Are you still dreaming about purchasing Samsung Galaxy Gear? The first Samsung Galaxy smartwatch was released together with the Galaxy Note 3 and brought a real revolution to the smartphone market. If you are still trying to decide whether it’s worth spending hundreds of bucks on a gadget for reading messages, getting some notifications, etc. right on your wrist, we are offering you a roundup of the most useful Galaxy Gear reviews.
Brad Molen from engadget.com claims the Galaxy Gear, just like any other first-generation Samsung device, is a nice smartwatch, but it still needs “more TLC, device compatibility and third-party support.”
It was only a matter of time before a large manufacturer like Samsung tossed its hat into the wearables arena. Its first attempt, known as the Galaxy Gear, was announced alongside the Galaxy Note 3 and the new Note 10.1 about a month ago. With a 1.6-inch AMOLED screen, upcoming third-party support and even a camera, this promises to be unlike any smartwatch we’ve played with before. Still, the suggested MSRP of $300 is a pretty high price to pay for the convenience of looking at texts on your wrist, and you may not even see Warren Beatty rocking the thing on the red carpet. But is this first-generation Samsung device executed well enough that you might consider purchasing it along with your new Galaxy Note 3? Let’s see.
In such a way, among Galaxy Gear pros the editor highlights comfort as well as smooth and responsive performance.
On the other hand, according to Brad Molen the device has more cons than pros. Among Galaxy Gear cons he enumerates:
- Limited compatibility,
- No touchless control,
- S Voice is hit and miss,
- Notifications are a mess.
As per Andrew Hoyle from CNET, the Galaxy Gear has some potential, but its inability “to perform truly “smart” functions means it falls far short of expectations.”
The Gear has no SIM card or data connection of its own. Instead, it links to your phone over Bluetooth, acting more as an external display so you don’t have to fish your phone out every time it rings. Add to that its $299 price tag and the fact that it’s only compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 at launch and you have a recipe for disappointment. Samsung has said it will be updated toward the end of the year to work with the Galaxy S4, S3, and Note 2, but even so, that’s very few compatible devices. Those of you who have splashed out on a fancy new HTC One or Sony Xperia Z1 will be out of luck.
According to Andrew Hoyle, among Galaxy Gear cons are its attractiveness, comfort and ease to see incoming calls.
Galaxy Gear cons include: lack of e-mail and social networks support, compatibility with the Galaxy Note 3 only, the external charging case, and hit-and-miss voice control.
Vlad Savov in his the Verge Samsung Galaxy Gear review says that he was quite impressed with the built-in camera and some of the smartwatch features, though he found notifications useless, flawed menu navigation, and a number of features didn’t work in a proper way. Here is what he says:
A smartwatch the Galaxy Gear is not. Frankly, I’m not sure exactly what it’s supposed to be. Samsung describes it as a companion device, and the Gear is indeed chronically dependent on an umbilical link to another Samsung device, but it never left me feeling like it was a helpful companion. The notifications are Orwellian, the media controls are exiguous, and the app selection has no substance to underpin the hype. Samsung’s attempt to turn the Gear into a style icon is also unlikely to succeed, owing to the company’s indecision about its target demographic. Trying to please all tastes has resulted in a predictably charmless and soulless product.
According to Vlad Savov, Galaxy Gear pros include: long-lasting, phone calls on your wrist, and good camera.
The bad is that apps are rather buggy or substandard, cumbersome design, has the battery life of a phone instead of a watch, uninformative notifications, too pricey.
According to Matt Safford of digitaltrends, Samsung Galaxy Gear is a nice device that’s comfortable to wear, battery life is enough to get through the entire day, apps look good, and getting notifications on the wrist is a feature worth paying for.
But without delivering useful information for most types of messages, the Gear feels frustratingly limited. The screen needs to power on faster when you raise it to your wrist, and the company needs to ditch the charging cradle for an on-board Micro USB port and built-in NFC. The lack of support for nearly anything other than the Note 3 or Note 10.1 Edition is also an issue that needs fixing. But considering the Gear’s currently limited utility, we’d rather Samsung focus on fixing big problems first.
According to Matt Safford, Galaxy Gear pros include:
- Screen looks good and is readable in sunlight
- Making phone calls works well in quiet environments
- Good build quality
Galaxy Gear Cons:
- Only compatible with 2 Samsung devices
- Gesture control for turning on screen is slow
- Notifications lack essential details
- Clamp-on shell required for (daily) recharging
- NFC chip for pairing lives in the charger, not the watch
- Few compatible apps
Here we go. As you see, each reviewer had something positive to say about the first-generation Samsung smartwatch, though all of them agree that the device is not quite ready for mass production as it lacks a number of necessary features.
Most agree that the design, camera, and battery life are pretty good. But the software, notifications, compatibility with other smart devices need to be improved. In addition, the price tag of $299 is too high for a wrist watch that informs of incoming calls and doesn’t have at least e-mail and social platforms support.
