My 12 day experience using a Gear S with Google Voice and a Moto 360 within reach

[jlczl]

So it's been about a week. I turned on the always on clock yesterday and I finished the day @ 24% eventhough I burned thru 33% of the battery in the morning during my workout. The battery is acceptable. One of the biggest realizations I've arrived at is that to appreciate the S you have to think about it as another phone sitting next to your phone. If you leave the AndroidWear comparison behind, you may be happy with the S.

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[tech_fan]

Yup, that X looks tempting to gadget addicts like us. Since my Note 4 is so new though, I'm not going to jump.

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Today I was at the gym listening to a Podcast on wearables and the Apple watch and the conversation about the Moto 360 came up. They were talking about the Apple Watch and the cards on Android Wear. Made me miss the 360. Jury is still out on mine. I have until a week a from Sunday. I am enjoying the battery life and the display. I really miss the Google Now on the Android Wear.

 

[tl600f4i]

I'm definitely monitoring this thread as much as I enjoy my Moto360, I am absolutely craving a keyboard for it. I find so much use unlocked when you have one at your disposal compared to voice response to texts. Has anyone ever tried to go out and find a keyboard (minimum or Microsoft) for the m360?

 

[jlczl]

Yesterday was a long day. Full of activities. Lots of use and I didn't get to bed until almost 2 am this morning. The battery held up well. I was in the mid 20% range when I went to bed and put it on its charger.

Thanks to aitt I found a way to dismiss my notifications and have them dismissed on my phone at the same time. I do find myself counting less on my watch to reply to a lot of the notifications I used to reply with on my 360 though......and that's a shame.

On the upside, I've really enjoyed leaving my phone behind during my exercise routine. I exercise daily so this is a huge plus. Unfortunately, on the days I workout twice, the battery will not make it thru my afternoon workout.

So far I'm considering keeping the S for my daytime watch and relegating my 360 to evening/formal use (though it'll share duties with my Tag, Cartier and Omega). I'll be getting the metal bracelet for the 360 so it'll fit the bill as a formal wear smart watch (it looks great with the Movado face IMO). My day to day attire is rugged because of my work so the Gear S fits with its sportier look. In the evenings, when I go to church, or go out with friends I'll be rocking the 360.

2 things I'd love on my Gear S: A battery that would last 2 days while still using the standalone features such as music streaming (even if only a couple hours of it) and independent phone call and text usage even if not a lot of it). That would make the sleep tracking option useful and available to me. The other would be the ability to interact as well as the 360 with app's notifications such as liking posts on IG, FB, Twitter, GroupMe and the like, as well as replying to them, deleting emails and having that reflect on my email on my phone, etc. (I'm hoping this can still be fixed with future software updates)

I may not need the whole 12 days to decide on keeping the S.

All in all, if I had to choose only one I'd still lean towards the 360 but fortunately I don't have to.

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[CehowardNote7]

Yesterday was a long day. Full of activities. Lots of use and I didn't get to bed until almost 2 am this morning. The battery held up well. I was in the mid 20% range when I went to bed and put it on its charger.

Thanks to aitt I found a way to dismiss my notifications and have them dismissed on my phone at the same time. I do find myself counting less on my watch to reply to a lot of the notifications I used to reply with on my 360 though......and that's a shame.

On the upside, I've really enjoyed leaving my phone behind during my exercise routine. I exercise daily so this is a huge plus. Unfortunately, on the days I workout twice, the battery will not make it thru my afternoon workout.

So far I'm considering keeping the S for my daytime watch and relegating my 360 to evening/formal use (though it'll share duties with my Tag, Cartier and Omega). I'll be getting the metal bracelet for the 360 so it'll fit the bill as a formal wear smart watch (it looks great with the Movado face IMO). My day to day attire is rugged because of my work so the Gear S fits with its sportier look. In the evenings, when I go to church, or go out with friends I'll be rocking the 360.

2 things I'd love on my Gear S: A battery that would last 2 days while still using the standalone features such as music streaming (even if only a couple hours of it) and independent phone call and text usage even if not a lot of it). That would make the sleep tracking option useful and available to me. The other would be the ability to interact as well as the 360 with app's notifications such as liking posts on IG, FB, Twitter, GroupMe and the like, as well as replying to them, deleting emails and having that reflect on my email on my phone, etc. (I'm hoping this can still be fixed with future software updates)

I may not need the whole 12 days to decide on keeping the S.

All in all, if I had to choose only one I'd still lean towards the 360 but fortunately I don't have to.

Posted via the Android Central App

I am a workout freak too, , but I can't workout with watches on.. Too clumsy. I carry my Note 4 in a belly bag, and bluetooth headphones, and I am good to go on the workouts.

Your review is a big help I tell you that!!

 

[tech_fan]

Yesterday was a long day. Full of activities. Lots of use and I didn't get to bed until almost 2 am this morning. The battery held up well. I was in the mid 20% range when I went to bed and put it on its charger.

Thanks to aitt I found a way to dismiss my notifications and have them dismissed on my phone at the same time. I do find myself counting less on my watch to reply to a lot of the notifications I used to reply with on my 360 though......and that's a shame.

On the upside, I've really enjoyed leaving my phone behind during my exercise routine. I exercise daily so this is a huge plus. Unfortunately, on the days I workout twice, the battery will not make it thru my afternoon workout.

So far I'm considering keeping the S for my daytime watch and relegating my 360 to evening/formal use (though it'll share duties with my Tag, Cartier and Omega). I'll be getting the metal bracelet for the 360 so it'll fit the bill as a formal wear smart watch (it looks great with the Movado face IMO). My day to day attire is rugged because of my work so the Gear S fits with its sportier look. In the evenings, when I go to church, or go out with friends I'll be rocking the 360.

2 things I'd love on my Gear S: A battery that would last 2 days while still using the standalone features such as music streaming (even if only a couple hours of it) and independent phone call and text usage even if not a lot of it). That would make the sleep tracking option useful and available to me. The other would be the ability to interact as well as the 360 with app's notifications such as liking posts on IG, FB, Twitter, GroupMe and the like, as well as replying to them, deleting emails and having that reflect on my email on my phone, etc. (I'm hoping this can still be fixed with future software updates)

I may not need the whole 12 days to decide on keeping the S.

All in all, if I had to choose only one I'd still lean towards the 360 but fortunately I don't have to.

Posted via the Android Central App

A couple of questions for you:

1. Do you notice that when you stream from the Galaxy Gear S to a pair of BT headphones, the watch starts to get hot? I noticed the same thing on my Moto 360 when I use the stopwatch during workouts. If I let the 360 stopwatch run for over 5 minutes the watch gets very warm.

2. I have a Google Play Unlimited Music account and tried the Milk Music streaming. The Milk Music streaming seems to have much better clarity than the Google Play music did.

3. If you leave your phone at home on wifi and take your watch to the gym, the texts and calls you would normally get on your phone get forwarded to your watch. If your phone dies at home on Wifi, the calls do not get forwarded and you will not get unless someone calls or texts your watch.

4. If you are on cellular data in the car, and you leave your phone in the car, would the calls and text you would normally get on your phone get forwarded to your watch? Or does it have to be "bluetoothed" to your phone if its on mobile data for you to get the calls and texts forwarded?

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

Yesterday was a weird day. For some reason my S was not fully charged when I woke up in the morning (It was at about 74%). Whatever, I figured I'd still make it thru my regular workday. I was wrong. By early afternoon the battery was dead. Not promising.

I've made some adjustments to my settings in hopes of getting better battery results today. We'll see how that goes.

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Was the charger fully attached? Try plugging the charger in without attaching it to the watch, then, when fully charged, attach it to the watch until the watch is fully charged. Just a thought or two. I haven't had any problems charging either, and quite quickly, I might add. If the charger doesn't fully charge, that might be the problem; faulty charger.

 

[jlczl]

A couple of questions for you:

1. Do you notice that when you stream from the Galaxy Gear S to a pair of BT headphones, the watch starts to get hot? I noticed the same thing on my Moto 360 when I use the stopwatch during workouts. If I let the 360 stopwatch run for over 5 minutes the watch gets very warm.

2. I have a Google Play Unlimited Music account and tried the Milk Music streaming. The Milk Music streaming seems to have much better clarity than the Google Play music did.

3. If you leave your phone at home on wifi and take your watch to the gym, the texts and calls you would normally get on your phone get forwarded to your watch. If your phone dies at home on Wifi, the calls do not get forwarded and you will not get unless someone calls or texts your watch.

4. If you are on cellular data in the car, and you leave your phone in the car, would the calls and text you would normally get on your phone get forwarded to your watch? Or does it have to be "bluetoothed" to your phone if its on mobile data for you to get the calls and texts forwarded?

1. I have not felt the Gear S get warm in any situation.

2. Now that you mention it, Milk Music really is very crisp and clear. I really like how loud it is as well. Seems much louder than when I Bluetooth to NY Note 4 and use Spotify.

3. The phone has to be on in order to forward my notifications. It doesn't matter if it's connected to wifi or mobile data.

4. The phone stays in the car (or home), the Bluetooth connection is severed and remote connection takes place within 60 seconds of disconnecting from Bluetooth.

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[jlczl]

Was the charger fully attached? Try plugging the charger in without attaching it to the watch, then, when fully charged, attach it to the watch until the watch is fully charged. Just a thought or two. I haven't had any problems charging either, and quite quickly, I might add. If the charger doesn't fully charge, that might be the problem; faulty charger.

I'm not sure what happened that night but thankfully it hasn't happened again. I've had 100% battery every morning since.

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[jlczl]

Yesterday was uneventful other than my Notifications for Gear S app all of a sudden stopped sending my notifications to my watch. A reset resolved the issue.

Oh, and I inadvertently stayed remote connected instead of Bluetooth connected for about 5 hours. My battery still made it til bedtime but barely......I was at 4% when I put it on the charger.

As an aside, my wife says my 360 is a much nicer looking watch. She says the Gear S looks dorky.

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[Ntchwaidumela]

Yesterday was uneventful other than my Notifications for Gear S app all of a sudden stopped sending my notifications to my watch. A reset resolved the issue.

Oh, and I inadvertently stayed remote connected instead of Bluetooth connected for about 5 hours. My battery still made it til bedtime but barely......I was at 4% when I put it on the charger.

As an aside, my wife says my 360 is a much nicer looking watch. She says the Gear S looks dorky.

Posted via the Android Central App

There was an update to the app.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[tech_fan]

Yesterday was uneventful other than my Notifications for Gear S app all of a sudden stopped sending my notifications to my watch. A reset resolved the issue.

Oh, and I inadvertently stayed remote connected instead of Bluetooth connected for about 5 hours. My battery still made it til bedtime but barely......I was at 4% when I put it on the charger.

As an aside, my wife says my 360 is a much nicer looking watch. She says the Gear S looks dorky.

Posted via the Android Central App

Oddly enough, I started the process to sell my 360 which will be going on Ebay. Noticed on Ebay I can get around 200 after the Ebay fees so, that does not seem to be too bad .At any rate, I was taking pictures of it. Seems like a small watch now that I have been using the Gear S but it is sure a sharp looking device. I can tell you that switching devices back and forth between the 360 and Gear S will be cumbersome unless when you temporarily switch to the 360 and don't care about device updating and such. I hooked up my 360 to get the pics taken and it wasn't a simple 2 second thing and you are done.

 

[tl600f4i]

Just an FYI I just picked up the Gear S today and It's been great. I just went from 2% to 54% using the charged backup cradle in about an hour. What a great perk . Do you guys keep GPS enabled or does that drain the battery significantly?

 

[tech_fan]

Just an FYI I just picked up the Gear S today and It's been great. I just went from 2% to 54% using the charged backup cradle in about an hour. What a great perk . Do you guys keep GPS enabled or does that drain the battery significantly?

I use the GPS on because I don't want to monkey with it when I need it enabled for something.

 

[Mike-Mike]

I don't understand why people say they can't mark texts as read? Are you all not using the default Samsung message app?

This functionality worked on both the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo when using the stock Samsung Messages app.

And prior to using 8sms for my text client, I could never get this function yo work on Android Wear.

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[aitt]

This is a very good thorough thread. Thank you. This is what a real review should consist of. Real world experience

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[aitt]

Oddly enough, I started the process to sell my 360 which will be going on Ebay. Noticed on Ebay I can get around 200 after the Ebay fees so, that does not seem to be too bad .At any rate, I was taking pictures of it. Seems like a small watch now that I have been using the Gear S but it is sure a sharp looking device. I can tell you that switching devices back and forth between the 360 and Gear S will be cumbersome unless when you temporarily switch to the 360 and don't care about device updating and such. I hooked up my 360 to get the pics taken and it wasn't a simple 2 second thing and you are done.

Think I need to look into selling mines also. It just lost any appeal.

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[tech_fan]

I even forgot another great perk that I am back in the Galaxy Gear world. In the past, I have turned off my ringer and notifications on my phone since the watch alerts me for everything that is important which is nice for when you are in a meeting or other and you are told to silence your phone.

 

[jlczl]

What do I need my smart watch for? Well, I guess we don't really need these gadgets but, what are my main uses (in order of importance)?

1. Answer and reply to messages....many times with as little interaction with devices as possible due to my type of work.

2. Receive emails and delete spam and marketing emails I don't feel like opening and deleting on my phone.

3. Controlling my music at the gym.

4. To tell the time and date.

5. Receiving and replying to 3rd party notifications.

What do I like having on my watch that I don't necessarily need but do use on occasion?

1. A step counter.

2. A heart rate monitor.

3. Standalone cellular connectivity.

As mentioned previously by another member, swapping from Tizen to AW on the fly was not as smooth as I would have liked. I tried it yesterday and my 360 was fairly stubborn about connecting since I hadn't used it in a few days. However, once I got it setup I realized the 360 just fulfills my higher priority uses with more fluidity than my Gear S. And since it won't be as easy to transition on the fly I'm going to just return the S (paying a $75 restocking fee).

Last night, I used the 360 to prove to myself the S did the job just as well but alas, for my needs, it simply did not. I received a message and responded to it with a swipe and voice. I received several marketing emails that I didn't care to have to read later on and one swipe and tap later, they were gone forever. I received a GroupMe notification of a picture a friend posted and I was able to "like" it and post a reply, also with a swipe and voice. Every one of these actions takes more steps to be done or, in some cases, can't even be done on the S without taking my phone out of my pocket. However, with my 360, my whole evening out I didn't have to take my phone out of my coat pocket. When I got home, I didn't have an accumulation of emails, nor messages, nor notifications I had to interact with again. I just plugged in my phone to charge, dropped my 360 in its Qi charger and went to bed. This morning I was greeted with the current weather and forecast plus the approximate time it would take me to get to the gym.....all without any prompting from me. I then went to the gym and I controlled my Spotify play list via my 360 to my Bluetooth headset. I like Milk Music but this was just as good. The only difference was my phone was sitting a few feet away in my gym bag instead of in my car in the parking lot or at home.

I thought about doing a small video of my interactions with the 360 and Note 4 and then doing a comparison video doing the exact same thing with the Gear S but I felt it would be redundant to the text portion of this post. I will do this if someone would benefit from it though.

All in all, I believe the Gear S is a great device and I'm glad I tried it and I'm also glad Samsung is pushing the envelope. Only thru products such as the S will the tech continue to improve. Thanks to all who helped me solve some of the issues I had with the S. I'm not shutting the door on the S forever though as I'll be keeping an eye open for software developments and/or the Gear S2.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[tech_fan]

What do I need my smart watch for? Well, I guess we don't really need these gadgets but, what are my main uses (in order of importance)?

1. Answer and reply to messages....many times with as little interaction with devices as possible due to my type of work.

2. Receive emails and delete spam and marketing emails I don't feel like opening and deleting on my phone.

3. Controlling my music at the gym.

4. To tell the time and date.

5. Receiving and replying to 3rd party notifications.

What do I like having on my watch that I don't necessarily need but do use on occasion?

1. A step counter.

2. A heart rate monitor.

3. Standalone cellular connectivity.

As mentioned previously by another member, swapping from Tizen to AW on the fly was not as smooth as I would have liked. I tried it yesterday and my 360 was fairly stubborn about connecting since I hadn't used it in a few days. However, once I got it setup I realized the 360 just fulfills my higher priority uses with more fluidity than my Gear S. And since it won't be as easy to transition on the fly I'm going to just return the S (paying a $75 restocking fee).

Last night, I used the 360 to prove to myself the S did the job just as well but alas, for my needs, it simply did not. I received a message and responded to it with a swipe and voice. I received several marketing emails that I didn't care to have to read later on and one swipe and tap later, they were gone forever. I received a GroupMe notification of a picture a friend posted and I was able to "like" it and post a reply, also with a swipe and voice. Every one of these actions takes more steps to be done or, in some cases, can't even be done on the S without taking my phone out of my pocket. However, with my 360, my whole evening out I didn't have to take my phone out of my coat pocket. When I got home, I didn't have an accumulation of emails, nor messages, nor notifications I had to interact with again. I just plugged in my phone to charge, dropped my 360 in its Qi charger and went to bed. This morning I was greeted with the current weather and forecast plus the approximate time it would take me to get to the gym.....all without any prompting from me. I then went to the gym and I controlled my Spotify play list via my 360 to my Bluetooth headset. I like Milk Music but this was just as good. The only difference was my phone was sitting a few feet away in my gym bag instead of in my car in the parking lot or at home.

I thought about doing a small video of my interactions with the 360 and Note 4 and then doing a comparison video doing the exact same thing with the Gear S but I felt it would be redundant to the text portion of this post. I will do this if someone would benefit from it though.

All in all, I believe the Gear S is a great device and I'm glad I tried it and I'm also glad Samsung is pushing the envelope. Only thru products such as the S will the tech continue to improve. Thanks to all who helped me solve some of the issues I had with the S. I'm not shutting the door on the S forever though as I'll be keeping an eye open for software developments and/or the Gear S2.

Posted via the Android Central App

What watch face are you using on the 360? That gold looks real sharp. Man when I see that picture of the 360 with that watch face verses the GG next to it, it really makes me miss my 360. I think it's going to be a Ying and yang thing for me with the 360. I did buy the 360 once and returned it because I didn't like it that much. Then I bought it the 2nd time and committed to keeping it and grew attached to it. Even when I got my GG at Verizon and had to pull it off my wrist to say goodbye to it for the last time I was very sad.

Then Motorola comes out with the cyber Monday special offering $140 off on a Moto X which would mean that I could return the Samsung and basically swap it out for a Moto X and that got me thinking.

Gadgets are my weakness. Always have and always will.