Thinking of a GearS2 (or maybe a moto 360 2)

[Nirurin]

Hi guys, Ive been considering a smartwatch and have it pretty much narrowed down to the Moto 360 v2, and the Gear S2. All the reviews say these two are the best, with the GearS2 being the winner in most areas. The reviews are a few months old though, and there were a few complaints that kept coming up back then - so I wanted to see if these problems had at least been partly fixed with updates

1) S-voice. Here is a link showing the problem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqwiwZMwtE
Being that slow, and practically useless, and also having no reminder support, pretty much meant that S-Voice was pointless. I wouldn't actually use it much, but I would use it for reminders when I'm at work or on the move, so if it doesnt work/support that then thats a big negative. I'm really hope this has been improved. (The video is for the original moto360 though - apparently the newer one has issues with the microphone)

2) Apps. Has the Tizen app store been growing in the last few months? Specifically I'm looking for - Chat apps (Most important is the ability to read and reply to whatsapp and facebook messages), reminder apps (or the reminder S-Voice), evernote, and a shazam equivalent. The Tizen app store wont seem to let me browse from a non-tizen device.

3) Connection problems. Some of the older reviews mentioned issued with the watch dropping the connection to the phone, especially with non-samsung phones. Mine is a new Sony Xperia Z5 compact, so are connection issues going to be a chore?

4) The samsung fitness app - Is it any good? This isn't a dealbreaker, but I know google fit is pretty useful, and so I'd like the samsung version to be equivalent/accurate.

Hopefully you guys who have actually used the watch on a regular basis will help me. I do love the look, and the rotating control bezel seems such an obviously useful thing, but I don't want to be annoyed by the watch considering the cost

 

[dpham00]

For me the s health app is very good. I prefer it over Google fit app

 

[Nirurin]

Thats nice to hear Have you had any success with using s-voice to reply to texts etc?

 

[Mike-Mike]

i find the S2 to be far superior to the Moto. However i almost never use voice services for either platform

 

[Nirurin]

Does the S2 allow me to reply to messages from whatsapp/facebook? Does it have the option to respond to these messages using the t9 keyboard? Also, are you able to respond to messages using voice-to-text?

Sorry for the questions, I just want to find out if these devices can do what I would like from them.

 

[2doubleUs]

I actually have the moto 360 and for the most part I love it. The battery life is great, it's water resistant, and charges quickly. The only thing I know about the gears2 is that my co-worker just got it, but the says he thinks it's going to take it back (citing the poor battery/ high battery drain on his s7). I use whatsapp, google hangouts, and messages+ (verizon) with my watch just fine. I haven't tried FB, but I also don't have the messenger app on my phone- so I can't say for sure, though I suspect it would work fine. shazam and spotify also work on my watch. I use voice-to-text A LOT. Especially when I'm driving or my hands are full. I definitely appreciate NOT having to use s-voice, which I've had terrible experiences with. I don't like google fit app either, but motobody works quite nicely.

As a female, I also appreciated that the watch face came in several sizes because I have abnormally small wrists even for woman (seriously. I have yet to find a metal replacement band that fits).

I will say that since upgrading to the s7, it seems like samsung went out of their way make any non-samsung watch more difficult to use. My job has a health rewards program, and the app will no longer allow me to sync with anything but s health because I have a samsung phone- even though the app is compatible with google fit. NOT happy.

 

[mountainbikermark]

I actually have the moto 360 and for the most part I love it. The battery life is great, it's water resistant, and charges quickly. The only thing I know about the gears2 is that my co-worker just got it, but the says he thinks it's going to take it back (citing the poor battery/ high battery drain on his s7). I use whatsapp, google hangouts, and messages+ (verizon) with my watch just fine. I haven't tried FB, but I also don't have the messenger app on my phone- so I can't say for sure, though I suspect it would work fine. shazam and spotify also work on my watch. I use voice-to-text A LOT. Especially when I'm driving or my hands are full. I definitely appreciate NOT having to use s-voice, which I've had terrible experiences with. I don't like google fit app either, but motobody works quite nicely.

As a female, I also appreciated that the watch face came in several sizes because I have abnormally small wrists even for woman (seriously. I have yet to find a metal replacement band that fits).

I will say that since upgrading to the s7, it seems like samsung went out of their way make any non-samsung watch more difficult to use. My job has a health rewards program, and the app will no longer allow me to sync with anything but s health because I have a samsung phone- even though the app is compatible with google fit. NOT happy.

I'd say most of those bugs you describe are more Marshmallow on the S7 than the watch or Gear Manager. The S and Gear lineup are not ready for M. Samsung has, as usual, dropped the ball again.

 

[johna22]

I use S Health and like it, syncs well with the S2 but right now is missing a default sleep tracker (in other posts people have said it might be added in a future update)

The sticky post in this forum says that Messenger and Whatsapp do allow you to reply but I haven't tried them yet. I use Hangouts and if you have Android wear app loaded on your phone it does allow you to reply with a few canned short messages, voice-to-text or T9, so I would think maybe it is similar for the other two.

I haven't gotten a chance to try out S-voice on the S2 yet so not sure how laggy it is.