Gear S: Top Gear

Samsung’s latest wearable is a phone on your wrist.

Samsung has been very active in the smartwatch segment — in a span of just over a year, it has released not one, not two, but six smartwatches. The latest is the Gear S and it’s the most unique and ambitious model by far.

The first thing you will notice about it is the size. The Gear S has a 2in screen, which is ­gigantic for a watch. This isn’t entirely ­unexpected, as it offers features that require a big screen but more on this later.

GIGANTIC: The watch is generously proportioned.

Just like the Gear Fit that Samsung released in early 2014, the Gear S makes use of a curved Super Amoled touchscreen that’s gorgeous.

It runs on Samsung’s ­proprietary Tizen operating system and is powered by a Snapdragon 400 chip and has 512MB RAM. It ­performed smoothly and ­rarely suffered from lag — this is ­expected, as its specs can rival some mid-range smartphones.

To be able to make full use of the Gear S it must be paired with a Samsung smartphone that ­supports the Gear Manager app. Gear Manager is required to install apps on the smartwatch, as well as for customising notifications and other settings.

Calling Dick Tracy

One of the most appealing ­features of the Gear S is its ability to work as a phone by itself, as it has its own Sim card slot.

It has a speakerphone that works well enough as long as the area you are in isn’t too noisy. The speaker can also be used to listen to music, although it’s best to pair the Gear S with a Bluetooth ­headset if you want to use it for making calls or listening to music.

HEALTH ORIENTED: The Gear S has a built-in pedometer for counting steps and you can set daily goals. — AFP

Notifications you receive on the smartphone can be displayed on the smartwatch so you don’t have to take your smartphone out of the pocket or bag. You can be selective, as you can use Gear Manager to choose the ­notifications you want to receive on the Gear S.

Another ­highlight of the Gear S is the virtual Qwerty keyboard which is probably why it needed a large 2in screen. As you would have guessed, it’s not very easy to type on the screen but the ability to swipe to type makes the task less of a chore.

By default you can only reply SMSes using the virtual ­keyboard. You will not be able to reply ­messages from WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and such without a third-party app.

We tried Notifications Wear Style for Gear S by Francisco Jose Salazar and it worked fine with almost all the popular services.

USEFUL: You can reply to text messages using the virtual keyboard.

One of the more interesting apps that can be downloaded for the Gear S is the Opera Mini web browser. A 2in screen isn’t really ideal for web browsing, but it’s good enough for making quick checks.

We noticed that the selection of apps on Samsung’s own store has grown considerably from the time we reviewed the first Galaxy Gear. It still isn’t as impressive as the Google Play Store but the current crop of apps should be adequate for most users.

Samsung has made good use of the built-in GPS chip by including Nokia’s Here maps for navigation straight from your wrist.

Keep fit

Smartwatch makers place extra emphasis on fitness tracking and it’s the case with the Gear S. It has a built-in pedometer for counting steps and you can set daily goals.

It also has an ultraviolet sensor to measure the intensity of UV rays before, say, you go out for a jog, and a heart rate monitor.

You can keep track of all your workout information by syncing the smartwatch with Samsung’s S Health app which even monitors the amount of sleep you get at night.

For those who don’t want to be tied down to Samsung’s app, there are many more fitness and health apps that work with the Gear S.

DOUBLE DUTY: The charging cradle, which attaches to the back of the smartwatch, can also function as a power bank.

A smartwatch is only as useful as its battery life and ­unfortunately, like most ­smartwatches, the Gear S needs charging quite frequently.

When used as a companion device to the smartphone, the Gear S required charging once every two days. But once mobile data was enabled, the ­smartwatch could only stay alive till the end of the day but this is hardly ­surprising as 3G sucks battery.

To charge the Gear S you will have to use the cradle that comes bundled with the smartwatch. The cradle is quite cool because it can hold 350mAh of charge, so it can be used as a power bank to charge the smartwatch while on the go.

Conclusion

The Gear S is as ambitious as it gets for a smartwatch, at least for now. It offers many features that no one would have imagined, such as the ability to put in a Sim card to make calls and a full Qwerty keyboard for replying messages.

It’s especially handy when you want to make short trips without having to carry your smartphone, as it can function independently.

At RM1,099 it’s one of the more expensive models but it has the features to justify the price. This also brings us to our next point — to make it feature-packed, Samsung had to make the smartwatch a little bigger than most models on the market and it may not fit nicely on smaller wrists.

If you have a big budget and wrist then this is a smartwatch worth checking out.

Pros: Answer calls and reply messages directly from the smartwatch; feature-packed; charging cradle doubles up as power bank.

Cons: May be too big for some; a tad pricey.

Gear S (Samsung) Smartwatch Processor: 1GHz dual-core Display: 2in Super Amoled touchscreen (360 x 480 pixels) Memory: 4GB Network: GSM/HSPA Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.1; WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Features: GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, UV sensor, barometer, compass Battery: 300mAh Size: 58.1 x 39.9 x 12.5mm Weight: 67g Price: RM1,099 Rating: 3.5 stars Review unit courtesy of Samsung Malaysia Electronics, 1-800-88-9999