I think releasing it now (before Apple shows their hand) has more to do with how sadly deficient it would look after Apple's much anticipated unveiling. I'm not sure they'd even bother to launch it afterwards.
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Samsung Unveils $299 Galaxy Gear Smart Watch With One-Day Battery Life
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I think releasing it now (before Apple shows their hand) has more to do with how sadly deficient it would look after Apple's much anticipated unveiling. I'm not sure they'd even bother to launch it afterwards.
Excellent points, but I think it's even more fundamental: They failed to inquire how they could make a customer's life better.
(or they just coasted with the definition that "Better" = "More stuff")
I agree with you 100%.
This watch looks like Samsung added sacrificed battery UI stability and other things to get all the features they wanted. Apple on the other hand sacrifice features (iPhone 1 best example) to keep the basics like battery life, good UI etc etc good. Always get the basics right first, that's what the customers want. Flashy features, no matter how cool they are will never win over the customer if the basic functionality is greatly impaired.
Smart watch
We have had simple wind up watches or piezo types that by just swinging your arm charges them for many years. Is this difficult? Put it in a bedside stand at night also. What is with these watches that need a phone with bluetooth-NO- we need it to be a standalone unit, fold it open for full screen, earpiece that snaps or pulls out with mic. The whole idea is to get rid of that phone in your pocket.
Make a belt or line of shoes with added functionality if needed.
We have had simple wind up watches or piezo types that by just swinging your arm charges them for many years. Is this difficult? Put it in a bedside stand at night also. What is with these watches that need a phone with bluetooth-NO- we need it to be a standalone unit, fold it open for full screen, earpiece that snaps or pulls out with mic. The whole idea is to get rid of that phone in your pocket.
Make a belt or line of shoes with added functionality if needed.
In a way it does need to be on, or the OS would take too long to bring up the display.
Quite possible, but still pretty poor battery life. Better than OLED for sure. Also the Galaxy Gear has 2 senses I believe. A gyroscope and an accelerometer.
I said it would be impossible without eating into valuable screen real estate. Look at the sensor on a iPod or iPhone. Look at how much room that lens takes up inside the case. Also working on your E-Ink theory, who wants a B&W camera these days?
We've already got several devices that have been on the market trying to fill this niche for a while now. Some have failed and become obsolete. Right now we have the Pebble, and Sony's Smartwatch, soon to be Smartwatch 2, and now Galaxy Gear. The face will most likely be 1.6 inches from Apple or close to it, and most of these designs are similar. Nothing like that curved bracelet that has been posted around. Curved glass will not happen. Not yet.
That's the number one thing I thought, that a bigger screen would use up more battery. The guy was saying that Android uses bigger screens as a cover to increase it's batteries, because since it doesn't have the Apple logo to him it means it was made without magic dust.
The only time I could ever use a watch like that is for sports .. That would be highly convenient. Wouldn't even care how it looks.
BUT - I need to have all the goodies without the need of a phone it can connect to .. Give me a Smart Watch with option to put a data card in, GPS and some storage for songs and I am all up for it.
The need for a phone it connects to makes it unusable for me as I would not wear that as watch replacement - considering that battery life / looks will always be a challenge ..
BUT - I need to have all the goodies without the need of a phone it can connect to .. Give me a Smart Watch with option to put a data card in, GPS and some storage for songs and I am all up for it.
The need for a phone it connects to makes it unusable for me as I would not wear that as watch replacement - considering that battery life / looks will always be a challenge ..
Disappointed
Apple execs are having a party over this inevitable flop. I was looking forward to this announcement and now, as a gadget lover, I am very disappointed.
Even if we overlook the pricing, I was expecting something much better from Samsung. They should have gone the low power LCD route like the Pebble. I appreciate how it lasts 6 days without even having to turn it off at night.
Apple execs are having a party over this inevitable flop. I was looking forward to this announcement and now, as a gadget lover, I am very disappointed.
Even if we overlook the pricing, I was expecting something much better from Samsung. They should have gone the low power LCD route like the Pebble. I appreciate how it lasts 6 days without even having to turn it off at night.
1) I think the idea is that, combined with the smartphone in your pocket, it'll be easier to keep a visual diary for work or play. Think of it like Google Glass for your wrist.
2) Perhaps they asked enterprise users as well. The number one request for almost any field worker gadget is barcode scanning ability. (The trouble in this case is, the battery life is way too short.)
Since a watch is just as much a fashion item as it is a functional device, the trick is always going to be the design.
I think the Nano + 3rd party bands had it right.
Make the iWatch modular, with by-design mounting points, so 3rd parties can really open up the options for bezels/bands/holders/cases. The package would be a standard band, maybe in a couple of finishes/colors, plus the "core" which is the electronics and an edge-to-edge display (so even the front color is determined by the face/color/style you select).
Also, a watch needs to be slightly more environment tolerance vs. a phone, talking a minor amount of water resistance, or even a meter of water proofing. It's got to be able to get a little wet from rain, washing hands, etc.
That's why I'd also design it as one solid piece (the core portion), without any physical ports. BT for communication, audio (or potentially some kind of WiFi variant), and then either a capacitive type charging solution (even built into a nice stand), or maybe a Magsafe variant (that would still be capacitive I suppose), where a little magnetic coupler just sticks to a "port spot", which could also provide a standard USB interface, Magsafe headphones/earbuds, etc.
I think the Nano + 3rd party bands had it right.
Make the iWatch modular, with by-design mounting points, so 3rd parties can really open up the options for bezels/bands/holders/cases. The package would be a standard band, maybe in a couple of finishes/colors, plus the "core" which is the electronics and an edge-to-edge display (so even the front color is determined by the face/color/style you select).
Also, a watch needs to be slightly more environment tolerance vs. a phone, talking a minor amount of water resistance, or even a meter of water proofing. It's got to be able to get a little wet from rain, washing hands, etc.
That's why I'd also design it as one solid piece (the core portion), without any physical ports. BT for communication, audio (or potentially some kind of WiFi variant), and then either a capacitive type charging solution (even built into a nice stand), or maybe a Magsafe variant (that would still be capacitive I suppose), where a little magnetic coupler just sticks to a "port spot", which could also provide a standard USB interface, Magsafe headphones/earbuds, etc.
I agree with Ryth on all grounds
- A watch with 1 day battery life is horrible!
- Not functioning on its own makes it even more horrible!
- Being priced at $299 is just going to make the device not marketable
What is it that people smoke at Samsung?
- A watch with 1 day battery life is horrible!
- Not functioning on its own makes it even more horrible!
- Being priced at $299 is just going to make the device not marketable
What is it that people smoke at Samsung?
Agreed... I really thought Samsung might have really beat Apple to the punch on this one... but all they've done is show the market they would rather rush a bad product out than take their time and solve some problems first.
IMHO, the Samsung Gear is ugly, too big, and an epic fail for Samsung. I hope Apple can give us a reason to want a smart watch.
BTW... what happened to all the Samsung fans on this site? I don't see them here defending this new innovation?
This lag is exactly why I never pull my Sony smartwatch out of the drawer. It works fine as a watch (although the 2-3 day battery life keeps it off my wrist for that purpose alone) but is frustrating to use to control my phone. It always ends up being less stressful to just haul out my phone and do what I need to do, than try to perform actions on a cramped, laggy interface.
Apple is amazing at taking already on the market products, and doing it better. Given the success of the Nano, I'd love to see Apple pull this trick again for the smart watch market.
Any tricks to make the battery last longer are welcome.
Obviously if you have a watch that runs for 25 hours (that's what I heard about Samsung) a bit of solar power isn't going to help. If we go into "several days" territory, then solar energy could make a lot of difference. I heard some people are working on using energy from all kinds of radiation around us (WiFi, 3G, radio, whatever), no idea how much can be harvested from that.
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Actually, Microsoft's products aren't that bad. If there wasn't any competition, you'd be quite happy with them.
But this watch, I would be very hesitant to wear it if you _paid_ me $299 to wear it. It's not bad compared to the competition, it's just bad.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball: "About the best you could expect from Samsung without having anything to copy from Apple: overpriced, ugly, laggy UI, terrible battery life, dubious utility."
This.
Do not ever forget those Samsung phones before the era of iPhone.
This.
Do not ever forget those Samsung phones before the era of iPhone.
Agreed. Samsung has such cool technology, flexible displays and such, and yet failed to use any of it.
Plus it's not the first smartwatch on the planet by a long shot. What smartwatch buyers want (like longer battery life, swappable straps, and the ability to be useful even without a phone nearby) is pretty well known.
With any kind of luck, this model will fail to sell very well, and somewhere inside Samsung an alternative design group will get to say, "I told you so", and take over.
This is beginning to be reminiscent of the way the tablet market was before the iPad and the smart phone market before the iPhone... lots of companies trying and failing until one of them came along and did it right. So far, no one seems to have it "right" yet.
But then again... smart watches could be like the 3D TV market... a product with no market??? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
It actually looks better than I'd imagined it would, but battery technology is holding gadget capabilities / usability back.
Less than 1 day battery life is very poor for a watch.
Less than 1 day battery life is very poor for a watch.
That's where Apple generally excels: taking a bunch of available tech (not always the best/fastest/newest), packaging it up into an attractive design, with a terrific end-to-end user experience, including a consideration of, What problem does this solve? How does it fit into a personal use model?
This was more like a "What can we cram into a watch?" coupled with some clunky design.
It's the old sum-of-the-parts-does-not-equal-the-whole, not unlike some kit cars, better components than what you see on some other performance cars, but never the same overall satisfying experience (even if they might do one thing really well). Though I am surprised some of the components aren't slicker given Samsung's available technology (some of which is incredibly slick).
Before the iPhone, USA or most Americans (not even a majority had cell phones?) were so behind with cell phone technology / gadgets that majority who have phones are just happy with their crappy / ugly dumb phones.
Apple for sure will create a very elegant iWatch. But in my opinion, for it to be as successful like the iPhone (re: the market who think they will never own / never need a cell phone / watch / something attached in their wrists), it has to be convertible / camouflage into a beautiful plain bracelet / desk display when not in use, then by slide/swipe/whatever, it would then magically becomes an iWatch.
You're describing exactly why I love my Pebble. I didn't go for anything that tried to do too much and sacrificed the user experience (battery life chiefly) in doing so. Samsung tried an all in one approach and did non of the chip engineering that is clearly needed in this use case to provide a proper experience.
Many people will be disappointed by Apple's offering because it won't do everything. The key to success is not doing everything in the first shot, but doing what matters really well. I'm excited for this smart watch boom not because they are great products, but as manufacturing ramps up we're going to see the ultra lower power sensor market explode, which will allow for the killer use cases of tomorrow as the chips become cheap.
Case in point: There is an engineering platform available for the worlds smallest HD pico projector. I have some really interesting ideas of what I'd like to do with it, but heres the kicker....it's $10,000 for an engineering prototype platform. Now 3 years from now I fully expect to be able to pick that up for under $200, or even salvage it from 1st gen products that will implement it. Whether a given category thrives or fails, we all reap the benefits of the economies of scale that bring the tech more and more to the hobbyist/hacker realm.