In the case of Samsung’s new watches, their attractiveness really begins and ends with device compatibility. Users are expected to leave their phones alone, maybe in their pockets, while the smaller-screen watch serves up the phone’s base-level content-e-mails, texts, voice-recognition, media controls-and offers a few unique perks to boot. Should you get a Gear, and has Samsung built an ecosystem, complete with sufficient software, worth strapping onto your wrist? Residing in the Galaxyįor the uninitiated, Samsung’s smartwatches, like most others on the market, rely heavily on a smartphone for their functionality. That means the issue at hand-er, wrist-is their place in the smartwatch pantheon, especially with at least Google edging ever closer to launching its own. Comfort, usability, and even battery life pass muster on both the Gear 2 and the Gear Fit there are at least a few reasons to own and use these watches, borne out by our experiences and tests. The good news is, these second generation Samsung watches are on the right track. In brazen, damn-the-torpedoes fashion, the company has gone so far as to launch two distinct offerings: the $300 Gear 2, a direct refresh of last year’s model, and the $200 Gear Fit, a thinner, simpler option. Last week, Samsung used the Galaxy S5’s launch as an opportunity to refresh its smartwatch line. The watch wasn’t sloppy by any stretch, but it was slow, bulky, and limited enough to encounter the common consumer complaint: What do people need a “smart” watch for? Isn’t a phone enough? To this date, Google and Apple haven’t launched their own watches yet, but Samsung hasn't capitalized on that vacuum with its debut Gear.
Touchscreen, microphone, camera, pedometer, and more, all within wrist’s reach.
Someone at the company must have thought there was a race to beat the other mobile-world titans-namely, Google and Apple-to a wearable, phone-like accessory for mass consumption, so they assembled a watch with some decent ideas and rushed it to market. When the Galaxy Gear wristwatch launched last fall, the results looked like a Samsung panic move.