I'm enjoying my Gear S2 classic, but still trying to figure out how to make best use of it. I've been trying out the turn-by-turn navigation available through HERE maps. When driving, it works, but since you have to have the phone with you anyway, I'd prefer just to mount my phone on the dash and get my directions from the bigger screen on my Verizon Note 4. When walking or riding a bike, though, it's very handy; then it's easier, and on a bike much safer, to glance at your wrist than pull out your phone. HERE maps is a pretty complete navigation system, particularly since it offers downloadable maps, so you don't need to be using up your data plan when navigating.
I'm spending some time this fall in New York City, and being new here I feel like quite the yokel when I come up out of the subway and have to pull out my phone and gape at street signs. I'll admit that one of my fantasies about a smartwatch was that I could come out of the subway, glance at my wrist, and be instantly on my way. Shaken not stirred.
No such luck, though, with HERE maps. You can search for an address in, say, an event in your calendar, but it seems to want the phone's HERE app to be open, and it's slow and often takes several tries. (I often get a "searching" screen for a minute or so and then the watch just gives up.) And while the phone app offers public transportation directions, the watch app can't "see" those; it only works if you've selected walking or driving directions. So for now I'm still feeling like a foolish foreigner when I step out of the subway.
I tried a paid Gear s2 app called "Gear Navigator" that also works with a companion phone app similarly (though no downloadable maps; there goes your data). And it has a harder time connecting than HERE. I've gotten it to work two out of the five times I've tried, and one of those I had to restart my watch. (The developer says he's working on improvements.)
When I get event notifications from Google Now, if I tap on the address on my watch, google maps is automatically launched on my phone, with a route already calculated. What I wish for is a system that does that smoothly. One tap and you're on your way.
Maybe with updates and improvements in the phone/watch communications, the S2 will get there. Here's hoping.
I'm spending some time this fall in New York City, and being new here I feel like quite the yokel when I come up out of the subway and have to pull out my phone and gape at street signs. I'll admit that one of my fantasies about a smartwatch was that I could come out of the subway, glance at my wrist, and be instantly on my way. Shaken not stirred.
No such luck, though, with HERE maps. You can search for an address in, say, an event in your calendar, but it seems to want the phone's HERE app to be open, and it's slow and often takes several tries. (I often get a "searching" screen for a minute or so and then the watch just gives up.) And while the phone app offers public transportation directions, the watch app can't "see" those; it only works if you've selected walking or driving directions. So for now I'm still feeling like a foolish foreigner when I step out of the subway.
I tried a paid Gear s2 app called "Gear Navigator" that also works with a companion phone app similarly (though no downloadable maps; there goes your data). And it has a harder time connecting than HERE. I've gotten it to work two out of the five times I've tried, and one of those I had to restart my watch. (The developer says he's working on improvements.)
When I get event notifications from Google Now, if I tap on the address on my watch, google maps is automatically launched on my phone, with a route already calculated. What I wish for is a system that does that smoothly. One tap and you're on your way.
Maybe with updates and improvements in the phone/watch communications, the S2 will get there. Here's hoping.
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