Way to get notifications when disconnected from phone?

[ShaggyKids]

Deb,

Just curious, what are your thoughts on the Gear S since you have had it fir a while? Did you get the bugs worked out? With all the problems I have seen in this forum and XDA forums I am still hesitant to purchase it. Thanks

Rusty

I'm still very frustrated with it. I have been bound and determined to make notifications come to the watch when not connected to the phone and so far I have been absolutely unsuccessful except for a brief period of time when this did work. Then it stopped working. I poked around on Google and found that this does seem to be a problem with the watch. I'm still contemplating returning it no matter how much I love it in other ways.

At this point I'm considering calling my VZW store rep and telling him to get his Samsung representative to the store so I can meet with him in person and have him make it work. Two watches not doing the same thing they are supposed to do tells me the product is flawed and it seems as though Samsung did not test this part of it very well before they put the watch on the market.

Getting notifications to the watch was one of the major reasons I wanted it in the first place and that does work as long as the devices are connected by bluetooth. However in my situation it's important to me to get them when the watch is in used as a stand-alone device.

 

[rsmin]

Just remember that any device you look at on a forum will be full of complaints. People come to forums like this for 3 reasons:

1) They are really excited by there new device
2) They are curious about buying one
3) They have a problem.

1 gets used to the device and fades off. 2 buys the device or doesn't away after a while. But Problems will always arise, so the majority of posts tend to be negative, or at least asking for help on problems, in the long run.

My wife and I have had our Gear S watches since they came out in the US. We both wear them everyday and find them very useful. Surprisingly so.

My wife is a big fan of the fact she does not have to take her phone with her to be able to make calls / text. Although we tend to use Bluetooth most of the time, the remote connected has come in handy many times.

Good luck either way.

InfamousUnknown,

Thanks for the response. I appreciate your input. You are correct on your summarization of forums. Forums and tech reviews from various places is usually where I base my decisions to purchase a device or not. My one weakness in life is gadgets and I have been falling prey to them for a long time. I love them and have been satisfied and enjoyed most of my picks and some of them I got burned on. Since leaving the droid x years ago I have stayed with Samsung on just about all my tech purchases. (Phones, tablets, and even the original Galaxy gear watch). The problem I am facing with this one is the sample size in the forums and reviews from various places.
With phones you have a huge sample size of responses in the forums, and reviews from Amazon, Best Buy, CNET, You Tube, and so on. With tablets the sample size is a little smaller but still pretty large. (With the exception of the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 that I purchased). Smart watches are so new with such a small niche of people buying them that it makes buying one a little more risky. Samsung makes that sample size even smaller with the gear s because you have to have a late model Samsung phone to use it. I purchased the first Galaxy gear watch last year and was a little frustrated with Samsung on that purchase. I felt like they used us as beta testers for that watch. The one thing that everyone seemed to enjoy the most besides the notifications was WatchStyler. Then for some reason Samsung took that one away and on one of the Samsung updates it actually took that app off your watch. I wound up rooting that watch ( which I normally don't root anything) just to get a little more functionality out of the watch. I was only recently able to get watchstyler back on the watch. So I agree with your point on forums and the responses that we see, it's just the sample size is so small that I can't decide with this one. Again, thank you for your input.

 

[rsmin]

I'm still very frustrated with it. I have been bound and determined to make notifications come to the watch when not connected to the phone and so far I have been absolutely unsuccessful except for a brief period of time when this did work. Then it stopped working. I poked around on Google and found that this does seem to be a problem with the watch. I'm still contemplating returning it no matter how much I love it in other ways.

At this point I'm considering calling my VZW store rep and telling him to get his Samsung representative to the store so I can meet with him in person and have him make it work. Two watches not doing the same thing they are supposed to do tells me the product is flawed and it seems as though Samsung did not test this part of it very well before they put the watch on the market.

Getting notifications to the watch was one of the major reasons I wanted it in the first place and that does work as long as the devices are connected by bluetooth. However in my situation it's important to me to get them when the watch is in used as a stand-alone device.

Deb,

Thanks for your response. I am sorry you are having problems with the notifications when away from your phone. I know what it is like when you purchase something that is supposed to do something that you really wanted the item for in the first place and it doesn't work. (Especially when it cost a lot). Some people might be able to risk $300 or more for something that doesn't work but I am not one of them. Hopefully someone in the forums here can help you figure out what is going on with yours.

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

I hope this isn't impossible but so far I haven't found a way to make it happen. Is there a way to get notifications on the Gear S when it's not connected to my phone?

Thanks,
Deb

Go into settings on your Gear S, scroll to connections, choose Mobile networks, make sure Auto on/off is checked. I suggest you also tap WIFI and make sure it's checked. Remember, your phone must still be turned on to have calls and notifications to be transferred to your Gear. Once you leave the BT range your Gear will automatically connect remotely to your phone.

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

You shouldn't have to turn off the wifi on your phone to connect to the Gear via the network or other wifi connection. If you're having trouble connecting remotely, disconnect the two in Gear Manager, you can then turn off wifi on your watch (connections), then try connecting again in the Gear Manager. It will take a few seconds to connect and you'll see a screen notification on your watch (and in the Manager) that you're connected remotely. The Gear, like your phone, will connect to the strongest signal (wifi or network). While you're connected to your device via BT, tap Notifications and you can choose which ones that will appear on your Gear. If this helps, let us know.

See my remarks above, regarding notifications.

 

[foxbat121]

It was reported early on when it was first released, Gear S will have a tough time connect remotely if you leave wifi ON unless both your phone and the watch are on the same wifi network. It was a bug in Samsung's firmware. So, turn off wifi is an advise for those with issues connect remotely.


I was playing around with Gear Manger yesterday and realized one setting OP may have overlooked. In Gear Manager->Settings, make sure you checked the box 'Use Remote Connection'.

 

[ShaggyKids]

I'm pasting in (below) the information I just posted on my other thread about this. Just an FYI, I was told by the store folks that one cannot view browsers nor receive notifications from browsers on the Gear S. I dunno if that's true or not, I don't care because I don't need nor want that functionality. I'm just passing the info along for others. I never did get Opera on my watch after installing it on my phone.

I apologize PROFUSELY! In all my posts on this problem I used the words "stand-alone" and that is incorrect. What I was trying to accomplish was to do this with the phone in REMOTE/CONNECTED REMOTELY fashion.

I took my phone back to the VZW store and they have an employee there who they claim can work magic with problems which she did. She managed to get me set up and working ... except originally when I left the store my weather was updating on my Gear S. Now it hasn't updated since Friday and I don't know why it stopped and so far have not been able to fix.

She told me to do a reset on the watch if something goes kaflooey but so far I'm not willing to do that because I've had sooooooo many problems, I don't want to mess up what she's done to make everything else work right. I realize I can do a backup and restore via the Gear Manager but fear a restore will just bring back the problems I'm trying to get rid of. Should have done a backup soon as I got home from the store and didn't think of it.