With the mobile market saturated with handheld devices, Samsung makes an effort to take mobile from your hand to your wrist. Enter the Samsung Gear, part watch, part smartphone that keeps you connected to your phone. The idea is not new, or even exclusive to Samsung, but it is the next step in wearable technology. This will enable users to access their smartphones services and apps without removing it from their pocket.
The Good:
The Gear is powered by an 800MHz processor running Android OS. Paired with an impressive 1.63 inch AMOLED display (320×320), a 1.9 Megapixel camera , an accelerometer and a gyroscope, it packs a lot of punch in such a small form factor. While on your wrist, the Gear allows for checking SMS messages, reading tweets, checking incoming phone calls, note taking via speech to text, and even receive alerts from Wi-Fi enabled devices.
The Bad:
The $300 price tag is a bit steep for a device that requires another device to operate. Currently the Gear is only compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The camera makes a shutter sound when taking a photo that cannot be disabled, and it’s only 1.9 Megapixels!
The Conclusion:
With the newest products in any industry, being the lead innovator can come with its drawbacks and the Gear certainly has some of those. With proper user feedback and quality-focused product testing, I expect that Samsung with only further the development and capability of the wearable watch phone and we will see more of these on a daily basis.