Going back to the Gear S.

[cperrry1]

After several months with the Gear S2, I really, really, really tried to like the Gear S2. I have the black T-mobile version. The turning bezel was nice, but hard to turn.. It should have had a bezel like the classic. Simple things like, when charging the Gear S2, new notifications would not turn on the screen, so I would have to check my phone. Never had that problem with the Gear S, which was nice. No web browser, which I miss. Screen just too small, and for me, the best form for a smartwatch is retangular. Battery life on both devices are about the same.

I apprecitate Samsung for trying different things, thats why I stay with them, but I really wish they would really see when they have something special, and different, and stick with it. Continue to make new models, but dont give up on your niche devices. I own the Note 4 edge, which is the best phone I have every owned, and plan on sticking with until it stops working or they come out with something just as good. I also have the Galaxy view 18.4 in tablet. Both I guess you would call niche devices, but, in time, like the note series devices, people will come around and see the advantages of having these devices.

Just my 2 cents.
"Love is in need of Love", Stevie Wonder

 

[foxbat121]

Most original Gear S owners here knew Gear S2 is a big step backwards

As for Samsung phones, I have had many of them. Quality is so so. I will use Nexus phones exclusively from now on.

 

[mountainbikermark]

When I saw the screen would be less than half the size of the original I lost all interest in the second generation. After reading threads on the S2 area of this forum, it has been confirmation as functionality has been reversed as well. Granted I don't see a browser on a watch as taking over the usage on a phone or tablet, not having the ability at all wasn't a step forward to me. Many of my daily used apps would be useless on the S2 due to small fonts and squeezing content into a round area that was originally meant to be square or rectangular. It's like they couldn't decide whether to clone the Apple watch or Moto360 .

 

[cperrry1]

I will say the Gear S2 was a nice watch, and if I had never owned the Gears S, It would probably have been fine for me. Now I will say, I do miss the wireless charging on the Gear S2, as well as the rotating bezel (just to hard to turn).

The thing is Samsung makes great products, lots of innovative things, but instead of building on them, they throw them out half assed, see if they stick, and move on to the next thing. For me, i'm probably going to move to Android wear once it matures, and they come out with a 4g version. I also have eye on LG as well as HTC, which was my favorite years ago.

Just my 2 cents
"Love is in need of Love", Stevie Wonder.

 

[foxbat121]

For me, i'm probably going to move to Android wear once it matures, and they come out with a 4g version.

I have moved on to LG Urban 2nd Edition LTE. Will sell my Gear S. In many ways, Android Wear has much better integration with Android phones than Gear S. Of course, there are still some places where Gear S shines. But I certainly don't miss my Gear S at all since last Nov. Best of all, I can use it with any Android phone.

 

[cperrry1]

I was going 2 get the lg watch but they took it off the market. Hoping they will come out with another version. I like the look and size of the Asus watch. I like a rectangular face myself.

 

[mountainbikermark]

I will say the Gear S2 was a nice watch, and if I had never owned the Gears S, It would probably have been fine for me. Now I will say, I do miss the wireless charging on the Gear S2, as well as the rotating bezel (just to hard to turn).

The thing is Samsung makes great products, lots of innovative things, but instead of building on them, they throw them out half assed, see if they stick, and move on to the next thing. For me, i'm probably going to move to Android wear once it matures, and they come out with a 4g version. I also have eye on LG as well as HTC, which was my favorite years ago.

Just my 2 cents
"Love is in need of Love", Stevie Wonder.

Next one to come out with a 2" screen will get my Benjamins. If the trend stays with sub 1.6" screens that are round I'll just give up the smartwatch phase in my life. I can easily live without independent phone connectivity and a phone butler but I've grown rather attached to my mini pda. I use the 5 apps circled in the screen shot at least once daily, often times on multiple occasions with the voice memo, quick settings and notes in gear apps

and many other stand alone apps on a regular basis such as a Bible app, dictionary, unit converter, stop watch, compass, music player, alarm clock plus others that need to be tethered to my phone at times. What started as a niche that made phone calls has turned into a daily productivity enhancement for me.

 

[cperrry1]

I feel you. Samsung had the right idea with their first 2 gear watches, with camera and ir blaster. Then came the Gear S minus those things. They could have kept the ir blaster and made the camera as and add on, or Gear S with and without camera. Then came the S2, round, small, but a beautiful rotating bezel on the classic and bland bezel on the 4g version. Now I read they are coming out with the Classic 4g in March, WTF.

As much as I appriciate Samsung for trying things, they are all of the place. Now watch, Apple is gonna come out with a 2 inch retangular watch, with a camera, and Samsung is going to backtrack and add the features again, when they should have just built on what they had.

My 2 cents.

 

[foxbat121]

Samsung is a hardware maker in its heart. It always willing to take the risk on produce newest and latest hardware. It just lacks persistence to see any of its products through. I have seen it through their various iterations of DVD players and BD players, smart phones back as far as original Windows Mobile days (which is over 10 years ago IIRC). They design one product. Once released, they design next one starting over.

 

[Droidful]

Next one to come out with a 2" screen will get my Benjamins. If the trend stays with sub 1.6" screens that are round I'll just give up the smartwatch phase in my life. I can easily live without independent phone connectivity and a phone butler but I've grown rather attached to my mini pda. I use the 5 apps circled in the screen shot at least once daily, often times on multiple occasions with the voice memo, quick settings and notes in gear apps
//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160219/a8f95370ca763bbbec30cd2c7c07a179.jpg and many other stand alone apps on a regular basis such as a Bible app, dictionary, unit converter, stop watch, compass, music player, alarm clock plus others that need to be tethered to my phone at times. What started as a niche that made phone calls has turned into a daily productivity enhancement for me.

What is the screen shot of? I have a gear neo I don't have that kind of real estate. Is it your phone?

 

[mountainbikermark]

What is the screen shot of? I have a gear neo I don't have that kind of real estate. Is it your phone?

It's my watch face on my S. It's called Power Watch. It's compatible with the Gear 2 and Neo but doesn't give notification count on the Neo. It's a screen shot on the phone of a screen shot of the watch face. It's really more of a launcher than a watch face which is exactly what I wanted. There's a little learning curve to set it up but there's also YouTube videos in the description that make the learning curve about 99% easier than just muddling through it.

 

[foxbat121]

I believe that is a screen shot of his phone while displaying a screen hot of his Gear S.

 

[mountainbikermark]

I believe that is a screen shot of his phone while displaying a screen hot of his Gear S.

Yeah I was forgetful/lazy and didn't crop out the outer part.
Forgot to add, the Power Clock is also very battery friendly.

 

[Droidful]

Yeah I was forgetful/lazy and didn't crop out the outer part.
Forgot to add, the Power Clock is also very battery friendly.

Thanks,
that's kinda like looking at the reflection of a mirror in the mirror...
I get it.

But I went with the gear over a fitness tracker because I prefer analog.

 

[mountainbikermark]

Thanks,
that's kinda like looking at the reflection of a mirror in the mirror...
I get it.

But I went with the gear over a fitness tracker because I prefer analog.

I started off with a Gear Fit for the S Health feature, wanted to add a built music player so went to buy a Neo, AT&T was sold out and sold me my S for the same price they were asking for a Neo. I was in smartwatch heaven until Samsung fragged the S Health app to its current useless for my usage design. Now my S is a pda that checks steps and heart rate. As far as goals , maps or saving anything it's no longer worth a hoot to me. I used to make maps of my routes and check histories for improvements and such. I tried other apps as well but they seem to be more for bragging on social media than actual health and fitness helpers and/or need to be tethered to the phone.

 

[cperrry1]

With the excitement of going back to my Gear S, finding the perfect watch face{all and one), I forgot about the dreded broken charger cradle. Mine just broke, again. This will be the 4th replacement for me. Good thing I brought a spare. Well off to call Samsung customer support. Damn, Damn, Damn!!!

 

[Droidful]

I started off with a Gear Fit for the S Health feature, wanted to add a built music player so went to buy a Neo, AT&T was sold out and sold me my S for the same price they were asking for a Neo. I was in smartwatch heaven until Samsung fragged the S Health app to its current useless for my usage design. Now my S is a pda that checks steps and heart rate. As far as goals , maps or saving anything it's no longer worth a hoot to me. I used to make maps of my routes and check histories for improvements and such. I tried other apps as well but they seem to be more for bragging on social media than actual health and fitness helpers and/or need to be tethered to the phone.

Sounds like your also paying at&t for the privilege of wearing your watch.

What shealth function was removed that you were using?

 

[mountainbikermark]

Sounds like your also paying at&t for the privilege of wearing your watch.

What shealth function was removed that you were using?

I'm paying AT&T for a second line that I can use as I choose. Call it a personal phone and a work watch since my phone stays in my locker at work and I use my watch instead. Since I work where I work I get a 20% discount on both lines . I use about 20 minutes of phone call minutes a month on my phone, about 30 minutes a month on my watch. My texts are in the thousands per month per device. I use about 1/4gb of data a month on my phone, about 100 MB of data on the watch a month. Opera mini compresses data tremendously.
Map drawing. As I wrote before I used it quite a bit for maps of routes. I'd take screen shots on the phone and use the s pen to write points of interest and such after tethering it back when I got home from bike riding, kayaking, etc. The history of workouts and steps sucks big time now as well. You can't break down a day into the things you could before. No way to see your progress off device like before so if you lose your data on your watch or phone, there's no way to see past history. I was at 4 million steps when it force updated with 5.1 and have no idea how many I totaled for 2015.

 

[CehowardNote7]

After several months with the Gear S2, I really, really, really tried to like the Gear S2. I have the black T-mobile version. The turning bezel was nice, but hard to turn.. It should have had a bezel like the classic. Simple things like, when charging the Gear S2, new notifications would not turn on the screen, so I would have to check my phone. Never had that problem with the Gear S, which was nice. No web browser, which I miss. Screen just too small, and for me, the best form for a smartwatch is retangular. Battery life on both devices are about the same.

I apprecitate Samsung for trying different things, thats why I stay with them, but I really wish they would really see when they have something special, and different, and stick with it. Continue to make new models, but dont give up on your niche devices. I own the Note 4 edge, which is the best phone I have every owned, and plan on sticking with until it stops working or they come out with something just as good. I also have the Galaxy view 18.4 in tablet. Both I guess you would call niche devices, but, in time, like the note series devices, people will come around and see the advantages of having these devices.

Just my 2 cents.
"Love is in need of Love", Stevie Wonder

Same here, I am Gear addict, I have upgraded each time from the first Gear to the Gear S. However, just like with my Note 4, Samsung, IMO, had a "brain lock" on the Gear S2 and Note 5. As much as I am fanatic over those 2 models, I REFUSED to get a Note 5 and a Gear S2. They went backwards in every area except power. But what good is more power in a defeatured unit?

I am abroad right now, and my Note 4 is rocking with 3 spare batteries. A couple days, I used all 3 batteries, that is how much I use. Ditto for my Gear S. No way was I going from a 2 inch screen to a 1 1/2 and no browser. I was going with anohter smartwatch but I found out it couldn't call out or work by itself. Going to see what the Gear S3 has, I will swith brands before I go backwards,

Just want to let you know you not by yourself. In fact, I didnt even buy an S2, the spec sheet turned me off..

 

[cperrry1]

The thing is Samsung may never do another watch like the Gear S. I hope i'm wrong. But until then I will be using the Gear S. Actually, i'm looking for a T-Mobile Version, which is hard to find, a new one that is.