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Samsung’s first attempt at a smart watch hasn’t been welcomed with the most warm reception in the world, but the company is looking to go hard with their advertising anyway. Alongside the general ad campaign Samsung launched to try and sell the Galaxy Gear beside the Note 3 (which we just reviewed), they’re trying to play on the nostalgia factor that such a watch could bring.
In their latest TV ad, Samsung takes us down memory lane by showing us a collection of watches and other wrist-bound gadgets that were featured in popular TV shows such as Power Rangers, Star Trek, Knight Rider and more. These shows made smart watches look ultra futuristic to me as a child, and now Samsung’s hoping to get your attention by declaring that those fantasies have finally become reality.
The Galaxy Gear does a couple of unique things that we haven’t seen on many other smart watches to date. For starters, it does include a pretty decent camera that will let you capture photos using your wrist. It’s also one of the longest lasting smart watches which use a traditional, non-eInk panel at a decent 17 hours per charge.
Samsung’s biggest mistake was making the smart watch compatible with only the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 – 2014 Edition to start. Samsung has promised that functionality would be coming to some of its older devices in due time, and they also mentioned that they were looking into the possibility of making the smart watch compatible with all Android devices at some point down the line.
To me, it all sounds like Samsung rushed this thing to market just a bit too fast. Some argue Samsung looked to beat Apple to the punch, but the egg is on Samsung’s own face as Apple didn’t even have a smart watch to reveal at their most recent event. It’s possible we could see that change whenever Apple gets ready to introduce their next line of iPad tablets.
That Apple didn’t rush to be the first out of the gate with a smart watch isn’t anything surprising. As we all know, Apple is more worried about getting it right than they are getting it first. We just wish Samsung approached their research and development process with that same sort of thinking. Watch the latest Galaxy Gear ads above and below.
I don’t see this product getting anywhere. It reminds me of old calculator watches from the 90’s. Biggest problem was that they were so large, and this looks to have the same flaw. Beyond that, it is a watch that you will have to take off every night and charge it, at minimum, and possibly wont even make it through a day if you use it often enough. Not very practical.
Size seems fine. Have you seen some of the obnoxiously large analog watches out there now? No, the nerdy act of talking into your wrist will be questioned more than the sheer size.
Charging – No different than today with phones. 90% of the resistance to charge a watch daily would be eliminated if they just put a half way decent charging stand in the box standard. Much more favorable to take off your watch and rest it on a charging stand than fiddle with plugging a tiny charging jack into it every night.
Ultimately though, until it can *replace* the phone, it can’t justify the demand of the phone.
The level of stupidity with that headline is epic. They’re not trying to make it look cool by comparing it to gadgets from 80’s tv shows. The add clearly conveys that the promise of the smartwatch from years gone by is finally at hand. But then again why would I have expected anything other than an attempt at snarkiness since picking on Samsung is the in thing now.
That’s exactly what they are doing, trying to show you it’s not futuristic, it’s something that’s been in cartoons, movies, and TV shows for nearly 60 years. It’s something that’s cool. Besides cool, it’s not very useful. And even if it was, it’s only limited to a few devices. While the Note 3 will be popular and the S4 is extremely popular, having a product be so limited like that is just silly
Huh so u think when apple watch is release it will be compatible with what the iPhone. So why is Samsung wrong for doing this exact same thing?
not cool, but it’s ugly. LOL
I think Star Trek 1979 nailed it..
People need to see that it’s not that Samsung didn’t want to make the gear work with other phones on launch. It’s just that it works best with bt low energy which is only supported in 4.3. You can still use the gear with the s4 but it will drain your battery faster and won’t have all the functions yet
I want the predator watch
Operative word being “tries”
yeah that thing sucks….
It actually does look cool. They just to make it work on all Android phones.
The problem is its $200 overpriced unless its a standalone device with the same features as an s4
my Aunty Amelia got a new blue Land Rover LR4
only from working part time off a home computer… helpful hints Jam20.ℂom
Hmm – Jamie Glass – Is that a spoiler for their new glass like project?
As we all know Apple is more worried about getting it right than they are getting there first,do you claim to be an unbiased reviewer or are you openly advertising apple products
If you get off your iHating pedestal for a moment, you’ll see that he is absolutely right. Apple does take more time getting their products polished as much as can realistically be possible before putting them to market.
Samsung’s watch is garbage. Even samsung fanboys can’t defend what they did, and keep a straight face about it.
Come on it’s good you have a company to believe in I respect that.But the article is clearly very biased.If you believe what you said in your post about Samsung why did Apple ask them to manufacture the 64 bit chip in the iPhone 5S especially as Apple always go the extra distance to get it right first.To me that means both companies make good products but that does not change the fact that this article embarrassingly biased they should not be able to get away with it
Wow, this commercial was cool to see. Samsung did a good job showing these old time watches before the Galaxy Gear.