Introduction and design
We’re nearly ready to bring you our in-depth Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch review – in the meantime, enjoy our extended hands on photography and further thoughts on the watch.
What makes a smartwatch these days? Is it something that simply sits on the wrist and buzzes when the phone does something in the pocket? A fully-fledged phone it itself? Or, like the Galaxy Gear, something in between?
We’ve got all kinds of devices pretending to be a smartwatch, and there’s definitely an interest from consumers, if not a desire, for such a thing strapped to the wrist.
There was clamour for the LG GD510, the real ‘Dick Tracy’ smartwatch that was essentially a feature phone on a wrist, allowing you to make calls and send texts.
It was thoroughly rubbish as a phone replacement, yet sold out the world over.
And then there’s the Pebble, a watch that’s meant to sit neatly next to your smartphone and give notifications and extra information when needed – a huge hit on Kickstarter, it’s been met with tepid reviews yet the makers still struggle to meet demand.
So when Samsung, the world’s biggest supplier of smartphones, makes a device that supplements the Galaxy Note 3 (and other devices soon) we should all sit up and take notice, right?
The Gear is certainly an attractive device, a clever mix of metal and rubber that gives it a really solid feel. It has to do that, as you’ll be forking out £299 or $299 (Around AUS$324) for the privilege of owning one, although there are loads of deals out there to take some of the money off if you buy it with a Note 3.
Given it won’t function without it, you’d be a fool to pick up a Gear without a companion Samsung device.
Despite also packing a 1.9MP camera, the Gear doesn’t feel overly cumbersome on the wrist. It’s a little on the large side to accommodate the 1.6-inch Super AMOLED 320 x 320 resolution screen, which means it will catch on most clothing, but it’s not in the realms of sports watches that runners love to lug around on marathons.
The clasp is strong, so the fit is generally snug enough, although it can get a little tight over the course of the day – but that’s an issue most watches struggle with. The problem there is that you can’t change the strap on the Gear as it has the camera stuck inside – so best make sure it’s a decent fit before purchase.
There’s only one button on the outside, which is the power / function key. A tap of this will turn the device on, but a long press or double tap will also make the Gear perform other tasks, which you can choose yourself. These are a little limited, but we like that Samsung has tried to maximise the lack of tappable space on the screen in this way.
We were a little surprised by the method of charging: the Galaxy Gear comes with a plastic case which you strap the watch into and plug a standard microUSB cable into the back of. This means that you have to remember to bring the charging case with you at all times, and can’t rely on anyone having a spare charger when caught short.
However, the addition of a port on the watch would have likely increased size too much, so we like this compromise. The case also comes with NFC connectivity, so when pairing your Note 3 (or Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 2 in the coming weeks) you just tap the handset to the back of the case and the pairing is taken care of simply, which again reduces heft in the watch.
Do we like the design of the Galaxy Gear? It’s a little chunky and the screws on the front of the watch look like they’re trying a little too hard to make it look like an expensive wrist-watch… which we suppose it is.
But Samsung needs to give a premium air for something that costs so much to buy, so we’ll say the design makes a lot of sense here.
Interface
The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a watch that comes with a different kind of need: to last only a day or two (according to Samsung) and be operated with fingers, rather than a simple glance down once in a while.
We were initially annoyed that a double tap on the screen wouldn’t wake the Gear up, but then we found that simple raising the watch up to your eyeline will cause it to activate, which is pretty cool. It’s a little too erratic in use, which irritated us somewhat, and caused us to need to be too deliberate in our arm raising action to just see the time.
As you’ll realise throughout the review, one of the main tasks with the Galaxy Gear is using it without looking like a huge tool, and swinging one’s arm back and forth to just see whether it’s time for Parks and Recreation doesn’t help that image.
In terms of using the Galaxy Gear, it’s all very easy to work out for yourself. The main thing to do is swipe left and right, bringing the chance to look at notifications, control music, start S Voice to make a note and more. Swiping down will start the camera, and upwards will get you to the dial pad so you can make calls using the device.
The 800MHz processor inside generally does a good job of powering things along with the Gear, although we have to say that it’s too slow to register inputs compared to modern smartphones. There’s a definite lag between command and action, and we’d expect more from Samsung.
Inputs don’t always register, and the layout of the apps isn’t the most intuitive. Like most things on the Gear, you’ll need to use the Gear Manager app that you’ll install on first use with the Note 3, and from there you can shift around the order of the elements within the phone.
However, some things are hardwired to the device, so you can’t place notifications anywhere other than to the right of the main clock display. This is rather annoying if you want your media controls to be there, but we can see why Samsung is trying to preserve the most important function of the device.
We thought we’d cracked the issue with the ability to change the clock face – you can either have analogue options in a variety of colours, or a digital clock with an app underneath.
You can see how many steps you’ve taken each time you turn the watch on, or the weather, or – as we were quite happy to see – set shortcuts to apps. We were looking forward to having notifications, music control and the weather all in one place, as these are the things we can see most people using the Gear for.
However, only the music controller was present as an option, which meant there was a real missed opportunity. We’d even have loved to see a full music control widget underneath the clock, but it wasn’t to be. Instead you’ll need to tap the miniature icon just to get into your tunes, and the tapping accuracy was too low, registering only every second press.
There are other issues too: if you turn on your phone using only the ‘arm raising’ method, you’ll get back to the clockface each time. However, if you’re trying to control music each time, you’ll need to keep swiping to the app. This doesn’t happen if you press the power button, as this will take you back to the last-used app.
It’s nice Samsung is preserving the time functionality, but when a device doesn’t do what you want it to, it grates.
We can see what Samsung is trying to do with the interface on the Gear, but it doesn’t work well enough. Slow at times, hard to work out and generally too locked down, it’s a massive step back from the customisability of Android that we’re used to on Samsung devices.
Hands on preview
The following is from our hands on preview – check back in the next 24 hours to see our full, unfettered thoughts about the Galaxy Gear.
There’s a lot of exciting technology packed in that show that Samsung is at least trying to push the boat out. For instance, there’s a real security boon with an auto-locking feature that will shut the lockscreen on your phone or tablet should you move more than 1.5m from your device while wearing the smartwatch.
And we really like Smart Relay, which lets you preview you emails on your Galaxy Gear before whipping out your connected smartphone, with the whole message popping up before your very eyes.
Samsung has clearly put a lot of thought into its new smartwatch, designing in a microphone and speaker that allows you to speak to whoever is calling you on the phone by raising your wrist next to your head.
However, that thought didn’t extend to the possibility that anyone doing this would look like they were talking on a pretend phone… it’s not immediately obvious that you’re talking on a smartwatch.
Samsung claims that this looks more normal than speaking to a Bluetooth headset, but we’d have to disagree there.
But what about how the smartwatch could actually integrate into your day to day life? After all, it’s something that’s got a built-in pedometer, a music player, a 1.9MP camera (called a Memographer, for some reason) and reams of apps from the outset that mean you will severely cut down on having to pull your phone out of your pocket.
Been outbid on eBay? Got an important meeting coming up? Need to dial a number? The functionality is all there on your wrist, and the touch-sensitive screen (a Super AMOLED option with a 320 x 320 resolution) seems able to handle the above with aplomb.
But the first problem our test unit encountered was that, well, without a smartphone attached it’s pretty useless. The S Health app still fired up, which shows that this can still function as a fitness companion, but other than that it’s a device that’s devoid of its own identity.
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The camera isn’t too bad – while getting a shot nicely framed is always going to be difficult given the angle you’re shooting from, the result could definitely be worse.
Opening up the camera isn’t too hard either, with a swift swipe from the top bezel launching it and a tap on the screen starting and finishing the process of taking a photo or video.
The display is nicely visible as well – we can see users liking the stark contrast of the AMOLED technology that displays your chosen timepiece. The downside is that the battery will only last 25 hours – fine if you’re using a smartphone, not as much fun when you’ve got to charge your watch every day.
Samsung needs to make something that more resembles a watch here in more than just style to be taken seriously as a real wristpiece – and that’s before we’ve got onto the real issue.
You see, for all the above, the 800MHz processor just cannot keep up with the prods and pokes we wanted it to. Just swiping left and right to get through the categories resulted in the Gear melting down and freezing, and the display ended up splitting in two, showing two different apps.
This could very well be an issue with early software – and anecdotal evidence suggests it performs a lot better when it’s connected to a phone (which ours couldn’t be) – but at nearly £300, this device needs to be perfect before it hits the shelves on September 25.
Early verdict
Samsung has got some things really right on the Galaxy Gear: the styling is great and the interface is nifty. We like the way the camera works (although we’re not sure you’d want it, even for the likes of Vine or Instagram) and the idea of Smart Relay appeals to our geekier nature.
But we were a little shocked at how laggy and slow the interface was on the watch – it instantly felt like every other sub-par smartwatch we’d encountered in the past.
Samsung could still turn this one around, but there needs to be a big step forward to make the Galaxy Gear worth anywhere near the money that’s likely to be asked.
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