Samsung Gear S: I am starting to test amazing watch

Samsung Gear S arrives to the buyer in a small box which contains – besides the watch – a charger, a docking station for charging, and a surprisingly big manual, full of illustrations.

At this moment I must commend Samsung for a solid preparation of this – one might think – trivial element. However, I do not like the way of charging the device.

Samsung in its smartwatches constantly uses docking stations for charging. This trifle is in a form of a plastic clamp for the watch’s housing. It connects with the watch by metal connectors and only to it we can attach a charger with a microUSB cable in order to charge the watch. It is nice that the housing is not disfigured by a microUSB socket, but what if this docking station will be damaged or simply lost? This discomfort is partially compensated by a fact that in this docking station there is an additional battery, which in an emergency situation can load the other one in the watch. So we have a small, handy powerbank, which is charged with the watch simultaneously – so we will never forget about charging it.

Besides charging, the watch astonished me. It is big, typically male. Despite the fact that the housing and the strap are made mostly from plastic, the watch is elegant. The metal bezel surrounding the bended 2-inch SuperAMOLED with 360x480 pixels only makes it looks smarter.

The elegance of Gear S can be underlined by fancy dials displayed on the display – but we will get back to this later. Now let us look at the back of the housing. We will find there a heart-rate monitor, connectors for charging and communicating with PC, but also… a SIM card slot! Based on Tizen system Samsung Gear S has a 3G module and can work completely autonomously. This will allow for a voice communication and data exchange, but it can work with a smartphone as well.

Unfortunately, the description on the package says that it has to be one of Samsung’s phones. And, unfortunately, at least for now we need to have one: without it, the watch “will not start”. Gear S must be connected with a Gear Manager app, thanks to which we will download apps that we find interesting.

Then – theoretically – we can put down Samsung’s smartphone and get back to, for example iPhone. We will lose one of the most significant advantages of this smartwatch – that is using the phone when it comes to making calls or receiving notifications. On the other hand – why do we need a smartphone, when most of its functions can be done by Gear S?

The device – even though small – is equipped almost the same as a smartphone. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules, as well as a GPS and Glonass. It has several sensors as well: a heart-rate monitor, a UV radiation sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a light sensor and a barometer. All this is packed in a housing with an IP67 certificate. My greatest concern is the battery with a 300 mAh capacity. Will it provide at least 12 hours of a work time? I do hope so – meanwhile, I will get to know this original device. I would like to invite you for a review in around two weeks.

Samsung Gear S: unpacking and first impressions video: GSMchoice.com, via YouTube