- Jan 25, 2011
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So I finally took the plunge and sideboard Tizen onto my Gear yesterday tough Odin. I'm using the UK version that I downloaded from Sammobile.
First off, Gear Manager was updated last week. It basically has the same interface as the old version, although literally more colorful.
After putting the new OS onto my gear, I had to re-pair the watch with my S5. Didn't take long.
First thing I noticed was that it went back to a default watchface. I immediately went into samsung apps to download watch styler, which I quickly found no longer exists, which didn't make me happy.
The new Gear Manager has a "Homescreen styler" which basically replaces the old watch styler. You can import any photo from your gallery, and it immediately puts it on your Gear Homescreen. It gives you a couple options in terms of buttons to have on your gear (see attached screenshot).
In terms of battery life, I've had the watch off the charger for exactly 24 hours and have 38% battery life remaining. All notifications have been coming through to the Gear. I've had it on ring and vibrate.
Talking about notifications, they seem to be coming through the watch almost instantaneously. I'll feel my phone vibrate, and in under a second, my Gear also goes off. One thing I noticed is that MMS messages are coming through to the gear with pictures. Maybe the old OS did this as well, I just never noticed.
The camera seems the same, unfortunately the "share" option is still grayed out.
I have not tried using S-Voice yet to send responses to SMS messages yet.
The volume on the watch seems significantly louder, for both notifications and for calls.
The standalone music player is great. You can send any sound files you have on your phone to the Gear through Gear Manager, although I found that after sending the file, I had to reboot the Gear for it to show up. Apparently you can also drag and drop files if you USB the gear to your computer.
There is now a "sleep" option on the gear. I wore it to bed for the first time last night to try it. It automatically shuts off all notifications while monitoring your sleep. All it really told me this morning was that I was in bed for 7hrs 5min and was motionless for 91% of that time.
The pedometer is still there, there is also an exercise option where you select walking, running, hiking or bicycling. Have not tried it yet.
So far so good. Only downside is that there seem to be fewer apps in the Samsung apps section (all are still useless) but I imagine that with the Gear2 line only being a couple months old and Tizen being brand new, developers will eventually have something useful for us.
I am happy that Samsung didn't abandon all of us who spent $300 on a device that was replaced a few months later. I feel like this OS gave me a free upgrade and I have a new device.
(PS....this is just a copy of the Comments I made over at Connectedly. If you haven't been over to check out the Mobile Nations site, I'd encourage it!)
Posted via Android Central App
First off, Gear Manager was updated last week. It basically has the same interface as the old version, although literally more colorful.
After putting the new OS onto my gear, I had to re-pair the watch with my S5. Didn't take long.
First thing I noticed was that it went back to a default watchface. I immediately went into samsung apps to download watch styler, which I quickly found no longer exists, which didn't make me happy.
The new Gear Manager has a "Homescreen styler" which basically replaces the old watch styler. You can import any photo from your gallery, and it immediately puts it on your Gear Homescreen. It gives you a couple options in terms of buttons to have on your gear (see attached screenshot).
In terms of battery life, I've had the watch off the charger for exactly 24 hours and have 38% battery life remaining. All notifications have been coming through to the Gear. I've had it on ring and vibrate.
Talking about notifications, they seem to be coming through the watch almost instantaneously. I'll feel my phone vibrate, and in under a second, my Gear also goes off. One thing I noticed is that MMS messages are coming through to the gear with pictures. Maybe the old OS did this as well, I just never noticed.
The camera seems the same, unfortunately the "share" option is still grayed out.
I have not tried using S-Voice yet to send responses to SMS messages yet.
The volume on the watch seems significantly louder, for both notifications and for calls.
The standalone music player is great. You can send any sound files you have on your phone to the Gear through Gear Manager, although I found that after sending the file, I had to reboot the Gear for it to show up. Apparently you can also drag and drop files if you USB the gear to your computer.
There is now a "sleep" option on the gear. I wore it to bed for the first time last night to try it. It automatically shuts off all notifications while monitoring your sleep. All it really told me this morning was that I was in bed for 7hrs 5min and was motionless for 91% of that time.
The pedometer is still there, there is also an exercise option where you select walking, running, hiking or bicycling. Have not tried it yet.
So far so good. Only downside is that there seem to be fewer apps in the Samsung apps section (all are still useless) but I imagine that with the Gear2 line only being a couple months old and Tizen being brand new, developers will eventually have something useful for us.
I am happy that Samsung didn't abandon all of us who spent $300 on a device that was replaced a few months later. I feel like this OS gave me a free upgrade and I have a new device.
(PS....this is just a copy of the Comments I made over at Connectedly. If you haven't been over to check out the Mobile Nations site, I'd encourage it!)
Posted via Android Central App
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