Can it really be after six or seven updates, Samsung has finally fixed the calibration software in its Galaxy Watch?
Talk about a stubborn company.
I love Samsung phones. I love my Samsung TVs. I have owned several Samsung step tracking watches … and then came the Galaxy Watch.
Good golly Miss Molly, I never owned anything so frustrating, ever.
The Galaxy Watch is a smartwatch. It is a combination fitness watch and phone. I had owned four previous Samsung step tracking watches over a six year period, so I knew what my step count should be during any activity. But from day one, I knew there was a problem with the Galaxy Watch. It just didn’t count steps correctly.
There were people who posted videos on YouTube, running several miles with a Galaxy Watch on one wrist and another step tracker on the other. The Galaxy Watch consistently recorded 30-35 percent less steps than other step counting watches.
I complained about the issue within the first few days of wearing the watch, and I even had one of Samsung’s consumer relation “specialists” agree with me through email that the Galaxy Watch needed a calibration fix. Then, she completely ghosted me.
For those who don’t know what ghosting means, it is when someone has been in communication with you and suddenly they disappear like a ghost.
If not for the fact that the watch is attractive and it has other nice features, I would have returned it. I kept the watch, though I did stop participating in the Samsung monthly step challenges because I would have been frustrated every day.
The watch received several updates over the past 15 months but generally there was not much of a change. It got better but I could always tell it was not fully functional after grocery shopping. I would walk many steps through the store but because I was pushing the cart with both hands, the watch would record about a quarter of my steps. If my arm was not swinging, I must not have been walking.
Ridiculous, right? I would try to push the shopping cart with one hand, just as ridiculous, just to get half of the steps I should be getting. If I were working out, like I have been doing again for the past two weeks, I would get close to the steps I should be getting. But only if I were moving nonstop. All the rest of the steps were still getting muddled in the faulty software.
Wednesday morning, there was another watch update. I completed the update and did not think anything of it. I went to do my monthly food shopping, but I forgot to push the cart with one hand. I was too busy trying to get in and out during the early shopping hour while getting what I needed.
After I got home and got ready to do my dance workout, I looked to see how many steps were on the watch and I was shocked to see the number of steps that had been recorded.
Samsung, can it really be? Have you finally given in and properly calibrated this watch?
I am not holding my breath, but I am hoping Samsung does not mess this watch up again. I think Samsung may have been trying to find a way to prevent the cheating in its monthly step challenges. The challenge is to get at least 200,000 steps a month. People were getting 200,000 or more in the first day.
Samsung never stopped the cheaters and they are still cheating. There are no prizes, so I am not sure why people feel the need to hook up a watch to vibrating device in order to win a challenge. If a person did not sleep, he or she would have to take 8,333 steps every hour to get 200,000 steps in a day.
When I dance hard and fast, I am lucky to get 8,000 steps in that hour. Generally, my pace is about 114 steps per minute while I am dancing. So yes, the cheaters are alive and well.
Billion dollar Samsung obviously can afford to lose business. They simultaneously produced a blow-up phone and a blow-up washing machine in the year 2016, while continuing to rake in profits.
Samsung, I only ask you to please not turn back the clock on this watch. I am finally back in the top five percent of all Samsung Health users and I want it to stay that way.
