Motorola Motoactv :: Dim Mode When Using As Watch To Save Battery?
Mar 13, 2012
It would be nice to be able to lock any screen, not just the workout screens. For example, I like to wear the Motoactv as a watch. You can have the it dim the screen, but not go off, if you tell it not to timeout the screen in workout, and then do a walking workout. However, when I touch the watch by mistake, it goes to my timepiece setup screen. Locking it at any screen would solve this. Also, having a dim mode to save the battery for watch use would be nice.
Before timing out and shutting off the display MOTOACTV changes to a monochrome display for a second.To wear the device as a watch, is there a way to enable this monochrome display for extended periods and thus burn less power?
Over the past two weeks, I have observed that my MOTOACTV has twice entered a Failure Mode in which current drawn from the battery in Standby if far higher than spec and even higher than playing music through wired headsets only. The cause is unknown, but may be related to another MOTOACTV Failure Mode - music player freak out. In the first instance, I left the unit in Standby at 70% charge and found 14 hours later that it had turned itself off - battery depleted. I powered it up, charged it and was surprised during my run to find that my SF200 wired headset line switch was functional again - the music player had not responded to the SF200 line switch for several days.
In the second instance, late on Tuesday night Feb 28, I noticed that the state-of-charge of my battery was sliding rapidly and placed it on the charger. After my morning run the next day, I charged it fully and monitored the battery. The result is charted in the image below. According to published specifications, the MOTOACTV should last 325 hours on one full charge. I have conducted extensive battery tests on my unit and have never been able to achieve a Standby discharge rate much better than 0.71%/hr or 140 hours full discharge equivalent. The Standby battery life spec should be revised. As published, it is misleading at best. In Failure Mode - Excessive Battery Drain in Standby, I measured a Standby discharge rate of 6.73%/hr or just under 15 hours of battery life in Standby on a full charge.
I do not know why my unit enters this Failure Mode. But I know I am not alone. AlmariaTeach is probably replacing his unit right now to remedy what looks like the same issue. But his device could not be cured by rebooting or factory reset, so it may have been a more advanced case. In both instances, a power-off reboot restored 'normal' Standby power use behavior and revived a non-functioning music player line switch to perfect working order.
I see that people say they use the MA as a watch. Perhaps it's a problem with my unit, but if I wear the MA as a watch, no Bluetooth, no music etc. I have it timed out at 15 secs (makes a boring watch) and the brightness guite low... it never lasts the whole day before I have to recharge it. Seems a bit pointless having a "watch" that runs out of power before the day is through.If you use the MA simply as a watch (ignoring the silly steps counter which can't be turned off!) how long do you get?
I'm also having a problem with this device. I don't know if it's a battery problem or not and I think it started happening after the latest firmware update. I haven't been able to run to give it a try but just using it as an every day watch, it shuts off at random times and the only way to get it back up is to connect it to a power source. When I restart the device, it shows the battery at what ever level it was at before it shut down. I also notice that the date and time have been resetted.
While trying to remove the Motoactv from the wrist strap the screen went to some sort of boot screen listing the version and something about plug in with usb cable. I am always careful not to push on the buttons when removing the unit from any of the mounts. It would not respond to anything I did. I even tried plugging it into the computer via usb. Nothing! Finally I just held down all the buttons until it turned off. When I powered it back up everything seemed to work correctly.How did this short happen and how do I get my watch out of the wrist strap?
I have dropped my wireless network and readded it but the watch never gets anything downloaded to the website. Since June 16 it has not performed a successful sync and nothing in my environment has changed and the watch is around the house a lot. Be nice to get this fixed too.
How do I get all my planned routes (set up on MOTACTV.COM) to appear in the "Planned"menu on the watch.I've set up a number of running routes via MOTOACTV.com under the >Planning>Routing menu.I then set up a training plan - ie to run one of the routes today.I then sync'd the watch & expected that they'd all appear when I selected WORKOUT>RUNNING>PLANNED, but only teh one (ie the one in the training plan) appears.Is it possible to have all planned routes on the watch, so I can at the start of my run pick the one I want to do? or does this all have to be done via the website?
I just received my Motoactv today and just finished all the settings, etc. It works fine while I am just holding it or sitting it on the table.. But, When I place the motoactv in my Watch or clip the back button will not work, as soon as I remove it from the watch or clip the back button works..
I have tried several times to save a route that I create in the Planning module. Each time I get a box that says, "Something went wrong. Unable to save the route"
I searched a bit and couldn't find anything but i'm trying to set a route under "Planning" and when i click "Save" i get the error "Something Went Wrong. Unable to save route."
First, I'm unable to save a zone template. If I edit the Carmichael zones and hit save, it tells me that's it has saved the template. But alas, it's nowhere to be found. Also, after I hit save the zone resets back to the default (which is incorrect as it has the first two zones overlapping significantly). Take a look at the attachment. I'm no heart rate expert by any means, but are "Recovery" and "Foundation" supposed to overlap as much as they do (why are both of their lower number 87?)? Just looking at this now I realize how little sense it makes. Why does the "Foundation" zone go all the way into "Steady State" I tried changing this and it just reverts back to the original everytime. I'm sure you'll guess my next gripe... yep, my zones are incorrect on my MotoACTV as well.
I've just recently upgraded my Motoactv but since then it won't boot.It gets stuck on the pulsing 'M' bit. as anyone else had this issue since upgrading?I've tried holding down 'Start' 'Music' & the 'Power' button, the screen turned off but when booting it up it gets stuck again.I can't re-do the firmware again because my PC wont recognize it.
I went for a walk outside so used the great GPS mode but unfortunaley left it in my coat pocket and forgot to turn it off for 10 minutes. Is there anyway to change the time the activity took in this situation.
I can't swear that this applies to the Droid X² too. But it definitely does to the Droid X.For those Droid X owners without a Verizon Unlimited Data plan, this may be of interest, since the Verizon's new tiered data pricing structure just went into effect.
I am having trouble with my fiancee's Motoactv which I gave to her as a gift this past Christmas. It looks like the backlight is no longer working, and the device is stuck in a black and white mode. She can see the display (without color) when outside in the sunlight, but indoors or at night it is completely unreadable. We've updated the device with the most current firmware, and made sure that it is fully charged, but nothing seems to help.
On the Android Motoactv app on my Droid Razr, under Motoactv device settings, I have unchecked 'Text Privacy Mode' because I want to see the full text of each SMS on my Motoactv screen. But for some reason, later when I go back to the app on my phone, Text Privacy Mode is checked again.
i did a bit of research before getting a motoactv to serve as my primary training data tool. i read dc rainmaker's report, watched his Internet video of the thing in the shower, and read all the stories of people having water caused failures and motorola invalidating the warranties. i loved the looks and the features, and i wrote off the water complaints as the voice of a loud internet minority, most of whom probably didn't do something right. i was worried about the warranty not being honored, so i made my purchase at rei, who essentially grant lifetime return of anything that they sell.all my workouts are sweaty. encouraged by dc rainmaker's video, which he said was conducted on motorola's terms, i wore the motoactv into the shower after a run. the headset grommet and usb port cover were firmly in place. there were no signs of trouble during the shower (as there weren't in the video), but about 40 minutes later, i caught a glimpse of some small white text on a black screen, then the watch went dark. i powered it back on, which went normally, but once fully booted up, the up volume was constantly activated, with the overlay message showing the speaker icon and the horizontal volume bar showing full volume.
i could sometimes get the indicated volume to go down with the down volume button, only to see the volume quickly ramp all the way back up. i played with this for a while, then powered the thing down to save the battery, as the up volume input was keeping the screen on. suspecting water damage, i checked the usb port and it was dry. a day later, all was back to normal. that was a month ago. i accidently wore it into the shower for all of 10 seconds yesterday, only long enough for it to take a few splashes, and not even long enough to wet the entire case. the phantom volume ramp returned within 10 minutes, but i was able to eventually make it go away by actuating the up volume and music buttons. again, the usb port looked dry. this morning the watch was dead dead dead, with only a brief bootloader message when i tried turning it on. hooking it up to the usb on the computer was enough to get the juice flowing again and start to fill the battery. i was able to power up after about 15 minutes. the phantom volume has returned and won't go away.
i will be exchaning the unit for another at rei today. given the backup of rei's return policy, i will be sticking with the motoactv as my training data device for now. i'm writing all of this to inform people about what they might expect, and to encourage motorola to get their act together on making these things work for their intended purpose. from now on, i'll be cleaning sweat off with a moist paper towel. if it rains, the motoactv will be coming out with me like it or not, and i'll just make another trip to rei if the thing conks out. if rei sees a pattern, i'm sure they will do a better job of encouraging motorola to make the necessary changes than i could.
How to use the device with only heart rate and calorie burn (like weight training or other non-programmed workouts)? I would also like to use it in spin class but the bike don't have any ANT+ sensors - so a heart rate/calorie burn mode would be nice. How to use the device for a spin class? Also, how is the calorie burn calculated? Is it based on height, weight, age, etc. with an algorithim or is it simply based on a typical condition (basically guessing the burn)?Is it possible to upload my New Leaf testing profile to the device?
Is there any way to step down to 3G or even 2G on a non-rooted Atrix phone running 4_1.8.3?
I found tools to get me to the screens to make the changes, but they do not stick. I am not ready to root my phone. 3G or 2G for vocie is plenty clear enough for me.
I know there are other ways to save battery power, but would like to step down a G or two.
I notice that my motoactv just eats battery when im not using it. My workaround is to power it off so i dont have to constantly have it charging and so its ready when i need it. Is there a setting coming or present that will allow the motoactv to enter deep sleep mode after x amount of inactivity and then to only be awakened by button presses?
Whenever I watch a Video should it be on my browser (I use Chrome Alpha) or even YouTube App or downloaded videos my phone simply goes into the Freezer Mode and it freezes at least till the video is done, I can't press any button (actually I could it just won't do anything), interesting is that the audio continues to play but the video and my entire screen is stuck!
What I am seeing is that as soon as GPS goes on the unit drops from 100% to 90% immediately. I have fully charged the unit over night using the supplied powerpack and cabling. Is what I am seeing normal?
I've been using the MA for about a month, I had my first issue with GPS accuracy today. I ran a 6 mile out and back upon checking my route after synching I found that the data showed me running in areas I had not obviously gone. Usually when I do a out and back the route is right on one another. This time I had two lines that varied quite a bit. I noticed my battery was down to 20% before I ran and I swithced it to collect data every two seconds instead of every second like I normally do. Also it was a very sunny/clear day. Has anyone else noticed inaccuracies when using battery saver mode? inaccuracies when not using the MA when low on battery? any success with battery saver mode?
This weekend I did a long cycling tour with the MotoACTV and found out where the max battery life is for me. Without running any music, BT notifications off, and minimal screen usage, I got 8.5 hours of life (7 hours riding time) over 110 miles. There was just enough power to sync when I got home, and by the time I was in the shower, it was close to 0% an in the charger.I truly thought I was going to lose the last couple hours, but the device proved me wrong. Job well done. When I first did this with older software, I ran out of power at 5 hours. Software tweaks work!
Had a 19 mile training run today. The device was set in marathon mode and I was using a bluetooth headset. After mile 17 the battery was at about 20% and the tracking got very weird. The distance measure got really inconsistant and the pace was way off. When I look at the data, the elevation went to 0 and it drew a straight line from that point to the finish. The only thing I can think of was that the GPS receiver was turned off. Has anyone seen this? If this is a setting, how can I turn if off? When I finished the battery was at 10% and music playback was never interupted. I am using software version 1.7.12 N8
I am getting a bootloader 03.14 battery low error when I try and charge my watch.
I was using my watch as a timepiece and the battery ran out, that evening I tried to charge it using the mains adapter but a warning flashed up saying 'Bootloader 03.14 battery low cannot program'
When I try and charge it through the computers usb then only the white light near the usb turns on. this then goes off after a few minutes.
I have read that someone else had a similar error that they thought was something to do with water damage but this is not the case with my watch as it happened on a dry sunny day.
I have tried leaving it plugged in for 1hr to charge, still no luck. The only thing that happens is that the watch becomes hot.
There is no other sign of life to the watch apart from the error message and/or the white usb light.
Monday afternoon - ACTV fully charged, left on, BT connected to my ATRIX.
Tuesday morning - ACTV down 10%, went for 4 hour 30 minute outdoor cycle with music, speed/cadence, and HRM (GPS too). Left on when workout was finished
Wednesday morning - Battery at 20%, went for 1 hour outdoor cycle, same features used as Tuesday morning. When I pulled into the house, the 10% battery warning appeared on the screen.
So, I got about 33.5 hours of standby with BT active plus almost 6 hours of workouts on a single charge (never even connected it to my computer).
