I turned the screen brightness up to take a few pictures and a bit of video and the charge level then dropped below 15%.
Without any top ups at all the watch has gone from 100% at 7am to 13% at 6pm. In other words, 11 hours of relatively light use albeit with a constant cellular connection plus data via either WiFi or cellular, a spell of bluetooth streaming and a couple of photos and a video clip.
So all in all I’d say this would be a typical days use for me bar a few short calls in and out. The big difference for me normally though would be that usually I’ve have given it a good top up charge whenever I was at my desk for any length of time - just like I do with my smartphone. If I’m at my desk then I pop the phone on charge to keep it topped up and I do the same with my watch.
Generally pretty pleased with the result and it does still feel like the battery is in its early days and improving with each successive charge.
Hi! I understand you use Ok Google to perform commands without touching the watch. But could you perform those tasks (like “Call [name of person] mobile”) offline (wifi and data turned off)? Thanks.
May 28, 2018 19:02:59 GMT 1jrjr said: Hi! I understand you use Ok Google to perform commands without touching the watch. But could you perform those tasks (like "Call [name of person] mobile") offline (wifi and data turned off)? Thanks.
"Ok Google" and tasks such as instructing the watch to make a call or send a text or play music all work offline and can be configured to work from any screen. Anything that needs a web search or data from the web such as a weather forecast for instance will need the watch to be online. The only requirement is that a screen (any screen) is active. So if the screen has gone dark you do need to either flick your wrist or briefly press one of the two buttons to wake it up before you can say "Ok Google" and start giving it instructions.
Another little point regarding the Thor 4 and BT calling - or rather the lack of it.
Prior to the Thor 4 arriving I’ve been using a cheapest of the cheap dual mode tethering watch and rather enjoyed the BT tethering function whereby I could make, but more importantly receive calls either via the watch’s internal SIM or via my smartphone over bluetooth. If I was just popping into town it was also quite liberating to leave the smartphone behind and just wear my watch knowing it had a working SIM in it so I could make calls if needed. Obviously though unless I took the smatphone with me or swapped the SIM over I couldn’t receive calls on my normal smartphone number. Anyway, from studying all the marketing blurb regarding the Thor 4 it was clear that Bluetooth calling was unlikely to be available at launch on the Thor 4 and possibly not for some time if ever. As a result I seriously considered one of the 3G watches that does have BT calling functionality but in the end decided it was a very nice to have but not a deal breaker. That’s not to say I’ve not been missing the function though.
So with that in mind I’ve been looking for a workaround. Now for me, the key selling point of a smartwatch is I want a watch that can take the place of my smartphone with regards essential calls and messages so I don’t feel compelled to lug the phone around with me everywhere I go. I also don’t want a phone in my pocket when I’m cycling, working on the car or simply getting in and out of the car every few minutes. I don’t want to leave it in the car for obvious reasons but also I don’t want to carry it in my hand or carry a bag for it. So it’s usually in my back pocket and has morphed into one of those funky banana shaped curved phones as a result of me forgetting it was there when I sat down. Amazingly it still works fine but I think I got away lightly there. However, getting back to the issue of leaving the smartphone at home and not missing calls or swapping SIMs around. The solution for me has proved remarkably simple. My contract for my normal Mbl number and the SIM that lives in my smartphone gives me unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and about 6Gb of data. The key bit is the unlimited minutes. So what I’ve done is simply set it to “divert to [my Thor 4 SIM number] when unreachable”. As soon as my smartphone has no signal (or I turn it off) then calls are diverted (using my unlimited free minutes) to my Thor 4. I tried it earlier and it works a treat other than caller ID shows me as the caller no matter who is calling. Not sure what happens with regards texts but I shall see what happens tomorrow.
The good news now is that when we’re about to set off cycling tomorrow I can turn my smartphone off and either leave it behind, or pack it away in something safe and watertight. Any calls that come through to my normal number, will then divert to my watch until I decide to turn my smartphone back on again. Result!
May 28, 2018 19:02:59 GMT 1jrjr said: Hi! I understand you use Ok Google to perform commands without touching the watch. But could you perform those tasks (like "Call [name of person] mobile") offline (wifi and data turned off)? Thanks.
"Ok Google" and tasks such as instructing the watch to make a call or send a text or play music all work offline and can be configured to work from any screen. Anything that needs a web search or data from the web such as a weather forecast for instance will need the watch to be online. The only requirement is that a screen (any screen) is active. So if the screen has gone dark you do need to either flick your wrist or briefly press one of the two buttons to wake it up before you can say "Ok Google" and start giving it instructions.
Hi! That's great! I really miss Ok Google offline commands on my H2 watch...
May 7, 2018 0:12:01 GMT 1jrjr said: Hi! I believe this WiiWatch 2 app will never be suitable to replace original WiiWatch on our "old" watches and i agree with captjon we must preserve a copy of the previous WiiWatch app just in case.
Just so you all know - there is a fairly big project in place to completely replace WiiWatch1 with WiiWatch2 on all these devices (except Finow type watches and LEM5 etc)
It will work just fine on the Android 5.1 watches and I have thoroughly tested it. But I don’t think this conversation belongs in this Thor 4 thread so I will create a thread just for WiiWatch and related questions.
May 28, 2018 23:04:21 GMT 1goaty said: "Ok Google" and tasks such as instructing the watch to make a call or send a text or play music all work offline and can be configured to work from any screen. Anything that needs a web search or data from the web such as a weather forecast for instance will need the watch to be online. The only requirement is that a screen (any screen) is active. So if the screen has gone dark you do need to either flick your wrist or briefly press one of the two buttons to wake it up before you can say "Ok Google" and start giving it instructions.
Hi! That's great! I really miss Ok Google offline commands on my H2 watch...
Yep, I'm interested to know how this works as it needs an active network connection, either through WiFi or Cell.
I will check this when and if it finally arrives.....
Yes, correct.
That is why this model is quite a bit thicker - it has a bezel which covers the ring around the screen.
I think it was a choice for both brands.
Slimmer watch with the ring around the screen or thicker watch without it.
Yes, correct.
That is why this model is quite a bit thicker - it has a bezel which covers the ring around the screen.
I think it was a choice for both brands.
Slimmer watch with the ring around the screen or thicker watch without it. Ah, I didn't know that. I though that the overall body diameter was the same. Thank you for your answer!
Jun 6, 2018 0:36:56 GMT 1pablo11 said: Yes, correct.
That is why this model is quite a bit thicker - it has a bezel which covers the ring around the screen.
I think it was a choice for both brands.
Slimmer watch with the ring around the screen or thicker watch without it.
Ah, I didn't know that. I though that the overall body diameter was the same. Thank you for your answer!
The actual body diameter is only .5mm or .019" difference in size between the two watches. They both list the "actual screen" size as 1.39". As mentioned, the bezel on the Thor 4, simply covers the ring around the screen that Lemfo chose to leave exposed. My problem with it is more that Lemfo's promotional material clearly depicted a edge to edge screen and until the watch was manufactured and one purchased, did we find out that it was not as they advertised. So I elected to skip the Lem7 until something better comes along in a Android 7 watch.
The actual body diameter is only .5mm or .019" difference in size between the two watches. They both list the "actual screen" size as 1.39". As mentioned, the bezel on the Thor 4, simply covers the ring around the screen that Lemfo chose to leave exposed. My problem with it is more that Lemfo's promotional material clearly depicted a edge to edge screen and until the watch was manufactured and one purchased, did we find out that it was not as they advertised. So I elected to skip the Lem7 until something better comes along in a Android 7 watch.
Yep, understandable.
I thought the advertising was pretty lame as well.
The Thor 4 is noticeable in thickness in the videos. But the advertising says otherwise as you said.
The LEM7 pictures are photoshopped - not good.
I’m thinking Thor Pro or AllCall W2 will be my favourite…
