Verizon - Gear S3 Thread

[daves221]

I heard the same. Something about compatibility issues with the network.

Right, because Samsung has never released a device on Verizon's network..

 

[ateamlawn]

Wouldn't it be wayyyy more than just the difference between $5 & $15? If you're not an exiting cust, i don't think either carrier will JUST let you add a watch (wearable) line of service WITHOUT a $40.00 a month plan ($30.00 for t-mo i think) ... I was impatient for t-mobile to get stock in and checked it out, and from all i read and a chat with a ATT person, she said price of watch or 2 yr plan, $40+15.00 +taxes just for the watch... She or me could've been confused, but i don't think i was...

But i am in COMPLETE agreement about waiting till you can get LTE version. I have it, and now could NOT imagine being without "standalone" feature & being tied to my phone in many instances i never thought i'd care about....

BTC

I have a standalone S2 and I have never really used it standalone except to test it out. So it was a no brainer for me to get the Bluetooth version of the S3. I may get the Frontier on Verizon but only because I don't want to pay out right for another one.

 

[lanenubia]

Other than making calls without your phone connected, what do you lose with BT vs LTE?

 

[ateamlawn]

Other than making calls without your phone connected, what do you lose with BT vs LTE?

Streaming music without the phone If you're in to that. Also you wouldn't get any notifications without the phone present. If you find yourself doing a lot of activity without your phone on your person than the LTE version would be for you. If not Bluetooth version is just fine.

 

[Jay Sacks]

Other than making calls without your phone connected, what do you lose with BT vs LTE?

The whole point of a 3g watch is to be able to leave your phone behind. Just think, you can actually walk out of the house without your phone and not miss a call, text or email. Freedom at last!

 

[daves221]

You do get notifications if your watch is wifi connected and your phone is Internet connected.. You can also send a text the same way... So it depends on where you are when away from the phone (although it was reported that the watch can't deal with captive portal login (eg click to accept terms and conditions, etc)). The watch will get your WiFi ids and passwords from your phone and syncs periodically (not clear when). I haven't found a way to make voice calls over WiFi and have found that you don't get real time call notifications either.. But you do get voicemail notifications and with Verizon visual vm I was able to see the vm transcript connected over WiFi.

 

[haus]

I never knew the VM notifications had the visual VM text...that's awesome and works on the Gear S2 as well.

Back to the topic, there have been posts in various places about how there isnt even an FCC filing for a CDMA version yet. As far as I can tell that's correct, so I assume there's no chance of a VZW release until it passes FCC certification. Normally the process of certification comes way before release (months). The filings for the BT and ATT/TMo versions were back in August. I see a few outcomes. Either the filings for the GSM model (770U or something like that) are valid for Verizon as well and we're just waiting for carrier testing, or there will be a new filing for a CDMA version and a subsequent delay (or maybe not if certification is the only hold-up).

I hope Verizon gets it, as I'm interested in upgrading, but I don't want to go with an inferior signal. My wife is on ATT and the poor quality of calls and poor coverage are frustrating. Since the whole point for me is to leave the phone behind, there's no point in doing so if the watch won't have the same coverage.

 

[daves221]

There are others who hope too for a Verizon launch. My own opinion is that this potential launch is caught in a spat between Verizon and Samsung as a result of the note 7 (notice also that Verizon seems to be out of the nouget beta on Samsung.. Most likely Verizon's choice to punish Samsung or at least back off of leading edge work with them or early commitments?)

 

[ateamlawn]

The whole point of a 3g watch is to be able to leave your phone behind. Just think, you can actually walk out of the house without your phone and not miss a call, text or email. Freedom at last!

Actually the Gear S3 is 4G. That's why you can stream music without your phone.

 

[Jay Sacks]

Actually the Gear S3 is 4G. That's why you can stream music without your phone.

Sorry, but you can stream with a 3g. But since they killed Milk Music there are no streaming services for the 3g S2. Hopefully they will enable Spotify soon.

 

[11B1P]

Also you wouldn't get any notifications without the phone

So we have to have the phone with us in order for calendar apts to notify us via the watch? Apts in our calendar on the phone don't sync down to the watch and get stored in the watch so that if I leave my phone in the car when I get to work, my calendar apts would still alert me at the appointed time?

 

[daves221]

So we have to have the phone with us in order for calendar apts to notify us via the watch? Apts in our calendar on the phone don't sync down to the watch and get stored in the watch so that if I leave my phone in the car when I get to work, my calendar apts would still alert me at the appointed time?

See my post above on remote notifications over WiFi. Also suggest to start a new thread as calendar notifications have nothing to do with thread subject. (not clear to me to what extent calendar entries download /sync, but the remote over WiFi is very powerful.. Used it last night to text from my car wifi when I left my phone at home accidentally). But this really should not be in the Verizon thread.