Samsung's Galaxy Gear Watch

John Gruber:

About the best you could expect from Samsung without having anything to copy from Apple: overpriced, ugly, laggy UI, terrible battery life, dubious utility.

I maybe lacking foresight, and probably that this kind of wearable gadget will catch on one day, I think Samsung’s today’s efforts are very lacking and akin to Casio’s computer watch: gadget.

Aesthetics aside, I find it way too big to wear one on my wrist comfortably. I’ve read it’s actually quite light – 79 grams – but remember it’s as heavy as yesterday’s dumbphones: not exactly a weight I’d like to wear all day.

The battery life – approximately a day – is very short, but we can’t expect miracles on this side. If it comes with a very smart charging device – think something that doesn’t require the watch to be plugged in, but rather simply layed on a secondary device –, then I could work with that; If not, it’ll be a great point of frustration.

One very important question remains: what’s the use of such gadget? Is it to check out things quickly without needing to have the smartphone in hand? Well, OK, let’s go with that. Can I make calls? Then how does it work, where do I speak, how do I listen to the conversation?

It’s a very strange concept to me, and I’m sure that if – which is a big if¹ – Apple comes up with a smartwatch, those questions would be answered.

In the end, I fear Samsung has released the Galaxy Gear just to be first. And being first doesn’t get you the market; quality does.