Samsung Galaxy Gear Review

If smartphone makers dipped their toes in the smartwatch pool last year, we can expect them to do the cannonball in 2014. Out of the all the smartwatches launched so far, the Galaxy Gear is by far the most interesting, not to mention packed to the gills with features. Despite Samsung’s heavy marketing budgets though, the Gear wasn’t exactly a runaway hit. The reason for is this we feel, is that Samsung seemed to have designed the Gear for loyalists, someone who’s current phone and future upgrade would be a high-end Galaxy device. After the dust has settled, Samsung has finally sent us a review unit of the Gear, which we tested with the Galaxy Note 3. Let’s find out what the fuss is all about.   

Design and Build 
The neon green version of the Gear is very striking and is quite the head-turner. Thankfully, the watch is also available in other shades which are a bit more understated. It's a tad bulky but also light, so it’s not so bad. I found it quite comfortable during my week’s usage and after a point, you hardly notice it. The Gear is built to last and that shows in its construction. The stainless steel frame around the display lends it a premium look and the rubber straps are firm, yet flexible enough to be worn comfortably. The 1.6-inch Super AMOLED display is also protected by a scratch-resistant coating.

The Gear just has a single power button and that’s about it. Everything else is based on gestures, which we feel is the way to go when you have to deal with such a small display. Samsung has designed the UI for the Gear in such a way so as to take advantage of the AMOLED panel. The minimalistic icons are devoid of colour so there’s always more black, for which, the pixels needn’t power on. When needed though, the panel can reproduce rich, saturated colours for the gallery and third-party apps. Sensitivity is pretty good as well and the watch works quite well with (some) riding gloves

The Galaxy Gear comes bundled with a charger and the docking cradle. The cradle snaps on the Gear and is the only way to charge the watch as it has the microUSB port and an NFC tag. You can pair the Gear with a compatible Samsung phone using the NFC tag or manually via Bluetooth. We don’t get why it’s such a convoluted process to charge the watch as it would have made more sense to have the charging port and NFC on the Gear itself, rather than having to carry around the cradle everywhere. Wireless charging is also something that’s missing. 

We found the Gear to be quite comfortable to use on a daily basis and the learning curve is very small. 

Features and performance 
Like any other wrist watch, the Gear too sports a fully adjustable wrist strap, making it a comfortable fit on most wrists. One of the highlights of the Gear is its ability to make and receive calls and for this, we have a dual-microphone array and a speaker that’s hidden at the base of the strap. The volume level is good enough for using indoors and the microphones are sensitive enough to pick up your voice, even if you aren't holding your hand up to speak. This is great as you can go from eating a pizza to doing the dishes, without having to touch your phone. You can also answer and reject calls using S Voice. Besides voice commands, the Gear also has an accelerometer and a gyroscope which help it perform some neat gestures. For instance, you set the watch to show you the time or any other screen as soon as you make the motion of looking at it. You can also double tap the screen using two fingers at any point to check the battery and adjust the device’s volume.

You can manage the Gear and the notifications you wish to receive directly from the Gear Manager app on your smartphone. The app is constantly running in the background, monitoring the activity you perform on the Gear. You can select a variety of themes, clock faces and specialised apps from the Samsung Apps store.
by shailhacking.com