Gear Sport / non samsung phone question

[Andrew Gresbach]

I know this has probably been covered at length but just in case i missed something....

I have a Oneplus 6t phone and looking at the Gear Sport. I was 99% ready to pull the trigger due to its size, waterproof, dial , etc but then saw the compatibility matrix and shows email , messenging and phone are all not supported on non galaxy android so that was a bit of a show stopper

for some i saw saying that it works SOMETIMES depending on the phone. I dont really care to reply to emails/texts or answer calls but it would be nice to be able to see the info on the watch (read the text/email see whos calling, etc).

Can anyone confirm that these 3 functions do NOT work on non samsung phones? or even more specifically on the Oneplus 6t? that might push me to having to look at Wear OS unfortunately

 

[cohoman]

I've been using my Gear Sport watch with my LG G6 phone for several months now, and it's been working great. In fact, it seems to be working better than my old Moto 360 Android Wear OS watch. I can read my Gmail messages, Textra text messages, and see in coming phone calls on my Gear device. So, I believe seeing messages and notifications works fine, but sending emails, etc. won't work.

 

[recDNA]

I'd go with Wear OS all day. Many more options and apps than Samsung

 

[Andrew Gresbach]

thank you for the feedback! i keep hearing Textra as being successful. Would you mind testing w/ the stock Messenger to see how it works? if you dont want to no biggie

So i've gone back and forth w/ samsung and wear os and keep coming back to the gear sport due to the size, better battery life than most wear os ones and hardware. my main use i'm looking for is being able to use on runs/gym to use the gps for tracking/pace and having offline music. and of course the sms, call info.

i dont have big wrists so the sport size seemed pretty ideal. I really wanted to like wear OS but couldnt find something in this price range that matched the size, battery life that the sport had so settling on that i think

 

[cohoman]

I was a bit concerned about getting a smartwatch that was not using the Android Wear OS, but after using the Samsung Gear Sport with the Tizen OS for the past several months I just love it. Great battery life, sharp screen, and it just works with no issues. I mainly use it for daily alarms and for notifications, so I'm not overly concerned about having lots of apps. What is available for Tizen works for me. I also didn't want a giant watch on my wrist, so the Gear Sport fits well for my needs.

 

[Andrew Gresbach]

thank you for your input here! thats what i come back to as well......interface seems a little more polished and battery life seems a lot better than any wear os watch at the moment. the rotating bezel is really nice too. i WANTED to like wear os more since its native to any android a little better but just didnt like the interface as much. and like you said, the smaller sized watch that the sport is doesnt scream giant smart watch on your wrist but at least attempts to blend in a bit more

i posted the question on the xda site too and sounds like others with my phone are working fine w/ the sport (even w/ the default messenger app which i was concerned about due to samsung listed non samsung android as not supported for messaging) so thats promising

 

[NYCMetsPDX]

OnePlus 6T owner here and have been using the Gear Sport since Nov 2017 (Originally used with my OnePlus 3T). I have used messaging with Android messages and with Textra, both worked well as I could read/reply to messages as they came in. You can't go back and read full message conversations, just a heads up (I never wanted to do so, so this isn't a deal breaker).

I personally love this watch and if it broke I'd gladly buy another (Fell on it over the holidays when stepping on a patch of ice and this watch took it like a champ!). The size is great and no WearOS watch can touch the battery life.

 

[Andrew Gresbach]

awesome thank you very much for all of the feedback! are samsung phones able to go back and read the whole thread i wonder? i agree thats not a big deal at all to me too but maybe thats one thing that samsung android can do but others cant

so of course my Gear Sport arrives tomorrow and i have to ship my 6t in for repair the same day (notice the alert slider is just gone somehow...no clue how that happened). Hopefully it all works on my old nexus 6 for the week! (pie rom installed). thanks for everyones help! i went back and forth between the sport and any wear os watch and they all seemed to suck for battery life in comparison so i'm excited to start w/ the sport

 

[NYCMetsPDX]

Good choice, I think you'll end up really liking this watch!

 

[Andrew Gresbach]

Ive had my Sport now paired w/ my 6t for about a week now and so far so good! one thing i was curious about.....so if i receive a text i can view that single text and reply if i want . However I do not see the Messages app on the phone and not able to view the entire text thread or see other texts. Is this a limitation of using a non-samsung phone w/ the gear i'd imagine ? i saw lots of others reporting that they used to be be able to do this and see the app but now its gone. curious what others have noticed