The Samsungsmartwatch is finally upon us
Long rumored, and frequently leaked, today the Samsung Galaxy Gearsmartwatch is finally official, and weve had the chance to spend some time with Samsungs new wearable device.
First things first, if you were concerned about an overabundance of glossy plastic or a cheap-feeling design a common criticism of some Samsung phones dont be. The Galaxy Gear is an attractive, well-built piece of technology that looks like a premium sports watch. The front is furnished in metal and sapphire glass, while the matte plastic body blends seamlessly into the soft-touch, rubberized strap. Its comfortable to use and comfortable to wear.
The Gear is, however, rather large larger than the watch youre wearing now, most likely, which could cause problems depending on the size of your wrists. The challenges involved in miniaturizing smart electronics into a package you can wear on your wrist mean that this is an issue well probably see on future smartwatches, too.
Regardless, with the relatively large design comes a large touchscreen, for a watch. The screen itself measures 1.63 inches diagonally, and is home to a 320x320 SuperAMOLED panel. Theres a single button on the right edge, which functions as a home button and the watch can be charged through pogo pins on the underside. (Theres a special charging housing for the Gear that doubles as a sort of display stand.)
Therell be six flavors of Galaxy Gear available Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green which is actually more of a yellow. The orange and yellow models in particular are extremely striking, while the greys and blacks cut a classier, more understated profile.
The Galaxy Gears UI fairly unobtrusive, with a bare minimum of visual clutter. The main way youll interact with the watch is by swiping in various directions usually left to right, to navigate between things like call logs, contacts, the clock face, notifications and favorite apps. Swiping down (to go up) will bring up the camera app.
Thats right, this is a watch with a camera a 1.9-megapixel unit, to be precise, loaded onto the front of the strap. It sounds impractical, but we found it relatively easy to able to get into the camera app with a quick swipe-down and then tap the screen to take a picture. Image quality is likely to be roughly comparable with the kind of front-facing camera youd find on a smartphone. 720p video recording is supported too, and theres also a miniature gallery app to let you view your photos directly on the watch. (Pictures, incidentally, are synced between watch and phone.)
As a companion device to Samsungs Galaxy phones, integration is rooted deep into the OS. Based on which message notification youre viewing on the watch, for example the paired smartphone will know what to show you when you power on the screen. Other features include a trimmed-down version of Samsungs S Voice assistant application, which allows you to set reminders and make calls using voice controls.
The Gear also doubles as a handsfree accessory, and can be used to make calls thanks to its array of speakers and microphones though just like taking pictures with a tablet, youll look somewhat ridiculous talking into your wrist.
The devices capabilities arent limited to first-party apps, however Samsungs also managed to bring in support from a strong line-up third-party devs including Evernote, eBay, MyFitnessPal, Pocket, Path, RunKeeper and Tripit.
All of this is managed on the smartphone side through the Gear Manager app. This is your one-stop hub for controlling things on a larger screen, and from here you can swap in watch faces, manage your apps and even cause your phone to ring if its lost. Another optional security feature lets you long-press the home key to activate a panic mode, using the watchs camera to take pictures and send, along with a message, to emergency contacts.
So theres a lot going on with the Galaxy Gear, and so unsurprisingly the watchs battery life isnt going to match that of simpler smartwatches like the Pebble. Samsung tells us the Gear should last for around a 24 hours of heavy use, which potentially means youll have yet another thing to plug in at the end of the day.
For the moment, the Galaxy Gear is undoubtedly the most advanced smartwatch out there, but that could be about to change in short order, as arch-rival Apple prepares to enter the wearable computing space. Whats more, the requirement to use a Samsung smartphone with the Gear could limit its appeal. For what its worth, Samsungs billing the Gear as as companion to the Galaxy Note 3 at launch.
But its still way too early to say how successful the watch will be in the long-run the device is new and the competition unknown. But you can bet well continue to bring you all the latest Galaxy Gear developments as the device approaches its Sept. 25 release date.
More: Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch Forum
Via: Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Gear
0 Response to "Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Gear"
Post a Comment