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I have a Huawei Mate 9, and just set it to the atomic clock time a few minutes ago. The ClockSync app reported it was off by 0.06 second at that time.

However, a few minutes later when I picked up the phone and check again, it was already 3.2 seconds behind. How come it can be off by that much in a few minutes time? Doesn't the phone has an internal clock which should be only off by a few seconds in a day?

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  • Time on devices is an approximation based on the molecular activity of the components it is constructed of, especially mineral vibration. Some components and the software that estimates from it is better than others. Better phones with better components, or, better phones with better software are necessary for best time estimation. If the estimation is off for you, leave the setting for synchronizing time from the network. The responsibility of your device to perform flawlessly is reduced or eliminated.
    – wbogacz
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 11:14
  • molecules... does it also depends on quantum physics, when the particle location changes when an observer is there or not. You know, my US$3 quartz watch can keep a more accurate time than this
    – nonopolarity
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 11:18

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Time on devices is an approximation based on the molecular activity of the components it is constructed of, especially mineral vibration. Some components and the software that estimates from it is better than others. Better phones with better components, or, better phones with better software are necessary for best time estimation. If the estimation is off for you, leave the setting for synchronizing time from the network. The responsibility of your device to perform flawlessly is reduced or eliminated.

See this article online which details how clocks on devices work.

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  • I only know 3 seconds off after a few minutes is "No good", before (or after) taking that Ph.D. in physics
    – nonopolarity
    Commented Oct 9, 2017 at 11:35

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