Michal Ždanský Today, together with the new generation Galaxy Note phablet, Samsung also introduced the Galaxy Gear smart watch, which it officially announced a few months ago, although it only confirmed that it is working on a watch. The watch saw the light of day a few hours ago and represents the first wearable device from a major tech company to be available to the general public anytime soon.
At first glance, the Galaxy Gear looks like a larger digital watch. They have a 1,9″ touch AMOLED display with a resolution of 320×320 pixels and a built-in camera with a resolution of 720p in the strap. The Gear is powered by an 800 MHz single-core processor and runs on a modified version of the Android 4.3 operating system. Among other things, the watch also contains two built-in microphones and a speaker. Unlike Samsung's previous attempts at a watch device, the Gear is not a stand-alone device, but dependent on a connected phone or tablet. Although it can make phone calls, it serves as a bluetooth headset.
There's nothing in the feature list that we haven't seen on other similar devices. The Galaxy Gear can display incoming notifications, messages and e-mails, control the music player, also include a pedometer, and at the time of launch, there should be up to 70 applications for them, both directly from Samsung and from third parties. Among them are well-known companies such as Pocket, Evernote, Runkeeper, Runtastic or the Korean manufacturer's own service - S-Voice, i.e. a digital assistant similar to Siri.
The integrated camera can then take photos or very short videos of 10 seconds in length, which are stored on the internal 4GB memory. Although the Galaxy Gear uses Bluetooth 4.0 with low consumption, its battery life is not spectacular. Samsung vaguely stated that they should last about a day on a single charge. The price won't dazzle either - Samsung will sell the smart watch for $299, roughly 6 CZK. At the same time, they are compatible only with selected phones and tablets of the manufacturer, specifically with the announced Galaxy Note 000 and Galaxy Note 3. Support for the Galaxy S II and III and the Galaxy Note II is in the works. They should appear on sale at the beginning of October.
Nothing groundbreaking was expected from the Galaxy Gear, and the watch isn't necessarily smarter than what's already on the market. They most resemble the Italian manufacturer's equipment by name I'm Watch, which also run on modified Android and have similar endurance as well. Due to limited compatibility, the watch is only intended for owners of some premium Galaxy phones, owners of other Android phones are out of luck.
There really isn't any revolution or innovation going on when it comes to Samsung smartwatches. The Galaxy Gear doesn't bring anything new to the smartwatch market, what's more, it doesn't outperform existing devices or offer a better price, on the contrary. The watch also does not contain biometric sensors like FitBit or FuelBand. It is thus just another device on our wrist with the logo of the biggest Korean company and the Galaxy branding, which is hardly enough to make them move in the market. Especially when their endurance does not surpass even a mobile phone.
If Apple does indeed introduce its own watch solution or similar device anytime soon, hopefully they will bring more innovation to the wearable segment.
When I saw the Samsung watch for the first time and read about its equipment, I was quite happy. Samsung delivered exactly what I expected from it. It did not bring any innovation, original appearance, nor did it equip this device with any great technology.
1) watches that last a day are laughable because they force the wearer to stay near the adapter
2) a solution to taking pictures from under the bracelet? How can I see what I'm photographing?
3) the solution to calling with a crooked hand to your ear?
4) price 6000, really? :D
Zero creativity from the Korean manufacturer and zero to negative practicality.
Samsung obviously wanted to introduce the watch first. It is not even clear whether the second major competitor will present this year. They let them out anyway. So I thought that Samsung would have done better if it had simply waited for Apple to introduce its watch solution, to embrace practical, useful features and design !! and he would make more money... On the other hand, they proved that new, original products simply cannot. But again, I don't want to get ahead of myself, I'll wait for the sales numbers. But I don't give them much hope. (I personally owned a FuelBand, a Jawbone UP, and I'm really waiting for a device that will have a great design, that will be able to do everything that these devices can do together, and most importantly, the question of physiological activity, energy consumption, etc. will be solved in some detail.)
I'm a fan of Apple and I hope he's the one who perfects this product.
I think Sony did it better. It introduced a watch that can be paired with android phones via NFC or bluetooth. The price is not popular either, after all, only €179, or €199 (for the model with a metal strap) is also quite a lot. But I think Apple, if they decide to release the watch as well, will put a price very similar.
I just wonder how he will innovate.
The Nike Fuel Band has no biometric sensors - only an accelerometer. AND
moreover, it's a device with a strange quality, or I'm just unlucky for pieces,
but I already had a 2nd one after the complaint and I sent it back last week – v
in both cases, the button for displaying/switching information went...
Yes, Samsung did not disappoint. The watch is really hideous and the equipment so ordinary as to be useless. I think they showed the world that they can't do much with their own invention.
Samsung showed that it should stick to what it does best - copying.
Yeah, well, if there's nothing really to copy, that's not it...
It's ridiculous how Samsung is trying to overtake Apple. They demonstrated their own impotence.
I also threw away the TV from them. I don't want anything from them. I don't like these poor Koreans.
what the hell, they can only if they don't steal
Otherwise, honestly, a question about smartwatches (in general) - does anyone want one? I personally see only one advantage - notifications from the mobile phone on the display, but don't be angry with me, I prefer to take out my phone, even though I understand that there are situations when it just isn't possible. But texting or calling on it?
Well, it's probably only Asians who will call from something like that anyway, they're the only ones who are pretty jerky about it.
But overall, I like the vision of combining watches with the functions of Fuel bands and -FitBits, and at the same time the extension of notifications on the wrist. Sometimes it is not convenient or feasible (for example in crowded public transport) to take a ringing phone out of your pocket only to find out that it is some idiot who wants to offer me a new and better loan :)
that's true, I would still understand the connection with Siri in the case of Apple, that would probably be great, but it doesn't really apply to the Czechs.
It's scary, it's scary, it's scary! I was quite amused by the endurance for one charge, the price as well.. What can I add? If this is how Samsung sees the future of wearable technology, then hello. ;)
I'll just add a technical detail. The diagonal is 1,63 inches.
In my opinion, it is a wonder that the time has come for such devices. So far, everyone is selling devices full of compromises. It is therefore a question of whether there are technologies available at this time so that devices on the body really make sense. The biggest weakness I see is in the batteries.