Samsung's product strategy has always been to "spread the net and catch fish". In the past year, Samsung has launched a total of six smart watches, each of which has a distinct personality. The newly launched Gear S is the most ambitious of Samsung's smart watches, because it can even be used as an independent mobile phone, Samsung also confidently offered a price of $350.
Before starting the evaluation, the translator still wants to say a few words. In view of the domestic shielding of Google, the Android Wear platform is temporarily unable to enter China through official channels, and many functions are also restricted after entering China. Perhaps Samsung is aware of this, so Gear S abandoned the Android Wear platform and used Samsung's own Tizen OS, On the one hand, it gives Gear S more functions, on the other hand, it can also sell this watch in China without any problems. The translator personally agrees with Samsung's approach.
Appearance and hardware:
The Gear S is not so much a watch as a smart phone worn on the hand. This is not only because the Gear S has similar functions to mobile phones, but also because the Gear S looks like a mobile phone. Nowadays, the design of smart watches varies from one company to another. There are several cool products such as MOTO 360 and LG G WATCH R, but Gear S is really different.
The dial of the Gear S is a 2-inch curved AMOLED screen, which is surrounded by a metal frame. It looks like Doraemon took a small light to shine on the Galaxy S5, and then was bent by the fat tiger. Then Jingxiang made a silicone strap.
As a result, the appearance of the Gear S looks very sci-fi. However, when I really put this big head on my wrist, the combination of glass, metal and silica gel does not make the Gear S look like a favorite of the upper class society, but more like a toy of geeks, and the screen frame is also relatively wide, making the screen of the Gear S look larger than its actual screen size.
The Gear S is still comfortable to wear, although due to the size of the screen, The Gear S is heavier than many smart watches, but the curved surface perfectly connected with the watchband enables the Gear S to fit most people's wrists. My only complaint about the watchband is that it does not use a standard size watchband. Although the Gear S can replace the watchband (Samsung currently provides it with black, white, red and blue watchbands), However, the inability to use a standard watchband always limits the user's personalized needs.
However, Gear S naturally has something better than other smart watches, and this is the size of the screen. On many smart watches, I complained that the screen is too small to check information, but with its large screen (at least for a watch), Gear S is very comfortable, whether sliding menus or selecting options, sometimes with a long notice, You only need to take a glance, and you don't need to slide to view the full text of the notice.
This screen turns off most of the time and lights up automatically when there is a notice. In addition, the Gear S also has various sensors that light up automatically when the user raises his wrist to look at the time. The built-in light sensor also adjusts the screen brightness according to the ambient brightness to facilitate user use, After no operation for a while, the Gear S will automatically turn to sleep - just like a mobile phone.
In terms of screen specifications, the Gear S uses a 48 The 0 × 360 AMOLED screen, with 300 ppi, is clear and easy to read when displaying text, and the color is bright and bright, but the saturation is not as high as that of the screen above S5. The black performance is really very black. When using the black background dial, the screen and the frame are completely integrated, which feels cool. As for visibility in the sun, it is also good.
At the bottom of the screen, there is a small HOME button, light sensor and ultraviolet sensor. Turning the watch body over, you can see the heart rate sensor and charging contact. The Gear S for our evaluation was sold by Sprint, so there is no SIM card slot provided. It is a number writing machine. If there is a card slot model, the card slot will be located above the heart rate sensor.
By default, double clicking the HOME button will open S Voice, and long pressing will open the shortcut menu, which contains the power off, restart, mute, Wi Fi and flight mode switches.
There is a portable charging dock in the package of the Gear S. Charging with this dock is the only way to charge the Gear S. The dock has a standard Micro USB interface. If you go out for a few days and do not go home, you must take this dock with you. Samsung has built a 350 mAh battery into the dock to prevent it from looking stupid, When the built-in 300 mA battery of the watch is out of power, it can be charged without connecting to the power supply.
The main things inside the Gear S are as follows: a 1GHz dual core processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, Bluetooth, Wi Fi, GPS and 3G baseband.
Software:
As mentioned before, Gear S runs the Linux based Tizen system, which is currently owned by Samsung and has been launched in Gear It has appeared on Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, and the operation is naturally very simple. Swipe right on the dial to view notifications, swipe left to view widgets (up to 5 widgets can be set), swipe down to open quick settings (including volume and screen brightness), swipe up to open the application drawer, and swipe down to exit when running an application.
Gear S has pre installed some APPs when it leaves the factory, such as Samsung's S Health, music player, and two APPs used to display the latest news headlines and weather forecasts, but the most noticeable one is the phone and SMS icon.
In the phone APP, you can directly search the recent call records by using the number keys. As for short messages, you can use S Voice for voice input. The accuracy of voice input is quite good. It can even insert punctuation marks according to the user's needs, or convert the full text of short messages into capital letters and other commands.
For those users who don't want to talk to themselves in front of the watch, Gear S also provides a virtual keyboard, which can input text on all sides. When the keyboard pops up, most of the screen space is occupied by the keyboard, leaving only a little space on the top to display the text that has been entered. The input method is to poke the buttons with your fingers, You can also enter hello by scribing (for example, if you want to enter hello, put your finger on the H position, slide it to E, then to L, and then to O, and the input method will automatically recognize the word hello).
Text input on Gear S is not as difficult as expected. The powerful error correction function makes input accurate in most cases. However, this type of input is best used for short text message replies. After all, when the keyboard pops up, it is a very troublesome thing to look back at the entered content. I prefer to use voice input.
If you want to install an APP for Gear S, you must pair Gear S with a Samsung smart phone, and download and install the Gear Management APP on the phone for operation. This APP can add or delete apps on Gear S, customize dials and wallpapers, synchronize media files to Gear S, or retrieve fitness data from Gear S.
Actual use experience:
Seeing this, many people should complain: I bought a smart watch that can be used as a mobile phone just to get away from the smart phone, but I still need a mobile phone to manage this smart watch. What's wrong?
To tell the truth, I also want to complain about this, because it is not only the need to use Samsung smart phones to manage Gear S, but even when Gear S is powered on, the watch will also require matching with Samsung mobile phones to complete startup, otherwise the watch will only provide emergency call function, which for me completely subverts the biggest selling point of Gear S itself. Since it is so troublesome, Why do I spend a lot of money to buy a smart watch of an individual brand or even a smart phone of another brand.
After the watch is turned on normally, the user can really throw down the smart phone and wear the watch to go free. As mentioned above, the Gear S on my hand has its own phone number and data package. If people dial the watch number, the watch will judge first. If the smart phone is connected, Then the watch will automatically transfer calls to the smart phone, which sounds strange, but it can also be set on the phone to transfer all calls received by the phone to the watch for processing. Thanks to the mobile network, it does not need to consider whether the Bluetooth connection exists.
As for the feeling of using the Gear S to answer and make calls, just like in the movie, just hold your watch to your ear and make normal calls. The quality of the Gear S call is quite good, just like using an ordinary mobile phone to make calls, and I don't need to keep my watch close to my mouth to ensure that the people I talk to can hear my voice clearly, If it doesn't work, you can still pair the Gear S with a pair of Bluetooth headsets.
As for the communication contract package of Gear S, Verizon and T-Mobile's plan for charging additional packages for Gear S is to charge an extra $5 a month on the existing contract, while AT&T will charge an extra $10. If you buy Gear S in Sprint like me, you need to check the current data traffic volume of the package first. If it is above 20GB, the number of Gear S does not need any additional fees before December 2015.
In terms of fitness function, Gear S provides pedometer, motion tracking function, heart rate detection function, sleep monitoring function and UV detection function. When everything works normally, it is still very useful and accurate. But sometimes the fitness app will be suspended, especially the heart rate function. At this time, I have to restart Gear S to restore it to normal.
In terms of APP, the source of Gear S's APP is only Samsung's Gear Store, and there is no Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, etc. in these APPs for the time being. Although you can receive notifications when you connect to your mobile phone, it's OK to use Gear S to tweet something.
There are still practical APPs, such as calculators, very user-friendly navigation APPs (a little like the watch version of Nokia's Here) and Opera Mini web browser. Although it sounds silly to use Gear S to surf the Internet, it is still very practical to read a news flash on the way to work.
In terms of battery life, Gear S can persist for nearly two days under the intensity of use as an ordinary smart watch. If it is frequently used to answer and make calls or navigate, it can persist for one and a half days. Under extremely heavy use (email viewing, web browsing, using fitness apps and navigation), it can persist for one day. Gear S also has its own power saving mode, Only the viewing time and call function are reserved after opening.
Summary:
In the smart watch camp, Gear S is indeed a heresy with little significance. It is indeed a very attractive feature to be able to use independently from smart phones to a certain extent. However, every time you turn on the phone, you need to pair with the phone to liberate all functions. To be honest, it is very painful, and I am also unhappy that it can only be managed through mobile phones. At present, APP is also relatively scarce, There are many system BUGs, but the biggest problem is the price. The price of 350 dollars is too expensive for a smart watch with many obvious shortcomings.
advantage:
Can be used as a mobile phone;
The AMOLED screen has bright colors;
Ideal endurance performance;
The charging base can also be used as a mobile power supply.
Disadvantages:
After all, mobile phones are indispensable;
The number of APPs is limited;
The body size is too large to be compatible with the standard watch strap;
expensive.
Via
