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Earlier this week patient Android fans were greeted with shiny new smartwatches. The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, which went on sale back at Google I/O, finally arrived on door steps. All week we’ve been seeing new apps, tips, and discoveries from the vibrant group of Android Wear early adopters. If you’re a member of that group we want to know how you’re liking everything so far.
While many of us wait for the Moto 360 we have to live vicariously through those of you who already have an Android Wear device. We have so many questions for you! Are you happy with your purchase? Do you find yourself pulling out your phone less? How is battery life? What apps are you using? Has anyone asked you about your watch? What is your favorite thing about Android Wear?
If you don’t feel like answering all of those questions we have an easier poll for you below. Submit your response and tell us a little about your experience so far. Hopefully we can get a good discussion going and maybe share some tips and tricks. If you’re interested in talking to fellow users be sure to check out the G Watch and Gear Live forums.
[polldaddy poll=8179971]
Seems most are waiting on 360?
People waited on the Moto X as well…
Or people like me didn’t see an option for not buying one so the Moto 360 seemed like the closest option.
It would be interesting to see which watch they are voting on.
Waiting on the 360
I am going to have to set aside money for the Moto, I have a feeling its going to sell out immediately and be very hard to find.
I have the G watch and the galaxy gear too. I feel the gear is more comfortable to wear. Overall I like it but I’m also waiting on moto to deliver.
Why both? Do you wear one on each wrist?
You choose one to fit your clothing or mood for the day.
Actually you wear the Gear 2 or Galaxy Gear when your G Watch is dead! :) I would know.
I wish I had more arms… so I can wear all these smartwatches at the same time! I’m Rick James!
So far I really like my LG G Watch. It’s very handy to see notifications on your arm without taking out the phone every time. And the instant information you can get from it has come in handy for me several times so far.
At first I was planning to wait for the Motorola 360 watch, but decided that the round screen was just for looks and served no functional benefit. In fact, it would make it harder to fit text on the screen. There’s a reason why you don’t see many round screens.
lol to you downplaying the 360 to jusitfy to yourself your purchase
I downplayed it before my purchase, which is the reason why I purchased the G Watch. And I don’t see anything wrong with my reasoning either. A round screen is only reducing the content area.
This may be true, but you’re also looking at a larger screen with smaller overall bezels that samsung or lg’s offerings. And while it may actually be larger overall, the lack of corners means it’s less likely to hurt if it digs into your arm
I used to wear a square Casio calculator watch back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, so the square won’t necessarily be all that bad. However I like the look of the Moto 360, so I’m holding out for it.
The corners and bottom edges of the G Watch are slightly curved, so it’s not going to “dig into your arm”.
I have the LG watch, Planning to buy the moto360 in hopes moto will look at the reviews for the other watches and make the moto360 a bit more functional.
I’d like to know more about the small percentage of people who classify their experience as “Hate It.”
As for the Moto360, i don’t think it’s that big of a deal or difference compared to the LG G Watch or the Samsung product. One is squared and the other is round,…so what? They both do the same thing. Unless the Moto360 comes out with a some form of karat gold or diamonds in it, the way real “power” watches do (Tag, Rolex, Omega, etc…), then I’ll buy it. Right now, I see the Moto360 as a overpriced toy. No way, am I going to seriously use that watch on my wrist during business meetings.
Waiting on moto 360, but still zero interest in a smartwatch.
Do these watches have speakers built in or not, because im hearing mixed reports
(LG G Watch) I haven’t found any, to listen to music or something media wise. If that’s what you are referring to.
Ah, okay thanks, i was thinking like notifications or something but i guess it just vibrates
You are correct… it does not have a speaker at all, only vibration. I wish you could adjust how hard it vibrates because I frequently don’t feel it unless the watch is tighter than I like to wear it.
Ah okay so vibration is not adjustable and it has no speakers, probably to save battery. But do you see the lack of speakers as a major issue or is it something you dont really mind not having. Im not sure how I feel about that honestly
I don’t have any desire to listen to music, watch videos, etc. so for those purposes I don’t need a speaker at all. I guess it might be cool to be able to use it for a speaker phone, but it wouldn’t be high on my list. Just a notification beep would be all I’d really want, but for that purpose it’s a reasonably significant issue for me.
I got my g watch yesterday and so far I’m really enjoying it
Why would people hate it? Just return the damn thing if you dislike it so much.
I think that would qualify as hating it.
Returns could be for dislike and not outright hatred.
i hope more people comment here on android wear functionality in general…im waiting for the 360 but i hope i dont get it and find it annoying or overbearing…the fact you get every notification and cant negotiate which ones you want delivered and which you dont can be a little much for me…hopefully there will be a few wear updates by the time the 360 drops
There are actually ways to choose which apps to blacklist notifications for. I’d find a link for you, but I’m using the app right now.
I have the gear live and you Absolutely can pick which notifications you get on your watch. You set that up with the Android wear app on your phone
Yes, when you setup the smartwatch you can set notifications. what you want and dont want. Atleast on the LG G watch..
I just want to go through my twitter feed like the sony smartwatch 2 and hardware like the gear 2
I love it so far! I’m a bit of a notification whore and I know it’s annoying- for me and people around me. I get irritated when other people constantly check their phone, yet I’m constantly checking it myself. The watch really does keep me “in check”.
I can set non-important notifications to STFU and quickly glance at incoming notification types I deem worthy of attention. I wish voice commands were more accurate and responded more quickly.
Overall, though, I’m enjoying it a lot… full review coming soon.
I have the gear live and I love it. Super comfortable and the voice recognition is flawless. Google definitely perfected it. Send a text by voice from your wrist. Notifications are pretty awesome to get without having to pull out your phone 50 time a day . You get the time it takes to get to work based on traffic conditions , emails, texts, scores, and weather to name a few. And my favorite thing is music. If you are listening to headphones the song pops up that’s currently playing and you can pause, go back, or advance to the next track right from your wrist. Definitely no interest in the moto 360 because a round screen is pretty stupid to do anything. Texts are going to be tough to fit on the screen or anything else for that matter. It’s wasted space. Does a phone have a round shape or a computer? It’s taking info from your phone which is rectangular and putting it on a round shape. That’s just stupid. The gear live is perfect size and shape and Googles operating system is awesome. I can’t wait for more to come out. And it is pretty readable in sunlight unlike the reviewers are saying. The only thing I wish it had was sound but it has vibrate instead which I guess is good so you don’t annoy people. Battery lasts about a day and a half so I just charge it daily with my phone which is a Sony Xperia z2. The moto 360 just looks like it’s made for women.definitely not for men.
What is the battery life like?
Fleksy keyboard is available for these watch?
I’m really digging my Gear Live. I wore it to work last week and believe it or not people didnt even realize what it was. I had several people say the watch was “stylish” and they didn’t mind the size. The watch feels light and its curved so its pretty comfortabe. That’s huge because I’ve never worn a watch. The software is good not great, yet. Getting to the apps is a chore and the App drawer app in the playstore doesn’t play nice with the Live right now. The Google Now and notification aspect work great. Battery life has been pretty good. I have my brightness set at 3 of 5 and usually get home from work at night with about 30-40% battery life. I don’t mind charging at night. So far so good.
I have the LG G Watch (Really don’t like Samsung products). I bought the Watch to keep the smartphone in my pocket, turns out the watch doesn’t exactly work that way. I don’t use my smartphone much for phone calls just mostly texts, maps, information. The fact you have to Speak to text is just a silly ass idea. when in public this “feature” fails. The screen isn’t as bad as reviews claim, I can see perfect in direct sunlight, Sure! If you’re wearing sunglasses it’s a bit dim or if you hold your wrist in a screwed up position you wont see anything. but, If you look at your watch like a normal human being its clear bright and viewable. I’m in Puerto Rico right now walking around and using maps are pretty amazing. Since I travel a lot, World Lens would rock my world if they develop an app for the smartwatch. Perhaps there will be better apps in the future to make the watch a better experience. I’m on the fence, if it was worth the buy. Once the moto360 hits, I’m going to buy that also. What can I say? I’m a gadget whore!
To all the Gear Live owners the the Android Wear Launcher has been updated to work with the Gear Live. You can now access your app drawer by swiping from the left to right of the screen.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.npi.wearminilauncher
I was thinking about grabbing it with the att 50% off deal but since I have a corporate discount encoded onto my account already I could only get the 25% that I can get all year so I passed probably get the moto watch like the round watch
I haven’t worn a watch in a dozen years, no intentions of getting one anytime soon.
then why comment?
I also haven’t worn a watch in a dozen years. You’re really missing out on this one, though.
Google maps turn prompts work flawlessly w Gear Live. So far, totally satisfied. Still getting Moto360 too.
Ian B
Meh
I am liking the LG G Watch a lot. A couple days after I received it, I changed the band which really improved the look and extended wearability of the watch. The rubber watch band irritated my arm I am now using a leather band with more of an executive look to it and it feels great. I think Android Wear will get better with time as more developers make their apps compatible with it.
Does anyone know if you can use bluetooth headphones and the watch at the same time?
I have a Sony stereo Bluetooth headset and love it with my Lg G watch. I can answer with the watch and speak on the headset. No need to touch the phone.
What does it use to connect to the watch then? Or can it handle two different Bluetooth devices at once?
Don’t have a Andwatch yet, but my regualr watch gave it up and with the lifetime warranty was able to get a new replacement even after 5 year of use, are these new Andwatches going to have the same lifetime warranties? Battery last 5 years too, no recharging.
Good luck with that.
Sent my LG G watch back and my Pebble is back on my wrist.
In terms of functionality, the Omate TrueSmart with full stand alone android is miles ahead of android wear.
You must not own that piece of trash, I do and it collects dust as a paper weight in my garage. I was not worth the wait and it is clearly half baked at this stage.
I’m waiting to see what Asus shows us. However, once the G Watch is in stores, I’m going to go take a look and try one on.
I am glad you pointed this out. In my point of view we should wait for others smartwatch technologies. Thanks for this useful post.
Moto 360.
That is all.
all android watches are silly. I love my droid phones, had many of em. But c’mon really? It reminds me of the calculator watches back in the day. What better way to announce you have a small penis and never get laid than wearing an inspector gadget nerd alert watch?
You could wear Google Glass AND a smartwatch while riding a segway?
Love It! Just added Android Wear support to FartDroid! :) http://bit.ly/1rIpmCQ
LG G Watch here, and I consider it a huge upgrade from my Pebble (which I haven’t been even slightly tempted to put back on), albeit the software is still in its infancy. I like the ability to read emails and text messages in detail, and even respond in a limited fashion. That’s a big improvement over the Pebble’s partial notification (at best). My watch is an adjunct to my phone, and that’s all it should be. It allows me to filter my phone activity with a glance, and greatly reduces the number of times I pull my phone out of my pocket.