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What features does the SW2 have ?

I'm going to be using it for my nexus 5 and I'm just trying to look for a detailed list of what it can do ? I don't want to buy it for the fun to wear out later.
I tried searching on Google and watched some reviews but I wasnt too satisfied.
I was just wondering about music controls, text reply, writing new texts, calls, Facebook and apps like XDA and CNET and engadget.
Also does it lag frequently ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Functionalities are countless
You can do lots of things since there are lots of apps avalaible.
Of course, you can see notifications from twitter and Facebook, you can like/favorite, share/retweet and watch the live. You can't write tweets, comments, upgrade your status. With the official app, you can see your text messages, answer with predefined messages or smileys. With a special app like SMS writer (if I recall correctly) you are able to write text messages (ABC AÀÁ 123 keyboard) and send it to any contact you have... and for telephone, well, you are just able to dial a number and that's it (but I've read "call handling" app enables you to activate the speaker and some other functions)
You can control your music with both official and 3rd party apps but that remains simple commands : volume up and down, play pause, skip, next, you won't browse from an album to another one.
I've never heard anything about xda and cnet apps but if you just wanna keep on eye on the news, there's a an app that collects your RSS feeds, basic, simple.
I've only had lags in SMS writer app, but anyway, you can reboot the device simply by pushing the power button for 10 seconds and it will reconnect automatically to your phone via Bluetooth. That being said, sometimes, Bluetooth connection is slow and you can't open apps that have to be connected to your phone (some apps really need connection otherwise it just won't open).
Also, keep in mind that you are not buying a real "Smartwatch". Personally, I think a Smartwatch shouldn't need Bluetooth connection to your phone. Actually, you are buying a watch with some special features, a watch "+++" if you see what I mean. And at that cost, 130$ for a watch that can do more than any other watches, it's a bargain...
I do have my Smartwatch 2 on my wrist, if you need any further information, I'm here!

You won't have Facebook app, xda app, etc. That's not what its for. You get notifications on it, that's basically it. If you're creative with tasker or widgets (with remote widget) you can use the watch to control a few things, but its not a good input device (yet?). Anything you want to read on the watch needs to be packaged up and sent via notification from the phone.

a
hmm god

Lucky_Slevin said:
I'm going to be using it for my nexus 5 and I'm just trying to look for a detailed list of what it can do ? I don't want to buy it for the fun to wear out later.
I tried searching on Google and watched some reviews but I wasnt too satisfied.
I was just wondering about music controls, text reply, writing new texts, calls, Facebook and apps like XDA and CNET and engadget.
Also does it lag frequently ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check my Thread here which has the answers to all your questions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2743194
The lag of the original firmware has gotten a lot better with the latest firmware. There's still some on certain apps, but overall it's not much of an issue.

Regarding the lag, I've heard there are hardly any issues apart from the occasional app. It's much better than the previous and you'll experience hardly any lag compared to the SW1. This is what I've heard, but the information came from trustworthy sources so you can trust what has been said.

What would you like to see on the Gear 2?

Not sure if theres already a thread (dont think there is but I havent searched far)
Things I would like to see are:
Official Social Media Apps - Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter integration etc.
S Voice Improvement - Feel like it lacks a whopping amount, I literally feel like the only thing I can ask it to do is Call / Message someone or Open an app or request the weather (Which is on my homescreen anyway). Things that surprised me is that it can't play a song on the device on request, or open an application on the phone on request etc. I feel like it should run its responses through the official S Voice app on the phone if the request isn't a direct Gear command.
Lock security on wrist - Phone lock security on the wrist, I understand there is already the "Autolock" but some nice security features would possibly be a pin unlock that shows up on watch (or on phone if not connected) or a pattern unlock, gives more security options. Or even when clicking the option in notifications to "Open on phone" that it bypasses the lockscreen.
Remote Phone Viewer - Somewhat like teamviewer but where you can actually view your phones screen, scroll around and interact from your wrist, might be slow and tedious but would be a fun feature and extend its capabilities into the phone itself.
Unified Remote application for PC control - I always find Unified remote a good application for remote access to PC's it would be nice to see them develop an application for the wrist!
Android Wear Application integration, allowing tizen to run android wear apps, I feel if Samsung don't allow this, or don't speed up the process of passing applications their smart watches will be outran by watches such as the Moto 360.
Think thats all my ideas so far, would love to hear yours!

I would like to see an application like Shazam.

LiamS said:
Not sure if theres already a thread (dont think there is but I havent searched far)
Things I would like to see are:
Official Social Media Apps - Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter integration etc.
S Voice Improvement - Feel like it lacks a whopping amount, I literally feel like the only thing I can ask it to do is Call / Message someone or Open an app or request the weather (Which is on my homescreen anyway). Things that surprised me is that it can't play a song on the device on request, or open an application on the phone on request etc. I feel like it should run its responses through the official S Voice app on the phone if the request isn't a direct Gear command.
Lock security on wrist - Phone lock security on the wrist, I understand there is already the "Autolock" but some nice security features would possibly be a pin unlock that shows up on watch (or on phone if not connected) or a pattern unlock, gives more security options. Or even when clicking the option in notifications to "Open on phone" that it bypasses the lockscreen.
Remote Phone Viewer - Somewhat like teamviewer but where you can actually view your phones screen, scroll around and interact from your wrist, might be slow and tedious but would be a fun feature and extend its capabilities into the phone itself.
Unified Remote application for PC control - I always find Unified remote a good application for remote access to PC's it would be nice to see them develop an application for the wrist!
Android Wear Application integration, allowing tizen to run android wear apps, I feel if Samsung don't allow this, or don't speed up the process of passing applications their smart watches will be outran by watches such as the Moto 360.
Think thats all my ideas so far, would love to hear yours!
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Click to collapse
I want Google now and a MUCH better texting program. I want to be able to receive the test and reply to it in one step.

TelloMan said:
I want Google now and a MUCH better texting program. I want to be able to receive the test and reply to it in one step.
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Click to collapse
Flesky Messengers lets you do the 2nd bit?

LiamS said:
Flesky Messengers lets you do the 2nd bit?
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Click to collapse
Yes, but you need to exit whichever notification you are in and go into Flesky. IMO, Flesky is slow, even with the latest update. Takes a few seconds to open and doesn't automatically refresh your feed. Very annoying that something better hasn't come out from Tizen yet. :crying:

twoesse said:
I would like to see an application like Shazam.
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Click to collapse
Theres an app called Gearam Music ID which works like shazam ive tested it and its pretty good!
TelloMan said:
Yes, but you need to exit whichever notification you are in and go into Flesky. IMO, Flesky is slow, even with the latest update. Takes a few seconds to open and doesn't automatically refresh your feed. Very annoying that something better hasn't come out from Tizen yet. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I definitely agree with that, what annoys me about default notification app is that it takes up a huge bit of scroll space repeatedly telling you that the button below opens on the phone even though the button itself says that. Should use that space to have an "Open in watch messenger" to reply!

General keyboard
More and more apps let you type in stuff. But every app has his own made keyboard.
So a keyboard implementation general for all apps!!
Then developers can make the perfect keyboard which you can choose.

LiamS said:
Theres an app called Gearam Music ID which works like shazam ive tested it and its pretty good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank's. I will try it.
Sorry for my bad english, i'm french.

gdanonym said:
General keyboard
More and more apps let you type in stuff. But every app has his own made keyboard.
So a keyboard implementation general for all apps!!
Then developers can make the perfect keyboard which you can choose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely agree, I don't mind typing on my watch it is manageable!
and we all know we're going to be doing it discreetly (while at work) so I could just carry a thin stylus if I ever needed to, might take something finding one, I was quite disappointed that non of the s pens worked.

"Unified Remote application for PC control "
I actually asked the developers of Unified Remote about making a Tizen port of their app - or at least something that could work in conjunction with the phone app. They said they'd look into it, but I'm not holding my breath.
We'll have more luck if the Color Tiger developers who make Smart IR lite come through with their new device that is being crowdfunded as we speak - as they said that device will be able to get commands from the watch somehow.

rEVOLVE said:
"Unified Remote application for PC control "
I actually asked the developers of Unified Remote about making a Tizen port of their app - or at least something that could work in conjunction with the phone app. They said they'd look into it, but I'm not holding my breath.
We'll have more luck if the Color Tiger developers who make Smart IR lite come through with their new device that is being crowdfunded as we speak - as they said that device will be able to get commands from the watch somehow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully they do develop a watch app it would be great and promote their app much more. I would even pay for it!
At the moment im using Wearable Widgets with a 4x4 simple unified remote widget but as I don't like wearable widgets limited options on clock faces and lack of time updates I have to flick between clock faces which is impractical!

Just thought of a new one, develop sleep application to toggle your phone into a sleepmode turn sync off etc location dim screen. Then once you wake up and toggle sleep off it turns them all on!

Considering a purchase- questions

Hey guys,
I use Whatsapp pretty heavily and was wondering if you can record whatsapp voice msgs over the Gear 2? I know from what I've read, it was a possibility, however that was an article published a couple months back.
Can anyone give me some insight on that? Also, what other features do you find beneficial? I am on the fence, I am a watch fanatic and wondering if this would be a good purchase for me. My main apps are music for while at the gym (which I use bluetooth headsets anyhow), whatsapp, phone, text, and email. Which, from my understanding the Gear 2 handles all of these things (including phone calls?)
I'm sitting at the checkout screen and considering it, please help me decide! Thank you

My wife bought me one for Christmas, but I was like you, on the fence. I've had it for 5 days now, and I can definitely see the convenience in having it. Although it's early days for tizen development, there is (in my opinion) a bright future for it. Eventually there will be more and more app integration, just like those that adopted android way back in the day, and look where we are now.
The most important thing, in my eyes, to remember is that the gear is infact, a companion to your phone, and not a replacement. Keeping that in mind, together with realistic expectations of what you can do on it, it should be a wonderful experience.
Hope that helps you.

Love it
It's all about personal usage cases!
I have one and after a couple of months, would not be without it.
True, for full on features, you need your phone, but i often use it on its own. Loaded with music for the gym, Notepad ++ for memos etc, S-Alarm for the obvious alarms, calculators, watch faces, sleep monitoring, voice memos,calendars, fitness logging...and not forgetting the camera for those quick shots and videos, this little device really is a device which can be used on it's own!!. None of the above require the phone to use them!
Then of course when you begin to introduce the phone to the watch....even more is possible!
I really hope you're enjoying your new watch and look forward to hearing how you get on with it in the coming weeks

I find the Neo and the 2 have a good basic notification balance and not trying to replace your mobile - for me I like it, but a shame you can only reply template or S Voice to texts and not WhatsApp and email.
I very much doubt there will be any further app integration for us Gear owners.
But I still bought my Gear 2 knowing that
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app

I'm not a WhatsApp user, but you can definitely reply to emails u using templates
I've added plenty of my own custom template for just this reason, and for me it works well.
I do however use the Samsung email app, and I know that if I received a gmail message, the option to reply using templates isn't available

@Manic9803
Seen your post earlier and seen this Whatsapp for gear 2 in app and themes.
Make sure to Thank the developer.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gear-2/themes-apps/wip-whatsgear-whatsapp-wrist-t2947807

It's a great little gadget...but don,t expect to change your life. It's nice, convinient, you can see "SOME" notifcations, although I wish you could see full notifications and not the stupid "open phone to view". The battery life is great, about 4-5 days on a charge. I def use it many times a day to reject calls (because the speaker is not loud enough to take calls unless you're in a quiet room). There are some useful apps, I can shazam music, use a calculator, use GPS navigation and see my route directly on the watch.
It's an accessory, it's nice to have, but I could def live without it.

Collection of wow! - the most awesome apps and tips for android wear!

With the apple watch release, comes the hoards of apple enthusiasts taking the crap out of android wear products!
I am looking to create a collection of the best and most AWESOME apps and tips for android wear to blow the mind of others and demonstrate how much more amazing android wear is than any of the other competitors!
Please post the best apps and tips/tricks below. Not apps like your basic calendar app, but instead unique ones, apps which are creative and truly awesome. Apps which allow you to say: can your watch do that!??!
Cheers, looking forward to discovering some cool stuff!!!

Say turn on the computer with autowear+Tasker, or start playing spotify music, read reddit posts on the go (they probably have that too...) create or download your own watchfaces(!!!)

List of apps which i use. I dont know whether it fits ur criteria, but still i would like to share the list of apps i use on my MOTO 360.
1) Wear Mini Launcher
2) Task Manager for Android Wear
3) My Roll Gallery
4) Evernote
5) Browser for Android Wear
6) Weather Timeline
7) Minnum Keyboard
8) Messenger for Android Wear
9) Runtastic Pro

StariX37 said:
7) Minnum Keyboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can u reply Whatsapp with this app?
I would ad Watchmaker and Autowear!

Juanmiwow said:
Can u reply Whatsapp with this app?
I would ad Watchmaker and Autowear!
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Click to collapse
I THINK it replaces the voice typing as default but I am not sure.

This isn't particularly a 'feature' or a cool app or whatever, but I found that the Google Music app was surprisingly useful at locating my phone. I couldn't find my phone in my room one time, so I used Wear's Google Music app to make my phone play random music to help me find it. Sorry if it's a bit of a lame contribution but at the time it was quite a big help

smooth-pursuits said:
This isn't particularly a 'feature' or a cool app or whatever, but I found that the Google Music app was surprisingly useful at locating my phone. I couldn't find my phone in my room one time, so I used Wear's Google Music app to make my phone play random music to help me find it. Sorry if it's a bit of a lame contribution but at the time it was quite a big help [emoji14]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THAT is brilliant.

smooth-pursuits said:
This isn't particularly a 'feature' or a cool app or whatever, but I found that the Google Music app was surprisingly useful at locating my phone. I couldn't find my phone in my room one time, so I used Wear's Google Music app to make my phone play random music to help me find it. Sorry if it's a bit of a lame contribution but at the time it was quite a big help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found that answering a call on my watch also starts my music on my phone.

Custom Voice Commands by Treycent lets you tag photos with a voice commands that you can then share. This lets you and your friends load photos by just speaking a question or phrase (e.g. "show me Hanna's latest selfie"). It also lets you post messages to WhatsApp and Twitter by voice.

Toggles wear
swipify
wear volume
my car location
and showear
My LG urbane use changes dramatically with these apps.

Instaweather is the only must have app I have.
No other watch face shows me time, POP, weather radar, both batteries, temp, temp forecast, sun set, sunrise at a glance and now the even added support for Google Fit.

Top two apps on my watch are:
Google Keep - Notes (shoppinglist, todo) on the go
Remote Control Collection - Controlling my PC (presentations, media) from my wrist

WearTasker + Tasker!
Apple can't touch this.

floyd0815 said:
WearTasker + Tasker!
Apple can't touch this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you give example of tasks?
My contribution to the list is the lockscreen app "Showear". Let's me fold my arms without accidentally setting alarms and texting ppl.

tihimasmo said:
Could you give example of tasks?
My contribution to the list is the lockscreen app "Showear". Let's me fold my arms without accidentally setting alarms and texting ppl.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Raspberry PI for home automation and with WearTasker I can control basic TV, satellite, HiFi, Light,... functions. Also I have a task to start Spotify on my tablet, powers on the HiFi and connects to it via BT.
But it seems like AutoWear has more possibilities so I will maybe switch to that.
I have my G Watch R since 3 days, so I'm quite a newbie and WearTasker is easy to set up.

Treycent said:
Custom Voice Commands by Treycent lets you tag photos with a voice commands that you can then share. This lets you and your friends load photos by just speaking a question or phrase (e.g. "show me Hanna's latest selfie"). It also lets you post messages to WhatsApp and Twitter by voice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well Whatsapp didn't work for me!
No options inside the app for whatsapp

You can start a whattsapp message from ok Google send whatsapp to....... followed by your message. Very handy

Okay, so the most WOW inducing app I have found is Look Behind. It turns on your camera and allows you to view it on your watch screen. When I demo it for people, they frickin' love it. I got it for work, I'm tech support at a university library, and am always having to look behind computers, wall mounted displays, etc. It has the ability to turn your flash on, so looking behind a TV screen to check connections becomes a easy task. Its pretty awesome.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pixtogram.wear.lookbehind

karlkarloff said:
Okay, so the most WOW inducing app I have found is Look Behind. It turns on your camera and allows you to view it on your watch screen. When I demo it for people, they frickin' love it. I got it for work, I'm tech support at a university library, and am always having to look behind computers, wall mounted displays, etc. It has the ability to turn your flash on, so looking behind a TV screen to check connections becomes a easy task. Its pretty awesome.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pixtogram.wear.lookbehind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it do anything this free app doesn't? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dheera.wearcamera

DQEight said:
Does it do anything this free app doesn't? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dheera.wearcamera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, it doesn't even allow you to take pictures. I will say I have tried both and i like the interface of Look Behind a bit better (on my round watchface) and it seems to work more reliably than Wear Camera. I had a few hangups when I tried Wear Camera. That said, while Look Behind is free, to get the version that allows you to take pictures, PixtoCam, it costs 1.99. Either way, an app that lets you view your phone camera on your watch will definitely get peoples interest.

I don't get it, what is Samsung thinking

First let me say this is a very fine piece of Hardware and I have been researching it these last few days and got nowhere, yes I see the demo's and reviews and it's all great but...………………………… and it is a big but
and please correct me if I am wrong and take it as a question more than a statement
- I cannot get access to view the available apps unless I have a Samsung phone - which I don't
- I have done numerous searches to find what I want and come up with near enough nothing
Currently I have a Smartwatch with a single watchface that is giving me all this when I look at it
Time Day and date at my location
Time at another location
Watch Batt Status
Phone Batt Status
Weather today temp hi/lo with pic
Currency conversion of my choosing (set on phone) realtime
It shows me all messages from all my messaging apps on my phone with the text, sms, line, FBmessenger WhatsApp etc.
Incoming calls with contact details or number etc
I can set my phone on the other side of the room and fully control my music player (poweramp) with album art etc, my music is stored as mp3 on the phone so is there even a music player app for the Gear S3 that can access the music on my phone and play it controlling the phone and playing from the phone ?
I really would like to buy this watch but can it do all that, can it even do all that with separate apps if want to scroll through to get there for stuff like currency and media control (Sony Phone)
can someone please confirm
Yes I get that I am not going to get a watch face that will show me what my current one does but is it even possible using apps widgets downloaded to the phone and/or watch to at least give me the functionality I have now
And I stress I am not being critical of the Gear S3 because I really like it and I want one provided it can tick all the boxes

Probably with a Wear OS watch

dersie said:
Probably with a Wear OS watch
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Click to collapse
yes I agree, I've been doing a lot of reading up these last few days and the Samsung Gear S3 is the best watch on the market but it fails miserably because they opted to break from Android OS (Wear), I think they were trying to become Brand Specific like Apple but that is never going to work on Android - very foolish
I have narrowed my choices down to 3, Ticwatch Pro, LG and Fossil, Ticwatch is slightly in the lead, but I have decided that it must be Android OS, just a pity Samsung S3 went a different direction, I am not going to buy a watch that only functions for 50% of what I want no matter how good the Hardware is, to me it is a fail and wouldn't take it at half the price

Geoffxx said:
yes I agree, I've been doing a lot of reading up these last few days and the Samsung Gear S3 is the best watch on the market but it fails miserably because they opted to break from Android OS (Wear), I think they were trying to become Brand Specific like Apple but that is never going to work on Android - very foolish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the Gear S3 is the best watch at this time.
Wear watch are really horrible. Very bad battery life (sometime not last the day), a lot of bug and hang, often the watch take long seconds to respond (when it works, often not works but do not know why ???) ..... apps are very rare do not mistake I have G-Watch, R-Watch, LG-Sport, Sony SW3, Asus ZW2, Ticwatch E) all are almost unusables. You must install app (and often faces) with the phone AND AFTER use the watch (with tiny screen) to go on Playstore WITH the watch (when it works).
With Tizen you have the "Watchmaker" app (same as Wear OS) and you can have advanced watch face. On Tizen I have note app, Google Task app, evernote app..... nothing for Wear and almost none of this kind

dersie said:
I think the Gear S3 is the best watch at this time.
Wear watch are really horrible. Very bad battery life (sometime not last the day), a lot of bug and hang, often the watch take long seconds to respond (when it works, often not works but do not know why ???) ..... apps are very rare do not mistake I have G-Watch, R-Watch, LG-Sport, Sony SW3, Asus ZW2, Ticwatch E) all are almost unusables. You must install app (and often faces) with the phone AND AFTER use the watch (with tiny screen) to go on Playstore WITH the watch (when it works).
With Tizen you have the "Watchmaker" app (same as Wear OS) and you can have advanced watch face. On Tizen I have note app, Google Task app, evernote app..... nothing for Wear and almost none of this kind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why not address my first post and tell me exactly (from my requirements) what the S3 can and cannot do
lets start with a live exchange rate widget or even stock quotes, I am still using a Sony Sw2 and it does everything I want it too, I actually just bought an LG Watch Urbane 2 nd Edition LTE Unlocked for 100GBP brand new, very cheap IMO
also if I buy and Samsung Gear S3 I lose 50% of the functionality because I don't have a Samsung phone and never will have

And what we lost with a no Samsung phone ? The only thing is, maybe, the Samsung Email app wich works with Samsung watch. But even with a Samsung phone I use Aquamail and not the Samsung mail. All others things works same with samsung and other phone since the S2 serie.

dersie said:
And what we lost with a no Samsung phone ? The only thing is, maybe, the Samsung Email app wich works with Samsung watch. But even with a Samsung phone I use Aquamail and not the Samsung mail. All others things works same with samsung and other phone since the S2 serie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you are wrong about that
Remember I don't have one and was unable to look at apps because I don't have Samsung phone.....but here is what I have read
- messaging doesn't work properly
- music player (control) extremely limited
- email
- calling functionality
- limited apps but I honestly don't know this for sure because I can't access the app store to look, what I do know is that AW is 100% supported with apps for absolutely everything I would ever need
like I mentioned - stuff like currency/stock tracking doesn't exist, XE is AW enabled but doesn't exist on S3
I use Poweramp as my music player on my phone and can completely control it from my ancient Sony SW2 - go figure, this is extremely useful if I am out and want to hook my phone up to an external sound system - my phone sits meters away and I can control everything from SW from my seat, does Samsung S3 support Poweramp ?? well I don't know because I cannot access the secret Samsung app store without a Samsung Phone or SW - maybe they are hiding it
The list my friend is endless, like I said in my OP - the Gear S3 is IMO the best hardware out there but is unusable on a none Samsung setup and even if you have Samsung phone it is still limited because of lack of app support
IMO Samsung made an error not adopting Android Wear and would have dominated the market it they had

Like said, since Gear S2 Samsung apps works on all Android phone with 1.5Go RAM. Works also on IOS but limited for app wich have an android compagnon app. Messaging is like all others apps and works same way on Wear OS or Tizen OS.
Email ? wear has not really an email app, works just with notification system like Tizen OS. Same for all

Geoffxx said:
I believe you are wrong about that
Remember I don't have one and was unable to look at apps because I don't have Samsung phone.....but here is what I have read
- messaging doesn't work properly
- music player (control) extremely limited
- email
- calling functionality
- limited apps but I honestly don't know this for sure because I can't access the app store to look, what I do know is that AW is 100% supported with apps for absolutely everything I would ever need
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a OnePlus 6 and a S9+, currently my Gear S3 is paired with my OnePlus.
I get my messages through Google voice and Facebook messenger, both work well. The random text messages work too. With all of these I get notifications but don't have the history, which is fine IMO, I can see and reply to messages, but I don't need to start a conversation from my watch in my usage.
I can play/pause/fast forward/rewind/adjust volume. It works for what is playing already, so I can't start my podcast unless it is 'ready' in the Android system (ie, if I press the play button on my headphones and it would play the podcast/music).
Email, I get notifications for Gmail, can't start a conversation on the watch though.
I can call and recieve calls.
The apps appear to be the same.
I tried the TicWatch pro, it was good, but the health features were crap compared to the S3, plus no MST and slightly worse battery life made me go back to the S3.
Edit: I'm not sure about the watch face thing..... Maybe later this week I can set up the watch designer from Samsung and see if some/all can be added to a watch face.

_Dennis_ said:
I have a OnePlus 6 and a S9+, currently my Gear S3 is paired with my OnePlus.
I get my messages through Google voice and Facebook messenger, both work well. The random text messages work too. With all of these I get notifications but don't have the history, which is fine IMO, I can see and reply to messages, but I don't need to start a conversation from my watch in my usage.
I can play/pause/fast forward/rewind/adjust volume. It works for what is playing already, so I can't start my podcast unless it is 'ready' in the Android system (ie, if I press the play button on my headphones and it would play the podcast/music).
Email, I get notifications for Gmail, can't start a conversation on the watch though.
I can call and recieve calls.
The apps appear to be the same.
I tried the TicWatch pro, it was good, but the health features were crap compared to the S3, plus no MST and slightly worse battery life made me go back to the S3.
Edit: I'm not sure about the watch face thing..... Maybe later this week I can set up the watch designer from Samsung and see if some/all can be added to a watch face.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
like I said - 50 functionality, I want something that will work and is fully supported not something that is going to be hit and miss, but it is by far the best in terms of HW.
Over that last few days I have come across many people saying the same thing "I wish it was Android OS" even on this forum where one of the longest threads is about exactly that - porting AW

Geoffxx said:
like I said - 50 functionality, I want something that will work and is fully supported not something that is going to be hit and miss, but it is by far the best in terms of HW.
Over that last few days I have come across many people saying the same thing "I wish it was Android OS" even on this forum where one of the longest threads is about exactly that - porting AW
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I've had WearOS, the only thing that was better (and not by much) was side loading Facebook messenger lite. Otherwise, IMO, Tizen and WearOS are very close in functionality, with WearOS winning in apps and Tizen in hardware. WearOS had more apps, but most aren't very useful, and I can program watchface in Tizen easier then WearOS. Tizen had more built in (probably do to the lack of third party apps) so things like sleep tracking works better.
Honestly, but a watch from somewhere with a good return policy and try it out, it's the only way you'll know if it works for you. I'd do this with both watches and see which works better in your specific use case.
I'm honestly not trying to persuade you one way or the other, just having used both OS's recently I want to give an accurate description as to their strengths and weaknesses.

_Dennis_ said:
I've had WearOS, the only thing that was better (and not by much) was side loading Facebook messenger lite. Otherwise, IMO, Tizen and WearOS are very close in functionality, with WearOS winning in apps and Tizen in hardware. WearOS had more apps, but most aren't very useful, and I can program watchface in Tizen easier then WearOS. Tizen had more built in (probably do to the lack of third party apps) so things like sleep tracking works better.
Honestly, but a watch from somewhere with a good return policy and try it out, it's the only way you'll know if it works for you. I'd do this with both watches and see which works better in your specific use case.
I'm honestly not trying to persuade you one way or the other, just having used both OS's recently I want to give an accurate description as to their strengths and weaknesses.
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Thanks for the reply and I do understand, I'm in buying mode and have been reading and looking for hours upon hours just absorbing info on all the options, I started this thread for that exact purpose and it is turning out the way I wanted - input from experienced people that is helping me get through the clutter, I have order a watch that I managed to get at a reasonable price 100 sterling for an LG Urbane 2nd addition so no huge investment, the LG sport is a better watch but 2-3 times the price, so I will get it in a couple of days and see how I go with that, unfortunately I won't have my new phone until Sept (Xperia XZ2 Premium) so I will have to manage with my dated Xperia Z1 but it should give me an idea of what I'm dealing with
again thx for taking an interest in my thread you have been very helpful

had my first day with the LG and wow absolutely superb, helped along with the App watchfaces which is also superb
funny I set the watch up and charged it and went out, I actually thought there was something wrong when it showed 100% battery for 2 hours and then started to very slowly drop, I am now 8hrs in and still have 67% battery which I think is impressive, and I had an always on face with lots of widgets, very impressed