The Samsung Galaxy Gear “Smart Watch”

A futuristic “smart watch” wouldn’t carry the well deserved hype with out paying homage to the early Hollywood attempts at what the first of its kind might look like. Marketing/advertising minds at Samsung did just that with their recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch and perhaps it’s most comparatively catchy commercial to date. However, while the “Predator”, “Night Rider” and “Power Ranger” wrist wear had features yet to be matched; will the Galaxy Gear “smart watch” live up to its predecessors?

Sleek design, complete with brushed metal bezel and black rubber band makes the “smart” component “simple” for tech gurus and rookies alike. The button-less watch face is comprised of a 1.6 touch display screen holding an impressive 320×320 pixel resolution for clean and clear text or picture viewing pleasure. The only button on the entire watch, located on the side of the metal watch casing, serves as the interactive voice command for hands free call or text commands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54SF7hykL9A

Don’t worry Instagram fiends, the rubber watch band is complete with a small camera for quick click photo opportunities. Plus, you can use it to search Instragram ads!

Now for the harsh truth, all positive features point towards the “smart” capabilities are aimed towards simple phone/text functions. While the technology is impressive for such a small sleek wrist wear accessory, there are ultimately zero other quality features. The small 800MHZ processor allows for smooth icon screen transitions with zero room for other apps or features. Email and social media capabilities are completely vacant even though similar word driven features like texting are supported on the miniature display screen.

The positive absence of plug in ports allow no SIM card to be needed but simple Bluetooth connectivity to your phone directly. However, so far the only phone capable of supporting the Samsung Galaxy Gear “Smart Watch” is the Galaxy Note 3. Promising for future compatibility with the Galaxy S4, S3 and Note 2 still leaves the entire product available for a small portion of the smart phone industry.

Perhaps the down fall that has been exploited heavily by critics and consumer reviews. The “Smart Watch” does not have a built in Micro-USB port for the most compatible common charging option. For compact integrity, a provided NFC functional caddy is needed to charge the Galaxy Gear with no other charging options. Meaning if you plan on being any where longer than a day (as is the average battery life with moderate usage),toting along the Samsung charging caddy is the only to ensure your “Smart Watch” remains useful and not a timeless rubber bracelet.

Consumer details provided another minor set back within the connectivity that hinder small amounts of functionality. While the calls taken will have to be voiced on speaker phone (embarrassing enough), while head phones are plugged into the phone bumping tunes, the Bluetooth connection receives the signal for a call and will not halt your music to take the call in your headphones.  You must exit your music, remove your headphones and talk to mom via Galaxy Gear “Smart Watch” like “Power Rangers” did to Zed.