Samsung Gear S2 3G/4G call/text features

[denemante]

Hey all – I’m considering a Samsung Gear S2 3G/4G watch. The primary reason is that I’m often at places where I need to quickly communicate with people but can’t whip out my phone. For instance, I’m a youth baseball coach. I’ll be coaching first base on the field and my phone is ringing in my pocket and I’m getting texts I can’t get to. Normally it’s my wife asking me where my other child’s soccer uniform is. I envision tapping a few times, speaking into the watch saying “it’s in the dryer” and a voice-recognition text is sent off, done.

I might even answer a super quick call on the field. "Hello? Yep, I'll be home by 7."

I’m also often around pools and swimming. The watch is waterproof (IP 68 right? Please confirm if the watch can't handle a swimming pool!). When you are in and out of the water and even away from your stuff (like floating in a lazy river!), your phone is usually in a bag and out of sight, and you’re not constantly able to check it because you’re all wet.

I figure with the Gear S2, I can be floating/swimming, and still be able to get/respond to texts/calls - even from within the pool.

My questions are:

In cases where I’m using it standalone (like my phone is on but back in a hotel room half a mile away), will the watch still serve as a full communication device and I can send/receive both phone calls and texts? Even if I'm 5 or 100 miles away from my phone, like if I go away and forgot the phone at home on my charger?

If my phone goes dead in any scenario, does the watch communication totally cease, or can it endure almost like a standalone device?

I hear battery life on 3G/4G in the standalone sense is poor (like 3 hours??). Is this true?

More often, my regular phone would probably still be semi-nearby. But with that, am I limited to a 35-foot Bluetooth range or something to avoid 3G/4G battery drain?

Does the watch smartly just shift between Bluetooth connection with the phone when it is in range and swap to 3G/4G when it’s out of range (potential battery drain) and then pick the phone back up via Bluetooth when you're back near the phone (thus saving watch battery again), or must you manually do something to switch back and forth? I'm very curious here - I probably would never be away from my phone for more than a few hours...curious if the second you go out of Bluetooth range with the watch, the battery life starts rapidly going down...but the second you're back in range, that draining stops and you could get many more hours from the watch.

If far away from the phone, can you put the watch in some sort of standby to save battery, then fire it up to make a call/text, then put it back in standby or something? And with that, would the S-health/step tracking still work? So basically, can you pause 3G/4G to save battery but still track steps and such? Or is it like the watch is off?

Finally - the voice recognition on my Note Edge is great. I use it mostly to speak texts. Is that exact functionality built into the watch, where I can simply speak texts? Occasionally on the phone, it gets one word wrong, often early in the text sentences. So I have to manually go back and correct a word via typing. Is that still manageable with the watch?

Thank you all so much in advance for your responses!

 

[kdburton]

The watch is waterproof (IP 68 right? Please confirm if the watch can't handle a swimming pool!). When you are in and out of the water and even away from your stuff (like floating in a lazy river!), your phone is usually in a bag and out of sight, and you’re not constantly able to check it because you’re all wet.

I figure with the Gear S2, I can be floating/swimming, and still be able to get/respond to texts/calls - even from within the pool.

Unfortunately, the answer is MAYBE. According to Samsung themselves: The Samsung Gear S2 /Gear S2 Classic deviceshave all been certified to an IP68 Rating which means that these devices are protected against water ingress to a maximum depth of 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes, as well as protected against dust ingress. I have read stories already where people's crystal fogged up and it wasn't covered. Similarly, and even more ridiculous, apparently Samsung was trying to blame the frequently breaking wrist-straps on the Gear S2 (sport version) on water damage according to several users on a different forum. In the end, I probably wouldn't be swimming with it, but I'm sure you can splash it or get it we while washing your hands and not worry too much.

In cases where I’m using it standalone (like my phone is on but back in a hotel room half a mile away), will the watch still serve as a full communication device and I can send/receive both phone calls and texts? Even if I'm 5 or 100 miles away from my phone, like if I go away and forgot the phone at home on my charger? If my phone goes dead in any scenario, does the watch communication totally cease, or can it endure almost like a standalone device?

If you are away from your phone and your phone is on and connected to WiFi or a mobile network (but out of bluetooth range to the S2), then you can have your phone set to forward calls to the watch. I'm actually not sure about what happens if your phone is dead or if your phone has no connection for whatever reason with regards to call forwarding, because I have my Google Voice set to forward all calls to my Google Voice number to both the phone and the watch, so without having any call forwarding set up at all through Samsung Gear app my calls all go immediately to both the watch and the phone (as do Google Hangouts messages which I send and receive all SMS through. HOWEVER, if your phone is dead or it is away from you and not connected to WiFi or mobile network, your watch will still be able to make and receive calls through its independent number assigned to its SIM card. The problem being that with no phone actively forwarding your calls via a WiFi/data connection on the phones end you probably will miss calls (different carriers may have worked out different forwarding schemes to combat this but I don't know the specific. For these reasons, if you really want to take advantage of always getting calls regardless of your phone's status, I recommend using Google Voice or some similar technology. If you have Sprint you can integrate your current wireless number with Google Voice. If you have another provider and want to keep your same number, then you must port your number to Google Voice for a one-time fee and get a new number which can be one of many numbers (including the watch) that you forward your personal number to

I hear battery life on 3G/4G in the standalone sense is poor (like 3 hours??). Is this true?

I haven't tried to go standalone only for an extended period of time yet, but it does definitely drain the battery. I have the watch set to connect via bluetooth whenever in proximity to my Note 5, WiFi on at all times, and automatically connect to mobile data only when it needs to. I take the watch off the charger at about 6am and it will easily last all day, but only small portions of the day am I away from my phone (i.e. hang out at the neighbors house for a little bit, run to the store quick, etc)

More often, my regular phone would probably still be semi-nearby. But with that, am I limited to a 35-foot Bluetooth range or something to avoid 3G/4G battery drain? Does the watch smartly just shift between Bluetooth connection with the phone when it is in range and swap to 3G/4G when it’s out of range (potential battery drain) and then pick the phone back up via Bluetooth when you're back near the phone (thus saving watch battery again), or must you manually do something to switch back and forth? I'm very curious here - I probably would never be away from my phone for more than a few hours...curious if the second you go out of Bluetooth range with the watch, the battery life starts rapidly going down...but the second you're back in range, that draining stops and you could get many more hours from the watch.

You can set the watch to automatically connect/disconnect from mobile data based on its proximity to your phone and ability to connect via bluetooth. The watch will notify you when you're out of range and after 10 seconds will automatically connect to mobile data. The battery drain should be proportional to the amount of time you spend on/off mobile data

If far away from the phone, can you put the watch in some sort of standby to save battery, then fire it up to make a call/text, then put it back in standby or something? And with that, would the S-health/step tracking still work? So basically, can you pause 3G/4G to save battery but still track steps and such? Or is it like the watch is off?

If you are far away from the phone you can manually set the watch to not connect to mobile data if you are trying to conserve battery. You can also have your WiFi on independently of mobile data connection and it should remote connect to your phone in a far away location and receive push notifications so long as your phone is also connected to the network through mobile data or WiFi or something.

Finally - the voice recognition on my Note Edge is great. I use it mostly to speak texts. Is that exact functionality built into the watch, where I can simply speak texts? Occasionally on the phone, it gets one word wrong, often early in the text sentences. So I have to manually go back and correct a word via typing. Is that still manageable with the watch?

I haven't used the speech recognition much, but it sounds like many people are less than pleased with S Voice when compared to other voice recognition software. The only time I've used it was when i was testing out the navigation on the watch and it was able to decipher locations I spoke to it and bring me to the right place.

Thank you all so much in advance for your responses!

 

[tn.guy]

My 2 cents: I tried a Gear S2 3g Verizon when it first came out, calls forwarded but texts didn't so I returned it. Now the new Gear S2 classic 3g Verizon is out and with new updates everything works great. Calls, text, including photos forward no problem. After reading your post I turned off my cell and had wife call and send me a text, which also worked flawlessly. So yes your phone can be dead or turned off and still get forwarded to your watch. Note: if you make a call when not connected to your cell, calls and text will be sent with assigned watch number. Hope this helps.