I have a Moto 360 and love it, but wanted to try Tizen and use a watch that didn't necessarily need to be tethered to my phone.
The Gear S is beautiful. The screen is amazing and it's lighter than I thought. I could hardly feel it after a day of use. Yes, it is bigger than any other smartwatch on the market, but I'm not a fashion diva, nor do I spend a lot of time with fashion divas, so I'm not self-conscious when it comes to my technology. If it serves a useful purpose, and doesn't draw unnecessary attention to itself, I'm happy. When at work, my dress shirt sleeves cover it fine and when wearing short sleeves, it has a cool-factor that I like.
Here are the upsides: The screen is bright and much more useful than other screens. The extra real estate makes reading emails, messages and browsing the internet much more practical. It's not supposed to replace a smartphone, but when you are in a situation where you don't have your phone, it's a terrific back-up.
The phone features work very well. The little speaker is amazingly loud, and when in a noisy area, pairing with my Motorola bluetooth earpiece takes care of any situation. While out the other day, my S5's battery died and I was able to make a few calls with my watch and navigate home using GPS right from the Gear S. That is an amazing thing. The battery life is the best of the smartwatches out there, aside from maybe the Pebble (although the Moto 360 has gotten MUCH better after the last update). The watch delivers on all of it's promises.
The downsides are: It is not a subtle piece of jewelry. When wearing this device, you are not James Bond, with a stealthy Aston Martin packed into your delicate Omega Seamaster. No, you are James T. Kirk; a 23rd-century bad-*** who is boldly going with a cutting-edge tricorder on his wrist.
Second, messaging only works with Samsung's own messaging app on your phone. If you are using Go SMS or some other app, it won't work. Third, Tizen simply doesn't have the app selection that Android Wear has, and Apple will certainly have. There is no doubt that Tizen is a distant third-place for smartwatch app developers.
Very few NEED a smartwatch. Were I strapped for cash, I would not have purchased this watch. I would have stuck with my Moto 360 as it is a fine piece of work. But, business has been good lately and 200.00 was not a bad price to pay for the delight of using this amazing technology. Don't go into debt for this toy, but if you can afford it, it really is quite fun and imminently useful.
However, based on your post, I'm not sure you are really going to find this watch useful without a voice or data plan. The whole point of the Gear S is that it comes with it's own sim card and can function without your phone. Take that away, and you have a big, glass paper weight on your wrist. To me, the ten buck each month is worth it, but your mileage may vary.
Good luck!
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