Suunto 7 Successor
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@nickk you can force the sport mode to run off the main processor, by keeping it on the map screen. Or by playing music via bluetooth headphones.
After having experimented with the music playback side of things, I can confirm it is more than a tad more battery used, the battery hit is significant.I can understand Suunto’s logic in not allowing external sensors to be connected, but I definitely agree that it should come with a big warning (using this sensor will double battery use, or something) in order to manage expectations.
This is why I want external sensor support to be part of the successor, as I see it a vital part of any fitness watch.
But with the S7, the limiting factor IS the chip, as (to my knowledge) it does not support BTLE.Ref your second post, thanks for the added info
I still don’t see how putting the watch on charger to get the maps is a hardship. Even an F6 needs charging now and then
Routing on the watch is nice though, that would be a cool feature to have.
But we are comparing oranges to refrigerators as they are completely different devices. -
@olymay said in Suunto 7 Successor:
@nickk you can force the sport mode to run off the main processor, by keeping it on the map screen. Or by playing music via bluetooth headphones.
That’s not the same thing though: both mapping and music playback will be eating a lot of battery simply due to them being CPU intensive mapping and music decoding. The same isn’t true for a single BLE connection to a heart rate sensor though. Have you tried SportyGo with an external BLE sensor on S7? I did. The battery hit from an hour of exercise was fairly insignificant. I think about or under 10%.
Also, Polar M600 managed external sensors just fine without any low power mode.
You have to charge S7 every day anyways, especially if you’ve got AOD and sleep with the watch, so an extra chunk of battery due to the Suunto app running on main core and connecting to a sensor isn’t gonna break anyone’s routine. But it means I can have a single smartwatch that’s also my main sports watch, and I would rarely have to switch to S9P if at all.
But with the S7, the limiting factor IS the chip, as (to my knowledge) it does not support BTLE.
3100 low power core doesn’t support sensor pass-through BLE signal like it does for HR or GPS data streams. The main core obviously supports it. That’s why you have your phone connectivity and music playback
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@nickk mapping isn’t CPU intensive, because the GPS positioning (the power intensive part) is already done. All it has to do is plot that on the screen. Yes the screen will use extra power, but nothing compared to the main processor running.
Same with music playback. Even my 15 year old mp3 player can manage days of music playback on a single AA battery, so it can’t be that intensive.
It is down to the inefficient main processor in the 3100 chip. It seems to be all, or nothing. Hence why it relies on the low power coprocessor.The Polar M600 is over 5 years old, so not really a comparable product (it was also terrible).
It’s not about running the main processor breaking a routing, it’s about the watch not having the battery life to get the end of an activity. Using the main processor is such a drain that longer activities are almost impossible.
For example, using the watch in low power mode with GPS set to best I get roughly 8% battery use per hour.
With music streaming (not CPU intensive but running the main processor) I was getting 30% battery use per hour.
So without music 12hrs of GPS activity is possible. Should be more than enough for most activities unless you are on a long ultra.
With music streaming it won’t even last a marathon at just over 3hrs.
There is a significant difference here.Essentially, I am hoping that the hardware (5100 or Exynos) will allow external sensor support (or headphones, or whatever) without killing the battery.
The S7 is already the almost perfect watch for me. with this it would be even closer -
@olymay So, how do you think CPU stacks against screen in terms of power since both are directly related to mapping?
We can start here and here. Basically, regardless of how inefficient you think 3100 main core is, it eats roughly the same amount of battery as that beautiful AMOLED screen, especially in its lit fully color glory. Hence, even if you double power efficiency of your core, the overall energy expenditure won’t move by more than a quarter.
The problem with mapping is that it hits two power hungry components equally. There’s non-trivial amount of work that has to be done to scale map imaging data, transform it for screen geometry, zoom level, and orientation, and then project your current path and other information from the GPS stream. Then, once this work is done, the screen has to be refreshed. Rinse, repeat.
Coming back to that MP3 player of yours. It can last on a single AA battery because it uses a low power DSP core for playback, with MP3 decoding bit implemented in hardware. Any dedicated solution will run circles around general compute cores in terms of speed and power consumption. Nobody argues that.
My point is different: implementing a sports mode on a main CPU may be inefficient, but it’s still efficient enough to deliver acceptable trade-off between additional capabilities and battery life.
I used a SportyGo app with an external heart rate sensor. I didn’t experience any dramatic battery drain. If a third party hobbyist developer, without any access to system internals and Google/Qualcomm expertise, can do it, I’d imagine Suunto can do that even better.
Will you be able to use the watch for 12 hours of running outside with external sensors? Probably not. But I’m willing to bet you’d be able to use it for 4-5 hours for sure, and that ought to be enough for most people buying S7. And if we are talking a gym scenario, that doesn’t require maps or GPS, I’m sure we can get to 8-10 hours of usage easily.
And yes, Polar M600 may be an older and unsexy device, with a smaller screen, but it proves beyond any doubt that’s you can implement a comprehensive sports solution (including structured workouts by the way) with external sensors, running off the main CPU, and still have enough power left for the rest of the day.
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@nickk said in Suunto 7 Successor:
It can last on a single AA battery because it uses a low power DSP core for playback, with MP3 decoding bit implemented in hardware.
Not to mention a AA battery has more power than the S7. I believe the S7 has 450 mah, while a AA can be between 1500 and 2500 (I think) depending on brand.
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@nickk wow this has gone a very different way than I was expecting and is a super interesting chat! (I’m very serious about that, I am am loving this conversation!).
It seems we could chat about this for hours (which I would love as you seem to know your stuff!) we have gone somewhat off topic.
It seems we both want the same thing for the S7 successor, which is external sensor support that does not ravage the battery as currently happens on the S7.
If we could get this, then I would by myself a Stryd in a heartbeat (although there would need to be a way to display the power data during a run, like other devices do!). And I know there are workarounds with the S7, but honestly I cannot be bothered with the faff of it
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@olymay
That must be new that it now allows a larger area, as whenever I tried in the past it refused to allow me to download larger areas, always just stuck with 54km as the largest it would alow me to download.
But yes that certainly takes care of that, especially if the next day you will be outside the initial 54km zone. Glad to see that is now working properly. -
then I would by myself a Stryd in a heartbeat (although there would need to be a way to display the power data during a run, like other devices do!). And I know there are workarounds with the S7, but honestly I cannot be bothered with the faff of it
Give SportyGo a try! As long as you don’t need actual training by running power
it will handle both heart rate and Stryd data capture just fine. The data screens aren’t exactly up to Suunto standard, but the thing works. Both for gym, treadmill, or even outdoors intervals where you might want accurate heart rate.A while back I asked the dev to look into uploading the workout directly to Suunto as opposed to just Training Peaks or Strava. Back then it wasn’t possible at all. Now I’m seeing Suunto expanded its services API to include uploads. Maybe if enough people bother the guy, this can happen. You’d still miss the workout in your S7 summaries and all, but that wouldn’t be any different from using a different device to capture it in the first place.
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@jamie-bg I think it always allowed, but manually changing the zone can be a bit… shall we say, temperamental? Sometimes things get stuck, reset to default size, etc. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.
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@nickk that could be it. I know it was supposed to be able to do it, just couldn’t ever get it to work, and was generally fine with a smaller area, except on the odd occasion when went on vacation etc. Would then when I get there just put on charger to download current area.
Another feature on the F6 I would love to see the S7 get is save location. Great to be able to do that like save location of holiday home so easy to navigate back when out walking and seeing sights and or having gone for a run/cycle - makes it super easy to get back, without getting the phone out.
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@olymay A certain @the5krunner put out a review of Samsung Watch 4 and what can I say?
With enemies like this, who needs friends? Seems Samsung looked at Suunto 7 and decided they’d do the exact opposite. Cheap build, cheaper straps, inaccurate sensors, and no serious sporting chops to speak of. Let’s throw all this at the wall and see what sticks. They can’t quite give you an accurate GPS route, but hey… You get body fat from the wrist!
So, if Suunto can get onto 5100 chip later this year, bake it in H1 2022, then… When Wear OS 3 becomes available later that year, they may have a true sporting smartwatch on their hands.
Of course, by then Samsung would be going for a second attempt and Google/Fitbit would be spinning something of their own. Though given Fitbit failed to build anything legit beyond activity tracking all these years, I have my doubts.
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@nickk I’ve seen mixed reviews for the GW4. If it is looked at as a generic smartwatch for the masses, with no real focus on fitness (which is exactly what it is) then it’s a pretty decent device. It will more than cater for an average person, who does a small amount of fitness and it mainly interested in basic wellness data.
It does seem to be built pretty well from what I can tell (although, a 20mm watch band?? are they serious???) and should hold up well. Samsung devices are normally made pretty well and the hardware is usually decent (I simply LOVE the rotating bezel!!!). However I cannot stand their software and the OneUI (formerly Touchwiz
) is horrible. And their insistence in people using their own versions of pretty much everything (Bixby!!) is annoying.Yes, a Suunto with 5100 and WearOS 3 in Q1 or Q2 2022 could be the ultimate sporting smartwatch. Especially if priced competitively (the S7 was simply too high to start with and put MANY people off sadly).
No doubt by that point Samsung will have lunched another three watches and Fossil will be in double figures. But quantity does not mean quality (Fossil have how many watches now and STILL have charging ring problems!).
A new FitBit running WearOS could be a very interesting option for many though. Their generic fitness is really good, and their sleep tracking is the best by far. It is also a very well known brand so will sell like hot cakes.
Sporty Go
I have looked at this and almost gave it a go. The only thing stopping me was losing the data in the Suunto App (summaries etc). I use Suunto because I love how they handle and display my data. -
I have looked at this and almost gave it a go. The only thing stopping me was losing the data in the Suunto App (summaries etc). I use Suunto because I love how they handle and display my data.
You can sync to Strava and then use other services to sync from Strava to Suunto. On iPhone, RunGap can easily sync between most platforms. Now, if you mean the app on your watch…
I’ve been asking for sync from the Suunto mobile app back to the S7 since S7 came out. Kind of like Garmin’s Physio TrueUp. So, the activity summaries and other info is there in summary tiles and diary, even if S7 wasn’t used to capture a given activity. Maybe it will come eventually.
But this gets us to where we started: developers, developers, developers…
Suunto will need more brain power if it wants to continue competing, as the focus definitely shifts towards software. Neither Fitbit, nor Apple Watch are amazing elegant hardware. It’s the software that keeps people using them.
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I think We should put the focus on our current S7 and how it could increase its performance and get new Suunto features (autolap, intervals… etc). All the resources spend on this watch should be handy for any other version of this watch with wear os 2 or wear os 3… I dont care the battery life If it allow me to take more advantage of my watch and have just 1 day doing a few hours (4) of sport… It could be the perfect sport watch from my own perspective
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@cristian-0 autumn is coming, usually Suunto releases seasonal updates.
Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti
Blog: isazi's home
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@cristian-0 that’s a fair point and I agree.
Whatever life is left in the current S7 - be it 6 months, a year, etc - then it would be nice to see it still supported and the maximum extracted from it. And I believe Suunto will do this.
as @isazi says, Sunnto tend to release seasonal updates. Previous updates to the S7 have all added significant features. It has now been quite a while since there was a major update to the S7 (nothing over the summer I believe?) so I am hoping this means they have been working away on some big updates and features to add
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@isazi said in Suunto 7 Successor:
@cristian-0 autumn is coming, usually Suunto releases seasonal updates.
I just hope we’re getting one. I got a bit worried when we got no update in June
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CES 2022 has been and gone, with no announcement from Suunto regarding an S7 replacement.
The current S7 was announced at CES 2020.
Does this mean the S7 line is dead? Is it a one hit wonder?
I love my S7 but was really hoping there would be a new version of it. One with updated hardware, support for WearOS 3, but more importantly improved Suunto App with more advanced features.
I’m at a point now where I am looking for a more advanced sports watch, one that can do more than what the S7 does (structured workouts, training plans, external sensor support, more detailed resources, more detailed sleep tracing, and more).
I really do love my S7, but I wish it could do more.
So I ask this of Suunto, will there be an upgraded model coming out?
I know there are NDAs and other things limiting what can be said, but radio silence is also damaging, as we the consumer start to feel abandoned and ignored.
My eye is already wandering to other brands (The Fenix 7 and Epix 2 have huge pull right now, if the rumoured specs are true and it goes on sale before a S7 announcement then it will be hard to not go that route).
Please Suunto, or anyone in the know, just give us something…
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@olymay if you look at Suunto’s development cycle the earliest I would expect a S7 replacement is next year.
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@jamie-bg said in Suunto 7 Successor:
@olymay if you look at Suunto’s development cycle the earliest I would expect a S7 replacement is next year.
I really hope not.
A three year cycle works for typical sports watches, but WearOS hardware and software move on significantly faster.
It is essentially a mini smartwatch on your wrist, and if a manufacturer only released a new phone every three years they would be left behind and forgotten about.The S7 was already using old tech when it launched two years ago (the SD3100 chip was replaced just a few months later) and it desperately needs a refresh, if for no other reason to get WearOS 3 and to stay relevant in a constantly moving market.
