[UPDATED REVIEW] Galaxy Gear S use after 2 weeks (as a PHONE) - 20141102 - Samsung Gear S

UPDATE 20141110 : You can perform a screenshot on the Gear S by clicking the power button AND swiping from left to right.
The screenshot is stored in Gallery. I suppose you could transfer the images via the Gear Manager or MTP from the PC.
This is the 2nd part of the review off my Google+ share here
https://plus.google.com/+JoyTestwick/posts/U4uqfTrQd4u
UPDATE 20141102: Text of the 2nd review is here, posted on 02 Nov 2014.
_Review_ of *Samsung Galaxy Gear S*, _part 2_
*135 pics* from start to app installation and GPS use.
Part 2 from my earlier review on 30 Oct 2014
First review is here: 2014-10-30
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JoyTestwick/posts/HojMwRq1jMS
I spent a little bit more time with my Gear S today, sort of accidentally again. I'm discovering more of what this device does.
What happened was that I thought I would pair the Gear S with my Note 4. It was originally paired to my Note 3.
I downloaded Samsung Gear Manager from the Samsung App Store, and tried to pair both the Note 4 and Gear S.
Surprise, surprise..............it asked me to FACTORY RESET the Gear S !!!! It needs to reset when pairing with a new device. It makes sense though, since this is supposed to be a companion device. If you changed the main device, the companion device should follow the new main device.
This is probably going to a slight inconvenience, but again I say it makes sense, IF you use it as a companion device.
However, if you decide to use it mainly as a phone, then I suppose you will not need to bother with a re-pairing.
Firmware Update
The good thing is that while I got this new pairing going on, Gear Manager tells me that there's a firmware update, around 25Mb in size.
I cannot recall the prior firmware version, but after the update, it was R750XXU1BNJC, which is version 2.2.1.3 Singapore firmware.
See the pic from Sammobile.
The series of 136 pics in the album show almost chronologically what I was doing with the Gear S while setting it up.
The first pic shows the screen while it was undergoing the factory reset. The immediately following screens were from the Gear Manager on Note 4, with various EULA screens and you need to click yes to all of them.
Immediately after, the notification for the 25Mb update showed up, and I accepted the download.
After the firmware update, it shows the welcome screens. This was not present during the earlier fimware when I first switched it on.
Pairing Connectivity
I tested that the following connections work for pairing:
Bluetooth
3G
The 3G connection will show on your phone that you are Remotely Connected to the Gear S. This probably means that notification CAN be sent even though your phone is not with you.
Anyway, I downloaded a few apps, tried playing with Here again, downloaded the map for Malaysia at 120Mb.
Here GPS
I wanted to actually confirm that Here would work properly since I was now pairing it to the Note 4, which is supposed to be its built-for-purpose companion device, launched together.
I found that the same WTF still happened.
I saw that, even when I disconnected the Gear S, once I started Here, it will fire up and look for the bluetooth connection, connect it, and trigger the phone's GPS. Lock on was less than 30 seconds.
Then I purposely tried Here again, this time by turning off the bluetooth on the Note 4 completely. This time, the Gear S *COULD NOT* find the location.
I tried this twice with the same result.
During this second test, the Gear S was connected remotely. I saw that it did not trigger the GPS on the phone.
I hope this is not how you intended for this to work. I hope someone can clarify.
Someone was also asking about Nike Run+, it needs the app to be on the main phone and you need to login. I didn't try further.
Anyway, now I have a fresh slate on the Gear S again, and will observe the battery. It was fairly good the last 2 days when I did not use it with a bluetooth headset.
Please share your thoughts in the comments.
The first review is re-posted from my original Google+ share here
https://plus.google.com/+JoyTestwick/posts/HojMwRq1jMS
UPDATED with a pic showing how it is when worn normally compared to being worn WITH the charging dock.
You wouldn't typically want to wear it with the charging dock attached. I did it just to show it could be done.
An overview of using the Galaxy Gear S SM-R750 Tizen smartphone since I got it on 15 October 2014, during the launch event at The Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
I got mine on 15 Oct 2014, and initially was a little unsure what I would do with it.
Still, thank you Samsung for letting the invitees to the pre-launch get one for free (of course with full price purchase of a Note 4).
After about 3 days of thinking how to deal with all my devices, I settled on getting a Multi-SIM from my telco for both my Note 4 and Gear S.
The Gear S uses a nano SIM, and I designated it as the primary SIM. This means I can make and receive calls and SMS on the primary SIM. The secondary SIM can only make calls and send SMS.
The upside is that there is a USSD code that allows switching of primary and secondary between SIMs, so if I feel like it or if the Gear S battery is low I can switch it to the Note 4.
The included set of photos (all taken with the Note 4) show the key features of the phone. I would rather call it a phone than a watch, since it is a fully fledged phone.
The Power On Screen
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Boot Animation (just like the Note 4)
Pin Unlock Screen
Main Screen
What can I say....it makes and receives calls, it sends and receives SMS, it can store files, photos, and music, and can display photos, play music over bluetooth or its built in speaker.
Rear
SIM Tray opener
nano SIM Slot
Thickness with Dock attached
Worn NORMALLY
Wearing it with Dock attached
Since this is a Tizen device, and Samsung being the current primary driver behind Tizen (there's another set of politics around that, you may Google it), apps are all from Samsung's Tizen "app store" for now.
That being said, it is no surprise that to setup, sync and update the phone, you need to pair it with a recent (2012 and later) Samsung Android phone.
You manage it using the Gear Manager app that is installed, and it gives you options like sending files to the Gear S, backing up, restore, system updates etc.
It picks up notifications from whatever app you set it from the Notifications manager in Gear Manager on the main phone.
Most of the time, you would pair this via Bluetooth, but it also pairs via Wifi and supposedly even via 3G networks.
I set it up using my Note 3 at first, then paired it via bluetooth for a couple of days before plugging in the nano SIM.
Overall, I enjoy using it, although I found a few quirks.
I guess I'll start with the cons, then the pros.
Cons
Battery life, as expected, doesn't really last all day. I believe for those who do not use it as a phone and just tether it to a primary device will experience longer battery life, up to maybe 2 days.
GPS seems to only lock if tethered to a phone. What ???? Then what is the built in GPS for???? Samsung please clarify.
Default call answering is via built-in speaker. Again what??? I need to quickly tap on the headset icon to transfer the call to bluetooth.
Charging Dock a little unwieldy and proprietary.
Pros
Hell it's a PHONE !! yeah 50 years of geek wet dreams come true.
It's a full blown computer yes it is, all shrunk to 2 tiny inches. Apps are still limited, but then, what do you want to do on a 2" screen? However I know this is XDA....
Health apps are useful OK I'm your sedentary geek-type person so it does raise awareness by giving alarms and cheers you on by telling "You've hit 50% of your daily steps target, another 8 hours to go"
It's a customizable watch yes, that's what all devices of this category promise....custom watchfaces, notifications etc.
I know I wrote equal numbers of pros and cons, and the pros do not seem entirely objective, but then again, I just find that having a phone and computer on my wrist is just incredibly cool (to me).
I believe most people would use it as a bluetooth device tethered to a phone, so they should be able to have most or all of the same type of functionality as an Android Wear device, and I'm sure the battery life will last longer.
My take is that at least for the next 18 months, before those supposedly mega-capacity battery breakthroughs come to market, _ANY_ wearable device will suffer from low battery life.
XDA on Gear S
Well, do look at it from this perspective....the first few of generations of mobile phones had seriously bad battery life, yet people still bought them in droves, and technological progress has brought us to this stage.
As I wrote in an earlier brief overview on G+, the Gear S today, in 2014, is about equivalent to the Nokia N82 which I bought way back in 2008. I still needed to charge the N82 daily.
The future will be even better.
I hope this serves as a sufficient introductory real-world user experience review.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments.
#GearS #Tizen #Review #SMR750

---

This seems like an obvious stupid question, but with the nature of how the watch/phone works I do want to ask...
Will it work with the iPhone?
Obvioulsy limited functionality, but if one SIM is your primary the other is your iPhone (or other way around), can it still technically work with an iPhone? (Your real number is in the watch, but a secondary number in the iPhone which forwards to the iPhone or something)?
I'm still really confused how everything works together (as are other people), so thought I'd ask.

---

MattAAron said:
This seems like an obvious stupid question, but with the nature of how the watch/phone works I do want to ask...
Will it work with the iPhone?
Obvioulsy limited functionality, but if one SIM is your primary the other is your iPhone (or other way around), can it still technically work with an iPhone? (Your real number is in the watch, but a secondary number in the iPhone which forwards to the iPhone or something)?
I'm still really confused how everything works together (as are other people), so thought I'd ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was some tech site I read which compared all the Gear smartwatches from Samsung nicely. None of them work with iOS. I am not very certain if other Android Wear devices work with iOS properly.
As to call forwarding, there are 2 types of forwarding in question.
1. Bluetooth paired forwarding ie the Gear S functions as an extension of the paired device, phone number notwithstanding. Any calls received on the phone will get displayed on Gear S and you can use Gear S to serve as a handset or swipe to answer/reject. No SIM card used.
2.a. Pairing via Multi-SIM. This is a telco function and beyond your control. Apart from having the same phone number and some billing related stuff, there is no link between primary SIM or secondary SIM. No call forwarding is needed, and primary/secondary swapping can be done arbitrarily.
2b. Telco call forwarding. I think this is going to be the most likely scenario in your case, since you are in the US. You set up call forwarding from the device you want to forward from, setting the number to be forwarded to. I think this is the only way it would work with an idevice.

---

joytest said:
There was some tech site I read which compared all the Gear smartwatches from Samsung nicely. None of them work with iOS. I am not very certain if other Android Wear devices work with iOS properly.
As to call forwarding, there are 2 types of forwarding in question.
1. Bluetooth paired forwarding ie the Gear S functions as an extension of the paired device, phone number notwithstanding. Any calls received on the phone will get displayed on Gear S and you can use Gear S to serve as a handset or swipe to answer/reject. No SIM card used.
2.a. Pairing via Multi-SIM. This is a telco function and beyond your control. Apart from having the same phone number and some billing related stuff, there is no link between primary SIM or secondary SIM. No call forwarding is needed, and primary/secondary swapping can be done arbitrarily.
2b. Telco call forwarding. I think this is going to be the most likely scenario in your case, since you are in the US. You set up call forwarding from the device you want to forward from, setting the number to be forwarded to. I think this is the only way it would work with an idevice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for the reply! As far as TEXTING, how would that work in each scenario above? You can't forward texting can you?
My ideal scenario would be leaving my 'iPhone' at my house, while I wear this one around... so call forwarding could work for calls, but I think the big problem would be how to get texts on both devices (I do want to get real texts on my iPhone so I can use handoff with my mac/ipad/etc
Edit: btw great review and thanks for all the pics/info! Been looking everywhere for details of this thing.

---

MattAAron said:
Awesome, thanks for the reply! As far as TEXTING, how would that work in each scenario above? You can't forward texting can you?
My ideal scenario would be leaving my 'iPhone' at my house, while I wear this one around... so call forwarding could work for calls, but I think the big problem would be how to get texts on both devices (I do want to get real texts on my iPhone so I can use handoff with my mac/ipad/etc
Edit: btw great review and thanks for all the pics/info! Been looking everywhere for details of this thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey! I might have some great news, but I cannot find the darn article... I read that Apple was coming out with a watch that works for the iPhone! Not sure on any details for you but it might be what you're looking for. The problem is Apple doesn't usually work with Andriod, they're kinda two different things. Like it's weird, but the chargers don't even work...I've can tell you that cuz I've seen them. My cousin has an iPhone. I'm like you, I thought that Samsung would have made the Gear S to work with iphones too. We'll that stinks. Maybe one day Samsung will wise up and make their products work with Apple, iphones mac's ipads etc.

---

wow thanks so much for this review and i can see that indeed surfing on this thing looks great (for a watch and the images look crisp too)

---

BTW for anyone noticing, those are smudges from my sweaty fingers and not a scratched screen.

---

Thank you for your input op. So you think you could do an in depth video review of the watch? Because most of the ones on YouTube are on a non understandable language ?
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app

---

I've posted an update to the review, and found that the GPS quirk is still there....I don't know if this is default behaviour.

---

joytest said:
I've posted an update to the review, and found that the GPS quirk is still there....I don't know if this is default behaviour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does Bluetooth tether work? Can we use another browser besides Opera?

---

So for forwarding of calls to work, do you have to have your Note 4 on for this to work if your using 3g? I dont mind this as I always have my phone with me and then can just leave it in the car when I go running but was wondering what would happen if the main phone was turned off

---

rfs830 said:
So for forwarding of calls to work, do you have to have your Note 4 on for this to work if your using 3g? I dont mind this as I always have my phone with me and then can just leave it in the car when I go running but was wondering what would happen if the main phone was turned off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming that your sim card on Gear S has a different mobile number from your Note 4, you can just set the call forwarding in Note 4 with the telco. Please check charges with your telco before doing that though. I believe both mobile number will be charged.
This way, you can leave your Note 4 in the car while having your run. Just remember to disable the call forwarding on your Note 4 when you are back in the car.

---

I hope I dont have a diff number here in the US. I wanted to just make sure I use my one number. Dont want another number that I have to remember. I guess I will find out this friday when I go to get mine.

---

I hope there is clarity on the GPS. I find if the Note is in my pocket in busy crowded London, that the GPS signal drops off which defeats the idea of transferring the navigation to an external device like a watch. So the built-in GPS was a "YES" moment for me, but now you find out it isn't being used! I suspect that this may be because the Here software is still Beta....at least I hope so. However will we see a navigation app that runs on the watch completely independently? There is enough storage to do it, or even retrieve maps via data as needed.
What can you do without a companion phone other than make calls and text? I saw a screenshot of XDA website on the phone.....how was that achieved? Is there a Tizen web browser app?

---

jonstatt said:
I hope there is clarity on the GPS. I find if the Note is in my pocket in busy crowded London, that the GPS signal drops off which defeats the idea of transferring the navigation to an external device like a watch. So the built-in GPS was a "YES" moment for me, but now you find out it isn't being used! I suspect that this may be because the Here software is still Beta....at least I hope so. However will we see a navigation app that runs on the watch completely independently? There is enough storage to do it, or even retrieve maps via data as needed.
What can you do without a companion phone other than make calls and text? I saw a screenshot of XDA website on the phone.....how was that achieved? Is there a Tizen web browser app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera mini browser is available for the S - see here and here
Bit worried about the GPS too - I want to leave my phone at home and go out with just the watch. Bad news if the GPS doesn't function independently. Can't see why it wouldn't though?

---

Uniquebarbee said:
Does Bluetooth tether work? Can we use another browser besides Opera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bluetooth tether as in network tethering via the phone for mobile data? I think it does, but I have not tried it. I use a 3G SIM in the Gear S. There is another browser called GearWeb. At present there are only 2 browsers avaiable. However from a usability perspective, you'd only want to use it for emergency browsing at most.
jonstatt said:
I hope there is clarity on the GPS. I find if the Note is in my pocket in busy crowded London, that the GPS signal drops off which defeats the idea of transferring the navigation to an external device like a watch. So the built-in GPS was a "YES" moment for me, but now you find out it isn't being used! I suspect that this may be because the Here software is still Beta....at least I hope so. However will we see a navigation app that runs on the watch completely independently? There is enough storage to do it, or even retrieve maps via data as needed.
What can you do without a companion phone other than make calls and text? I saw a screenshot of XDA website on the phone.....how was that achieved? Is there a Tizen web browser app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bisto321 said:
Opera mini browser is available for the S - see here and here
Bit worried about the GPS too - I want to leave my phone at home and go out with just the watch. Bad news if the GPS doesn't function independently. Can't see why it wouldn't though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got confirmation from 2 other users on my home forum that the GPS does not work when it is not tethered to the phone via bluetooth.
This is a serious WTF Samsung....
See here
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=3392810&view=findpost&p=71238465
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=3392810&view=findpost&p=71239757
and here
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=3392810&view=findpost&p=71241325
It does not work either in Here or S-Health GPS Lock. I'll start a thread for this.

---

Yes my plan is to pay full price for the Gear S and pair it with my phone enable always on Bluetooth tethering and use the phone Internet to use on my Gear S I will forward my calls and text to my watch and Bluetooth over apps that I have to download onto my phone. Basically I do not intend to ever use the Gear S standalone Internet the data allowed per month is very little I would have overage fees. My Note 4 is "unlimited" everything

---

Can you please check if u can read pdf file from it please ? try it

---

Fatadxb said:
Can you please check if u can read pdf file from it please ? try it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What app would do that onTizen?

---

ronaldheld said:
What app would do that onTizen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe try to read an email that has PDF content. this page says you need a 3rd party app no API for Tizen for PDF yet
https://developer.tizen.org/forums/.../viewing-pdf-files-odt-files-tizen-native-app