Samsung Galaxy Gear Review

We live in a world of progress and invention where major players of technology, especially in smart phones are always aiming to be the market leaders, hoping to attract new customers and to retain the existing ones. This year, Samsung has come up with the mind boggling Galaxy Note3 and the revolutionary Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch. Samsung really swung for the fence with the Galaxy Gear. Just about every major tech company is rumored to have been working on a smart watch, but Samsung moved quickly and pushed ahead full throttle making the most advanced smart watch till date. It boasts features which, just a few months ago, were only in the books of science fiction and old Dick Tracy comics.

Galaxy Gear currently works with Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition and Galaxy S4. More devices such as Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S4 Mini, Galaxy S4 Zoom and Galaxy Mega will be added soon to the compatible devices lineup.

The Gear is not just a Smart Watch, it is a Style Statement. With a bold design and a range of color options, the Galaxy Gear is your perfect accessory. Whether it be a formal dinner or your evening run, Galaxy Gear is the perfect way to Jazz it up.

The Galaxy Gear is available in 6 color options: Beige with Silver Band, Beige with Rose Gold band, Black, Orange, Mocha Grey, Lime Green (straps are not interchangeable).

Design and functionality:

Galaxy Gear is a 1.63-in square display set on a stainless steel face. The AMOLED screen is pretty sharp 278 pixels per inch, pretty reasonable size for the things it does without any problems in direct sunlight with the Outdoor Mode. The watch face is thick at 11.1 mm, but it doesn't feel too big or bulky. The Gear's band is a permanent part of the watch, and isn't swappable. That's because the device has a sharp, high quality 1.9-megapixel camera, microphone, and speaker set into the strap. The watch does come in several different colors, ranging from neutral blacks and grays to bolder oranges and greens. Waterproofing (IP55) keeps it protected from rain and routine day to day use. The Gear's display stays off most of the time to save power, with adjustable screen timeout settings. To turn it on either press the power button or lift your wrist towards your face a typical "looking at your watch" gesture using the “Wake Up gesture” feature from the Gear Manager.  In the UI, each app icon fills the watch's entire 1.63-in display.

The Galaxy Gear connects with your Samsung device through Gear Manager, which is available both from the Samsung Apps Store and by tapping the back of your NFC enabled device to the back of the Gear’s charging dock. The Gear Manager allows you to set various settings of the device along with controlling the clock face (which can also be done through the settings menu in Galaxy Gear). Gear Manager also provides a “Find my Gear” feature to locate your smart watch in case you’ve misplaced it. The connection between Galaxy Gear and your Device is made through Bluetooth and if you move out of connection range, an alert is shown on both your watch and your Smartphone/Tablet.

The Galaxy Gear runs on Android Jelly Bean 4.3, with a simplistic User Interface for convenient usage.  By swiping sideways can move between applications and menus, tap to select, and swipe down to go back, double tap anywhere with two fingers to see system info including Bluetooth connectivity features and shortcut controls for volume and screen brightness as well as battery status. Hold two fingers to see and switch to your recent apps.

Here are some of the Features which differentiate Samsung from others:

·         S Voice

One of the most important part of the Gear's software may be S Voice. S Voice lets you dictate and send text messages, make calls, open apps, check the weather, and more just double-tap the watch's power button to activate, and speak your request.

·         Notifications

The Gear alerts you to three core essentials by default: SMS, phone calls, and emails notifications. Galaxy Gear also supports notifications from virtually every Android application including Social Media Applications and Games. You can set your watch to notify you with a sound, or you can stick with the default vibrating of your wrist.

A recent upload being rolled out now allows you to read the text messages from third party applications, Social Media posts and Gmail messages right on the Galaxy Gear.

Further, the new update allows you to create text message templates which you can use to reply to messages and calls you’ve received right from your Gear.

·         Camera

The camera on the Galaxy Gear gives amazingly sharp results for a 1.9MP camera, and is easy to use. To access the camera from the home screen, swipe your finger from top to bottom to access the camera. A single tap takes the picture. You can easily switch to recording videos of up to 15 seconds through a shortcut button and can access Macro Focus, Sound & Shot and Signature settings through an onscreen menu.

All pictures and videos taken with Galaxy Gear are immediately transferred to the phone/tablet through Gear Manager.

·         Music

Gear lets you to control and play music anytime and anywhere through the Media Controller.

·         Battery life

Galaxy Gear supports a long lasting battery which will last you over 25 hours under heavy use on a single charge.