Samsung Galaxy Gear reviews

Samsung Galaxy Gear: Specs

• 1.63in Super AMOLED (320x320) touchscreen
• 800MHz processor
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB flash storage
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 1.9Mp camera with BSI sensor, autofocus and Sound & Shot
• 720p video recording at 30fps
• two mics with noise cancellation
• speaker
• 315mAh battery
• claimed battery life: 150 hours (standby), 25 hours (with typical use)
• 56.6x36.8x11.1mm
• 73.8g

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH REVIEW

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a smartwatch compatible with only the Galaxy Note 3, S4 and S4 Mini. These are all are popular smartphones, but does the £299you have to shell out for the Galaxy gear smartwatch improve your experience of using a Samsung smartphone? We find out. (Also see: The 13 best smartwatches of 2014.)

When many people consider the concept of a smartwatch, they think of it as a tiny smartphone that you wear on your arm. That's not entirely true. While the Galaxy Gear does indeed let you conduct telephone calls and use its S Voice voice assistant to send text messages, it can handle few of the internet-connected tasks for which we routinely use our smartphones. You can't browse the web and, although you can download apps, software designed for the Galaxy Gear is limited both in number and functionality. And while Mail/Gmail and social-media alerts are supported to the extent that the Galaxy Gear can let you know you have a new message or notification but not who it is from, read or reply to it, these are switched off by default. Our review unit was loaned by eBuyer.

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: DESIGN AND BUILD

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is very big and heavy, at 56.6x36.8x11.1mm and 73.8g, and not particularly well suited to a female arm. But its bulk isn't necessarily a bad thing: there's no chance you'll forget it's there and not use it, and you'll know the second you lose the device.

The Galaxy Gear is well made, with a sturdy stainless steel body, rigid (non-replaceable) rubber strap and metal clasp. You wouldn't expect anything less at this price. It has a stylish design, with smooth, rounded edges, and four tiny screws at each corner of the screen. There's no Samsung logo on display, although a camera jutting out the side of the strap is a wart-like blemish on the overall effect.

The Galaxy Gear gets extra points in the weightlifting department. Okay, so it's only 73.8g, but this thing feels heavy on your arm. Its presence is always felt, and that isn't something you get used to over time.

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: SETUP AND BATTERY LIFE

Setting up the Galaxy Gear is pretty straightforward. Embedded in its charging cradle is an NFC chip that allows you to download to your handset (we used the Samsung Galaxy S4) the Gear Manager app. We had to detach our Mophie battery case to make the connection, but pairing is thereafter conducted over Bluetooth 4.0.

Bluetooth was once considered a chief culprit of battery drain, but the latest specification is optimised for energy efficiency and range. While the Galaxy Gear dropped the connection to our smartphone when we popped it into our bag and walked into another room, this wasn't a frequent occurence during our testing. It was also able to automatically reconnect to the handset when back in range, unless we had specifically prevented this in the settings.

We didn't see a significant decrease in the battery life of our Samsung Galaxy S4 courtesy of this always-on Bluetooth connection, although the Galaxy Gear has itself been criticised for its short runtime. Samsung claims it will last 150 hours on standby, or 25 hours with 'typical' use. That sounds very much on the low side in our experience, given that we had 50 percent of the battery remaining after 24 hours of reasonably heavy use. So just as you might charge your smartphone every night, you'll need to get used to taking off and charging your smartwatch at least every other day, or daily if you don't want to risk getting caught out. A Micro-USB mains charger is supplied in the box.

Having paired the smartwatch and smartphone we waited a few minutes for the Galaxy Gear to download an update; it was then ready to go.

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: GESTURES AND NAVIGATION

It took only a short while to get used to navigating the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. The screen isn't as responsive as those found on Samsung's smartphones, but the longer you spend playing with the device the easier it becomes.

The touchscreen is activated either by a single press of the solitary power button on the device's side (a double-press by default invokes S Voice, but can be customised to launch your choice of app) or, when the Galaxy Gear feels like playing along, lifting your arm (you can specify which is your preferred arm for wearing the watch). Besides the time and date this home screen can also offer the temperature and weather; quick-access links to the Camera-, S Voice- and Settings apps; the number of steps you've taken that day; or your next Calendar appointment. Alternatively, you can display only the time, or opt for either of two styles of analogue clocks.

You can swipe down from the top of the home screen to access the camera, swipe up from the bottom to access the Dialler, and right or left to get to Notifications, S Voice, Voice Memo, Gallery, Media Controller, Pedometer, Settings, Apps, Logs and Contacts. Within each menu item you can tap on actions to select them, and use the drop-down menu at the top right of certain screens to access further options. Dragging down from the top of the screen returns you to the previous one.

A double-tap brings up brightness and volume settings and the battery status, while a double-tap and hold invokes the Recent Apps menu. 

Pleasingly, with all this touching and swiping going on, the Galaxy Gear smartwatch is very good at repelling greasy fingerprints.

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: A PROPER WATCH

The Samsung Galaxy Gear almost gets top marks for its watch-like capabilities. It tells you at a glance the time and date, and its use of a 1.63in (320x320) Super AMOLED touchscreen display with customisable background colours means you have this information at arm's length whether it's pitch-black or you're squinting to see with that overbearing sunshine we so rarely get in England. Note that you can also invoke an Outdoor mode (accessible from the power-off menu), that temporarily increases the screen's brightness.

There are also Timer and Stopwatch apps, a nod to this smartwatch's secondary function as a fitness tracker. Had Samsung made it a little easier to find the Alarm app (you have to call up S Voice and say "Show alarm") we might have got somewhere on the exercise front, rather than snoozing in bed. Annoyingly, when you set an alarm on your smartphone you don't also get the wake-up call on your smartwatch.
SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: TEXTS, CALLS AND EMAIL
The Galaxy Gear instantly alerts you to new text messages, provided you aren't using your smartphone when they arrive, and you can use S Voice rather than a templated message to quickly send a reply. It would be virtually impossible to type in a message on such a small screen, although this option may still be preferable in certain situations if it were available. Received messages are then archived within the Notifications app, although it isn't possible to check your sent messages from the smartwatch.

Conducting a phone call over the Galaxy Gear is a bizarre experience. When you receive an incoming call both your smartphone and smartwatch will ring, and it's up to you to choose on which device you answer it. If you like you can answer it on your smartwatch and then divert the call to your smartphone - perhaps you might demand some privacy, given that the recipient will in essence be on speakerphone - but it's fiddly to do so while holding a conversation. You can also put the caller on mute or bring up the keypad, as you would on a smartphone.

Talking into a smartwatch both looks and feels odd and, although the Galaxy Gear's sound quality is adequate (with dual mics for noise cancellation), there was a noticeable lag between what was said to the Galaxy Gear and those words being heard on the other end of the line. 

The Contacts app within the Galaxy Gear's smartwatch makes it easy to quickly contact anyone stored in your Google contacts, but with a smartphone within Bluetooth range it's difficult to imagine why you might instead use the Galaxy Gear. Missed-call alerts can also be offered by the device.

Email is a sore point for this smartwatch: it is able to inform you of a new Gmail message on your smartphone, but you can't see who it's from, read its contents or send a reply. Email notifcations are also switched off by default, and to turn them on you'll need to launch the Gear Manager app on your smartphone rather than tweak this setting on the smartwatch itself.

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: S VOICE

S Voice is Samsung's answer to Apple's Siri, a voice-activated assistant that can do such things as search online to find answers to your questions, text or call a friend, and add appointments to your calendar. It's used to great effect on the Samsung Galaxy Gear, allowing you to speak aloud replies to messages without needing to pick up your phone or send a preset message. Its use is slightly more limited on the Galaxy Gear than it is the S4, given the lack of a web browser, but it can still send text messages, make calls, add events and tasks, set up to three alarms, open the Camera app and reveal the weather in a particular city.

The Voice Memo app also makes use of the Galaxy Gear's built-in mic, letting you make notes of up to five minutes in duration, which is a better solution than trying to accurately type on a tiny screen.

The Galaxy Gear had no problem understanding our voice, and the amount of lag as it tried to work out what to do with our audible instructions was bearable.

SAMSUNG GALAXY GEAR SMARTWATCH: A FITNESS TRACKER

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is not only a smartwatch but a fitness tracker. Its Pedometer app works in conjunction with the S Health app on the Samsung Galaxy S4 to count your steps and track your health. Its accuracy is questionable, given that we managed to walk nine steps sitting at our desk, but that's neither here nor there if it motivates you to get off your bum and do some exercise.

You can swipe right or left within the Pedometer app to access the Walk Workout, which Samsung claims helps you to walk at a pace that more effectively burns calories, and the S Trainer, which offers 30-minute sessions that combine walking, fast walking and running to help improve your fitness, with haptic feedback used to set the pace.

More: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/smart-watches/samsung-galaxy-review-3467425/