“While it’s certainly well-built, the Galaxy Gear isn’t without its issues. The power button mounted on its right side sat loosely on my review unit, resulting in a clinking noise every time I moved the watch around. The straps are also not interchangeable, so if you damage the one you have, the whole watch goes out of action,” Vlad Savov reports for The Verge. “It’s water resistant, as you’d expect of a wrist-worn device, and seems particularly impervious to scratches or other cosmetic damage. You might think of it as a tank for your wrist — it’s bulky, durable, and awkward enough to merit that title… I was never fully comfortable while wearing the Gear.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s a wonderful attribute for something trying to deliver wearable computing. Samsung’s stupidwatch.
“A smartwatch the Galaxy Gear is not,” Savov reports. “rankly, 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,” Savov reports. “Unintuitive, oversized, overpriced, and in constant need of a Galaxy guardian — the Galaxy Gear might have been better off staying on the drawing board.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You know the people who copied others to get through school? Their problem was a lack of intelligence. The rise of self-service gas pumps destroyed their wildest career dreams.
They just weren’t smart. That’s Samsung.
Related articles:
Jean-Louis Gassée: I hope Tim Cook had fun goading Samsung to make their Galaxy stupidwatch – September 9, 2013
Stupidwatch: Why Samsung’s Galaxy Gear is a flop – September 5, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Gear watch looks rushed, misses the mark – September 4, 2013
The Galaxy Gear stupidwatch: Without Apple to copy, Samsung is clueless – September 4, 2013
Apple’s iWatch cleared for takeoff – September 4, 2013
Samsung announces ‘Galaxy Gear’ watch accessory for Galaxy Android devices – September 4, 2013
Stupid is what stupid does…
“Orwellian, unintuitive, oversized, and overpriced”
FIRST! (Samsung, that is)
Exactly. Samsung was first to copy an Apple rumor…or rather.. the first to copy an Apple iWatch rumor. What an honor.
As I’ve said before, the biggest shame of all is the throngs of Korean students that go mental trying to get into a good college, only to work for, say, Samsung. Look at this piece of turd. Was this piece of dookie worth sacrificing the lives and childhoods of thousands of ambitious young Koreans? And how many more will drive themselves to the point of insanity to work for a company like Samsung, only to have all their..er.. ‘talents’ wasted on a boneheaded project such as ‘let’s copy the latest mythical Apple product’
Sad.
That is really sad.
“to copy an Apple rumor”
A Complete and Total Lack of any Vision of the Future. 😎
Scamstung users beware. Another Maldroid/Shamsteal object destined for the dusty drawer. A fool and his money…
Agree
As pointed out by Vlad on the Verge Mobile Show, $299 will get you a 32GB iPod touch.
Until such time as Apple release an iWatch, Samsung won’t have a clue about how to make one.
I think it would be hilarious to stoke up the rumours by starting a few false stories and maybe some photos of rejected prototypes and then wait for Samsung to again bring their own version of it to market. Then Apple can release the real iWatch, which will be a TV service, or a security camera – anything but a wrist-worn device.
MacDailyNews said it best: “Without Apple to copy, Samsung is clueless.”
http://macdailynews.com/2013/09/04/the-galaxy-gear-stupidwatch-without-apple-to-copy-samsung-is-clueless/
If it hasn’t already, Apple needs to open a Rumors and Conjectures Department to plant false product rumors. They may have done it already with the iWatch. Hmmm. What next? How about the iBike or iCar to really mess with Samsung’s head?
a “smart watch” isn’t going to be successful until you can get women wearing them, looks like “smart watches” need to be way smaller. After you get women using them, then work on a version for men.
As for me, I’m a big Apple fan, but I just can’t foresee what functionality a wearable device would give me that I would want. This is in direct contrast to the iPad: the iPad is the computer I’ve wanted my entire life.
Samsung got Punked! lol
A dumb terminal for your wrist.
“The rise of self-service gas pumps destroyed their wildest career dreams.”
Hilarious! Gotta love some of the comments from MDN.
I so really wish we could get the smart watches out there so we can move on. Smart watches are going to be such a minor blip on the technology radar it just becomes painful to, um, watch, all of the yammering that goes on about them. If/when Apple does one it’ll be done the correct way, make no mistake, but, it still is just going to be a blip. The only life-monitoring devices that will have any real impact on our lives are almost certainly going to be worn under the clothing anyway. Sheesh – enough already.
My question is, how are we going to get Windows uprooted as the the networking infrastructure backbone of the planet. How are we going to move Windows off of enough consumer desktops that it really matters. Now those are questions that I believe deserve our time and are going to make a lot of difference in our lives, in the economy – domestically and globally – and if we can do that what’s going to replace it – Macs? I hope they at least constitute a major portion of the replacement of Windows.
I think the smart watch could be the your cell phone and wireless data connection between the functionality of your iPad.
As a cell phone the iWatch would have all the basic features to send and receive calls. It would include Siri for input and limited touch functionality (a keyboard is not too practical).
When a call comes in: you can answer it on your bluetooth headset; Siri can read make you text messages; you can dictate responses; initiate calls; etc.
Now think of your iPad as an incredible extension to your iWatch. When the two are linked, a whole world of extended features come into play. For example, when a call comes in, you are notified, and can see more details, on your iPad screen. You can initiate calls, read and respond to messages on your iPad. And messaging becomes more robust with the available keyboard.
If you head out with your iWatch alone, you are still connected. But if you head out with your iWatch and iPad together, you have it all.
It’s just the beginning 🙂
It looks nice though. Kinda like I imagined Apple would do it if they did. But it needs to do more to be useful.