Sumsung announces Smartwatch

[Rawns]

BBC News - Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch accessory

 

Out on the 25th September.

 

Annoyingly, it can only pare with Samsung devices running Android.

 

"Consumers might be a bit disappointed to find that the smartwatch is a partner device reliant on being paired with a Samsung Android smartphone or tablet, rather than being the completely autonomous media and communications device many consumers were expecting and hoping for."

 

Specs: http://www.samsungmobilepress.com/2013/09/04/GALAXY-Gear-1

Edited September 5, 2013 by Rawns

[bladedanny]

Also needs to be android 4.3 which rules out even a fair few samsung phones.

[difinity]

The Galaxy S3 and S4 are getting updates.

[sonofsanta]

It only actually works with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) at launch: AnandTech | The Galaxy Gear Preview: Samsung's First Wearable

 

AnandTech reckon, using some guesses and rough math, that the battery charge will probably last 5-10 hours, and that you could burn through it in an hour. WHAT USE IS A WATCH THAT LASTS AN HOUR. It also doesn't display the time all the time - because it's an AMOLED screen, so it turns off to conserve power - so you have a watch that won't tell you the time at a glance.

 

I honestly cannot understand what use you'd have for this. There's a camera in the wrist strap! And a much better one on the phone in my pocket. You can make voice calls without taking your phone out! (I think) Unless you value your privacy and would rather not have every conversation on loudspeaker.

 

Smartphones filled a need, that of having the Internet constantly. What need does this meet that my phone - which is hardly inconveniently placed, in my pocket - can't already do, and better? The only reason this exists is so Samsung can be first to market. It's a product without purpose IMO.

[plexer]

plus it's fugly.

 

Ben

[sparkeh]

Heh, the watch I wanted most out of the list on the BBC article was the Casio Calculator Watch.

Never really been sure why people want a phone on their arm, unless they want to pretend to be Michael Knight?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AMZmT8U8gCo/TedmU0sbFQI/AAAAAAAAAT8/UyJ9a3zFGW0/s320/michael-knight-rider-hoff.jpg

[Haptic]

I've had the Pebble for a month or so now, although lacking compared to samsung's offering (emails,texts and music player control) it does have it's uses.

As the third party development progresses I've seen some really innovative and interesting applications. The ability to change between multiple watch faces is a plus for me due to my massively capricious nature!

 

Overall the uses aren't there yet, but to slate the suggestion makes me think back only a few years when people were scoffing at the concept/potential uses for touchscreen tablets.

 

Joe

Edited September 6, 2013 by Haptic
too early to spell correctly

[localzuk]

I don't understand the concept really. It seems like one of those sci-fi devices from the 50s which in reality is pointless.

[sparkeh]

to slate the suggestion......tablets.

 

Joe

Deliberate pun?

 

Thing is, I think the idea of tablets was always a good one, we just had terrible tablets foisted upon us until Apple made a decent tablet OS and it took off.

Personally, and yes I could be wrong, but smartwatches seem a bit far for me. But then I could just be an old fart

[Haptic]

Deliberate pun?

 

I'd love to say yes, but I'd be lying terribly.

[sonofsanta]

Not the first time they've tried this product, either: AnandTech | Samsung's S9110 Watchphone: What Came Before the Galaxy Gear

[bladedanny]

I can see the uses as a notification device for email, texts and calendar events etc. but I can't see my self using it for voice calls or the camera.

[d0pefish]

Give it a month and Apple will be suing Samsung for copyright infringement on patent 112112: Device that may or may not be electronic that does something which Apple successfully registered

[sonofsanta]

Anandtech's review is up: AnandTech | Samsung Galaxy Gear Review

 

Ultimately the Galaxy Gear isn't the perfect solution to wearable computing, but rather a first attempt. It's more a proof of concept that you can own. If we look at Samsung's history in nearly every market we've followed it (SoCs, SSDs, smartphones), the company has a tendency to show up early with the wrong solution, but iterate aggressively to the point where it ends up with a very good solution.

 

EDIT: Sounds like, without any clear design goals - no-one knows what we want from smartwatches yet, because we haven't had them long enough to play with - the Gear ends up fulfilling no particular need and being nothing more than a set of compromises. The fact that this is a watch that doesn't show the time most of the, um, time, says everything about how much of a shoehorning process its design has been, IMO.

 

Hopefully it allows some genius kid in college somewhere to come up with some unimaginably cool killer app and we can then start making these things right

Edited October 1, 2013 by sonofsanta

[CAM]

Is the warranty voided if you replace the strap?

[sonofsanta]

Is the warranty voided if you replace the strap?

 

It won't do most the things it's designed for if you replace the strap, that's where the camera and microphone is.

[sonofsanta]

Oh dear:

When a new article is posted on the Internet, the first addition to the comments section is often an inconsequential, one-word statement: "First!"

 

The frequent "First!" cry of the Internet troll declares some strange pride in being the first to comment on an article. The commenter put little to no effort into the post; it added nothing to the conversation, and it was completely devoid of substance. The troll did secure the spot at the top of the thread, though, and every additional commenter will be forced to scroll past the pointless contribution.

 

The Samsung Galaxy Gear says "First!" in hardware form. Samsung has beaten Google and Apple as the first major manufacturer to market, but much like the Internet commenter, it has sacrificed substance for the sake of timing. The Galaxy Gear is a product (with some impressive internals, no less) that has such limited use and such crippling compatibility requirements that it is currently the equivalent of hardware spam. While the Gear won't even come close to serving the needs of the vast majority of people, we're going to be talking about smartwatches a lot in the coming months, so if nothing else, the Gear provides a great starting point.

 

Death by incompatibility: A Samsung Galaxy Gear review | Ars Technica

[Arthur]

Samsung should have waited until Apple release their smartwatch.

 

DOA: The Galaxy Gear reportedly has a 30 percent return rate at Best Buy « Ars Technica

 

If you hesitated to call the Galaxy Gear a flop after all of the negative reviews, consumers have weighed in with their opinion of the device too, and it's not pretty: nearly a third of Galaxy Gear owners return the device.

 

Geek.com has obtained an internal memo from Best Buy and Samsung pegging the return rate at "above 30 percent." It sounds like the companies are somewhat puzzled by this, as the memo asks employees to help figure out why customers are so dissatisfied. Consumers are probably running into the same problems we found in our review: The Galaxy Gear requires a smartphone, but is incompatible with most smartphones. It's supposed to relay notification information from apps, but it doesn't support the vast majority of apps, including apps made by Google, which are among the most popular on Android.