Samsung Unveils New Gear S3 Smart Watch With GPS and LTE [Update: Will Support iPhone]

[pat500000]

Samsung is stepping. I gotta respect SS...they are actually competing.
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Ewwww! Ugly!

Ewww? Oh, you meant....OOOHH! I fixed it for you.

 

[rp2011]

Lol Apple watch's design absolutely sucks comparred to this.
I mean Apple Watch is so ugly that I hobestly refuse one even for free.(fact)
this one though,looks stunning,the most premium looking and beautiful smart watch to date.

You lack taste my friend

 

[lazyrighteye]

"Samsung finally cracked it."

File this under "Things I Thought I'd Never Say" (aside from the previous statement)... I think Samsung's watch, and UI, look fantastic. The watch faces were really nice. Feels like the smart watch mic just got dropped.

Yeah... Still sounds funny to say [write] aloud. So weird.

Maybe this will help keep Apple sharp?

 

[44267547]

Samsung is stepping. I gotta respect SS...they are actually competing.

Honestly Pat, this Watch is awesome looking. I know many are not interested in the 46 MM size, but I would love to try it on. It looks awesome. My guess is Apple will introduce a round version by Watch 3, which will likely revamp everything.

This is tempting, but lets see what the Apple Watch 2 holds in a week!

 

[Soccertess]

Lack of GPS is one of the reasons I didn't find the Apple Watch any more useful than a simple Fitbit Charge HR, which cost 1/4 of the price.

Too true.. I don't really see value to the Apple watch over Fitbit charge unless you want the ability to jog with wireless headphones, but the trade offs are battery life and $$$$!

 

[Donoban]

Can't believe so many people love this watch. I think it looks cheap in comparison to Apple Watch.

GPS built in being the killer feature? You'd think every Mac rumours poster is a bloody runner. Which I really struggle to believe. Lol.

Let's see if any of these pro s3 comments turn into purchases.

 

[MrX8503]

Still looks huge. I have small wrists and the 38mm Apple Watch is the limit for me.

 

[rp2011]

Poll 1000 designers and ask which is a better design this pos or the Apple Watch. I'm willing to bet not more than 10 would cop to liking this pos compared to the Apple Watch. One is fine art, the other is crap.

 

[SchneiderMan]

No device can but it doesn't make other competitors bad. And at least there's competition in this category. Look at how pitiful tablets have become. My iPad Air 2 is great but that's only because competition has given up and I have no reason to upgrade from it. I would love to see a premium Samsung Note tablet take on the iPad Pro. Do we really want competition to roll over and die?

I didn't say Samsung makes bad products, but it usually takes them quite a few generations to catch up and produce something that is worthy of a purchase.

 

[epicrayban]

The frontier legit looks good. Especially in this sporty configuration!

Features sound great too. My interest is seriously piqued.

 

[pat500000]

Honestly Pat, this Watch is awesome looking. I know many are not interested in the 46 MM size, but I would love to try it on. It looks awesome. My guess is Apple will introduce a round version by Watch 3, which will likely revamp everything.

This is tempting, but lets see what the Apple Watch 2 holds in a week!

If Apple creates something like that..that would be great. I like both apple and samsung..but I'm not gonna be blind by the truth. Any company that makes cool design, i'm all in.

Edit: I hear you. Plus side is: SS made the watch compatible with iphone....so they are making it possible. I gotta hand it to them for wanting apple fans to keep their phones and be able to use other products and not be restricted.

 

[Chaka Jon]

I think Samsung has done a great job. While I do love my Apple Watch, I would seriously like to see some more realistic looking watch faces.

 

[pat500000]

I think Samsung has done a great job. While I do love my Apple Watch, I would seriously like to see some more realistic looking watch faces.

Great thing is: SS is making iphone compatible.

 

[iZac]

Looks like a Casio G Shock

...I'm not belittling it, there's clearly a market for them since Casio still make them.

 

[epicrayban]

The frontier is really beautifully designed.

 

[Keirasplace]

Here is my square stainless steel Apple watch next to my round gear s2 classic. As you can see, theyre practically the same size, though my gear s2 is quite a bit thicker because it's the 3g model.

There's far less usable space, so what's your point.
Seriously, there's like 50% less space for text.
And it looks very thick, and the opposite of classy. My opinion : it is very ugly.
If you like it, good for you I guess.

 

[fabio.lordelo]

I really don't get why people hate so much. There's no need to call the Gear S3 f***ing ugly or say that the Apple Watch sucks. This is merely based on personal opinions. Apple and Samsung had different approaches when designing their smartwatches and there's public for both. And you know, this makes things far more interesting to us consumers than when Samsung was just trying to copy Apple's design.

I've had the Apple Watch for a while, stared with the sport model and upgrade to the SS one. I did it because I was and still am really happy with it. I find the Apple Watch a rather beautiful piece, I love the attention that was put into its design and I think it's really beautiful. Couldn't find any other smartwatch with the same level of polish until now. But I can't deny that the Gear S3 got my attention. Of course, I haven't seen it in person, but I watched a lot of hands on and I really think Samsung nailed this time. It looks beautiful, different and familiar at the same time. The software seems fluid too. The only downside is the size. As I'm currently using 38m Apple Watch, I don't think it'll look right on my wrist. But I was taking a look at the Gear S2 Classic (which I didn't pay much attention when it was released) and it looks very good too. I can imagine myself buying one, maybe I won't like it after living with it as I've read the OS is lacking some apps and I don't know how it works in real life, but living with watchOS wasn't so easy at first, now, with watchOS 3, it's working perfectly.

Anyway, Samsung got my interest, I'm really considering buying the Gear S2 to check how it works.

 

[JayIsAwesome]

The Frontier model looks legit. I'd rock it. Awesome job, Samsung

 

[Ghost31]

Impressive? I'm not impressed at all. Where's the fitness apps? Texts? Looks flimsy. My Apple Watch has withstood my 6-6 day jobs in a factory. The circular bezel looks chinsy

Jesus man. I'm as big an Apple fanboy as anyone, but even I can admit when a competing product looks good. I don't just sit around looking for pointless reasons to hate something. Where's the apps? Have you done any research besides a small teaser video?

I love my Apple Watch, but this Samsung watch looks great. The build quality might actually be better, 4 day battery life? Can even imagine what that's like. And how they could get that while having gps is beyond me. The circular ring that acts the same as the Apple watch' a Digital Crown seems a bit better implementation and the watch faces just look better than the ones I currently have on my AW. I've had the modular face on it for months because all the others just look cheesy

 

[fabio.lordelo]

Jesus man. I'm as big an Apple fanboy as anyone, but even I can admit when a competing product looks good. I don't just sit around looking for pointless reasons to hate something. Where's the apps? Have you done any research besides a small teaser video?

I love my Apple Watch, but this Samsung watch looks great. The build quality might actually be better, 4 day battery life? Can even imagine what that's like. And how they could get that while having gps is beyond me. The circular ring that acts the same as the Apple watch' a Digital Crown seems a bit better implementation and the watch faces just look better than the ones I currently have on my AW. I've had the modular face on it for months because all the others just look cheesy

As I said in previous post, I wouldn't get my hopes high for the battery life. I really liked the Gear S3, but what I've read about the S2, which was said to last for 2-3 days, let me down. According to many reviewers, battery life was similar to the Apple Watch. Then, the S3 must be a little better, but not by a high margin. The Apple Watch 2 must equal the battery life if the rumors are true.
But let's see how the S3 works in real life.

 

[nameischarles]

Poll 1000 designers and ask which is a better design this pos or the Apple Watch. I'm willing to bet not more than 10 would cop to liking this pos compared to the Apple Watch. One is fine art, the other is crap.

I own an Apple watch and lol no it's not fine art. Don't get me wrong the Apple watch looks nice but I guess I prefer the traditional round design of a watch and this Samsung watch looks amazing.

 

[iZac]

...the Apple Watch still looks as fresh as ever. Looks better now than when it was released. (Something the 6 series iPhone never managed. Looked dated the day it was released and looks like a shabby relic today)

I have to say, on this point I agree with you wholeheartedly. I admit I was rather unconvinced by the Apple Watch when it was released, but it's slowly grown on me. I still think the digital crown is a wasted anachronism that needs to be removed, but products evolve.

The whole aesthetic of the watch is that it's as unobtrusive as possible, to let the changeable elements (in this case straps and watch faces) bring the personal design aesthetic to the wearer. Everyone jokes about Apple 'innovation' simply being that they're churning out new watch straps, but when you consider the intimate nature of the device and the transience of fashion, they're maintaining the technological element and offering updates to the ancillary based on taste.

Two years on however, the iPhone 6 is still a major design mis-step, which is still being propagated with the upcoming 7.

One could argue that the analogy to the "watch / strap" dynamic is "phone / case" but at least the watch design is humble. The phone design is just poor.


...but on topic - comparing Apple's mix-and-match approach, Samsung is just trying to make entirely different versions of the watch for different traditional market segments and not really succeeding at any because the user is so acutely aware that the device is trying to mimic something that came before rather than make something new. (same reason I hate the digital crown on the Apple watch)

 

[Flow39]

Can't believe so many people love this watch. I think it looks cheap in comparison to Apple Watch.

GPS built in being the killer feature? You'd think every Mac rumours poster is a bloody runner. Which I really struggle to believe. Lol.

Let's see if any of these pro s3 comments turn into purchases.

I agree, this doesn't look like an expensive watch in my opinion either.

But we have to remember, this is MacRumors, where Apple haters and people looking to switch away from their "terrible" Apple products come to bash on anything and everything the company does whether they are right or not.

 

[BrodieApple]

Anyone think it's possible Apple will redesign the Watch 2? They did this in just one year with the iPad 2, and it was dramatically better.

 

[MrX8503]

You may have missed this post in response to your earlier assertion of this point, so I'll just report it here:

#310

You have to compare Apples to Apples. You're showing Android's square screen to Android's round screen, specifically the Moto 360 with the flat tire, instead of the Huawei that has an edge to edge screen. But here's a direct comparison to the Moto with text:

Note all the unused space when the Watch display is superimposed on the Moto, even with the flat tire. Now here's the same exact text display optimized for the Moto, flat tire and all:

You see that so much more text can be included in the round display than with the Watch square display. Now imagine if this were a Huawei, and not the moto with the flat tire -- there's a lot more additional space to optimize per task.

So no matter how you slice it, a similarly sized round watch even displays text better than the Watch for applications that require that. Of course the Watch gains the lead again when they get rid of those bezels, but for the last 2 years, round watches technically have had the advantage, whether they utilized it effectively or not. If Apple keeps the exact same display and bezels, then that advantage continues on for other manufactures to capitalize on it.

Here's another way optimizing the same display on the Watch is improved on a round watch:

Notice how the Watch does not give the full display of what the iPhone sees, but the round watch of the same dimensions is able to give the full landscape display of the full image taken by the iPhone.

I took the time to calculate the screen area of the Moto360, Apple Watch 38mm/42mm, and Huawei. I used an online calculator to calculate the segment of a circle for the Moto360's flat tire, so keep that in mind. Should be more accurate than guessing the area of the segment though.

The calculations also assume:
1. The scaling multiplier is correct for Android. I guessed based on Google's docs
2. True screen area is based off of effective pixels or "points". For example the Huawei has a 400x400 display, but it's scaled at 1.75x, giving it effective points of ~229x229.

If my calculations are correct the Moto360 and Huawei has more screen real estate than the Apple Watch. Depending on UI, it has the potential to show more data than the Apple Watch. The Moto360 has the most screen real estate (even more than the Huawei), but has the lowest PPI.