Aashenfox Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) Hey everyone, after contributing a little to the watch thread, I promised that I would review my Gear S3 that Santa brought me for Chrimble, so here it is... Bottom line or TL;DR: If you are a gadget nut and enjoy a nice timepiece, this could be the smartwatch for you. It has some great conveniences as well as a couple of annoying foibles, however, thankfully, at last, battery life is not one of them. I have got 4 days out of a single full charge without using any battery saving utilities, either built-in or aftermarket. I'm using the smartwatch with a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone, Samsung's current flagship smartphone. The watch is compatible with any Android phone, but you get some extra integration features if used with a Samsung phone (though most of these can also be installed separately on non-sammy phones). iPhone support is coming soon. image linked from cnn Design and aesthetics... There are two versions of the Galaxy Gear S3, the Classic and the Frontier. As their names suggest, one is much more classic looking, and the other is more chunky and 'action man' style. They are actually the same size, though the Frontier is slightly chunkier. It's a big watch, any way you look at it. I can't see women wearing even the classic, it's just too big to be elegant, but obviously, some girls have a sporty style that would suit the watch just fine, but as a rule, this is too big for the girlies, it looks utterly ridiculous on my wife's wrist (she is quite small to be fair). Both versions are very good looking pieces. Samsung kept it very simple with the design, the metal body mimics any Swiss stainless case and is also made of stainless steel. Other reviews had stated this made the watch heavy (it's certainly heavier than the S2 which I did not own), but compared to my Tag Heuer Aquaracer automatic its a flimsy lightweight, less than half the weight of a premium watch. There are two buttons on the right side of the watch, the upper is the Back button and the lower is the Home/Apps button. The reverse of the watch features the obvious heart rate monitor and is otherwise as you would expect. The bracelet on the Frontier is a rugged rubber band with double strap retainers. I don't like it very much, but it does its job extremely well, it's really solid yet flexible. In fact, that brings me to the best thing about the looks. How they've managed to make the watch feel so well polished. There is nothing on the watch that feels or looks cheap, nothing at all. Everything feels like it could be used on the interior of an Aston Martin, the rubber is rubbery but not tacky, strong yet flexible, the plastic is soft touch yet very rigid feeling, the black steel case feels like steel, it's a very impressive overall effect. I can't think of anything I would change to make the look and feel/fit and finish better, it's as good as anyone could reasonably expect (and don't forget that comes from someone who's been wearing a TAG for 13 years). I'll be swapping the rubber strap for some nice ceramic links at some point soon (one of the big bonuses of the design, it can take any standard 22mm watch strap, so you have literally endless choices from ebay or your local jeweller). Overall though, it's a great looking thing, everyone who's seen it has been impressed without even seeing the display. image linked from wareable.com Day to day usage... While this may seem obtuse to some of you, no doubt it will seem the most relevant thing to others... It tells the time. It's a watch. It's for you to look at when you want to know the time, anything else is just icing. My 2 grand TAG Heuer didn't do anything else AT ALL, so why should this thing that cost 1/6th as much need to do anything else? So, as a watch how is it? It's perfect. Naturally, the obvious advantage of a digital watch face is the ability to customise it and make it look like whatever you want, I've already been through about 8 different watch faces since Christmas, including the obligatory Santa and Rudolph face that provided many laughs. I've finally settled on the Smokitall face as my current day to day face, though I am also very partial to the Pip Boy face (Fallout 4 watch face, it has many nods to the game). So here is the first of the nice conveniences... Extra information right on your watch face without pressing any buttons. All the watch faces (except Santa and Rudolph) that I have used so far include the following additional info beyond telling the time, without pressing any buttons... My heart rate last time it was read (updates every couple of minutes I think), how many steps I have taken today (I never used to care about fitness apps UNTIL I got this watch), how many calories I've burned today, the battery status of the watch, the battery status of my phone, the day in English and the date. Those are just the basics, watch face designers have some really cool tools for adding crazy amounts of detailed info to the watch face, such as someone else's steps displayed next to your own so you can compete, the alarm time and almost anything else you can think of. They are also 'active', in other words, touching the date or day will open the Planner/Calendar app, touching the step counter will open the S Health app, touching the chronograph (on the watch faces that have one) starts a stopwatch, touching the battery life takes you to the battery management app, it's all so intuitive and clever. You can take calls on it. Mine is NOT the LTE/4G version, it does not take a sim, so I cannot take network calls without my phone being in range (20m bluetooth), but the convenience this offers is PRICELESS and despite the thing that most people will feel like an idiot talking to their watch in public with everyone around you able to hear your conversation from both sides (the speaker is loud and clear, even in a busy park with kids playing), when you find yourself in a position where its a pain in the arse to get your phone out, you will be so, SO happy that you don't have to. Even if you are wearing thick gloves, when a call comes in, you can flick the bezel anti clockwise to reject and clockwise to accept a call. Even if you just want to tell someone you can't talk right now, it's just awesome. I've used it when driving as well, it's handy for that (I have no bluetooth for the phone in the car currently, may not bother now!), again just flick the bezel, and start talking 'can't talk, driving, chat later, byeeeee', you don't need to bring the watch anywhere near your face to be heard and even in my Zed (loud) the speaker is again loud and clear. You'll never miss another notification. On the one hand this is great, cos you literally will never miss another notification, on the other hand (no pun intended), on busier days, I have found that my wrist vibrates rather a lot. Especially when my wife and her sister in law get chatting in a group on viber, it's like wearing a dildo on my wrist, I have to mute the group temporarily. You'll never forget your phone somewhere again...the watch vibrates as soon as it can no longer detect its parent phone and a visible notification that it is in standalone mode appears overlaid on the watch face. In the same vein, the watch can be used to locate the phone and vice versa, the watch has its own fully featured independent GPS and Wifi hardware. Satisfyingly, if it loses connection with the parent phone, but is still in range of a wifi that the PHONE knows, it will automatically connect you to it without making you enter a password, the watch permanently syncs the phone's wifi network database. The rotating bezel is every bit as satisfying to use as you have probably heard. It has exactly the right amount of tactile feedback and is wonderfully clicky, yet somehow also smooth and quality-feeling, it's exactly as you would want it. Turning the bezel (or swiping on the watch face left and right) clockwise and counter clockwise immediately switches widget. The watch face is also a widget, but naturally is the 'home screen' or home widget. Notifications appear on the anti clockwise side of the watch face (this is a misleading statement and difficult to explain, I'll get a pic up for this a bit later, but think of each widget (including the watch face) as a page on your mobile phone, so imagine that you swipe right to see your notifications on their own page) and are cleared by swiping up with a finger. You can reply to many notifications on the watch, either using an on screen keyboard, S-Voice dictation (dodgy, if I'm honest), or a method that involves drawing each letter on the screen with a gesture. So to get a D out you simply draw the shape of a D on the screen and hope for the best. You can also program an almost infinite number of canned responses to save on typing. Turning clockwise on the default layout takes you through all the standard app widgets, you can remove them and/or add more at will. They behave just like phone widgets, displaying a certain amount of info from an app, and open the app when clicked. The first after the clock face is the weather widget, exactly what you expect, current weather conditions at your location. Clicking opens the weather app for more detail. Next is the quick contacts widget, you can register contacts here and very quickly call or message people right from the watch. Next is the events/reminders widget. You can quickly create a reminder or an event that is automatically synced to the phone calendar and set alarms or other actions to complete when the time comes. Next is the day planner, any events that you have today will be displayed on this widget (manageable on the calendar app on the phone). Next is the energy monitor, tells you how many calories you've burned so far today, I haven't played with this to be honest, but it has a whole app behind it, you can register when you drink coffee, water, and all kinds of other crazy stuff for the fitness freak. Then there's the S Health widget that shows how many steps you've taken. The app behind this (Samsung S Health, can be used on any smartphone, download it) is very mature and well featured, you can track almost any aspect of your fitness. The sensors also cannot apparently be fooled, they are really clever. I tried pretending to walk by swinging my arms in a natural way, didn't register. I then also noticed that my giant strides (I'm tall and a yomper) register about 1.7 steps in the app, which is great! It means the app understands that my steps are equivalent to more than the average step. I have really had my mind blown by how clever these sensors are. They also understand when you run, walk or use stairs and even keep track of how many floors you ascended or descended. Using the lift registers nothing! I was never asked my height or weight or any other statistic. After S-Health are the Navi widgets, Altimeter and barometer, again I haven't played with these, but apparently you can do your own weather forecasting using it, as well as locate elevation and gps coords. Next is Samsungs news briefing widget, which is frankly, total dog sh1t. It's geared for Americans, the sections are arbitrary and the stories almost random. Go to bbc.com instead. Lastly, my favorite of all and the thing I use the most (after telling the time and changing watch faces lol). It's a music player widget! Basically, you can store music on the watch if you want (it has 4GB storage), and bind a bluetooth headset to the watch and listen directly, or you can do the more sensible thing and keep your music on your phone, use a proper set of headphones, and still control the music from the watch. This is great. Not needing to get your phone out of your pocket for music controls for the epic win. There's a little button on the widget, control the music on the phone or on the watch, it toggles. Bloody perfect. Of course there's a plethora of built in apps, timers, stopwatches, calculator, all the apps that live behind the widgets as already mentioned (press the home button to get an 'app drawer' type view of all installed apps), and a load more in the Samsung store, though the most heard complaint about the Gear ecosystem (lack of apps and developer support for Tizen) is absolutely valid. It is difficult to find something that you want to install, however, I have to say I haven't yet thought of an app which would be a 'must-have' for a smartwatch, that doesn't exist already, so I guess maybe it's a little spoiled to have this as a complaint? We are just so used to Google Play and millions of apps, I suppose. A quick mention of Tizen then...this is the watch's operating system, like Android or iOS, it's a Samsung developed platform and it's called Tizen. It is an outstanding piece of software, however, it has the one big disadvantage, that it is only used on Samsung devices (so far). It's a highly mature system now and already Samsung has announced the first Tizen (as opposed to Android) phones coming out this year. Knowing Samsung it will be better technically, but won't have the same support as Android or iOS, or even Windows Phones, so we shall see... It plays a lot like a cross between iOS and Android taking the best from both. The choice to use Tizen takes nothing away from the watch, since Android Wear (Google's Wearable Operating System) is bloody awful, so we should all be glad they didn't go for that. image linked from digitaltrends.com The technical stuff... The display is a 360p (360x360 pixel) round display. This gives a PPI of 278, which compared to my phone is a little over half the resolution. I expected that this would be telling on a watch face with small numbers and high detail, and the truth is that it is, but only when you really look for the issues close up, in general usage it is a really impressively smooth display, nobody who has seen it at 12 inches distance or greater has said that it could have a higher resolution, quite the contrary, many have asked how they make the watch faces look so real. They are impressive, some contain faux 3d elements to make them appear 3d. It's a trick of course, but it works really well, the second hand on some of the faces really feels and looks like it's floating above the rest of the display and reflections seem to react correctly based on the movement of your wrist. Sorry to say it again, but...very clever. The display is outstanding, no negatives here, very bright, even in intense sunlight. Despite the low (comparatively, let's face it, it's still a very high res screen!) res, it's clear that this little screen has every technology trick in the book up it's vibrant AMOLED sleeve. The battery is incredible, I'm not going to wax lyrical, there's no need. Suffice it to say that after a few charges (seems to get notably stronger after the first 10 charges or so), you will get 3 days of normal use, 4 days of light use out of a single charge. As I sit here now, I took it off its cradle 5 and a half hours ago, and its on 95%. I could not be more impressed with the battery and I'm so glad because this is the clincher for me. I would never have got a smartwatch that needed charging every day like my phone. I had said that once they reach 3 days plus, I'll try them out. The result is that I finally had to organise my chargers and stuff next to my bed since I now have so many devices that need charging. So I now have a little charging station for everything including the watch. Ironically, that means it does get charged every day, but it's nice to know that if I get stoned and pass out on the sofa one day, it won't be a problem, at all, not even close. Interestingly, if you do happen to sleep when wearing the watch (or you're one of those people that wears a watch in bed anyway), as soon as you wake up you get a sleep report! It tells you how long you were in light sleep, deep sleep, the efficiency of the sleep, what times you were restless, again those sensors are just amazing. I didn't even know it did that until I slept on the sofa one day by accident, apparently it was a good night's sleep. The charging cradle is really clever as well (sorry), and is another one of those important little things that makes the whole package more viable. It's a wireless charger with a strong magnetic cradle. Basically, you drop the watch onto the cradle, it's held in landscape position with the straps out to the side (you can tuck them in behind or even do them up behind the watch if you want) and even orients the screen to landscape as soon as it's placed in the dock, there's nothing to click, nothing to open, you just drop it on the cradle and it starts charging, you pick it up and it stops, best charger ever. The power...I haven't asked it to do anything demanding yet (such as 3d games, there are a few, though I don't really know why I would want to play games on a 42mm device when I have an S7 Edge in my pocket), but what I have asked it to do has not only been smooth, but absolutely flawless. It hasn't crashed once, ever. It hasn't got stuck for even a millisecond, ever. It hasn't rebooted on its own or any of that other crap that Android devices tend to do, between the hardware and the software, there's some excellent magic going on, that allows you to just not think about performance, it just will never come up, everything is camera flash instant. linked from samsung.com (sorry about size, nice pic though, eh? ) Conclusion... It's very clever. So, the 2 biggest issues for me... 1) The price. While I feel it is just about worth 350 quid, it's still a lot for a gadget. And... 2) Durability... If this lasts 14 years like my TAG, I'll sh1t bricks. I'm constantly scared of smacking it into a wall or something, as I frequently did with my TAG, man that thing took some HUGE hits over the years and never skipped a beat. I have ONCE hit the Gear S3 hard enough on a wall to get paint transfer, I nearly pooed myself, the bezel got these white scratches on it, and I was sure I'd stripped off the paint or something and was looking at white plastic underneath. Thankfully, I was totally wrong, the white was from the wall and came off with a fingernail leaving no permanent mark. Whew, so far so good, however, it doesn't fill me with confidence and I'm sure I'll one day be back here telling you all how it met a grizzly end that the TAG would have survived, laughed at and asked to do again. I can't really think of much else worth saying at the moment, if you feel I missed some aspect of it, let me know what an idiot I am and I will similarly enlighten you with the information you need. Overall I'm extremely happy with it (thrilled, even, it's just what I expected and hoped for), I feel the internet reviews are quite harsh (seems to be getting 3.5 out of 5 as an average across the net). For me, it has definitely represented a small increase in convenience and quality of life, not least of all changing the watch face every day is something I just love, everything else, as I said at the start of this, is just icing, some of it very tasty. I will be retiring my Aquaracer, it will only come out for very formal events from now on. I may even sell it. I'll post up some pics later to spice up this wall of text, but I'm at work now, pain in the ass, photobucket blocked, etc. Edited January 10, 2017 by Aashenfox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) To be honest, ive never seen the point in smart watches, however I did preorder a S3 Classic which arrived the day after it was released. Havent looked back. Lovely watch, must have saved me hours of fishing my phone out of my pocket to check what notification id just received etc. To top it up, I ordered a whole bunch of 22mm straps from ebay for hardly anything, and can personalise it however I want now. All in all cost half the lad at works iWatch cost him! Whilst some might think they are big bulky watches, my classic looks perfect on my average sized wrist, whether im wearing a suit or a t-shirt. The stainless body on it ooozes quality and with leather straps looks the part. You can get google maps on it and youtube. My lad thought it was hilarious that peppa pig was playing on daddies watch. Whilst my wife took great pleasure in changing my watch face to a moving aquarium watch face, complete with fishes swimming about etc. Edited January 10, 2017 by rabbitstew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Still very much a gimmick for sure, just a toy, but the genuine improvements to QoL are starting to come through (it took, what, at least 5 generations to reach something resembling useful), while the drawbacks are slowly being negated. Just what the human race needs, something to make us even more lazy!! Definitely not for everyone, and certainly not needed, but when you have one, it's hard to go back to not having one. I guess that says a lot on its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docwra Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Ive got a Huawei and really like it, I only bought as I didnt fancy anything this side of £3K .......... I think its like a lot of things, once youve tried it although its by no means life changing youll probably not look back. It wont last 14 years though, the battery will go die before then. Look behind (puts phone camera on stealthily and shows on watch), find my phone, the weather apps (and associated faces) and the various messaging stuff is what I use most, a decent launcher is a must as well. Still dont talk to it in public though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Still dont talk to it in public though KITT? Yes Micheal.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 2 Greeks, first thing they said to me (they know I own a Z) "can you call your car? If not it's rubbish." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I got an Apple Watch for Xmas. It's alright. Battery easy does a couple of days with plenty of fiddling, using it as a phone is better than you think (but you still look a bellend), and checking messages instead of grabbing your phone out of your pocket would seem to be the key thing. Other than that though, it actually does 'being a watch' worse than a regular watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I think most people I know who own these use them primarily for checking email/text without taking their phone out their pocket. I can see how that can be marginally useful but there is no way you can claim its time saving - there are many areas of our lives we could save much more time without forking out hundreds of pounds on tech. The fact most of these watches require you to have your phone to hand is what will hold them back, once they become autonomous of the phone suddenly you are in a whole new ball game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) It is useful for reading any messages that may not warrant a reply without getting the phone out, and that is a time saver, if it is a real crap message, like a group message in a viber chat that wasn't even for you, for example. Oh, and another nice part about that, is that it clears the notification on the phone as well. But even as a brand new user, I already use; the fitness app, for which the watch is by FAR the best way to count steps as you don't take it off throughout the day, it counts every movement you make, I use it as a watch, I use it as a timer, simple calculator and stopwatch (so nice to have those back on my wrist after no digital watch for over 25 years, like being 12 again! I don't have to go looking for where I put my phone down when I want to time an egg, etc. that's a REAL time saver), I answer the phone, when it's inconvenient to get it out (like when it's freezing and I'm wearing a long coat done up tight with scarves and my phone is in my jeans pocket), but as I stated above, I mostly use it as a music player controller when I'm out and about, that is a real convenience, not to have to get my phone out to change playlist, or leave my phone in one place and walk around the house with the bluetooth phones on, sure, some things aren't any faster on the watch than the phone, but I guess it depends how you unlock your phone, not everyone has fingerprints, so they have a pin or a pattern, if you have those, the watch is a massive time saver for simply viewing notifications, plus that rotating bezel is so natural and fast to use that some operations are really quick to do. I think it's more about convenience though. I definitely look at my phone at least 1/5th as much as I did before I got the watch. Like I said, hard to imagine life without it already, probably not a good thing. Also, as long as having your phone with you everywhere is needed (which it is, by everyone, except hermits), then needing to have your phone with you will never be a handicap to anything. Having said that, your request has already been granted, there is a 4G/LTE version of this very watch, you can use it 100% as an independent phone, it needs a sim and everything. edit: Oh and if samsung pay takes off, that'll be sweet, paying for my MaccyDs with my watch Edited January 10, 2017 by Aashenfox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 You can save more time just not bothering to undo your laces and slip shoes on and off over the course of a year than the time saved going through the arduous task of taking a phone out of your pocket. The time saving is really irrelevant, its not the reason to have this watch, its a tiny by-product of owning one. We also have this really old invention called a 'clock' on the wall in the kitchen, which has for centuries been a useful device for timing egg boiling OK sarcasm aside. I think in its current state its a nice addition to owning a phone, the health tracking part is really the only substantial benefit the rest is somewhat useful but on the whole a gimmick. Interestingly when I ask people what they do with the step counter etc most people respond that they monitor it - which is kind of pointless, surely they should be using this new information to make their life more healthy and taking action upon it, most just though look at their count at the end of the day and think 'yes I did this many' which for me, is not a good use of the capability. Versions 4 5 6 etc of these types of tech will be useful, and probably when I invest my first pennies into it, in the meantime I let you excitable lot fund the development of those me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
un1eash Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Other half has a Moto 360 2 and I recently got a Huawei W1 Classic as it came free with a new phone contract. I dont use mine much but it comes in handle as a fitness tracker and has some cool features including a built in speaker. Other half uses hers daily as being a teacher it allows her to recieve calls or txts without having her phone on her in class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GappySmeg Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I need a new fitness tracker as i smashed my Fitbit Charge HR over xmas. Was toying with finding the extra spondoolies and going for the S3. Don't suppose you know if the watch by itself can record a Strava run/cycle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) And a palm leaf has always been an adequate cover of genitalia, but we still invented clothes despite the palm leaf being faster to don in the morning, time saving isn't everything. You can also save more weight off your car by going on a diet than fitting carbon body pieces (in response to your analogy of wearing slip on shoes to save time) but what's convenient or more desirable for arbitrary reasons (such as liking laced shoes or being fat) wins through, even when it's only a little more convenient, and for me quite simply this a lot more convenient in many ways. That generation 5, 6, 7 you're after is now here, this is it, they aren't going to change a lot fundamentally for a while, there's no technology they need that hasn't now been shoehorned in (including total network autonomy as you required yourself), more than adequate battery life, GPS, WiFi, loudspeaker, microphone, 4gb storage, a full app ecosystem, albeit limited, it's NUTS what they've fitted into this thing. We're going to be limited by battery technology for a while now. Seems like you want to tell us they're not worth it, while I'm here to tell you that honestly mate, they are. Not for everyone, but for advanced mobile communications and smartphone users, they certainly help in a more than insignificant way, as well as keeping decent time. The S3 makes that transition from experimental to finished, really. I have a phone, I wear a watch, both of these things I'm going to do anyway, where is the disadvantage in integrating the two (apart from the wallet being 350 quid lighter of course)? Edited January 10, 2017 by Aashenfox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 I need a new fitness tracker as i smashed my Fitbit Charge HR over xmas. Was toying with finding the extra spondoolies and going for the S3. Don't suppose you know if the watch by itself can record a Strava run/cycle? I'm sorry mate, I'm not familiar with the term but the capabilities of s health (the app which will track your activities) should be well documented online somewhere, or there may be a more advanced app for tizen (I hear some people laughing, but you never know ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flex Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I do like, and this is a great review, thank you for taking the time on this. Top bloke. Keep us updated of anything else that's winner, might prompt me to buy sooner rather than later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 As I said, theres is no argument for this being a time saving thing. It is more convenient, but no it does not save time. I am not here to say they are not worth it at all, its simply an opinion, there will always be groups of people that dive in head first when tech hits the market. I don't wear a watch, I have an iPhone. I look at the cost of the Apple watch at nearly £300 and think is the extra convenience worth it, in my view, its not. As an aside I also cannot see how you can predict the future of these devices, nothing has stood still for that long in the last ten years that hit the market in any serious way. iPods, phones, tablets, wafer thin laptops everything just 3-4 years down the line from inception have multiplied in capability from gen 1 or 2. Unless of course you have a job or something that knows something all of us does not - there is no business model as far as I can see for Apple or Samsung to not recoup probably hundreds of millions in investment through sitting on the same tech for 3-4 years. I can also understand that there is no disadvantage from integrating the two. If you have cash on the hip then I think go for it, me, Im spending my £300 on a new front bumper for the car and part of the spray and fitment work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Not a chance in hell an Apple Watch is worth it, and I say that as an owner. Smart watches need to grow up quickly, or they'll never catch on. Give me a watch that doesn't need a phone and can do FaceTime and it'll be a winner, but right now it's just a limited gadget that does everything okay, but nothing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 As an aside I also cannot see how you can predict the future of these devices, That's ok, you don't know me very well yet. I too would rather have spent the money on a bumper, alas, it wouldn't fit on Santa's sleigh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 I do like, and this is a great review, thank you for taking the time on this. Top bloke. Keep us updated of anything else that's winner, might prompt me to buy sooner rather than later. Thanks Flex, I appreciate it, will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 I need a new fitness tracker as i smashed my Fitbit Charge HR over xmas. Was toying with finding the extra spondoolies and going for the S3. Don't suppose you know if the watch by itself can record a Strava run/cycle? There may well be a Strava app for the S3. I use runkeeper and I know there isnt an app for the S3 yet (there is for the S2 however), but S Health can be linked to runkeeper (and everything else) so it should be able to update it. S Health on the S3 is actually very good. It automatically knows what exercise you are doing. I go for a 3 mile walk most lunchtimes and the watch automatically knows when im walking, monitors my progress, tells me my speed etc then logs it in the S Health log. The same with cycling... you dont even have to tell it. It knows you going for a cycle ride, knows speed, how long, how many calories you have burnt, even your route via the gps. According to S Health, last week I was in the top 5% of all S Health users for my number of steps. Versions 4 5 6 etc of these types of tech will be useful, and probably when I invest my first pennies into it, in the meantime I let you excitable lot fund the development of those me I forget how many smart watches Samsung have done, but they have been making them for years, way before Apple jumped onto the band wagon and decided to try and get in on the action. So, The S3 may well already be version 6. I certainly held off buying one for a very long time, as the earlier ones were indeed clunky, had poor functionality, poor battery life and were of limited use, but the tech has developed so much now that, at least for me (and a lot of others) the S3 is a very polished highly developed device. Im a watch fan and have a reasonable sized collection of watches, and so for me to put them all in the cupboard and move onto wearing a S3 was no small move! Which I suppose is the biggest downside to having a smart watch. Once you start wearing it, you cant really suddenly leave it at home one day and wear a "normal" watch instead. Well you can, but it will throw all your tracking data out etc. and you`ll find yourself looking at the watch for notifications etc then realise that your wearing the wrong watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 According to S Health, last week I was in the top 5% of all S Health users for my number of steps. Wow, that's incredible, how many was it by the way? I'm thrilled when I hit the default daily target of 6000!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) According to S Health, last week I was in the top 5% of all S Health users for my number of steps. Wow, that's incredible, how many was it by the way? I'm thrilled when I hit the default daily target of 6000!! I cant remember exactly now but it may have been about 18,000 steps a day average over the whole week. I know I was pretty impressed when you think how many people use the app. On an average day I tend to hit between 11,000 and 15,000 steps. Which isnt bad when you think I spend 3 hours a day in my car driving and 7 hours sitting in an office. When I used to go running id hit 10,000 steps before id even got to work on those days, but I havent had time to run for a long time. Its pretty accurate though as I used to have a fitness band, and also used to use just the S Health app on my phone prior to getting the S3 and the number of steps is all consistent with what id normally do. Out of interest I also compared it to my wife`s iPhone when we went for a day trip to London the other week, and the steps recorded on her iphone compared to my S3 was nearly identical. Edited January 11, 2017 by rabbitstew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aashenfox Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) By the way, fitness guys, I keep reading good things about this app. It can run on the watch and work fully with or without the parent phone. Pear for Samsung is available from the Gear Store. https://pearsports.com/ Edit: In fact, this page about sums up the truly worthwhile watch apps right now...aimed more at the yanks, but some good picks there. https://www.wareable...ar-s3-apps-3223 Edited January 11, 2017 by Aashenfox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docwra Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Time saver? Probably not. Convenience item? For sure. There are times when you cant get your phone out of your pocket - as someone said, teachers or jobs where you cant whip a phone out, or when driving or when in a meeting - even if youre having lunch you can check who is calling without stopping the conversation. Having a torch on your arm all of the time is bloody handy, as is answering the phone when your hands are full, similarly seeing the weather forecast for the next few hours every time you check the time is worthy. The big difference between the Android and the Apple Watch is that the former actually looks like a watch And steps? I got just under 34,000 in San Diego on holiday, was averaging about 18K a day when I was out there. Got back to work and I struggle to get much more than 6K, but at least Im earning rather than spending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richf Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 It does look very nice and I'm a bit of a watch chap and I do own a Gear 2 and whilst the functionality is ok , for some reason the screen shattered about 3 months after i bought it , no idea how and I have never broken a watch glass before and am used to wearing expensive ones , trying to get the screen replaced was hopeless , couldnt find anyone in Samsung that would commit to doing it , eventually bought the parts myself and got a mate to have a go and he sorted it , for that reason I wont consider another Samsung watch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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