How can I use a Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim?

[MarcSchw]

Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Hello everyone,

first sorry for my english.. i hope its good enough to explain my "problem"

iam living in germany and here you cnt get the Samsung Gear S2 with 3gs. I really want the 3gs cause it hast gps and the other models dont have gps.

if i import a gear s2 3g to Germany is it possible to use it without a provider?
i want to track my sport activities, connect it to my phone/wlan, listen to music and if one day esim is released in Germany i want to use all features..

Is this possible or do i need a provider to use the watch? Hope someone can help me out.
Thx in advance.

Greetings Marc

 

[optimummind]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

You can use it without a cell service provider. You just connect the watch to the phone via bluetooth. That's how I'm using my Gear S2 3G from AT&T with a Sprint Galaxy S6 Edge.

 

[KahneFan]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

You can use it without a cell service provider. You just connect the watch to the phone via bluetooth. That's how I'm using my Gear S2 3G from AT&T with a Sprint Galaxy S6 Edge.

So, you bought your watch outright and don't subscribe? I have a Verzion version, but I don't know that I care about the monthly service/4G feature. I really like the speaker/mic features, but I can use those without network charges.

 

[Arlene O]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Hello everyone,

first sorry for my english.. i hope its good enough to explain my "problem"

iam living in germany and here you cnt get the Samsung Gear S2 with 3gs. I really want the 3gs cause it hast gps and the other models dont have gps.

if i import a gear s2 3g to Germany is it possible to use it without a provider?
i want to track my sport activities, connect it to my phone/wlan, listen to music and if one day esim is released in Germany i want to use all features..

Is this possible or do i need a provider to use the watch? Hope someone can help me out.
Thx in advance.

Greetings Marc

Sorry for the late response. I purchased my watch in USA. The watch will not work as a standalone in Europe. It will work with Bluetooth with your smartphone perfectly. The reason being is that the watch is only made to work in USA with USA bands. I can only use it in USA with the standalone feature. I have T-Mobile provider with an international plan for my galaxy edge 6 phone. I was a disappointed that the watch will not work abroad as standalone since I spend a lot of time in Europe. I hope this answer your question.

-Arlene

 

[MarcSchw]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Thx everyone for your help. Today i bought another watch and i will wait until this watch will be released in Europe. My Main need is for Sports (GPS/Pulse/Music)
Sadly the normal Gear S2 has no gps :-(

Greetings Marc

 

[MarcSchw]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Hi again i need to bother you.. sorry :-(
like i said ive bought another watch but was not satisfied with it.. so i sent it back and iam still thinking about buying the Gear s2 3g and import it... can i use GPS/Heart rate and features like this without a provider and without connecting it to my phone? (i want to go running outside just with the watch and track my route with gps)

Thanks in advance

 

[Arlene O]

Hi again i need to bother you.. sorry :-(
like i said ive bought another watch but was not satisfied with it.. so i sent it back and iam still thinking about buying the Gear s2 3g and import it... can i use GPS/Heart rate and features like this without a provider and without connecting it to my phone? (i want to go running outside just with the watch and track my route with gps)

Thanks in advance

Yes, But you will always have to bring your phone since it will not work as a standalone in Europe. In other words it will always be connected via Bluetooth with your phone. I use mine for running too.

 

[Yadadi]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Marc, I'm curious about the other watch you bought and returned. What was it and why did you return it? I'm asking as it appears we want the same thing in a smart watch.

Thanks in advance.

 

[xendula]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Hi again i need to bother you.. sorry :-(
like i said ive bought another watch but was not satisfied with it.. so i sent it back and iam still thinking about buying the Gear s2 3g and import it... can i use GPS/Heart rate and features like this without a provider and without connecting it to my phone? (i want to go running outside just with the watch and track my route with gps)

Thanks in advance

Marc, not sure about the S2, but My LG watch Urbane 2nd edition LTE is sim unlocked and works in Germany (tried it with O2 and Simyo), so if you can grab one off Ebay, it may be a better choice for you, if you can live with not knowing exactly why global rollout of this watch was cancelled, and with a higher price. I use it to track my runs daily, listen to music via BT, and for general smartwatch functionaliy. I have a feeling you'd be much happier with something that works 100% where you live.
You could also get the Sony SW3 or wait for the soon to be announced SW4, which gives you the same functionality that you would get from the S2, but with better app selection. Endomondo, Runkeeper and Ghostracer (which syncs with Runkeeper) work in stand alone mode on Android Wear devices with GPS, and with the totally awesome SyncMytracks app, you can sync your runs from one of those to pretty much any major other service out there.

You could also drive over to France and buy a Moto 360 sport, though initial reviews indicate that it runs out of 50% battey per 1 hour GPS tracking, while the SW3 is said to last 3 hours, and my Urbane probably 5h+ (never ran that long).

Hope this helps.

 

[JRICHARDHANSON]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

There are several versions of the S2 that are not explained by Samsung. Of course there is the Classic, and the S2 bluuetooth with or without GPS and such, however the Verizon model I have has 3g connectivity and the speaker and microphone are on the lower case which is thicker than other S2 models, leading me to believe it has a larger battery, still makes barely 24hrs b4 need charging. Has anyone seen a pictue and or specs for this model?

 

[SMD]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

There are several versions of the S2 that are not explained by Samsung. Of course there is the Classic, and the S2 bluuetooth with or without GPS and such, however the Verizon model I have has 3g connectivity and the speaker and microphone are on the lower case which is thicker than other S2 models, leading me to believe it has a larger battery, still makes barely 24hrs b4 need charging. Has anyone seen a pictue and or specs for this model?

It's known as the Gear S2 3G. But it does have a slightly bigger battery (300mAh vs 250mAh) and has the speaker & GPS. It has a built in esim for connectivity while away from your phone. It's also ever so slightly bigger than the bluetooth version (screen size is the same) and it's a few mm thicker as you noticed. The battery drains still pretty quick on all accounts. Much faster than the regular non-3g version. The specs for the version can be found here:

Samsung Gear S2 | Verizon Wireless

Enjoy.

 

[MarcSchw]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Hello,

sorry for the late reply.. ive asked Samsung Support if the Gear S2 3g GPS works without a connection.. but sadly not it needs a sim card and connecton to a provider.

Ive ordered the Moto 360 Sport in the UK and today i got it.. it looks really great but one prob at the moment..

i can track if i run but i cant track if i workout in a gym. (only if my mobile phone is near and i install Apps like MapMyFitness/under Armor Record....)

Greetings Marc

 

[MarcSchw]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

Marc, I'm curious about the other watch you bought and returned. What was it and why did you return it? I'm asking as it appears we want the same thing in a smart watch.

Thanks in advance.

Hello sorry again for the late reply..

first i bought the TomTom Sparks.. it was nice and all functions for recording activities were good. But it was not really user friendly and the TomTom APp had not really many options for configuting the watch...
Sleep Tracking and Alarm are not really good to handle (my opionion)

And at the moment it was not possible to get notifications on your tomtom from your mobile phone.. (in the near future an update will enable this features.. rumors ;-)


well if you just need it for sport its a better choice than the moto 360 until i can find out how i can track other sports than running without taking my mobile phone with me

But ive wanted a smart watch which can help me during my day and sport activities.

Sport:
Track all kind of Sports (GPS/Heartrate) without mobile phone
Listen to music without phone

Daily:
Get notifications/easy to use

At the moment iam hoping to get this all running with my new Moto 360.. so if you can tell me a better one please

 

[mondieu]

Do not buy this watch if you want to use it as a sport watch, it will not deliver! Look into Garmin Fenix or Vivo.. They'll give you notifcations.. I have the R730 here in Australia and use this watch perfectly without the esim/gps; the watch works well but the battery life is something to consider. Notifications and taking calls with the watch are good, even without the esim/gps carrier enabled. PM if you need more advice..

 

[macabeo]

Hello

I had the same problem in December. T-Mobile insist that it should work but it does not. it does work as a standalone in the US, but not abroad. have you found a solution?

 

[xendula]

Hello

I had the same problem in December. T-Mobile insist that it should work but it does not. it does work as a standalone in the US, but not abroad. have you found a solution?

There is no solution, since this watch does not have the GSM bands it would need outside of the US

 

[allentom123]

hi u said that you basically use the 3g gear s2 as the normal bluetooth one right? if so i have 2 questions: 1) does it still drain the battery alot even tho the 3g feature is off and 2) can you play music from the speaker on the watch? Please reply because I ordered one for a really good deal from a friend and i dont plan on using the 3g features or anything just the bluetooth. Thanks

 

[allentom123]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

You can use it without a cell service provider. You just connect the watch to the phone via bluetooth. That's how I'm using my Gear S2 3G from AT&T with a Sprint Galaxy S6 Edge.

hi u said that you basically use the 3g gear s2 as the normal bluetooth one right? if so i have 2 questions: 1) does it still drain the battery alot even tho the 3g feature is off and 2) can you play music from the speaker on the watch? Please reply because I ordered one for a really good deal from a friend and i dont plan on using the 3g features or anything just the bluetooth. Thanks

 

[bhl62]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

1. I have the 3G radio turned off and typically at bedtime, the battery is somewhere around 40-50%. I've never activated the 3G service so don't have a baseline for comparison.

2. Yes, you can play music through the speaker if you really wanted to, but a Bluetooth headset will give you better battery life and, of course, sound quality. You can also use the speaker/microphone to make calls through your phone since it essentially functions as a hands-free Bluetooth device.

And, just be aware that if you don't activate the device it will prompt to activate each time you power it down and back on. Just hit the red X to prevent activation when that happens.

 

[Talderon]

Re: Use Gear S2 3g without a provider/esim

hi u said that you basically use the 3g gear s2 as the normal bluetooth one right? if so i have 2 questions: 1) does it still drain the battery alot even tho the 3g feature is off and 2) can you play music from the speaker on the watch? Please reply because I ordered one for a really good deal from a friend and i dont plan on using the 3g features or anything just the bluetooth. Thanks

1. I have the 3G radio turned off and typically at bedtime, the battery is somewhere around 40-50%. I've never activated the 3G service so don't have a baseline for comparison.

2. Yes, you can play music through the speaker if you really wanted to, but a Bluetooth headset will give you better battery life and, of course, sound quality. You can also use the speaker/microphone to make calls through your phone since it essentially functions as a hands-free Bluetooth device.

And, just be aware that if you don't activate the device it will prompt to activate each time you power it down and back on. Just hit the red X to prevent activation when that happens.

The only difference between the BT and 3G/4G models is that there is an extra radio and eSIM. Oh, and the watch is about 2mm thicker than the classic without the Cellular Radios.

If you disable the cellular and Wifi and only use BT to headset, then you will significantly increase the battery life. Just like a mobile phone. The only functionality you will lose are the ones tied to the Cellular portion of the S2 (call forwarding when you leave your device at home, Number Sync and the battery drain from the cellular radios). Even just disabling the Cellular radios will increase battery life.

I have mine on all the time (Cellular and WiFi), because when it is connected to my device via BT, those are automatically turned off anyway. They activate only when BT connection is lost, but if you set them to disable, you will just have a fancy watch.