Galaxy Gear Review Roundup: A Step Forward, But Not Ready For Primetime

The reviews are in, and the Galaxy Gear has emerged battered and bruised from tech testers. While certain features have been almost universally given a thumbs up, the overwhelming opinion is that the Galaxy Gear is just not ready for primetime.

Of course, that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as one of Samsung's own execs has been quoted (anonymously) by the Korea Times saying that the Galaxy Gear lacks a certain something: "We've acknowledge that our Gear lacks something special. With more investment for user interface and user experience, Samsung devices will be better in terms of customer satisfaction."

That's basically what the major tech reviewers had to say, in a nutshell. While providing an interesting set of features and looking pretty good on the face of it (literally), the Galaxy Gear lacks the kind of true ease of use that would otherwise have made it a homerun product. Here's a review roundup of the general impressions, by feature:

On the Face of It: Gear's Look

The Galaxy Gear has generally been praised for its watch face. Like CNET, which found the 1.6-inch display to be sharp enough "to make small text easily readable. It's also vivid enough to let you enjoy the photos you've snapped." Gizmodo's Brent Rose said that the aesthetics around the screen are nice as well. "Framing the screen is a brushed metal bezel that feels rock solid."

However, not everyone found the watch face pleasing. The Verge's review is one dissenting voice on the aesthetics of the watch: "Its design tries to have something for everyone - a chunky steel clasp and exposed screws for fans of oversized men's watches, yet also Rose Gold and Oatmeal Beige colors for a feminine audience - and ends up pleasing no one in particular. It's too bulky to ever be considered elegant, but too polished to be a proper macho watch."

Gear's Strap

Almost everyone, however, agreed that the Galaxy Gear had a weird, thick, stiff watchband. This is due to the fact that the Gear has electronics embedded in the band, in order to put a mic and speaker on the underside of the strap, along with the Gear's camera in the strap itself.

On the camera, Engadget's review finds its placement unfortunate, to say the least: "Instead of being placed within the watch itself, the camera is positioned facing forward on the rubberized wristband, creating an unsightly wart on one of the most visible parts of the watch."

Ars Technica's review found the wrist band to be one of the biggest problems, leading to a less-than-classy feel, and making it impossible to switch out watch straps, as you would in a normal watch (or on Pebble or Sony's Smartwatch, for that matter).  It also makes it feel weird: "The Gear's rubber band... is so stiff and supportive that any slack will cause the watch to "float" around your wrist and appear much thicker than it is. It's more like wearing a rigid bracelet than a real watch." Gizmodo agrees, but doesn't feel it's as big of a deal: "The thick plastic band feels a bit like shackles at first, but you get used to it."

However, Gizmodo's Rose and Wired's Christina Bonnington both agree that the clunky watch band causes problems using other gadgets. Both found, in Bonnington's words, that the "chunky clasp gets in the way while typing on a laptop."

Gear's Guts

The Galaxy Gear was unveiled to have less-than-expected hardware specs, but most reviewers that a pass, as it is a computer for your wrist, afterall. The Gear runs an 800MHz processor with a half-GB of RAM, along with the 1.9-megapixel camera, gyroscope, accelerometer, pedometer, and the 320 x 320 Super AMOLED display.

That's still pretty impressive (remember when huge boxy computers ran at 800MHz?), but most reviewers found it just wasn't enough to get most tasks done. Gizmodo finds, "There's so much lag...that you often don't know if it didn't read your touch or if it's hesitating."

Trying to use S Voice, one of the main interfaces for the Galaxy Gear, Ars Technica's reviewer found it lagging too: "you can really feel the 800MHz processor chug," adding later "Performance across the board is not very good. Indeed, the UI drops animation frames all over the place. After using the device, I felt like I was back in the stutter Android dark ages."

Camera

Still, The Verge found that the Galaxy Gear performed well with its 1.9-megapixel camera: "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," also adding, "In fact, the Gear's camera produces images of surprising fidelity and does it swiftly and reliably."

Overall, the camera's functionality was seen as a high point for the Gear, even if taking pictures so quickly from your wrist felt creepy to Wired's reviewer - though CNET mentioned, "if someone does try and take a dodgy photo, the watch makes the sound of a camera shutter," which cannot be disabled, "so you'll at least be alerted to what's happening. On the downside," he adds, "taking photos of sleeping cats is more difficult."

One dissenter is Gizmodo, saying the camera "is nothing to write home about" and that the video-taking option is only for 15-second bursts with its results being "pretty awful."

Phone Calls

The other strong-point of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch seems to be its phone-call functionality. Most reviewers found the mic and speakerphone to be quite high-fidelity: the Verge saying, "Call quality while using the Gear is indistinguishable from what you'd get from a smartphone speakerphone."

Wired's Bonnington said, "Making and receiving calls from the watch is easier than you'd think. Call quality is remarkably clear."

Of course, that's if you're not on a busy city street, where the speakerphone gets muddled and hard to hear. The Verge's review noted "you'll mostly be using this function in more secluded areas."

The other problem with using the Galaxy Gear on the street is that you'll be holding your wrist up to your head, speaking into a watch. Taking phone calls on your watch may look cool for Dick Tracy, but in real life, it feels different.

CNET's review put it best, saying, "You can also expect to feel a little foolish, as you'll need to hold the watch to your face as you speak and up to your ear to properly hear the person who's calling. If you're fine with that, you're evidently much less easily embarrassed than I am."

All Other Functions

Here's where it really gets rough for the Samsung Galaxy Gear. People expect a smartwatch to be an extension of smartphones - easy to use and multifunctional.

To start, the Galaxy Gear cannot multitask. Even doing a couple things at once is too hard, mentions Gizmodo: "There's no multi-tasking, and apps constantly close on their own accord...While I was on a run, all I wanted was access to Runtastic and the Media Controller...trying to swipe between screens would frequently pause the run by mistake. It drove me nuts."

Even notifications, one of the most basic functions of a wearable computing device, were clunky. Engadget's review put it this way: "the vast majority of notifications, especially those associated with non-Samsung apps, are completely pointless unless you treat them as general alerts. When a Gmail notification comes in, there's no way to read the email on the watch (unless you use the native email client for your Gmail). Instead, it gives us the option to open up the app on the phone so we can read it. In fact, this was the standard notification for most of the apps and services on the Gear."

Gmail, the most popular email client for Android users, was frequently mentioned as a failed app for the Android 4.2.2-running Gear. Ars Technica walked us through a typical Gmail notification: "On the right is a Gmail notification. An icon pops up, and tapping on it brings up... an error message directing you to turn on your phone and read the message there. How can you sell a smartwatch to Android users that doesn't work with Android's most popular e-mail service?"

As far as other apps, the Galaxy Gear is fatally under-serviced by Samsung, and third-party apps are buggy. Cnet said, "There are a couple of third-party apps that claim to allow you to see Facebook notifications and recent tweets, but I couldn't get either to work without making the watch crash." Gizmodo's Rose added, "Apps feel unfinished, gestures are finicky, and very little about the whole experience is fluid or easy."

Finally, what App marketplace may grow is limited by the fact that the Galaxy Gear will only work on Samsung Android 4.3 device, of which there are two currently (Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition). This was the main problem for Ars Technica, which titled its review "Death by incompatibility," and stated, "Taking a serious stab at ecosystem building is one thing, but the limited device compatibility means the only "developer" that will initially be supporting this watch is Samsung itself."

Final Thoughts 

Mostly, the Galaxy Gear is seen as a step in the right direction, but very much not ready as a serious entry into a consumer marketplace. Ars said, "Samsung isn't giving consumers a compelling reason to buy its product in the first place. In my time testing the Gear and trying to integrate it into my life, I was left with the impression that I was wearing little more than a $300 wrist vibrator."

Gizmodo's review said that ultimately, Gear "feels like a beta product," and that you should only buy it if spending $300 means nothing to you. CNET's reviewer felt disheartened by the whole build-up and its disappointing reality: "With such a high price, a limited number of useful functions and a tiny number of compatible devices, the Galaxy Gear is not Samsung's exciting entrance into wearable devices that we hoped it would be."

And Wired said that, Gear was a "noble attempt at innovation. But for the most part, the end result is too clunky and awkward for true appeal beyond being a brief conversation piece on your wrist."

Epilogue

As Latinos Post Tech previously reported, there are rumors that Samsung is already planning a Galaxy Gear 2, perhaps to actually treat the Galaxy Gear as a beta launch and provide a more fluid, useful device by early-to-mid 2014. Stay with Latinos Post Tech for more on that Galaxy Gear, as well as any developments on the current generation that may make it worthwhile.