Long gone are the days of showing off multiplication on your geeky little calculator watch. I can still remember thinking that the back-light on my Casio watch was the best thing since sliced bread. With the neck break speed technology is evolving around us it was a mere eventuality that technology would catch up with our ever trusting time keeping buddies. Samsung introduced the Galaxy Gear in the latter parts of last year and whilst not gaining huge support from critics and consumers is still selling quite well in South Africa. So will the Galaxy Gear be the quintessential extension of your Android device? Or does the watch only provide brief James Bond-esque moments of entertainment? This review will hopefully shed some light on the issue.
With the launch of the Note 3, Samsung paired it up with its own Smart-watch, the Galaxy Gear. To me the smart watch as a product still needs to establish itself as a mainstream device. With the Pebble gaining early momentum, there is definitely a lot of space to play in this market. The fact that Samsung initially only allowed the Gear to work with the Note 3 didn’t help the confidence in the product. But with the Android 4.3 update for most of the other Samsung devices the Gear will have a few more connectable buddies. Here is a quick low down on the specs:
| Specifications | Samsung Galaxy Gear |
| Processor | 800 MHz processor |
| Display | 1.63 inch (41.4mm) Super AMOLED (320 x 320) |
| Camera | 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus Camera / Sound & Shot |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth® v 4.0 + BLE |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Gyroscope |
| Memory | 4GB Internal memory + 512 MB (RAM) |
| Dimension | 36.8 x 56.6 x 11.1 mm, 73.8g |
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-ion 315mAh |
Design and Build
The Gear sports a silicone wrist band with subtle grooves on the band itself. The 1.63inch display is encased in stainless steel and has a polished look to its metallic bezels. The wristband‘s locking mechanism feels quite sturdy and works well. The right side of the watch includes a “œhome“ button. The camera is embedded in the wristband and faces away from you when looking at the watch. Hopefully the next generation will have a camera sensor that is flusher with the wristband because of the continuous fear of scratching the protruding lens. The overall looks are quite sleek and easy on the eye. The silicone wristband may be too casual for a strict corporate look, but you can still pull it off. Beauty remains in the eye of the beholder, but I loved wearing it and more importantly looking at it!
The Gear comes with a wrap around charging dock which allows the user to initially pair (via Bluetooth) and charge the device. The charging dock fits snugly around the Gear and the front sports the same “leather-plastic” look found on the back of the Galaxy Note 3.
Display
The Gear sports a 1.63inch Super AMOLED display (320 x 320 resolution). The display is quite sharp and colors display well on the device. The full color screen strains a bit in full sunlight but all in all I really like looking at this watch. The watch is just the correct size for it not to be a geeky calculator-type watch and is still large enough to view photos and use apps. The gyroscope/accelerometer sensors detects when you rotate and move your wrist up to look at the watch and automatically activates the screen, which I found quite nifty, muck better than having to activate the watch just to see the time. Photos taken with the Gear display amazingly well on the little screen with rich detail and it is easy to show of your snaps.
Performance and Battery:
The 800MHz Exynos processor and 512MB of RAM combination is enough punch for the rigors of this smart-watch. The limited apps that are available all run smoothly on the device although they are quite limited on the watch itself (more in the software section). I could easily swipe through the menu, take pictures and explore my gallery. Unfortunately all of this drains the little battery quite quickly, especially when you snap away lots of photos and a video or three. The little 1.9MP camera performs as well as expected and the pics do look nice on the watch, but not so nice when synced to the Note 3. That said, it is a more than adequate little image capturing system.
The Galaxy Gear features a 315mAh battery which was only able to hold a charge for about a day. This was quite disappointing to me as I didn’t want to add yet another device to my overnight charging line-up. The Super AMOLED display is easily the cause of most of its drain, plus the addition of its always-working sensors to notice movements of your wrist. You can disable its sensors, but then you lose even more functionality of the device, as mentioned you’ll then have to hit the power button to turn the display on. A great plus for me though was the fact that the watch never seemed to heat up. Many smart devices these days emanate quite a bit of warmth from the battery and processors working hard to keep up. The Gear however stayed cool to the touch and never became uncomfortable to wear.
Software and UI
The interaction between the gear and the Note 3 (used for testing purposes) was seamless. You just put the Gear in its charging dock, tap the back to the Note 3 and viola, your Gear is connected! Navigating through the Gear‘s menu is quite intuitive with left/right swipes between apps. Two finger double tap on the display to see battery status, brightness and sound controls. If you two finger long press anywhere on the device, you are met with a multitasking interface that all Android users should be familiar with. Sometimes it is a bit difficult to register finger commands which will force you to retry quite a few times and will also test your technology patience. You are able to customize your Gear with different colors, types of time displays etc.
On the Note 3 (or other 4.3 Android device) you will find the “˜Gear Manager‘ app where you can manage everything around the smart-watch. You can decide what notifications will be sent, what apps are loaded etc. You also have a function to “œcall“ your Gear. The smart watch will emit a loud ring and you will be able to find it within Bluetooth range. All your photos/videos from the Gear will instantly be synced to your Gallery in the Note 3. Unfortunately any Google notifications aren’t linked to your Gear. This to me is a major oversight from Samsung. About 75% of my notifications happen through some or other Google function. You also can‘t take calls or reply to SMS‘s on the gear, another let down. The whole smart, James-Bond type watch is cool and all, but there are a lot of advances and upgrades Samsung can make (bring on the Gear 2!).
The camera on the Gear is probably my favorite app. I walked through an entire level of an office building only using the camera function as a guide. You can take inconspicuous spy-photos and record some gossip at the water cooler. And all the while your media is synced back to your Note 3.
Conclusion:
The Galaxy Gear for me misses the mark. It is not way off but still does not deliver what I feel the ideal smart watch should. The design is cool and the idea behind the Gear is sound. It just falls short on a number of areas. Weak battery life, no Google integration, weak 3rd party app support and with a price of around R4500, it is just too difficult to justify. I also think the UI is a little bit elementary, there is no dimensions in the interface and everything within most of the menus are mostly two-tone colors (black on white, or the colors of your choosing). I do however think Samsung will correct many of these issues with the upcoming Gear 2.
