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gear s2 worth it?

Hi,
I'm tempted to get a gear s2, initially I liked the moto 360 and even the LG Urbane was quite tempting, but the gear s2 is just the perfect smart watch design with the rotating bezel. My only concern is lack of apps at the moment. Sadly I can't seem to access the gear s2 app store without owning an S2 so I can't look at apps available. Also a shame google now isn't part of it despite it running tizen, is S-voice any good on the S2?
For those who own the S2, what apps are available at the moment and are apps like facebook, gmail etc available or at least a good alternative so that you can look at newsfeed or something? Also do you feel like apps are being developed quite quickly or do you reckon developers wouldn't bother with the gear s2?

Best reason to have this watch is its look, especially Classic variant with its interchangeable bands. Rotating bezel is also a great feature which makes this watch unique.
Battery is much good comapred to its rivals, you can be sure it will last full day with very high usage. I charge my watch once per 2 days. appstore is poor for now though.
Some find this watch small, but it`s matter of taste.
For those who own the S2, what apps are available at the moment and are apps like facebook, gmail etc available or at least a good alternative so that you can look at newsfeed or something? Also do you feel like apps are being developed quite quickly or do you reckon developers wouldn't bother with the gear s2?
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Development pace is not as quick as I`d wish for now. You have few apps for news like CNN, Flipboard News Briefing and Bloomberg.
No social apps and to be honest, I don`t need them on my watch. You can always get notification form Facabook, Twitter, Gmail, etc.

Would you recommend this watch over an android wear watch?

I have had the pebble, lg g watch, and moto 360 but i enjoy my gear s2 the best

I tried the S2 Classic, Moto 360 2nd Gen, LG Urbane and the Huawei Watch and the Huawei is BY FAR My Favorite Watch...

I still prefer the Gear 2.
Samsung do the basics well but S Voice is useless. App wise Samsung are much the same bet I think these watches are just for key notifications not dozens of clumsy apps.

I have Moto 360, Huawei Watch and just ordered Gear S2 (dont tell the wife!) I love the Huawei Watch but the rotating bezel is the killer function for me.
Sent from my SM-N9208 using Tapatalk

Yeah the Huawei watch looks nice, only thing bad about it is the way it charges, moto360 and gear s2 is how a smart watch should be charged. But agreed the gear s2's rotating bezel is the best smart watch control shame it doesn't run android wear like a custom version of it so it works well with the bezel. Just hope app developers see the potential in the gear s2 over the previous gear watch as compared with android wear watches and the apple watch, I'm not sure developers are going to see any point in spending time and money developing for a watch that isn't going to sell. So I'm hoping the rotating bezel is enough to get people to buy it and get developers wanting to develop apps for it.

I bought a Huawei watch at the same time I got my Gear S2 Classic, and I returned the Huawei a few days later. My feelings are much the same as they were a year and a half ago when I was choosing between the original Pebble and the LG G Watch: while Android Wear might have more developer support and therefore more apps, it is a horrible OS. Google has put all its faith into a combination of voice control and automated content; most of the time you're relying on what Google Now decides you want to see, rather than what you actually want to see, and getting anything else without using voice control means hunting through a menu system that is downright irritating - an impression that's made worse by the swiping every whichway on notifications, which often doesn't work how you'd expect. Tizen doesn't have a lot of developer support yet and if you don't have a Samsung phone it's even worse since you can't get paid apps at this point, but it is a much better OS, hands-down. And really, what is a smartwatch for? Do you need to be able to browse eBay and swipe people on Tinder from a tiny screen on your wrist? I don't. I want a smartwatch to eliminate all the times in a day I would otherwise pull my phone out of my pocket for ten seconds or less, and that means showing me notifications, letting me send quick responses, displaying my calendar and the weather, and maybe other useful watch tools like timer/stopwatch. The Gear S2 does all that perfectly well, with a better OS and better hardware than any Android Wear device. With all the coverage this watch is getting apps may come in larger numbers, but if they don't, I'm happy.

To each his own, I love Android Wear. For me the Rotating Bezel is cool and all, but APP support is the HUGE issue. I think by the time Developers make APPS the S2 Classic will be obsolete. I have both and the one thing I notice is that the display (to me) is a lot clearer and I love the fact that you can change watch faces. I'm keeping the S2 Classic to see what the future has in store for it. For now the Huawei Watch is my Daily Driver.

So far I'm thinking no its not. Hardly any apps mostly just watch faces. My battery makes it half a day and I think that's because it's always lighting up even when I'm not looking at it. No social apps. Ebay only works if connected by bluetooth so no notifications on an item ending soon if your away from your phone. I just don't see it as a stand alone device if I can't text or use apps without my phone nearby. O and there is no browser at all which is weird seeing as how it has 3g connection.

I moved from a 360 to the S2 because sometimes I don't want voice commands. No regrets. I love the build quality, bezel and how Samsung decided to manage access, notifications to the left and apps the the right then widgets more to the right. It does most of the things I want on my wrist and a great job of passing off to my phone. I would like a search and loyalty card app. More important than tizen apps is getting continuing to improve the Gear app so it hooks in better with non Samsung watches and iPhones.
Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

Gear S2 Compatability with Google Maps/Voice

Hey all, after having my 1st gen moto 360 die on me (because of water damage of all things...) I'm in the market for a new smartwatch. I'm looking at the new moto 360 or the huawei watch, but the moto 360 doesn't have the parts I want on UK moto maker yet, and the huawei watch is a little out of my budget at the minute (around £300 for the huawei watch on offer).
I know the gear S2 doesn't have google now/google voice search or google maps support, but I've been hearing loads of conflicting things about it so I thought I'd put the question to you guys to settle this once and for all.
I have an HTC One (M8) and one of the things I used my 360 for the most was saying "navigate to [x]" while I'm driving, having google work out where I mean by that (it has home and work stored in it, and I found out the other day that if I give it the name of a place then it will find it on google maps for me) and bringing up maps on my phone. If I get the gear S2 will I still be able to do this? I've seen some people say that speaking into s voice brings up google search on any non-samsung device, which would be perfect for me, but do any gear S2 owners know whether or not this is 100% the case before I buy? It'll be kind of a dealbreaker if I can't do this, but I really want one because tizen actually looks like a really slick and smooth experience on the watch.
Just fyi, also looking at the sony smartwatch 3 or the LG watch urbane (both of which I don't really like the look of) so if you have any comments or recommendations I'd be happy to take them

Smartwatch Compatibility

Hello, So I'm currently wanna buy a smartwatch, I'm think about buying the Samsung Gear Fit 2, but I heard the the Gear fit 2 is REALLY picky and won't compatible/connect with MXP, is it true? If it is then I'm open to suggestions from you guys, which smartwatch/smartband I should buy?
Thank you.

HerySean said:
Hello, So I'm currently wanna buy a smartwatch, I'm think about buying the Samsung Gear Fit 2, but I heard the the Gear fit 2 is REALLY picky and won't compatible/connect with MXP, is it true? If it is then I'm open to suggestions from you guys, which smartwatch/smartband I should buy?
Thank you.
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The moto 360 works well, expected I guess since it's motorola. If I was gonna buy a new smart watch I'd buy the Polar m600. Full GPS capabilities for running and I could use it with my gym app (progression). Though honestly, that's the only place I wear my moto 360. Not sure about the Samsung gear, hopefully someone else has tried it.

scottdanpor said:
The moto 360 works well, expected I guess since it's motorola. If I was gonna buy a new smart watch I'd buy the Polar m600. Full GPS capabilities for running and I could use it with my gym app (progression). Though honestly, that's the only place I wear my moto 360. Not sure about the Samsung gear, hopefully someone else has tried it.
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actually I was planning to get the Ticwatch 2, but thanks for the suggestion

HerySean said:
actually I was planning to get the Ticwatch 2, but thanks for the suggestion
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Looks like a neat watch, just be aware that it probably works over bluetooth, but it's not an Android wear watch, if that matters to you. I'll check some youtube reviews.

scottdanpor said:
Looks like a neat watch, just be aware that it probably works over bluetooth, but it's not an Android wear watch, if that matters to you. I'll check some youtube reviews.
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yeah well it's the best smartwatch that I can buy and it can actually do what I asked for , i'm not picky, lol

I myself have a pebble time round, really happy with it. Problem is that it's hard to get one since Fitbit bought the company 2 weeks ago and stopped production.

Hi, I use Asus Zenwatch2 and works well with MXP. Except for lack of GPS, my watch runs all I need: calls, SMS, WhatsApp, Maps, fitness, weather, sleep tracker, Google Play and so on!
I really like this Zenwatch2(WI501Q) with latest Android wear version.

This is possibly a dumb question, but do all of these smart watches connect via BT? I'd like one but BT really kills my battery to the point where I need to charge before the end of the day.
Cheers

RozzaMan said:
This is possibly a dumb question, but do all of these smart watches connect via BT? I'd like one but BT really kills my battery to the point where I need to charge before the end of the day.
Cheers
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Yes they connect via BT and unfortunately mxp only has a 4.0 BT.
4.1 and later versions have better power management. perhaps you could use apps like automate/tasker/macrodroid to only enable BT when you need and switch it off automatically when you don't.

Questions from a android wear user

So I am a first gen moto 360 user till this day. Unfortunately the battery, fragile band and overall watch is seeming to show its age to me finally. I am currently using a nexus 6p and have no intention of jumping over to a samsung device as I dont quite enjoy touchwiz or the update cycles outside of direct google devices. While shopping around for options I keep finding myself drawn to this watch which doesnt seem out of the ordinary since they are pretty difficult to come by outside of ebay here in the states at the moment. I do have some questions since I do use a few of what I consider the basics of the google ecosystem daily and the samsung reps at the few bestbuys I visited were less than helpful in solving my problems (surprising I know).
- I am a big google now user with my moto 360 and phone, I know s voice doesnt come close but how does it react with commands like "what time is **** open until" or "call **** on 123 main street". Specifics like that are what I love. Or simply the reminder feature based on location and not simply time.
- I am also worried about how it will handle or if it can even handle the notifications and controls for my google music or google messenger since from what I gather anything outside of samsung apps can be a bit spotty.
- I just read in another thread that google maps does exist on the samsung app store so if thats true would it sync up with my phone navigation or work independently (I dont plan to get the lte model or if I do, I dont plan on using it stand alone since I am on verizon).
I find myself at a crossroad since I really enjoy the idea of samsung pay on my watch since that is one of if not the main feature I am jealous of the samsung devices for, but to give up all the other android wear features I seem to live with seems like more cons than pros at this time. I dont seem too thrilled with any of the other android wear watches and with their future looking grim I fear the pickings are becoming more and more slim as time progress'.

My first smart watch was the original Moto 360 as well. Like you, I was hesitant to move to a Tizen based smart watch. After owning the Fro tier for almost a month now, I can say this watch is a significant upgrade over the Moto 360, and the Tizen operating system has several advantages over Android Wear.
1. Battery life is significantly better. I can get two days with AOD on, and 3-4 days with AOD off.
2. Samsung Pay alone is worth the upgrade.
3. The UI and rotating bezel are superior to Android Wear.
Cons:
1. S Voice isn't as good as Google Now. I am not able to to the things you like to do with Google Now. To be honest, I didn't use Google Now as much as you do. While I may not be able to find out when a particular place closes, it is adequate enough to send a text or call someone using my voice. As a side note, I changed my command to respond to "Hey Google." I wanted to make it different than my phone, so I wouldn't trigger both.
2. Boy, I can't think of anything else. Just get the Gear S3. You won't regret it.

ttown said:
My first smart watch was the original Moto 360 as well. Like you, I was hesitant to move to a Tizen based smart watch. After owning the Fro tier for almost a month now, I can say this watch is a significant upgrade over the Moto 360, and the Tizen operating system has several advantages over Android Wear.
1. Battery life is significantly better. I can get two days with AOD on, and 3-4 days with AOD off.
2. Samsung Pay alone is worth the upgrade.
3. The UI and rotating bezel are superior to Android Wear.
Cons:
1. S Voice isn't as good as Google Now. I am not able to to the things you like to do with Google Now. To be honest, I didn't use Google Now as much as you do. While I may not be able to find out when a particular place closes, it is adequate enough to send a text or call someone using my voice. As a side note, I changed my command to respond to "Hey Google." I wanted to make it different than my phone, so I wouldn't trigger both.
2. Boy, I can't think of anything else. Just get the Gear S3. You won't regret it.
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Appreciate the input. How about the maps navigation connection? Also I see they are just now getting Spotify to work but it seems more stand alone. Know if other apps like Google play music work well enough with controls?

NyPlaya513 said:
Appreciate the input. How about the maps navigation connection? Also I see they are just now getting Spotify to work but it seems more stand alone. Know if other apps like Google play music work well enough with controls?
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Google maps doesn't work (at least not right out of the box), but there is an app you can download. I thought I would miss this since I use my phone for navigation, but I haven't missed it one bit. Now that Android Auto works on the phone, I have been using that. I think I used the Motorola 360 for navigation while I was walking twice in two years.
I haven't tried Spotify because I use Google Play Music. The controls for GPM work the same they do on the Moto 360. The music is played through the phone, not the watch just like in the Moto 360.
One more thing that was a concern for me before buying. I use Verizon Messages+ instead of the Samsung Messages app and was concerned I wouldn't be able to reply to messages. I am able to reply and create texts from the watch using Verizon Meaages+ without an issue. I created a thread walking you through how to make this work. It is very easy.

Alright well you talked me into it. Luckily today Best Buy got both models back in stock. I ordered the classic to be here on Friday and although I like the grip on the bezel for the Frontier Model better, I do like the stylish and more professional look in my opinion of the classic Model. Luckily if I don't like the classic after a few days I am a silver member and can simply swap with the frontier LOL.

Coming from a Moto360 1st gen too.
Owning a Nexus 6p too!
Heavy Google Now user too!!!!
So I guess we share something.
I was also hesitant but finally decided to buy it. So now I own a Gear S3 Frontier.
1- S Voice? Almost useless. I am so disappointed about this. My only hope is that software related issues eventually get a solution.
2- Notifications and control handling is superb. Not only for Spotify (recently added to Tizen market) but Google Play music or whatever you may be streaming to your Chromecast.
3- Maps? I still don't see the point using a map on the wrist. Never used it on my Moto360 (probably due to the overwhelming battery drain issue).
That's what I can tell after a month.
Sorry if I am late and I hope you find my comments useful.

flasflus said:
Maps? I still don't see the point using a map on the wrist.
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As wrist based GPS for pedestrian use is very useful for directions when waking around on foot. It's better than walking around holding your cellphone out in front of your face in order to refer to directions.

Best Smartwatch?

I'm looking into entering the smartwatch game but I want something fantastic if I'm throwing that much money on something that ultimately tells time. Basically does anyone know of a watch that
-has Android Wear 2.0
-heart rate monitor
-fitness tracking capabilities
-can make phone calls with internal watch speaker
Much appreciated! :good:

Although it currently doesn't have 2.0 (slated for release this month) I am using the Huawei Watch and am pretty satisfied with it. Heart rate monitor, fitness tracking are available, which I seldom use, so I can't comment completely, but I have used the watch for calls. Works, but when it is windy people think I'm driving as there is a "hollow" sound.
My absolute biggest issue is not with the watch, but with the phone itself. For some reason, it always defaults to the watch answering calls, regardless of how I answer. This is an anomaly from my research, as my phone has issues connecting to the Sync system in my car.
If you do sports, go for the Huawei Watch 2.

If you wanted something pretty cheap to get your feet wet, the original Huawei watch has treated me pretty well. It has an internal speaker, heart rate monitor, and has the ability to update to Android Wear 2.0. The fitness tracking is a bit lacking, but the watch itself is pretty solid and I've enjoyed using it over the past year that I've had it.
It is kind of older at this point, but like I said it's going to be a cheap way (relative to buying a new watch) to get into the Android Wear space and see what you like/don't like.

I've had the Huawei Watch and it's very cool with good XDA development! Check it's XDA section for lots of information....

Not Android but I have the gear s3 frontier and love it, Samsung pay is great on it.

Sold my Huawei watch. Now looking for a square high-tech android smartwatch! But hard to find any recent 2017 releases....

I just ordered the Huawei watch, I have a gear S2 but just fancy trying android wear 2.0, if I like it i will sell my gear S2

Raphael17 said:
I'm looking into entering the smartwatch game but I want something fantastic if I'm throwing that much money on something that ultimately tells time. Basically does anyone know of a watch that
-has Android Wear 2.0
-heart rate monitor
-fitness tracking capabilities
-can make phone calls with internal watch speaker
Much appreciated! :good:
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LG Urbane 2 or Lg Watch Sport.
Can't say anything bad about my Urbane 2. The Sport is a newer version.
Both also are unlocked and have their own LTE Modem.
I have a TruPhone SIM in mine to make calls if I forget my phone at home.

I have the Ticwatch 1. Works very well without android wear. All google notifications come through. For a $100 you can't beat it. I looks just like the huawei watch. I get about 15 hours of battery life ot of it. It has android 5.1.1 installed without play services. Thats the only downfall. Better than my gear fit.