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Metawatch Smartwatch

As I was anticipating getting the Note 2, I realized as my phone got bigger, it would require a different way of use than a smaller device. With the rumored Note 7", if it's allowed to handle calls, it is even more important to me if I upgraded to that to have a convenient way to handle calls without having to pull the whole device out.. Imagine the device in your pocket as the communications hub - you pull it out when you need to deal with the screen, but for simple tasks like calls, your smartwatch and headset would be the only things you need to interact with.
In the past, there were bluetooth headsets with caller ID displays, but I found they're not practical as you still have to look at the display, then put in your ear or you have the display part hanging around your neck/clipped on your shirt like those Sony's I've seen. A watch which can show the caller IDs, incoming texts and emails is more appealing to me.
I read from reviews that other smartwatches were either too bulky, had miserable battery life, or had issues staying connected with the phone reliably. I found the last two issues to be the case with the Sony 2nd gen Smartwatch so sent it back. I loved the promised functionality, but in practice the battery life wouldn't even last the day, which was a dealbreaker. It also would randomly disconnect from my phones so the lack of reliability for what I wanted it for was frustrating.
It seemed the Pebble was everything I was hoping for (on paper, at least), so I backed on Kickstarter and was hoping it would be out by the time I got a Note, but since it's not shipping yet, I went and got the Metawatch Frame. So far I'm really liking it, even though there aren't a lot of widgets/apps developed for it at this early stage. My primary requirement of at least a days worth of battery life (actually can go several days) and reliable bluetooth attachment so that it instantly shows incoming caller ID is working great. Even shows the contacts picture on the watch (in low res monochrome). http://metawatch.myshopify.com - I got the Frame version since I thought Strata looks too bulky.
So far I have it set up to do email/SMS/Caller ID, weather forecasts. You can set up more notifications, but they will eat up battery life and I didn't want to always have every little notification show up on my watch.
You will have to update the firmware on the watch if it ships w/ 1.1 to 1.2 so it supports the Metawatch Community Edition - a simple email to their support will promptly get you a link and instructions to upgrade the FW.
Watch Manager you load on your phone: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5tZXRhd2F0Y2gubXdtIl0.
Watch Manager Community Edition (has more features, but needs 1.2 FW): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.metawatch.communityedition&feature=search_result
Apps: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=metawatch&c=apps
Is anyone else using a smartwatch w/ their Note 2? How are your experiences with them?

Hi.
Do u run stock ROM? Android 4.1.2?
I have ordered the Metawatch frame and from what I have heard, metawatch and Android 4.2.1 is not a good match atm. (BT bug)
I'm useing CM10.1 on Note2
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

i was using the motorola motoactv until i decided to test how water resistant it was. needless to say, it didnt handle heavy rain very well.

My Motoactv meets my needs. While it isnt water proof, as the above user mentioned, I love it. You can get text, call, weather and Facebook alerts. Rooting the device can add more functions as well.

chino0131 said:
My Motoactv meets my needs. While it isnt water proof, as the above user mentioned, I love it. You can get text, call, weather and Facebook alerts. Rooting the device can add more functions as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmm, i loved it. the only things missing were a vibration function and google maps/navigation out of the box.
considering buying another one.

Hmmm I wonder what is better, if the metawatch or the pebble... Im getting interested on something like this.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

lfrp said:
Hmmm I wonder what is better, if the metawatch or the pebble... Im getting interested on something like this.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: Just recieved my Metawatch see next page for update.
The Pebble first caught my eye a little while back and I was planning on getting one. But after learning about the Metawatch the other day and looking at the functionality of both, I just ordered a Metawatch. I read and watched several reviews in coming to my conclusion. I went with the Frame model instead of the Strata because the black model of the strata is on back order (I like simple understated colors).
The main reason was that the Metawatch currently offers more functionality, from what I can tell. Both offer notifications for calls, e-mails & text, but the Metawatch allows you to:
- Answer calls, dismiss calls or answer with speakerphone from the watch (Can't hear or talk from the watch of course, but can answer a take call over BT headset from the
watch after checking it for caller ID)
- Displays weather, something I haven't seen on the Pebble yet.
I also like having widgets on the Metawatch that allows you to have more info on one screen, Time/date, local weather and notifications (e-mail, SMS & calls). I rather have the option to have all this info on one screen.
Likes and dislikes of the Pebble are as fallow...
Like:
- The higher resolution screen than the Metawatche's screen.
- The supposed Runkeeper integration (though not available yet). AS a Runkeeper user this is big to me. (I may get one eventually if the
Runkeeper integration actually comes togeather.
- I like the look of the Pebble over the Strata (though I'm getting the Metawatch Frame witch I think looks as good or better than the pebble).
- The magnetic charging setup is superior the the Metawatche's clumsy silly looking clip.
Dislikes:
- Limited functionality compared to the Metawatch (ablitly to answer (preferably with a BT headset , dismiss or send calls to speakerphone).
I'm sure the Pebble's functionality will expand over time, but it's not yet there, not for me at least.
- The clock faces should have a sub-menu in the in the home screen so there not all in there with music, set alarm and settings options. Not to
mention that the three default clock faces are at the top of the above music, set alarm and settings option then any clock faces you download
are under the music, set alarm and settings options. Again not well thought out.
- It's will probably be 1-3 months before the catch up shipping and are able get watches out to new customers. I'd be willing to wait if it offered
more functionality, as it is I'm not willing to wait.
All things considered I find the Metawatch the more appealing option for me. Though the Runkeeper functionality the Pebble is promised to have in March or so really make me consider getting Pebble eventually. The Metawatch is suppose to have a run tracking app built in But I already use Runkeeper and would like to use one single app to track my runs. Thus far I have found no info in run tracking functionality on the Metawatch so I have no idea what to expect.

WIMM
I am currently using the Wimm One, but you can't buy them any longer. Mine works pretty good with either my GS3 or GN2.
Just like the OP, I needed something for caller ID, etc.
I really, really wanted an excuse to get the MotoActiv, but the lack of a vibrator motor was a deal-killer for me.
If and when my Wimm dies, I will definitely be getting a suitable replacement. I didn't back the Pebble because I had already had the Wimm.
I am going to go check out the Meta.

I LOVE the idea of a smartwatch! I've been doing extensive research and am intrigued by the available options.
My problem is, I would hate the look of a small color screen on my wrist. It simply doesn't look professional to me. While there are other alternatives out there, none of them does what I'm interested in or are within my price range.
I've looked at I'm Watch, Sony Smart Watch, Pebble, Martian, etc. The only one visually appealing to me is the cookoo. But its only for iPhone!! Who in there right mind would design and release a product that's for the smartphone market, yet be proprietary to one OS. Morons.
So. I'm on a mission to make something myself. And to be honest the design would be rather simple. A watch wjth the following capabilities.
Bluetooth, low powered.
Time mechanism with a separate power source
Vibrate motor
Notification ring light
Manual set time dial
Bluetooth pairing button
Dismiss notification button (long press show battery remaining)
Magnetic charging dock
Android / WP8/ iOS / BB10 App
All I want is a phone that shows me via customizable lights/vibrate pattern whats happening on my phone. I don't need to complete the actions on my watch, to me that's just silly. I can glance and simply see I have a pending email, text, Facebook/twitter notification etc. Best part is, the batter can last for weeks.
Too bad I have no means to complete this lol
The most interesting watch to me is the
Sent from my SGH-I317M using xda app-developers app

Hi,
To those who have purchased this watch did you have to purchase the charging clip separately? It's currently showing out of stock.
Also how much are you guys paying for shipping? My shipping costs are estimated at $61 Australian. Excessive but none the less I am still looking at purchasing one.
Thanks
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium

Can someone tell me about the running/cycling app? I can find no info on this at all.
---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 AM ----------
LuvinN1 said:
Hi,
To those who have purchased this watch did you have to purchase the charging clip separately? It's currently showing out of stock.
Also how much are you guys paying for shipping? My shipping costs are estimated at $61 Australian. Excessive but none the less I am still looking at purchasing one.
Thanks
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The charging clip should come in the box with the watch.
Wow, that shipping cost sucks! Have you considered getting one from e-bay. You can get it for less and save a bunch on shipping. This is where I ordered one last night. I wnet with the Frame model as I wanted it in black and the Strata is back-ordered for the black one.
Strata model:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metawatch-m...266?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f21bf71ba
Frame model:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metawatch-m...733?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f21cc73ad
or this Frame model from the UK:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metawatch-B...es_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item35c3e5fa04

RojasTKD said:
Can someone tell me about the running/cycling app? I can find no info on this at all.
---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 AM ----------
The charging clip should come in the box with the watch.
Wow, that shipping cost sucks! Have you considered getting one from e-bay. You can get it for less and save a bunch on shipping. This is where I ordered one last night. I wnet with the Frame model as I wanted it in black and the Strata is back-ordered for the black one.
Strata model:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metawatch-m...266?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f21bf71ba
Frame model:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metawatch-m...733?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f21cc73ad
or this Frame model from the UK:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metawatch-B...es_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item35c3e5fa04
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate. Forgot about ebay. The misses wants one too. You have saved me hundreds. Planning to get the white and black frames.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium

LuvinN1 said:
Thanks mate. Forgot about ebay. The misses wants one too. You have saved me hundreds. Planning to get the white and black frames.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I was able to be of service. I hope you enjoy. Mine should arrive this week, excited!
Oh and feel free to it the THANKS button if you like

added some info I had forgot to mention
Here's an update as my Metawatch arrived yesterday. I got the frame model instead of the more sporty Strata. See here:
http://metawatch.myshopify.com/collections/watches-all
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UPDATE: 2/13/2013
After talking to a few developers (Special thanks to the developer of Augmented Smartwatch Pro) I switched to Community Manager from the Noah Edition of the Metawatch Manager, as recent updates to Noah seem to have caused issues. So far today I have had no freezes and the batter is still reading 100% two and half hours off the charger. Still to early to tell but at least some of the issues may have been related to the update to Noah edition. Noah had an update this morning, but I haven't tried it yet. I'll be trying Augmented Smartwatch Pro soon to see if that is also working better now that I'm using community edition.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: 2/14/2013
Since the update to the Community Edition and Noah Edition of the Metawatch Manager apps my watch has worked almost flawless, without freezes and the battery life has improved. Charges it and had it pared with my watch since last night so It lasted 20 - 24 hours. Not the 3 -5 days that the spec sheet claims but the could be the the Metawatch Manager app i'm using. Going to try Noah Edition again tomorrow as it been updated and should not give me the issues I was originally having when I first received my watch.
The screen is still had to read in anything but a well lit room or outdoors during the day. On the plus side it is very visible in direct sun light.
It this point I'm satisfied and don't regret getting the Metawatch.
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UPDATE 2/18/2013
Well, I'm happy to report that I seem to improved my battery issue. I tried as someone recommended and did a reset after charging (holding the two middle buttons for a few seconds). Yesterday my after about 12 hours my battery was at 87% instead of the 34% I was getting before.
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First the screen I'm not a big fan of. On the good side it is always on so you can tell the time with a glance (kind of). It is also easily readable in direct sun light. The problem is it's best viewable in a bright room. when I'm in room that not WELL lit it's hard to see the screen. You have to find the angle that allows the watch to catch the light. Yes, there is a LED light it the top, but it a bit of a pain and you I haven't found a way to change the time out. If you turn on the light and start doing something on the watch it will time out in 4 - 5 seconds then you have to keep hitting it to finish doing what you doing. The text is also small and often difficult to read and navigate. Ofter just a short time with the watch I really really wished it had a touch screen. Using the buttons to navigate with the tiny tiny icons that tell you their function get very tedious.
If you use the Metawatch Manager Community Edition (A third party modified version of the official Metawatch manager that adds much more functionality) you can not only get notifications for calls, gmail, and text.... you can also answer you phone with a push of a button (with the use of a BT headset), or answer you phone via speakerphone from you watch. going into you phones setting>accessibility and giving the Metawatch software permission it you can notification from just about any app that shows notifications on you notification bar, I haven't figured out how to get notifications for my regular (NON-Gmail) e-mails. Also I like having my time, weather phone battery status and missed call and missed text on one screen.
The really bad so far, In the day and a half I've owned this watch I've had 4 - 5 freezes. The watch becomes totally responsive. I have to connect and disconnect it from the charging clip over and over and over (8 - 28 times) to get it to reboot. I was out today having a bite when this happened. Not having the clip and power source available made the watch useless until I got home. I decided to re-flash the latest firmware again (witch I did on day one) and see if that helps. I may try FW 1.2 as that may be more stable and still work with Community Edition.
To keep this short I'm just going to give you some pros and cons for the rest:
Pro:
- Good functionality: Can get all kinds of notifications (with Community Edition) and even Answer (with headset), ignore, or answer via
speakerphone.
- Can scroll and read entire messages (text, gmail)
- Nice looking watch compared to many others. Classy enough to wear in any occasion.
- I have a screen where options to: quick dial my favorites, put my phone in or out of silent mode or ping my phone (to find lost phone). Also
has a option titled, "voice search", but so far it doesn't seem to do anything. Oh, and an option to view a list of notifications (text, calls, any
and all notifications that have appeared on you phone.
- Vibrates with alarm clock (but only stock alarm, and I'm used to using Alarm Clock Plus).
- Vibrates with notifications something that the Motoactv dose not do ( I have a Motoactv on the way).
- Screen is always on and doesn't time out.
- Can see a calendar and with a button press can view a list of events on my calender.
Cons:
- Freezes too often. I hope re-flashing the firmware (1.3) or flashing the previous (1.2) firmware will fix this.
- Screen can be difficult to read if not in a well lit place.
- LED light at the top just seems so 1980's. Wish screen would stay lit with button presses so I could navigate with out having to continually turn
on the light. Text is small and hard to read at times. I think I'd prefer a Motoactv or Sony Smartwatch screen even if they are not always on.
- There often a delayed response to the button presses. Sometimes I push it it again thinking it didn't register only to then have to register two
button presses.
- It suppose to have a built in running and cycling app of some kind, but so far it just, "coming soon".
- Buttons and no touch screen makes navigation really start to feel tedious a times.
Battery is hard so say as I got the watch yesterday, but so far it not meeting their claims. It cam off the charger yesterday at about 5:00 or 5:30 pm and by 10:30 this morning it it was showing zero and I attached the charger. It came off the charger at about at around 12:30 or 1:30. It is now 2:23 am and it showing 54%, so it will probably not last past tomorrow morning. I'll give it some time before I make a final determination on battery life.
The freezing issue aside (hoping firmware will resolve) aside the screen is my biggest complaint. I would like something more readable and have come to the conclusion that a touch screen should be a must for a smartwatch.
I haven't tried the Augmented Smartphone Pro app that is said to bring some additionality functionality to the Metawatch (as well as Sony Smartwatch, Motoactv and Pebble). But will be seeing what if offers next week. Also next week I should have a Sony Smartwatch and Motorola Motoactv in my hands next week.
Though I like the more understated and classy look of the Metawatch I'm looking forward to receiving the Sony Smartwatch and Motorola Motoactv. I think I will enjoy the screens more both for readability of text and the touchscreen.

interesting and nice overall review. I'm temped to grab something like this. Just haven't been able not to talk myself out of it.
What you said about the screen seems to be the overall theme I've read from other reviews as well. It's the trade off from having some kind of LCD/touch screen which are more power hungry, and seem to only last a few hours. Can't necessarily argue against your point, but it may not be biggest knock, considering the trade off.

lovekeiiy said:
interesting and nice overall review. I'm temped to grab something like this. Just haven't been able not to talk myself out of it.
What you said about the screen seems to be the overall theme I've read from other reviews as well. It's the trade off from having some kind of LCD/touch screen which are more power hungry, and seem to only last a few hours. Can't necessarily argue against your point, but it may not be biggest knock, considering the trade off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its funny I read a lot of people talking about the Sony Smartwatch and how its battery is horrible. I bought mine when I had an SGS2 and the battery life was horrible. lasted <1 day. Also seriously drained my phones battery. When I got my SGN2 I pulled it out of my gadget drawer and set it up again. It works perfectly. Watch battery lasts around 3 days, and it doesn't impact the battery life on my phone at all. If anything a few percent per day. I do wish for an "always on" display, but I've gotta say the smartwatch works pretty well with my note2.

Thanks!
Thanks for taking the time to give us your initial experiences with the Meta.
I am still using my Wimm One, and before that, I had the Sony. I absolutely HATED the Sony. In fairness, it was their first-gen watch, but unless it has improved dramatically, I think you are going to be more disappointed in it than you were the Meta. The Sony can't even stand-alone and function as a watch without being paired to and in range of a phone.
I just wish the Moto had a vibration motor and I think it would be the undisputed choice.

So I have a STRATA coming soon. Got a really good deal on eBay (I am not sure how the price can be so low, so I am skeptical that something might be wrong with it). I also have a Pebble coming (Grey so who knows when I will get it) and I think I can use both. So thanks for your review I like the idea of having the widgets on the screen and think the small developer community is trying to really make a good device out of it. I looked at the Sony and the Moto briefly. The one thing about the Moto was it seemed like it was geared towards activity (running mostly) and I was looking for something that would show notifications (calling, email, etc), weather, ebay, really anything that can push information. How does the Moto fit there?

lovekeiiy said:
interesting and nice overall review. I'm temped to grab something like this. Just haven't been able not to talk myself out of it.
What you said about the screen seems to be the overall theme I've read from other reviews as well. It's the trade off from having some kind of LCD/touch screen which are more power hungry, and seem to only last a few hours. Can't necessarily argue against your point, but it may not be biggest knock, considering the trade off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I understand the idea behind the screen and battery life, but honestly I rather have something that is more easily read and navigated even if it has to time out and I have to charge it every night. It very easliy read out door in in the brightest of sunlight, but indoors you have to move the angles to find one in witch you can make it out (in less it a very well lit room. Heck, I charged it over night until about 11 am today, it now 10:15pm and it at 22% according to the display. The Sony and Motorola can do better than that.
It did lock up on me twice today. I e-mailed support and asked for firmware 1.2 to see if it was better, but they told me that FW 1.2 never made it out of beta and they recommend 1.3. They gave me some instructions to unpair the device and reinstall the app. Their instruction where for iOS and I'm on running Android (Galaxy Note II), so I unpaired the watch uninstalled the app and reinstalled it. I even rebooted the watch and phone. So we'll see if tomorrow brings any more freezes.
robroy90 said:
Thanks for taking the time to give us your initial experiences with the Meta.
I am still using my Wimm One, and before that, I had the Sony. I absolutely HATED the Sony. In fairness, it was their first-gen watch, but unless it has improved dramatically, I think you are going to be more disappointed in it than you were the Meta. The Sony can't even stand-alone and function as a watch without being paired to and in range of a phone.
I just wish the Moto had a vibration motor and I think it would be the undisputed choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the Sony Smartwatch has gotten some good updates, and is a much improved device from when it was first released. It can even keep time even if it looses it's connection to the phone. It's actually a pretty capable device at this point, especially when paired with an app called Augmented smatwatch Pro. The thing makes it a bit ugly is the built in clip that makes almost twice as think as it would be otherwise.
Character Zero said:
So I have a STRATA coming soon. Got a really good deal on eBay (I am not sure how the price can be so low, so I am skeptical that something might be wrong with it). I also have a Pebble coming (Grey so who knows when I will get it) and I think I can use both. So thanks for your review I like the idea of having the widgets on the screen and think the small developer community is trying to really make a good device out of it. I looked at the Sony and the Moto briefly. The one thing about the Moto was it seemed like it was geared towards activity (running mostly) and I was looking for something that would show notifications (calling, email, etc), weather, ebay, really anything that can push information. How does the Moto fit there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Moto is geared to fitness activities, but it can also receive notifications. In fact you can answer call either via a wired headphones with mic (included) or wireless headset (I have the Motorola S11 Flex HD I use when running). Again the Augmented Smartphone app adds functionality as far as receiving notifications in the motoactv as well. You can get weather on the Motoactv also (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.motorola.notifier.plugin.accuweather&hl=en).
You can even root the Motoactv and run many Android apps (thought not all apps will work or have totally functionality). With it's built in WiFi, BT and GPS it's almost like a tiny tablet.
The only thing it lacks to make it what I would consider an awesome smartwatch is the lack of a vibrating motor for notifications. If it had vibrating alerts I'd consider making it my only smartwatch.

Got mine yesterday and so far would not recommend this watch to anybody. It has given me nothing but troubles. The community edition app kept freezing my watch so I'm using Noah's meta watch app and purchased augmented smart watch pro for extra functions.
The most irritating trouble I am facing apart from the freezes is with the phone call screen and messaging screen. When receiving calls or messages I cannot go back to the original or 1st screen. In addition none of my buttons under the action screen works.
I also purchased one for the misses to be used with the iphone. Does not crash or freeze but is useless with the limited functions available. Watch does not even vibrate during incoming calls even though I have enabled this feature. Her music control functions and toggling between screens works and seems smooth (mine does not work on android). Again the downside for her is with the limited functions and connectivity issues. It keeps disconnecting and connecting.
Now I am stuck with 2 useless watches. I wear mine only because I purchased it. I'm thinking of just placing it back in the box because I am about to lose my mind.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda premium

My 0,02$ about Gear

My first smartwatch ever was the original Sony Smartwatch 1. First of it's kind widely available, it was a pretty good product (if you compare the features to it's price). I bought Galaxy Gear few weeks ago shortly after startup for it's original price of 300 euros. I had it for few days and decided to return it, as this is a beta product with no support at all (at that time). So I returned the Gear and got Smartwatch 2 from Sony.. and that watch is really cool. It's waterproof to some point, it's very VERY light, super comfortable and you can even change the wrist stripe if you don't like the original one. It costs 150 EUR for silicon version, and 200 EUR for metal version here in Netherlands. So it's up to 50% cheaper than the Gear. Out of the box, you only have to install few applications to get messages, and notification to work. Installation is super easy and it works with nearly all devices running android 4.0 or higher. It's a nice device, but lack any kind of customization - and so far there haven't been any tools to change anything in the watch at all. Lately I got a chance to get a Gear for less than 200 EUR so I decided to give it another try, and here it is..
1. After using Smartwatch 2 for a while Gear feels more solid, but it's way more bulky. It doesn't rest nicely on my wrist, and I'm not a huge guy. I could survive uncomfortable top, but the metal bottom (where speaker and mic are located) is catastrophic. I can't stand having the watch on my wrist if I'm working on my desk, as it's touching the desk all the time and leaves scratches. Very annoying.
2. Installation. I had to change my custom ROM to original TouchWiz on my S3 to get Gear to work. Maybe it can work on custom - but there would be more troubles with it than stock so.. To get the full functionality, and don't run into endless troubles, you have to be stock, where SW2 works on custom roms without a single issue.
3. Out of the box experience.. it's a tragedy. The 'main menu' is really slow to operate, and even switching between apps can take few precious seconds. Notifications do not work properly. I have to use 3rd party app to get more notifications. No SMS forwarding to your watch. No replying to messages. No Gmail support. No keyboard. Simply nothing! Out of the box this is just a bluetooth headset with a clock. I don't know anyone who is really using S Voice on a daily basis. Samsung promised us making calls straight from our wrists, and Samsung did deliver that but..
4. Speaker quality - if you are using more than 50% of volume level, you can clearly hear a lot of buzzing. Sound is far from being clear. Not a huge issue though, it's a watch after all.
5. Hardware. Builtin camera that takes decent pictures and videos (as for a watch). Big plus! Loudspeaker so you don't have to hold your wrist to your ear - nice, although sometimes I would prefer to be the only one who can hear the other side (and look like an idiot, I don't care). AMOLED display with 320x320 resolution. Looks really sharp and vivid. Love it! Smartwatch is running a real Android 4.2.2, and that's great. You can root it, sideload apps and so.. but...
6. Usability - but it's pretty useless. There is no bluetooth tethering so you can't use any internet on your wrist (smartwatch 2 has a working internet browser!). You can install app like Tablet Talk to have messaging ability but it's really cumbersome, doesn't display your contact list, only the numbers are visible and generally, you can clearly see that it just wasn't designed for a wrist. I guess runninng Tablet Talk on Gear AND phone uses more battery which results in shorter battery life...
7. Typing. I can easily imagine typing short sentences/messages using Swype-like keyboard, or T9 styled. Display is big enough to send few words within seconds. Unfortunately that is not possible at the moment.
8. Future? There is definitely a future in smartwatches. This device is great, but Samsung tottaly ****ed up the software side. Nothing is working as it should, and if it does - it's cumbersome, and far from being user friendly. You can't get apps from Play Store, you have to use Samsung App Store which is really poor. There are very few apps that are actually somewhat usefull, but they do suck. I tried app like speedometer, that takes ages to start and catch a signal, and if it finally does - it's really ugly. SW2 to compare was displaying current GPS speed within seconds. When I was done with it, all I had to is just go back to home screen, or turn on the clock face, then GPS was stopped. On Gear? You have to open notifications, click on Speedometer, and FORCE STOP it in order to be closed. WHAAAAT?
I love the idea, I like the features (AMOLED, speaker, mic, touchscreen) but there way more wrong things with it than positive.. Media Controller doesn't always work properly, so you can't really shuffle songs etc. There is no SDK available to the publicity, so there won't be any dedicated apps from community anytime soon. Samsung didn't say anything that they will release it anyway so... if you buy the Gear, don't buy it cause it's gonna be "great in the future once XDA devs hack it". It didn't happen, noone knows if it's going to happen and what will come out of it...
I would really suggest waiting for next generation. But if you have spare cash, and can get the Gear cheaper than original price - go for it...

I don't think you would any of these problems if you use a samsung supported phone (N3, or S4 with latest update.)

skyline23 said:
I don't think you would any of these problems if you use a samsung supported phone (N3, or S4 with latest update.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using official Android 4.3 firmware provided by Samsung. S3 is officially supported.

hurdlejade said:
I'm using official Android 4.3 firmware provided by Samsung. S3 is officially supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To each his own. I'm sure the camera, mic and speaker and ability to use S Voice to respond to messages all work wonderfully on the SW2.

mhoepfin said:
To each his own. I'm sure the camera, mic and speaker and ability to use S Voice to respond to messages all work wonderfully on the SW2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
out of the box, SW2 beats Gear in every aspect, if you forget the camera/mic/speaker. S Voice? i guess it's only widely used in USA. i see a lot of people on the internet asking how to actually turn this thing off. it's one of the first things i did when i installed official 4.3 rom.
this is not a hate post. i just tried both products, they are both far from being perfect, and although gear seems to be superior, it lacks the software. and we shouldn't wait months for basic functionality that hardware is fully capable of.

It's all personal choice. I have both Sony s2 and the gear and in my opinion the gear is far better.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

ardsar said:
It's all personal choice. I have both Sony s2 and the gear and in my opinion the gear is far better.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
may i know why is it better? besides the camera/speaker/mic/svoice thingy.

It's my opinion and personal taste. .. It looks more like a watch rather than a big Square thing on your wrist. The Sony is only a second screen and is like a dumb terminal in that it can't run anything ( the Internet app you mention runs on the phone and relays the image to the watch) and you can't ignore the fact that it has a camera speaker Mike and svoice.
It's best to drop this thread like I said it's all personal opinion.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

ardsar said:
It's my opinion and personal taste. .. It looks more like a watch rather than a big Square thing on your wrist. The Sony is only a second screen and is like a dumb terminal in that it can't run anything ( the Internet app you mention runs on the phone and relays the image to the watch) and you can't ignore the fact that it has a camera speaker Mike and svoice.
It's best to drop this thread like I said it's all personal opinion.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just wanted to find out why you prefer gear over SW2, that's it.
i do realise that the internet browser on SW2 works more or less on screenshots.. but it works! and there is no possibility to do so on Gear, although it's capable of real rendering.

Owning 2 Galaxy Gear I guess you can tell I like it. With more and more things being added to the ability of the Gear such as ATN and launchers, etc it is growing leaps and bound sans Samsung. There are 2 versions of Sony out there and this has been out weeks. I say write this after February when it has been thru a few updates. I don't need my watch to do everything the phones does or i wouldn't have bought a 5.7 inch phone. The great things is competition is great and I'm sure Apple is gearing up for theirs and then someone will come and beat theirs and so on and so on. Consumerism at it's best.

Oh yeah, it's not consumer ready at all. But for the hacker/maker crowd out there, it's by far and away the best.
Phone calls.. you can make phone calls from your wrist!!! Come ON that's so cool. You can hack out the click sounds and take super secret spy photos from your wrist....
I have a freakin' game boy emulator .. I can play pokemon on my watch!
HELLO this is like the dream
YES .. the speaker scratching is a problem on my mac book pro, I have to pull up my long sleeve shirt over the bottom to keep it from scraping across the laptop which annoys me as well.
Not sure how they're going to fix that.

There are already enough of these threads here...
The watch des exactly what it says. It is a companion to phone, not a replacement (Why does a watch actually need software?)
it also has mic/speaker/cam which all work surprising well. Didn't take long to adjust to bulky speaker when resting palm on flat surface (mind I wear it a little loose)
There are several default notifications that are sent that everyone has - sms, email, etc. Granted they could do with more detail (html emails, all text in notification), however that will have to come when apps start supporting it - 4.3 helps a lot here
it is waterproof enough - that whole thing seems to be a scare campaign. All the watches available can survive water, just not to the extent of swimming/diving
Gear looks the best out of the watches available and once you use it for a few weeks, then the chance of wanting to return is much lower. I'd say my Pebble does more currently (especially tasker integration!), however, I've not touched it since getting gear a month ago
It only supports 4.3 and Touchwiz, but if you look at the percentage of s3, note2, s4, note3, and future phones, there is no need to support others. Will people complain when apple come out with a watch and it only supports two devices like pretty much everything else they do? (latest and previous model)
Samsung really need to get a move on with releasing sdk though
Plus it is first gen, so it can't have everything. Just be thankful you aren't with Apple and have to wait years for stuff everyone already has
Still going to try out Neptune Pine when it is released, but it is a replacement not companion

blazespinnaker said:
Oh yeah, it's not consumer ready at all. But for the hacker/maker crowd out there, it's by far and away the best.
Phone calls.. you can make phone calls from your wrist!!! Come ON that's so cool. You can hack out the click sounds and take super secret spy photos from your wrist....
I have a freakin' game boy emulator .. I can play pokemon on my watch!
HELLO this is like the dream
YES .. the speaker scratching is a problem on my mac book pro, I have to pull up my long sleeve shirt over the bottom to keep it from scraping across the laptop which annoys me as well.
Not sure how they're going to fix that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm enjoying my Gear paired with Note 3. Still completely stock, and I can see how some might think the price is steep for what it currently does. But again, I am ok with what I paid for it, knowing what it does so far and knowing what lays in store for it in the future.
I need to read up on rooting and side loading. How effective is a gameboy emulator on the small screen? Seems like there wouldn't be enough room

Awesome
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

hurdlejade said:
I would really suggest waiting for next generation. But if you have spare cash, and can get the Gear cheaper than original price - go for it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Snipped For Space!
At 73, I cannot play the waiting game. With smartwatches, women, and fastazz motorcycles..
I want and need it NOW!!
About you comments, they seemed to be like the case of one man's terrorist is another man's freedom-fighter..
BTW, can you answer and call from the SW2?? :fingers-crossed:

I also have a Sony Smartwatch 2. It's a great watch and the SDK support is superb. I recently bought the Gear and my first impression was
1. Wow, smaller than I thought. Because of the design less bulkier than the SW2. Way more stylish (up to a point even my gf thought that i didn't look like a total nerd)
2. Much better resolution and much clearer display
3. Touch response is so much better than the SW2
4. Awful charging method..
5. Miss the always on mode that the Sony has. The magical movement thing to wake up the Gear does work in say 75% of the time for me. The other 25% makes it a bad experience as a watch. Maybe I still have to get the hang of it and learn to make the movement work.. or maybe I have to adapt myself. Have the watch for 2 days now, I'm still learning and not ready to give an overall conclusion.
6 Apps.... yep the Sony has a lot more apps and yes there's a browser out there. But it also has a lot of weird amateuristic apps in the Play store (not made by Sony). I somehow am appreciating Samsung's approach now after a couple of days of using the Gear. They've teamed up with some good third party developers (a few not so good also) and seem to be very careful about what they release on the market right now. Seems like a good thing to me. I bet you can trash a potential goood product that still has to prove itself as a thing that could work by opening it for badly written and designed apps. Good thing to go easy on this. Nevertheless as a developer I love to jump on the bandwagon... But I understand that somehow one needs to direct the experience of a new product. Too many apps that do just half of what you can do can ruin the experience totally. (That said, they might have released the watch too early. On the other side, by releasing it early they now can work on a lot of feedback. It's a decision they've made and it is a decision that comes with a trade off (bad reviews), but in the end it might be the best decision. Nobody knows and nobody will know)

mike208 said:
I'm enjoying my Gear paired with Note 3. Still completely stock, and I can see how some might think the price is steep for what it currently does. But again, I am ok with what I paid for it, knowing what it does so far and knowing what lays in store for it in the future.
I need to read up on rooting and side loading. How effective is a gameboy emulator on the small screen? Seems like there wouldn't be enough room
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you kidding me! It's AWESOME ... well I have long thin fingers though. I use gameboid.
They could probably optimize the control setup on gameboid for the watch a bit more.
Sideloading is easy to do, don't need to root. I highly recommend it.
1. Wow, smaller than I thought. Because of the design less bulkier than the SW2. Way more stylish (up to a point even my gf thought that i didn't look like a total nerd)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. People have commented that the watch looks great. Sony with it's geeky logo and buttons... come ON.
That being said, there are pros/cons to them all. I'd *love* the battery life of the pebble on the Gear, but I can't go without having Android on my watch. That's just a non starter (for me), but I'm a developer so my opinion is entirely unreflective of the market at large .. but I love it, so who cares.
The one huge problem with the gear, in my opinion, is the lack of compatibility. That's what is really pissing 99% of the world out there that doesn't have a Note 3, frankly. This bundling nonsense is so deeply arrogant. It's monopolistic and completely unnecessary.
It's what makes you root against a company and pray they fail as an enterprise. It's the same sort of arrogance that makes me despise Apple and why I take every opportunity I can to root against them even though my career is tied up with their technology.

I agree with you on the speaker buckle being annoying, but otherwise, it's not THAT bad.

Supported Trackbands/Smartwatches for G2

I'm thinking of buying the garmin vivosmart but i'm not sure if it is supported by the G2
is there any "smartwear" for taking notifications and display time/day (as small as possible) and it doesn't need to recharge it every night?

Misfit Shine
papathvas said:
I'm thinking of buying the garmin vivosmart but i'm not sure if it is supported by the G2
is there any "smartwear" for taking notifications and display time/day (as small as possible) and it doesn't need to recharge it every night?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Misfit Shine with my LG G2. They are coming out with a "cheaper" model soon, the Misfit Flash, but this will only be about the Shine. As for the website http://www.misfit.com/, so you can check it out. The only thing it doesn't do that you asked about is tracking notifications.
As far as being an activity tracker, it does a pretty good job. There where (don't know if still is) two version of the shine, and it is what it comes with. The version I got came with the magnetic clip and the sports band. The little cheaper model comes with just the magnetic clip. Like most of the trackers, this one is waterproof. Rating for it is 50 meters. So no worries about jumping into the pool with this one and taking a swim.
The major thing about this tacker is that I got mine in April, I just changed the battery a week ago. So it ran for roughly 3-4 months with no charging. But that is the bad part as well, it takes a watch battery. At least the battery is one of the most common ones, and pretty cheap on Amazon. So with this one I was able to get a decent period of time out of it without having to worry about putting it on the charger.
It can tell the time, but does so in a digital/analog way. It shows you where Noon is on it, then shows you the hand, then blinks the minute had for how many minutes past the 5 minute intervals. This is all by the 12 leds on it. To get it to show the time you tap the device two or three times (depending upon settings). This is where the Misfit Flash might be better, as it has a full face button instead of using the accelerometer.
The main negative to this Misfit Shine is that the Android software is a couple of revisions behind ios. It is still useable and will do everything, just annoying seeing a new feature mentioned and seeing that it is only on the ios at this time. Also the software is simple, but they have finally open the API to allow other programs to nab the data. So you might check to see if your preferred health/tracking app has access to it.
Overall I've been quite happy with it. It has survived two trips though the washer, pretty sure it can easily survive more since it is metal. The new Misfit Flash (plastic encloser) might not like the spin cycle as much though.
Hope my little review helps you out some.
Niscandia
PS: I've used it on Cloudy's roms, First on CloudyFlex and now on CloudyG3. I did not try it upon a stock rom.

Sony Smartband
papathvas said:
I'm thinking of buying the garmin vivosmart but i'm not sure if it is supported by the G2
is there any "smartwear" for taking notifications and display time/day (as small as possible) and it doesn't need to recharge it every night?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the Sony Smartband with my G2. Overall I like it. I paid $80 for it when it came out earlier this year. The battery life is pretty good ranging from 3 to 5 days of use. It has a companion app that works with it called Lifelog. Lifelog tracks a lot of info. There is no screen on the smartband, but it does have touch controls and vibrates when your phone receives an email or a phone call. It is water resistant. I shower and wash dishes with it on. I think I will pick up the newest version when it comes out.
The one issue that I have noticed and reported to Sony to fix is that text message notifications do not vibrate the Smartband like emails, phone calls, and alarms do.
Also, the band they use did cause a little irritation to my skin. I'm not sure if it s from the material or from the band rubbing against my skin when I was wearing it.
Just like the other poster I am using Cloudy G3.

Can we use mi Band by Xiaomi with G2 .. I mean all of its features ??
Sent from my LG-D802

Here you can buy a MI Band just 28,99$/piece. If you buy and tested please give information of functions.
http://www.pandawill.com/mobile-phone-c1/wearable-devices.html

I use a Pebble Steel with my G2, works like a charm! Bluetooth LE allows my phone to sip power, I don't notice the difference in battery when I'm connected to it at all. The pebble has a week long battery which is amazing as well.

If you could buy the LG G Watch R again today, would you?

I'll be the first to admit that a large part of my rationale for purchasing the LG G Watch R was gadget lust as opposed to a logical cost/benefit evaluation.
Here's what I've learned:
1) I don't use the notifications nearly as much as I thought. Why? Because honestly it isn't that hard to pull out my phone and look. While the watch interface is cool, it is just too small to "do anything" with as with a small effort I could do that same thing much better on my phone.
2) A large reason I got this was to reduce distraction of looking at my phone while driving. Well again, the problem is, the text is so small and cannot scroll without two hands that it may actually be MORE distracting, not less. Also, I wear glasses to drive. Since I am near-sighted, I cannot see whats on my watch while wearing my glasses. So if I get a notification while driving I need to take off my glasses and take my eyes off the road to look. Hopefully while doing all this I don't hit a school bus full of somebody's babies.
3) Much of the notification work the watch does is already done by my small but powerful bluetooth headset. Text messages read, check. Turn by turn navigation read, check.
Funny thing is that most of the time what I find myself using the watch for is telling the time, temp and battery levels of my devices. Granted I don't go to a lot of meetings so getting texts surreptitiously on my wrist is not a benefit for me while it may be for others.
The #1 drawback (besides the price) of this watch is simply that I have to wear a watch. I have a $6,000 Rolex that I never wear for work because it annoys me when typing. The LG G R has the same issue.
So anyway, if I had to do it all again, would I? No, probably not. What does intrigue me is the new idea of a small curved LCD notification attachment for the wristband of your current mechanical watch. Now that would be useful.

I'm slowly gearing up to sell mine. The novelty has worn off and I really don't wear it as much as I thought I would - it just doesn't DO anything useful aside from having a customizable colorful watchface and showing me notifications, for which I have to take the phone out anyway to respond.
Also, I constantly worry that I'll damage it by hitting or bumping it somewhere, and that only stresses me out.
I got it for $210 with tax and shipping when T-Mobile had that 30% off coupon (along with 5% cash back from my Discover card), so I'm going to probably break even since it's in pristine condition.

I bought mine to replace my old Sony Smartwatch2. It's a great device and I found that I cannot live w/o a smartwatch to my wrist. Thanks to this little buddy, I'm barely touching my phone which leads to great battery life. Watch on the wrist, bluetooth handsfree in the ear, phone in the pocket ... no need to touch it unless I have to send a message.
So my answer is YES ... definitely.

Today I will buy it again hands down, in fact if I lost it or break it I will buy another one as soon as I get Internet access. I've had a Smartwatch (meaning a watch connected to your mobile by bluetooth) since 2009 and I can't understand how did I manage to have a mobile phone without these watches before.
Yes, I've worn a wristwatch since I remember, never had a problem typing or anything else, I'm used to it.
I love a vibration in my wrist rather than in my pocket/backpack/table while charging... (I like my mobile making sounds just when I intentionally play that sound)
I love notifications with no vibration or noise as well, it just stays there on my watch waiting for me.
I check temperature, possible rain, wind speed and direction, just with a quick look, I know what to wear faster than before.
I read and archive non-important emails faster than before, I read messages that doesn't need to be replied faster than before.
I can switch my Wi-Fi light in the garden easily while riding my bike when I'm getting close to my house.
I can check my shopping list while shopping, leaving my hands free to grab things and avoiding the risk of my mobile hitting the floor.
I could keep writing reasons for a while more, but you get my point, I love it, I need it and yes, I'll buy it again and again (until there's one better out there for me to buy)
I hope I didn't do too much harm to English language BTW.
Cheers!

Yes, I would buy again. Especially since I got mine for just $210, when T-Mobile had a discount code.
I replaced a Samsung Gear Live. I'm very happy going from square to round. The only thing the Gear Live has over the "R" is that it does not have screen burn in as easily. But I'm change my watch face all the time with my "R", so burn-in has not been an issue for me.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

One of the things which has lessened my enjoyment is that when I walk away from my phone and the Bluetooth disconnects, often it takes forever to reconnect if it does at all. Weird that my $30 bluetooth headset reconnects instantaneously but my $300 smartwatch cannot.
I guess I was hoping for a smarter "smart" watch.

mitchellvii said:
One of the things which has lessened my enjoyment is that when I walk away from my phone and the Bluetooth disconnects, often it takes forever to reconnect if it does at all. Weird that my $30 bluetooth headset reconnects instantaneously but my $300 smartwatch cannot.
I guess I was hoping for a smarter "smart" watch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suspect that would cost much more battery. It's probably just a matter of the polling rate.
I also think it may depend on how long things are away from each other. To me, when I'm away a short period of time it reconnects faster, than when I'm away a longer period of time. So it's possible the polling rate adjust to wait longer when, it seems you'll be away from the phone for a while.
I have never had a case where the "R" failed to reconnect, but sometimes it takes longer than other times.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Darnell_Chat_TN said:
I suspect that would cost much more battery. It's probably just a matter of the polling rate.
I also think it may depend on how long things are away from each other. To me, when I'm away a short period of time it reconnects faster, than when I'm away a longer period of time. So it's possible the polling rate adjust to wait longer when, it seems you'll be away from the phone for a while.
I have never had a case where the "R" failed to reconnect, but sometimes it takes longer than other times.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think battery life has anything to do with it. My tiny Bluetooth headset reconnects instantly and it has 11 hours talk time. I think its just bad engineering. Its unreasonable to expect the user to accept a disconnected smart watch for any more than a millisecond.

You should not compare a bluetooth handsfree with a smartwatch. The protocols used are different as well as the transferred content and amount of data.
And, because the protocols are different, it is also a matter of hot the phone is behaving with the bluetooth pooling of the clients. Don't jump into blaming bad engineering.
Anyway, my watch is reconnecting in a matter of seconds after I get back in the range of the phone (Z1 Compact).

I'm not using my smartwatch all that much simply because I don't get too much notifications
Would I buy it again? Definitely
I have been and would be wearing a regular watch (which was more expensive than the LGWR) anyways and I love the little “extra” I get from a smartwatch
Most importantly, for me the watch is a fashion statement and that’s where the LGWR does an OK job, which makes it feasible to me (looks good and you can’t immediately identify it as a smartwatch). Are there better looking watches out there? yes, but to me the smart is worth it

I would buy again, But i am typically an early adopter of alot of things. I want to run the face full time on but havent yet. Still nervous. Ive had it since released at TMo. Coming from the Pebble Steel, Id like the watch to always be on.

I had a normal Pebble before. I dont want miss this watch anymore. I wont sell it. I knew how the system is before I got it. So I knew what it can do and what it cant do.
Im very pleased.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

I definitely would buy a smartwatch, but not now.
I love my G Watch R, but I think there are a lot of important things the watch still misses, such as NFC, a speaker, and a better version of Android Wear, and as a student, I wouldn't be able to buy another GWR + the next generation.
So I think that, if I lost it or if I broke it, I would probably wait for the next generation, if I'm able to wait.
I think before being a Gadget, the smartwatches are watches, and it has to be bought as a watch.
I use my smartwatch all the time, to read notifications, mails, messages ... But also as a sleep tracker, and even to read my shopping list when I go to the supermarket. I used to read my shopping list with my phone, and I have to admit that it's a lot better with the watch ! It's very usefull to make simple calculs with the calculator app as well.
All these extra things doesn't justify the price, but comparing to the price of a normal watch, it worth it as a watch for sure !

mitchellvii said:
Don't think battery life has anything to do with it. My tiny Bluetooth headset reconnects instantly and it has 11 hours talk time. I think its just bad engineering. Its unreasonable to expect the user to accept a disconnected smart watch for any more than a millisecond.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery is the exact issue at hand here. It's your phone thats making the reconnect request, not the watch. The Android Wear app is designed to request a reconnect at certain intervals (I believe it's 16 seconds a couple of times, then 32, 64, 128, then finally topped out at 256). This is used not to destroy your phones battery life. I'm suspecting they designed it this way KNOWING that we will walk away from our phones a lot more often with a watch, as compared to a bluetooth headset.
So, for the record, it's quite the opposite of bad engineering. Maybe in time someone will figure out how to mod the app to change the intervals.
Anyways reading your OP, it sounds like a lot of the issues with this watch are pertaining to personal issues/preference. To each is their own of course, I actually have none of the issues that you describe (besides the longer 128 and 256 reconnect intervals), so I would definately buy this watch again. Works like a dream, a lot better than the Pebble Steel I previously owned and sold. Working in the public safety sector, this watch definitely helps me out.

Yes. I love it. It's great at work in the business world
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Bad user experience means bad engineering, period. You can spin it all day and the result is the same. For whatever reason my $800 bleeding edge phone struggles to connect to my $300 (supposed to be bleeding edge) smartwatch while my $30 Bluetooth headset connects and reconnects instantly.
I mean how much battery life is failing to reconnect in a timely manner saving me and why should I care since my long lived smartwatch won't connect to my phone?
Good intentions don't make good engineering. Good results do and this sucks.

mitchellvii said:
Bad user experience means bad engineering, period. You can spin it all day and the result is the same. For whatever reason my $800 bleeding edge phone struggles to connect to my $300 (supposed to be bleeding edge) smartwatch while my $30 Bluetooth headset connects and reconnects instantly.
I mean how much battery life is failing to reconnect in a timely manner saving me and why should I care since my long lived smartwatch won't connect to my phone?
Good intentions don't make good engineering. Good results do and this sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, I am not trying to "spin" anything. I am not a hardcore fanboy, I am just giving simple facts, and you're entitled to your opinion just as I am with mine. I have no problems with my watch "struggling" to connect to my Nexus 5 AT ALL (regardless of their value), what I do notice is the polling taking awhile to connect if I am away from my phone for any extended period of time. You can say its "bad engineering," or software development all you want, but what they are trying (and succeeding) in doing is preventing the Android Wear and Bluetooth apps from popping up in your battery stats with a large amount of battery usage. There would be a lot of people crying here if the watch was sucking up battery because your phone is trying to connect to your watch in 1 second intervals every time you walk away (and for some people who aren't attached to their phones, this would be a big battery drain).
"Bad" user experience as you put it doesn't always mean poor engineering or software development, it just means there's no better way of doing it at the moment. What would have been smart of them to do is have a setting where you can change the polling rate if the user, like yourself, so wanted. Like I said, if your away from your phone for extended periods of time (like an hour at a time per se), that can actually add up to big battery drain if your phone is trying to send the same packets over and over every second.

@mitchellvii : in your case (yes, I read the other topic too) is a problem generated mostly by the phone, not by the watch. Samsung is known to have software issues and a bloated operating system. More than that, if you are on Lolipop with your Note4 this only adds a new layer of uncertainty, especially coming from Samsung.
Don't blame the engineers because they did their job beautifully. From my point of view, this watch delivers very good results.
Then, there is the other possibility: a faulty unit. Nevertheless, my watch is bought in the same day when it arrived in stock here, in Sweden (so I assume is one of the early units) and I did not had any issues with it.

doubleohseven said:
So, for the record, it's quite the opposite of bad engineering. Maybe in time someone will figure out how to mod the app to change the intervals.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
completely agree - but it should be user-configurable
xposed would be the way to go (at least for the non-Lollipop users), hopefully someone can come up with something that makes everyone happy

First 24 hours with the G Watch R after returning a Moto 360 and I couldn't be happier. The heart rate monitor works better, battery life much better, and it is working better with Google Fit. Last night, for the first time, Google Fit was able to detect that I was riding my stationary bike when I was working out as opposed to other activities I had logged previously. Sleep monitoring using Sleep As Android resulted in 85% battery left this morning where the 360 would be dead half of the time. I love being able to have the screen always on and get through a full day with battery to spare. I find it more responsive than the 360 and actually prefer the look of it over the 360.

Question What do y'all think about the Galaxy Watch 5?

What's your opinion?
I think it looks good!
If you have problems with it, feel free to say!

How to enable temperature options?

Beso said:
How to enable temperature options?
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Watch 5 Pro-temperature sensor option missing?
So got the watch yesterday and so far it's ok,.A little unimpressed by the lack of rotating dial. But going through all the sensor options there is no menu for body temperature even though the sensor is there. Does anyone know where the sensor options are? Or is this just another incomplete...
eu.community.samsung.com

shaharofir said:
Watch 5 Pro-temperature sensor option missing?
So got the watch yesterday and so far it's ok,.A little unimpressed by the lack of rotating dial. But going through all the sensor options there is no menu for body temperature even though the sensor is there. Does anyone know where the sensor options are? Or is this just another incomplete...
eu.community.samsung.com
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This thread is not available in my country..... NO COMMENT LIKE IF PEOPLE LIVE IS US ARE WORTH MORE THAN PEOPLE LEAVE IN EU.... SHAME

Beso said:
This thread is not available in my country..... NO COMMENT LIKE IF PEOPLE LIVE IS US ARE WORTH MORE THAN PEOPLE LEAVE IN EU.... SHAME
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"Theres no option for the temperature sensors yet. Samsung say it wont be long before its available but are apparently waiting for regulatory clearance."
I'm from the EU too, to be exact, i'm from Hungary. this is available for me..weird (i'm not using any VPN)

I got my Watch 5 yesterday and it seems good. According to Samsung product info, this model is mostly an incremental upgrade to the Watch4 and includes improved heart rate monitoring, slightly longer battery life, and slightly upgraded glass type.
One odd thing I noticed: When I adb to the watch the prompt says:
heartbl:/ $
I thought that is kind of strange.

Aethera said:
One odd thing I noticed: When I adb to the watch the prompt says:
heartbl:/ $
I thought that is kind of strange.
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heartbl is the codename of the watch

notnoelchannel said:
heartbl is the codename of the watch
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Yep I see it in getprop:
[ro.product.model]: [SM-R910]
[ro.product.name]: [heartblue]
I was initially concerned 'heartbl' might mean 'heartbleed' which would be an odd name to use. Then again heartbleed, spectre, meltdown, etc. do have a cool ring to them. It would be interesting if a company used CPU vulnerabilities for a product naming scheme.

After wearing the Watch 5 for a couple days it definitely feels like a nicer fit on the wrist. It feels like with the updated shape of the watch bottom that it sits more snugly on the wrist and doesn't move around as much. I see how this could improve heart rate monitoring.

The Watch 5 performs and feels better than my prior watches!
Cheers

It's like wearing a DVD Player on my watch, since I can't activate must needed functions such as NFC payments because of region locks with CSC... Until I find a solution for this, this is basically walking around with a somewhat expensive watch like a Garmin but with 20% of battery time.

notnoelchannel said:
What's your opinion?
I think it looks good!
If you have problems with it, feel free to say!
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I came from the Galaxy S3 Frontier and my Watch 5 is soooo much better all around. It's lighter and I like the improved voice interactions using Google Assistant (instead of the horrible Bixby). I'm glad they went away with Tizen. Google's Wear OS opens up more possibilities.

So far I like it, for some reason Samsung pay was eating up 1/4 of it's battery and I didn't even have it set up. I uninstalled it using the Galaxy watch 4 debloat instructions and my battery life got substantially better. Right now "Samsung Text to speech engine" and "Find my mobile" apps are the biggest drains, but the battery life, even with the Samsung pay totally blew my old fossil watch out of the water. This watch is better than it in every way.

I picked the watch 5 pro when I got my Pixel 7 pro. I was gonna get the pixel watch but it's too small for my taste. I love the watch 5 pro...2 days battery is sweet.... AOD on always ...

I got a brand new grey Titanium 5 Pro for £250 in the UK through a friend who got it free with a Samsung TV. He decided to stick with the Garmin watch he already had so didn't even open the Watch 5 Pro. Bargain.
And it's fantastic. I'm coming from a Huawei Watch GT2 so despite the good battery life the Samsung has, it's not a patch on th GT2 from which I got over 10 days. But that stupidly long battery life came with a cost, namely little in the way of features and zero app support. The 5 Pro is the best compromise.

Today will be day 1 with the GW5 with D-Buckle 44mm. I set it up last night and wore it on my left wrist all night and my old Fitbit Charge 4 on my right to see how close the sleep tracking is. C4 had 82 as my sleep score and the GW5 80 so I think they are close. So far I am impressed with the GW5. I still have a ton of things to learn and setup on it but I can already tell that I am going to get a lot of use out of it. The display is fantastic and so easy to see out in very bright sunshine. Will follow-up after a week or so of use.
I am from the USA east coast but I now live in South America in Colombia in the Andes Mountains.

Horrible Setup for non Samsung devices.
took me about 4h to set it up on a Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
1. Can't connect to the phone via wearables. Tried all available workarounds, nothing worked. Last try was trying older versions of Wearables app, that did it for me.
2. Couldn't activate eSIM: Your phone needs an active SIM card to activate an eSIM to the watch.
Obviously the phone has an active SIM and is Connected to the internet via LTE/5G. Didn't find any solution for that, other than reset watch, digging out my old Samung, switch SIM to that, activate eSIM, switch SIM back to 12S Ultra, and reset and reconnect the watch to the 12S Ultra again.
The option in wearables app still gives the SIM not active on phone error, but the eSIM still is active on the watch, and mobile data still works.
It's annoying AF. But other than the atrocious setup I'm happy so far.

xXxWOExXx said:
Horrible Setup for non Samsung devices.
took me about 4h to set it up on a Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
1. Can't connect to the phone via wearables. Tried all available workarounds, nothing worked. Last try was trying older versions of Wearables app, that did it for me.
2. Couldn't activate eSIM: Your phone needs an active SIM card to activate an eSIM to the watch.
Obviously the phone has an active SIM and is Connected to the internet via LTE/5G. Didn't find any solution for that, other than reset watch, digging out my old Samung, switch SIM to that, activate eSIM, switch SIM back to 12S Ultra, and reset and reconnect the watch to the 12S Ultra again.
The option in wearables app still gives the SIM not active on phone error, but the eSIM still is active on the watch, and mobile data still works.
It's annoying AF. But other than the atrocious setup I'm happy so far.
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Please see my LTE activation guide which may help.

Following this guide for wrist size I decided to swap my 44mm wifi model for a 40mm LTE. Really like the 40mm size. Not sure if the tradeoff in battery life will be acceptable but in terms of wearability for my ~16.5 cm wrist the 40mm seems a lot better. I can see myself sleeping with the 40mm watch on my wrist all night whereas the 44mm just seemed to big and bulky to want to use it as a sleep tracker.
A couple things were confusing about setting up the LTE service: 1) The EID is what the customer support rep for my mobile provider wanted when she asked for the SIM. Technically it's called an ESIM but for purposes of activation they consider it a SIM; 2) You have enable a special settings mode in the Galaxy Wearable app to enable "Current QR TestMode" under "Test ESIM Feature". I created a post about this.
As far as battery life, I just switched the font color of basic dashboard to pure white, against a pure black background, which makes it possible to turn down the display brightness a lot. Hopefully that will help extend the battery life.
One minor issue I have is that on the curved complications with the digital dashboard face the font sizes are too tiny for my vision. I really have to squint to read them. I wish that the curved complications had larger fonts.
One last comment: when making an LTE call the call quality was surprisingly excellent. I was able to have a conversation via the watch even while using my hands for other things. The other party said the call quality on their side was excellent.

mech_supernova said:
So far I like it, for some reason Samsung pay was eating up 1/4 of it's battery and I didn't even have it set up. I uninstalled it using the Galaxy watch 4 debloat instructions and my battery life got substantially better. Right now "Samsung Text to speech engine" and "Find my mobile" apps are the biggest drains, but the battery life, even with the Samsung pay totally blew my old fossil watch out of the water. This watch is better than it in every way.
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Good to know about Samsung Pay. I also don't use it but am afraid to debloat since even seemingly unnecessary apps could destabilize the watch if they're uninstalled. It might be safer to disable apps first and if there are no stability issues then they can be uninstalled later.