Samsung Smartwatch announced

jswinden · 09-04-2013, 02:53 PM

What is the point of a smartwatch? A $300 watch that no doubt has to be charged often and doesn't do phone stuff?!

Quote:

The $299 Gear watch is not a phone. Instead, it links up with Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets to let users know when they receive a call, text message or e-mail. from CNN Money

As far as I can see it doesn't do anything that a smartphone doesn't do, except fit on your wrist. And it requires a smartphone, specifically a Samsung one, or tablet. For $300 I can get a very nice conventional watch that never needs charging and just allow my smarthone to notify me when I get an email, text message, or phone call.

wodin · 09-04-2013, 03:27 PM

Yes Jack,

Being a gadget geek, I'd kind of like to have a smart watch but I think Samsung dropped the ball by linking it so tightly to their Galaxy phones. It sounds like they’re trying to take a page out of Apple’s playbook. And $300 is a bit on the spendy (Applesque again) side when you can get a Pebble for half of that.

tubemonkey · 09-04-2013, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

What is the point of a smartwatch? A $300 watch that no doubt has to be charged often and doesn't do phone stuff?!

As far as I can see it doesn't do anything that a smartphone doesn't do, except fit on your wrist. And it requires a smartphone, specifically a Samsung one, or tablet. For $300 I can get a very nice conventional watch that never needs charging and just allow my smarthone to notify me when I get an email, text message, or phone call.

It saves you from having to reach all the way into your pocket to look at your phone. Life's short enough without wasting needless energy doing so

pl001 · 09-04-2013, 03:28 PM

No GPS = Fail. MotoACTV 2 with better water resistance is what I was waiting for. But it will probably never happen, gimmick watches like this will ruin the market for anything truly useful.

I can see the point of watches you can get notifications on without taking your phone out of your pocket. But this thing doesn't do enough for what it costs, and much of what it does do is pointless on a watch. Very disappointed.

tubemonkey · 09-04-2013, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wodin

Yes Jack,

Being a gadget geek, I'd kind of like to have a smart watch but I think Samsung dropped the ball by linking it so tightly to their Galaxy phones. It sounds like they’re trying to take a page out of Apple’s playbook. And $300 is a bit on the spendy (Applesque again) side when you can get a Pebble for half of that.

Samsung wants to be the Asian Apple

jswinden · 09-04-2013, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wodin

Yes Jack,

Being a gadget geek, I'd kind of like to have a smart watch but I think Samsung dropped the ball by linking it so tightly to their Galaxy phones. It sounds like they’re trying to take a page out of Apple’s playbook. And $300 is a bit on the spendy (Applesque again) side when you can get a Pebble for half of that.

Yes they did. And to be fair, I wouldn't want an Apple smartwatch either. I'm just not that lazy yet, but getting close.

Now a Dick Tracy style smartwatch might be cool!!!

HarryT · 09-04-2013, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pl001

No GPS = Fail.

GPS is very power-hungry. That may well be the reason it doesn't have it.

ucfgrad93 · 09-04-2013, 04:19 PM

I'll pass on this. Don't see the point since I have my HTC One with me the majority of the time.

jswinden · 09-04-2013, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

GPS is very power-hungry. That may well be the reason it doesn't have it.

I'm sure that is exactly why it doesn't have a cellular radio either.

This whole concept reminds me of the ill fated Palm Folio which never even made it to market. The difference being that the Folio offered a much larger screen for your Treo phone whereas this device just offers, well actually nothing much... Oh look, for $300 I don't have to pull out my phone to see who called, texted, or emailed me.

wodin · 09-04-2013, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

GPS is very power-hungry. That may well be the reason it doesn't have it.

That plus the phones that it connects to already have location services. Having two GPSes (GPSs?) is not only unnecessary, but not very smart for exactly the reason you stated.

pl001 · 09-04-2013, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wodin

That plus the phones that it connects to already have location services. Having two GPSes (GPSs?) is not only unnecessary, but not very smart for exactly the reason you stated.

The reason people still spend $300-400 on sports watches is so they don't have to carry their phones with them. Especially in inclement weather.

There is a significant market for this as evidenced by the many expensive specialized GPS watches available: Garmin, Nike, Polar, TomTom, Suunto, Timex, etc. What these people want is GPS, music, heartrate, and bluetooth in a reasonably priced compact waterproof package. MotoACTV came very close and only cost $200. Had they ironed out the bugs and made it waterproof it would have dominated that market.

Instead Google cancels it and now we get gimmick watches that are little more than toys. I'm not an Apple fan, but I dearly hope they aren't as dense as Google, Samsung, and Sony.

Jessica Lares · 09-04-2013, 04:43 PM

Ridiculous pricing. My GoPhone with a slightly bigger screen/more pixels and same processor was only $80. The band cannot possibly be $100 more.

Barty · 09-04-2013, 05:08 PM

My problem is the thing is an eyesore.

If I'm going to wear a thing on my wrist, I want something simple and beautiful.

https://www.dezeenwatchstore.com/shop/danish-design/

afv011 · 09-04-2013, 06:56 PM

I would be interested in a smartwatch that is simply a window to my phone - it notifies me when I have a call, SMS, email, or other notifications, and lets me control some stuff, like music playback (select song, skip and such).

Samsung have yet again thrown the kitchen sink to it, it tries to do too much (a camera on a watch, FFS!), has a piss poor battery life and is locked to Samsung devices. Samsung's kitchen sink approach to everything they develop may well be their downfall, plus their apple-wannabe attitude to price things way over their fair value (smartwatch and Tab 7/8, I'm looking at you) isn't helping.

tubemonkey · 09-04-2013, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barty

My problem is the thing is an eyesore.

If I'm going to wear a thing on my wrist, I want something simple and beautiful.

https://www.dezeenwatchstore.com/shop/danish-design/

Same here; only we have much different tastes in beauty

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09-04-2013, 03:27 PM	#2
wodin Illiterate Posts: 10,279 Karma: 37848716 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: The Sandwich Isles Device: Samsung Galaxy S10+, Microsoft Surface Pro	Yes Jack, Being a gadget geek, I'd kind of like to have a smart watch but I think Samsung dropped the ball by linking it so tightly to their Galaxy phones. It sounds like they’re trying to take a page out of Apple’s playbook. And $300 is a bit on the spendy (Applesque again) side when you can get a Pebble for half of that.

09-04-2013, 03:28 PM	#4
pl001 Evangelist Posts: 459 Karma: 4818038 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Nook, Nook Color, EVO3D, Surface RT, Galaxy S5, Surface 3	No GPS = Fail. MotoACTV 2 with better water resistance is what I was waiting for. But it will probably never happen, gimmick watches like this will ruin the market for anything truly useful. I can see the point of watches you can get notifications on without taking your phone out of your pocket. But this thing doesn't do enough for what it costs, and much of what it does do is pointless on a watch. Very disappointed.

09-04-2013, 04:19 PM	#8
ucfgrad93 Wizard Posts: 2,372 Karma: 9026681 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Colorado Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2nd Gen	I'll pass on this. Don't see the point since I have my HTC One with me the majority of the time.

09-04-2013, 04:43 PM	#12
Jessica Lares Wizard Posts: 2,240 Karma: 5759170 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Near Dallas, Texas, USA Device: iPad Mini, iPod Touch (5th gen)	Ridiculous pricing. My GoPhone with a slightly bigger screen/more pixels and same processor was only $80. The band cannot possibly be $100 more.

09-04-2013, 05:08 PM	#13
Barty doofus Posts: 2,555 Karma: 13089041 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	My problem is the thing is an eyesore. If I'm going to wear a thing on my wrist, I want something simple and beautiful. https://www.dezeenwatchstore.com/shop/danish-design/

09-04-2013, 06:56 PM	#14
afv011 Captain Penguin Posts: 2,966 Karma: 2079999999 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Seattle, WA Device: Kobo Clara BW, Kobo Libra 2, Nook Glowlight	I would be interested in a smartwatch that is simply a window to my phone - it notifies me when I have a call, SMS, email, or other notifications, and lets me control some stuff, like music playback (select song, skip and such). Samsung have yet again thrown the kitchen sink to it, it tries to do too much (a camera on a watch, FFS!), has a piss poor battery life and is locked to Samsung devices. Samsung's kitchen sink approach to everything they develop may well be their downfall, plus their apple-wannabe attitude to price things way over their fair value (smartwatch and Tab 7/8, I'm looking at you) isn't helping.