The loose categorization of "wearable technology" portends to bridge the gap between our physical selves and the quantified versions we store in pixels, whether it's using gyroscopes to calculate how many calories were burned during a run, or capturing photos of what we see from a little computer affixed to our eyebrows. Manufacturers like Google, Apple, and Samsung are embarking on a new technology arms race, of sorts, for gadgets you can strap to your body. In this instance, it's literally a race for your arm.
Samsung's Galaxy Gear is the Korean manufacturer's first stab at a smartwatch, for which the Kickstarter-backed Pebble demonstrated a clear demand. When synced with a Samsung phone or tabet, the Gear lets you take calls, send texts, and even snap photos right from your wrist.
Here's what the web's top technology reviewers are saying about it:
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CNET's Andrew Hoyle says that from a hardware perspective it's very sleek:
I find the Gear's combination of brushed metal, buttonless front, and black rubber strap rather attractive. It's stylish and smart, and wouldn't look out of place poking from the sleeves of a sharp suit. A geek's dream gadget it might be, but there's nothing particularly nerdy about its overall aesthetic. It's available in a range of colors, too, if black and silver isn't your thing. [CNET]
Christina Bonnington at Wired says for its diminutive connotations, it's actually a bit bulky:
The Galaxy Gear's face is a 1.63-inch, 320 x 320 pixel Super AMOLED display. While 1.63 inches sounds pretty small, when it's strapped against your wrist, it's anything but. [Wired]
The big consideration, says Vlad Savov at The Verge, is that it's only compatible with two Samsung devices at launch, although the company promises to add more to the lineup by year's end:
Before you even start thinking about owning the $299 Galaxy Gear, you should know that at launch time it's only compatible with two devices — the Galaxy Note 3 and Note 10.1 2014 Edition — which it is being released alongside. For reasons that quickly become clear as you use it, the Gear is heavily dependent on a connected device for its functionality. [The Verge]
The interface is a "pretty basic touch driven interface," says Brian Klug at AnandTech, but it has some smart motion-driven features:
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Gear uses the onboard gyro and accelerometer to detect when you've moved it to a face-up viewing position, and then hopefully lights up the display. In practice I find this disconcerting — often I want to just quickly glance at the time, but obviously Gear doesn't have the watchface lit up all the time, so you have to move it to an over exaggerated bent-elbow, face up position, and then the display comes on. In addition I find that when I do this gesture, about 10 percent of the time the display doesn't come on, and I'm left staring at a blank display. [AnandTech]
You can also verbally issue commands, notes Wired's Bonnington, using S Voice (Samsung's voice dictation software):
You can dictate replies to text messages, tell it to dial certain contacts, add events and tasks to your calendar, set an alarm, or get the day's weather, among other things. The feature should be one of the crowning achievements of Galaxy Gear — giving you an legitimate alternative to whipping out your 5.7-inch Note. But it's all just too darn slow. [Wired]
And talking into it is pretty fun, says CNET's Hoyle:
When a call comes in, it'll pop up on screen with options to accept or decline the call. If the contact is saved to your phone, it'll show the person's name and a linked image, if you have one. Text messages are handled in much the same way, with an icon and name popping up that you can tap on, or head into the notifications section to read it later, along with other received messages. Texts are clearly defined and you can scroll easily through them to read more of the conversation.
An irritating quirk I found is that if you're walking around wearing headphones (with a microphone) and accept a call using the Gear, it will route the call only through the watch on its loudspeaker, not through the cans plugged into your phone. This is an issue I only found out to my embarrassment while walking through a busy central London station attempting to take a call from my grandmother. [CNET]
Somewhat surprisingly, the camera is actually quite delightful, says The Verge's Savov:
Looking at the Gear's frugal 1.9-megapixel resolution, you might make the same mistake I did: Assume it's of the same caliber as any old front-facing camera in Samsung's smartphones. In fact, the Gear's camera produces images of surprising fidelity and does it swiftly and reliably. The whole point — if there is any point — to a camera in your watch is to make picture-taking effortless, and Samsung has succeeded at that task brilliantly. I never had to retake photos because of poor focus or exposure, and the ones I did shoot were supremely satisfying because of how little time and effort it took to capture them. [The Verge]
Overall, the Gear is a nice idea, says Wired's Bonnington, but it still lacks polish:
Galaxy Gear just isn't something most folks need. It's not even something I wanted to keep on my wrist all day. While the feature set is more advanced than any other smartwatch, the technology and its uses are clearly in their infancy. I imagine that later generations of Galaxy Gears, with a trimmer design, lighter weight, speedier processor, and maybe even a better camera, might be a slightly easier sell. [Wired]
The Verge's Savov thinks it a bit confused:
A smartwatch the Galaxy Gear is not. Frankly, I'm not sure exactly what it's supposed to be. Samsung describes it as a companion device, and the Gear is indeed chronically dependent on an umbilical link to another Samsung device, but it never left me feeling like it was a helpful companion. The notifications are Orwellian, the media controls are exiguous, and the app selection has no substance to underpin the hype. Samsung's attempt to turn the Gear into a style icon is also unlikely to succeed, owing to the company’s indecision about its target demographic. Trying to please all tastes has resulted in a predictably charmless and soulless product. [The Verge]
AnandTech's Klug, on the other hand, thinks it has potential:
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.In terms of interim improvement — I'd love to see more/better watch faces, broader compatibility with Samsung phones and a persistent clock. Let's start there and see where it takes us. [AnandTech]
Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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