Samsung Unveils $299 Galaxy Gear Smart Watch With One-Day Battery Life

[prowlmedia]

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?

I am talking about a the Pixel Qi style e-ink and LCD switchable screen tech. E-ink only on a tablet last for a month or it's switched to LCD for films etc. They are full colour.

The camera hole/lens is tiny on an iPhone the whole unit is small enough too. I imagine it would be in a line with the speaker / etc

 

[iHEARTcartoons]

Worst watch ever.

 

[I.Love.Apple]

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.

What else do you expect from Gruber? The dude probably thinks that iPhone is still the best smartphone out there.

 

[spinedoc77]

The Samaung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch
$299 - 4GB of storage

Image

iPod Nano (6th Gen) with 3rd party wrist strap addon
$149 (8 GB) $179 (16 GB) + whatever the wrist strap cost.

Image

See the difference here?
I certainly do.

The iPod Nano + 3rd party strap is cheaper, has more flash drive space, and out performs the Samsung watch hands down. And I think the iPod + strap option looks way cooler too.

That is pretty scary that the ipod nano watch, not even an official product in watch form, is MUCH nicer looking than the Gear. I really have high hopes for Apple's watch, but then again Apple never needed help in making hardware look incredibly good, Apple's weakness is the functionality of its OS and its closed system. Let's hope the iwatch can be jailbroken.

 

[shandyman]

If Apple is going ahead with iWatch with iOS. What kind of battery life will iWatch get. I highly doubt iWatch would ever gets more than 1 day of battery life. I mean smartwatch isn't there yet and i still cannot see the vaule of smart watch.

If the rumours from earlier this year are believed, Apple were to release by end of this year, but pushed that as they weren't happy with battery life. They want it to last a week.

 

[WhackyNinja]

Samsung hoped for their "iPod" moment when they unveiled this watch.

Not sure if that worked very well

 

[I.Love.Apple]

Surprising reaction from gadget enthusiasts

Most people on this forum supposedly are gadget enthusiasts. Seeing the reaction to Samsung Gear here however I am starting to have some doubts about it. Obviously Gear is less than ideal. The simple reason for that is that the technology is not quite ready yet. Gear probably still is the best wearable gadget on the market right now. Sure few people will embrace it but enthusiasts and early adopters will. Just like they did embrace smart phones way before Apple released iPhone. Apple being a tech midget (they do not develop a lot of technology in house) has to wait until tech giants (like Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Sony etc.) develop the technology required for a smartwatch. Nothing wrong with that but one would expect that people who are interested in tech know how this works.

 

[shandyman]

Most people on this forum supposedly are gadget enthusiasts. Seeing the reaction to Samsung Gear here however I am starting to have some doubts about it. Obviously Gear is less than ideal. The simple reason for that is that the technology is not quite ready yet. Gear probably still is the best wearable gadget on the market right now. Sure few people will embrace it but enthusiasts and early adopters will. Just like they did embrace smart phones way before Apple released iPhone. Apple being a tech midget (they do not develop a lot of technology in house) has to wait until tech giants (like Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Sony etc.) develop the technology required for a smartwatch. Nothing wrong with that but one would expect that people who are interested in tech know how this works.

No, the pebble is the best wearable gadget, you should do your research before making that claim about the Gear. Pebble beats it hands Down, looks better, compatible with significantly more devices, significantly better battery life. That's just the start.

 

[LordVic]

Most people on this forum supposedly are gadget enthusiasts. Seeing the reaction to Samsung Gear here however I am starting to have some doubts about it. Obviously Gear is less than ideal. The simple reason for that is that the technology is not quite ready yet. Gear probably still is the best wearable gadget on the market right now. Sure few people will embrace it but enthusiasts and early adopters will. Just like they did embrace smart phones way before Apple released iPhone. Apple being a tech midget (they do not develop a lot of technology in house) has to wait until tech giants (like Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Sony etc.) develop the technology required for a smartwatch. Nothing wrong with that but one would expect that people who are interested in tech know how this works.

while I agree, as a technophobe, I love the trend we're seeing about incorporating technlogical advancements into everything and the synergy of different tech solutions with eachother for convergent needs. Watches are a bridge that is not going to be easily passed by throwing bigger beefier things at it.

Unlike phones, which when they were new, and early stages, could get away with being big and ugly devices, since you carried them in your pocket and were not intended to be fashion accessories, watches are by primary purpose, a fashion accessory. One of the primary drivers for how well a watch is received is by it's look. Watches are an outward appearance accessory which are seen by everyone.

if the technology isn't there to make a watch that is aesthetically pleasing, then a smart watch isn't going to be a succesfull product. These arent the first attempts at convergence of watch and tech, and most have failed previously because of being large and nighmarish. Who didnt get the AM/FM watch to try out when they were younger? Or the Dick Tracy TV watch? While they were technologically superior, hey all eventually failed because they were primarily tech, and not good looking.

This IMHO is going to be why the Samsung wearable will also be a flop. This is not something you will see business people wanting to wear as they walk around the office. in company meetings, out shaking hands and making deals. Its remiscent of those calculator watches from seiko that math nerds and computer geeks might have worn to math club.

 

[akbarali.ch]

For me recharging your watch once a day is a bit silly. I have a Pebble watch and I even forget to charge it once a week. Thankfully it's battery life is pretty good. Yes they are two different devices, one is a companion, while the other can do more tasks on it's own, etc.

I think Samsung was trying to beat Apple to the punch here, however 1 day battery life is pretty rough. However I guess if you're into the habit of charging your phone once a day, it's just another thing to remember.

charging everyday is not a problem unless you have to manually go through the process of plugging it...Other way to say is, by now we should have a large wireless charging pad and we can just throw our devices like bluetooth headphone, celphones, smart watch! on it and it will charge....then everyday charging wont be much of an issue.

 

[smakdown61]

The only way to have a successfull smart watch (and I mean successful as in the number of iphone/ipads sold) is by creating some reason to wear the watch other than copying/mirroring phone functions. If the iwatch was released and looked extremely slick with a flexible display and all, but only had the same functionality as these current watches, I still wouldn't buy it.

However, if they could implement some advanced biometric functions that these newer fitness bands can do, I may take a second look. The fact that flexible displays are still on target for only next year gives apple plenty of time to develop something.

 

[ReanimationN]

I hope Apple, thanks to being a Californian company, and having at least enough of a connection to surfing to name one of their operating systems after a surf break, makes their watch completely waterproof for those of us into water sports.

 

[alent1234]

So after years of hyping big screens Samsung is now saying how awesome it is to do the same things on a tiny screen?

What does gear do that smartphones don't?

Most people on this forum supposedly are gadget enthusiasts. Seeing the reaction to Samsung Gear here however I am starting to have some doubts about it. Obviously Gear is less than ideal. The simple reason for that is that the technology is not quite ready yet. Gear probably still is the best wearable gadget on the market right now. Sure few people will embrace it but enthusiasts and early adopters will. Just like they did embrace smart phones way before Apple released iPhone. Apple being a tech midget (they do not develop a lot of technology in house) has to wait until tech giants (like Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Sony etc.) develop the technology required for a smartwatch. Nothing wrong with that but one would expect that people who are interested in tech know how this works.

 

[wingsabre]

People need phones, they don't need watches. This is a niche product, just like the iWatch will be a niche product. It's not going to improve someone's life the say a smartphone or tablet will do.

 

[The Deepness]

Thanks for your reply, a very decent one as well that's also rare these days Thumbs up!

Thanks for the compliment. And thank you for the conversation. I agree, civil disagreements on these forums are very rare indeed these days.

 

[I.Love.Apple]

while I agree, as a technophobe, I love the trend we're seeing about incorporating technlogical advancements into everything and the synergy of different tech solutions with eachother for convergent needs. Watches are a bridge that is not going to be easily passed by throwing bigger beefier things at it.

Unlike phones, which when they were new, and early stages, could get away with being big and ugly devices, since you carried them in your pocket and were not intended to be fashion accessories, watches are by primary purpose, a fashion accessory. One of the primary drivers for how well a watch is received is by it's look. Watches are an outward appearance accessory which are seen by everyone.

if the technology isn't there to make a watch that is aesthetically pleasing, then a smart watch isn't going to be a succesfull product. These arent the first attempts at convergence of watch and tech, and most have failed previously because of being large and nighmarish. Who didnt get the AM/FM watch to try out when they were younger? Or the Dick Tracy TV watch? While they were technologically superior, hey all eventually failed because they were primarily tech, and not good looking.

This IMHO is going to be why the Samsung wearable will also be a flop. This is not something you will see business people wanting to wear as they walk around the office. in company meetings, out shaking hands and making deals. Its remiscent of those calculator watches from seiko that math nerds and computer geeks might have worn to math club.

I would agree with you if we talking strictly about watches. I think that in this case the tern "smart watch" is misplaced. Obviously Gear is a lousy watch. Nobody would buy it for its watch features. Gear is an attempt at introducing new category of wearable devices (not just Gear). At this stage I think some people who need sophisticated devices for exercising or health monitoring might be interested. It does offer some potential for controlling music player on the phone and reading notifications too but for that the device needs to become smaller and the battery life should improve otherwise it's just too much hassle for what it offers.

 

[spinedoc77]

No, the pebble is the best wearable gadget, you should do your research before making that claim about the Gear. Pebble beats it hands Down, looks better, compatible with significantly more devices, significantly better battery life. That's just the start.

That is subjective IMO. Does the pebble allow you to remotely initiate phone calls? It all depends on what you need. The thing about the Gear that excited me was being able to initiate a phone call without having to take a huge phablet out of my pocket. The pebble to me still looks like a 1980s casio calculator watch to me, it is better than the gear but not by much, but then strapping a piece of dog crap to my wrist would probably look better than the Gear.

 

[AngryCorgi]

Most people on this forum supposedly are gadget enthusiasts. Seeing the reaction to Samsung Gear here however I am starting to have some doubts about it. Obviously Gear is less than ideal. The simple reason for that is that the technology is not quite ready yet. Gear probably still is the best wearable gadget on the market right now. Sure few people will embrace it but enthusiasts and early adopters will. Just like they did embrace smart phones way before Apple released iPhone. Apple being a tech midget (they do not develop a lot of technology in house) has to wait until tech giants (like Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Sony etc.) develop the technology required for a smartwatch. Nothing wrong with that but one would expect that people who are interested in tech know how this works.

A tech midget?? Cute attack there.

Look, technology is great, but being a "gadget enthusiast" actually does not assume that you have tossed the human-engineering of a product to the side. In fact, it suggests the very opposite. New technology, void of practical use or a practical interface, is not useful to consumers. Sorry, but the gear is a terrible looking, terrible behaving (based on hands on videos) and terribly impractical device. I've seen many more precursors to the gear by different companies that actually looked more attractive and behaved in a more intuitive and fluid manner than this overpriced monstrosity.

 

[shandyman]

That is subjective IMO. Does the pebble allow you to remotely initiate phone calls? It all depends on what you need. The thing about the Gear that excited me was being able to initiate a phone call without having to take a huge phablet out of my pocket. The pebble to me still looks like a 1980s casio calculator watch to me, it is better than the gear but not by much, but then strapping a piece of dog crap to my wrist would probably look better than the Gear.

Yea, you can initiate a call but the watch will be dead within hours........ The Gear is absurd. Also the lag and baffling gestures..... The ridiculous cost... Any plus sides the gears had are easily killed by the lag, battery life and usability issues. Anyone that thinks the gear is a good device is nothing more than a fandroid....

 

[chrisbru]

At least this is going to make sneaky naked photos easier! /s

 

[I.Love.Apple]

A tech midget?? Cute attack there.

Look, technology is great, but being a "gadget enthusiast" actually does not assume that you have tossed the human-engineering of a product to the side. In fact, it suggests the very opposite. New technology, void of practical use or a practical interface, is not useful to consumers. Sorry, but the gear is a terrible looking, terrible behaving (based on hands on videos) and terribly impractical device. I've seen many more precursors to the gear by different companies that actually looked more attractive and behaved in a more intuitive and fluid manner than this overpriced monstrosity.

You could say the same about the comparison between the first mobile phone (1983) and iPhone (2007). Yet I do not think anybody is sorry that they used cell phones starting from 1983 and did not wait for Apple to come up with "attractive" solution. The technology today is what it is. It will satisfy some users for what they need. Apple may not release a "smart phone" for ten more years for all we know. Because they do not do niche products but Samsung does. BTW, very few people remember but Samsung released the first phone watch (SPH-WP10) in the World in 1999:

 

[Klosefabrinio]

to all those who are dissing this smartwatch:
it's a samsung product, they wont give up until they've perfected it, look at the note and the galaxy s line. so dont you worry about that. the thing you should be concerned about is that they brought out a great product a year before apple, it's a product that does it all (i've read the first impression reviews from a lot of different sites (28 to be exact) and 75-80% say that it's the best thing out there and they love it).

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Now it is Apple's turn. Wonder what Apple has up its sleeve? Fun times indeed for technology.

Could be nothing really. Apple could have just been fishing and letting other manufacturers R&Ding spending millions if not billions of their money for nothing.

 

[cwwilson]

I'll be surprised if this "watch" makes it longer than a year on the market.

 

[Markyboy81]

At least this is going to make sneaky naked photos easier! /s

Unfortunately not, Samsung will disable the "shutter sound off" feature! Not that in was hoping for sneaky naked pictures..