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

[rebolledo]

there's a hands on video at engadget. it's hard to understand how they can design such a horrible interface. unintuitive gestures, terribly designed icons, oddly placed physical button...

 

[Hastings101]

I still think "smart watches" are stupid. Please stay away from this market, Apple!

 

[HarryKeogh]

Not sure if this watch can tell time correctly. It wants to look like it's still 2003.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Why not make it more usable as a phone replacement? Worry about the screen less, but give it really good speak phone with noise cancellation.

Very few people are going to want to watch shows on a 320X320 screen, so they should have focused on functionality instead of resolution. If they gave it an E-ink screen, it would get way better battery life, and could still be usable to check email

 

[MacApple21]

I wouldn't be surprised if apple leaked to the world that they were working on a watch (even had some people working on it) just to get other companies to make one, and apple won't ever release it. lol

This is why Apple shouldn't fear Samsung in the long run. They are inherently copy cats, and whenever they try to "innovate" - something like this comes up..

Exactly my thought. I don't think that what Apple is working on will be anything like what Samsung just did. For God's sake - it's a phone, without a phone, on your wrist. But it has a camera, so now you can finally snap a photo of that hot person sitting next to you without getting caught.. Or rather, you'll just have to look like you are trying to attention to your "cool" SmartWatch by waving your arm..

 

[SakuraSuki]

Seems like a poor product (and I'd feel the same, probably even more disappointed, if this was an Apple product):

1) Aforementioned battery life. 1 day for a phone, OK. For a watch, you gotta be joking. The Nike Fuelband (yes doesn't have a color screen, but also has a smaller battery) gets 3 days and even that can become a PITA to manage.

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.

2) Samsung press release touts it as a "fashion accessory". Maybe in theory, but this watch is thick and completely unstylish. They must have hired Timex to design it.

Yes, this thing is thick and ugly.

4) Price point. $299 is absurd for this package even if it were stylish because it doesn't offer any real new functionality, and that is why people will buy a smart watch. Otherwise they can buy an actual fashion watch for that price or less.

The $299 is pretty much a rip off. You can get a Nexus 7 less than this.

 

[leo.andres.21]

It's got an 800mhz processor but multiple hands on demos are already describing lag ruining the experience....what gives?

It takes Android 8 1.8ghz cores to run smoothly *cough*SGS4*cough*

 

[Ryth]

A smart watch isn't personally exciting to me. I have no need or desire. But at least the Pebble concept keeps it simple - and using e-ink rocks on battery life I believe.

Neither is it to me.

But what Apple is coming out with I'm sure will not be considered a smart watch. It will be something that a lot of us never thought about.

 

[Quu]

I'm surprised they put a camera on it, just seems like a waste of time the quality is too poor to be used and just adds to the bulk not to mention everyone already has a great camera in their smart phone which if you're buying a $300 smart watch you would already own.

Samsung come on, you can do better.

 

[dojoman]

You forget the Galaxy Note, This is pretty orginonal. The S-pen is pretty amazing. Beside, the CEO already said this Galaxy Gear thing is "expermential".

Note 3? No thanks. I don't wanna look ridiculous. Stylus is so innovative. Yeah "experimental" to pay $300. Fail!!!

 

[NT1440]

It takes Android 8 1.8ghz cores to run smoothly *cough*SGS4*cough*

I hope to god this thing isn't running a full version of android with a skin, thats a complete waste of resources...which probably explains the battery life.

 

[I8P'CS]

This watch is packing 512MB of RAM, same amount as on a low/mid range iMac. Thats not good

 

[rjohnstone]

It takes Android 8 1.8ghz cores to run smoothly *cough*SGS4*cough*

SGS4 (U.S. version) has 4 cores (Qualcomm S600) and runs very smooth.

 

[Number 41]

Other than hipsters, no one under 40 wears a watch anymore.

 

[2298754]

I thought this was going to be cheaper. $299 is ridiculous.

 

[gnasher729]

Samsung is offering the Galaxy Gear in six different colors, including Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green.

Where are the jokes about a gold coloured watch now?

 

[AppleInLVX]

The thing that's depressing for me is all the resources that will be consumed making this steaming pile that no one will want, and all the e-waste only so they can get to market first. What an awful, myopic business philosophy.

 

[Tonewheel]

Geek-O-Rama

 

[Millah]

All this thing is going to do is solidify just how much Samsung copies Apple when Apple comes out with their supposed wrist-device. If Apple comes out with something and its dramatically different than this "smart watch" both in terms of design and function, Samsungs smartwatch will magically transform into something similar.

Here ya go folks, this is the kind of quality you can expect from Samsung when they have no established paradigm to base off of. This is what you get from Samsung when they try to venture into unknown territory. An ugly bulky hardware design, an awful user interface design, jarring lag in the software, awful battery life, and an overall poor user experience.

If Samsung is supposedly the new "innovative" powerhouse in technology, then God help us.

 

[SockRolid]

It does not function on its own, requiring a Bluetooth 4.0 connection to work.

Pebble-killer. Nothing more.

 

[Michael Goff]

It takes Android 8 1.8ghz cores to run smoothly *cough*SGS4*cough*

Wow... just wow.

You're being sarcastic, right?

 

[jadot]

retro

 

[Krazy Bill]

Mental Note: Must pump some iron before I'm seen with one of these.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Not even Pebble. Pebble did get a lot of press and advance the expectations though.

A smart watch isn't personally exciting to me. I have no need or desire. But at least the Pebble concept keeps it simple - and using e-ink rocks on battery life I believe.

All the extras and noise to me seems silly. I'd never use my watch to take a picture. (Of course I say that now - cut to 10 years from now...) And for me, I don't need to look at my watch for alerts. In fact - most days I don't even wear a watch.

Further - if I was using a smartwatch to keep track of fitness - I'd use a simple band which runs a lot less $.

And yes, I do realize this is my use case only. But $299 for a watch - this one or even if Apple makes one is just not of interest to me.

Well, that's why it would do what the band does plus a lot more. Integrate a lot of functions into one that makes you willing to spend more.

 

[cambox]

Smart move... Not! Who wants a smart watch of any brand let alone this one. The word smart is used on not so smart products, it's a bit like buying something that has Pro in the title.. You just know its going to be far from it (except the Mac Pro) as this is almost a pro machine.