App support

[project.in.process]

I'm looking at the S3 Classic, coming from a 1stgen Moto 360.
I don't really use apps all that much on the watch -- I more or less rely on it for Notifications;
Notifications from Hangouts, Gmail, Samsung Pay, or any other notifications that might appear on the phone that get pushed to the watch.

Not having used the 'Gear' app on my S7, I'm unfamiliar with it. I assume there's a Tizen appstore accessible through it and if only apps that are searchable in the app will get pushed to the watch?
My concern is that since the Tizen app ecosystem isn't as developed as the app availability of AndroidWear, does the watch feel lacking at all?

Additionally, with that being said, can anyone confirm:
1. Is Hangouts functionality supported on the Gear S3
- do Hangouts notifications come thru?
- can you reply to Hangout notifications?
2. Is Gmail functionality supported?
- do Gmail notifications come thru?
- can you reply to Gmail notifications?

 

[afblangley]

As a Google Voice user, Hangouts is essential to me. I have a Frontier LTE that's rarely paired via BT, so my experience isn't typical. Via the Android Wear app, Hangouts and email notifications pass thru so long as the phone is connected (via BT or remotely). I can respond to, but not initiate them. This may vary by phone. Others on this forum have different experiences than mine. S Pay notifications require a BT connection, but this isn't needed for using S Pay on the watch.

Tizen integration with Android notifications isn't as robust as it's likely to be with the upcoming Wear 2 watches. If that's important to you, the question I would ask is what compelling feature the S3 has driving your interest in it? The LG Sport looks like it's going to be a worthy competitor, for example.

 

[dshrum84]

The degree of compatibility the Gear S3 has depends a lot on your phone. I have a HTC One M9 and I get pretty good implementation on most things. The only particular thing that's annoying to the point of making the notification less useful is that emails tend to run together in a blur. I don't need or desire to write emails on my watch but making the notification similar to the texts where they're each separate and reasonably complete would be nice.

I've actually noticed that the emails received in the native Mail app on my phone are weird looking on the watch but from Outlook, a third party app, they're clean. Maybe Samsung is less cooperative with the other makers' native apps.

 

[p1eric]

I assume there's a Tizen appstore accessible through it and if only apps that are searchable in the app will get pushed to the watch?

Yes - you download watch apps through the Galaxy Apps store. If you have an S7 it will be preloaded. Once you connect the S3 there will be a Gear tab within the app where you can browse watch apps.

My concern is that since the Tizen app ecosystem isn't as developed as the app availability of AndroidWear, does the watch feel lacking at all?

My main uses are notifications and running. The only notifications that I have setup are texts, calls, calendar events and email (gmail and stock samsung email). All work well. The S Health running app is OK. I am looking forward to some more running apps being available soon. Once place you may find it lacking it the voice control. S Voice is not good and quite inferior to Google's voice search. If you use that on your moto 360 then I think you'll probably really miss it on the S3. If you stream music then the only options I'm aware of are Spotify and IHeartRadio, both of which I used before ever buying the S3 so it worked out for me. If you want to push music to the watch you have to do it through the Gear app and the music must be stored on the phone.

2. Is Gmail functionality supported?
- do Gmail notifications come thru?
- can you reply to Gmail notifications?

Yes gmail notifications come through and yes you can respond to them from the watch.

 

[pjwk81]

Badly needs proper support for Keep. I'll be back on Android Wear if it doesn't happen soon.

 

[dshrum84]

Don't anticipate Google giving that much help to Samsung in Tizen's toddlerhood towards competing directly with Android.

That said, I already saw a Google Maps APK sideload on the the Galaxy Apps Store. You might be able to use a similar process from a 3rd party source.