Details • Color: White • Brand: Samsung • Model: Gear S • Released on: 2014-11-21 • Dimensions: 1.57" h x .49" w x 2.29" l, .15 pounds Features • Display: 2.0-inches • Processor Speed: 2.0 GHz • OS: Tizen • Compatibility: Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S 4 mini, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note 3, & Galaxy Note 4 I will try to make this review as concise and precise and efficient as possible, so let's do plus(+) and minus(-) bullet points. Here goes: + As an evolutionary progress from the Gear, then Gear 2, then Gear Live, it is an upgrade. It is pretty much the very next step up the ladder from the Gear 2. It uses Tizen, so it is different from the Android Wear Gear Live. - Because it is not Android, it won't have the potential of working with every app, and can only work with certain Samsung phones, not even most of them. But the plus side is... + You can make calls straight from the watch, not just get a notice there is a call. It is legally a Bluetooth audio device, meaning you can use it legally while driving - just the talking/answering the phone/voice services part. SCREEN : + The screen is, once again, a lovely lovely thing to behold. SAMOLED is definitely the way of the future. It is so livid, so clear, so in your face POW! Instead of about 1.6"(or even smaller in some other watches) it is now a full 2 inches in diameter. The resolution is 360 x 480, meaning a crisp 300 ppi density. - Because it 2", it's really BIG on your wrist. Some will like it, and some will really hate it. For me, I think it is quite nice. - I noticed sunlight legibility and brightness was only above average, not great. Once you are outside, there is A LOT of glare, and not enough maximum brightness to overcome it. A matte, anti-glare screen protector is highly advised if you plan to use it outdoors a lot. PHONE: + Because it now has its own voice radio, it has its own number and line, so you don't even need to tether it to your phone anymore. You can have either way - either tether it to your phone as a Bluetooth device, or have it as a mini-phone/watch on its own - or you can have both. If you have it for both, you would receive calls from both numbers, while making calls from the watch while it is still tethered to your phone means it will dial from your phone's number. - HOWEVER - and this is perhaps the most senseless thing Samsung could have ever done - you still NEED a Samsung phone to tether it to and initialize it with in the very beginning to get the phone to be functional at all. Otherwise, you are only stuck to dialing emergency numbers(pretty much only 911 or whatever your country's emergency code is). It HAS to be a SAMSUNG PHONE. Meaning NO other phones, and NO other Samsung products like a tablet. Once you finish up that initial tethering, you can unpair it and use it as its own mini-phone. So if you are thinking about grabbing this phone as a pre-paid option or some standalone service/contract, you can forget about it. That is a HUGE negative. BATTERY LIFE : + It lasts me a whole day easy, and should last you around 3 days if you don't always keep playing with it or have ALL your notifications sent to it. + The charging cradle now has its own portable battery, meaning it holds a charge and can charge the watch on its own, like in case of a bind when you forget the charging(micro-USB) cable. + Charges quite quickly. 0-100% in a couple hours. - The battery itself is only rated at 300mAh. APPS : - As stated earlier it will never be as robust as Android Wear. Android Wear will continue to get bigger and bigger, while Tizen is still dragging its feet. Not many big time developers have hopped on the bandwagon. In the 1+ years since the original Gear watch, not much improvement or progress has been made, and I'm starting to really have doubts that no one else besides Samsung will really embrace it. + That's why these watches only makes sense if you have and love Samsung. But if that's the case, they work great together. The watch tethers itself seamlessly with the phone. There are really cool features like auto-forwarding. It works automatically when they are untethered, so if you go for a run or didn't feel like bringing your phone, all your calls will be auto-redirected to the Gear S. HARDWARE: + I don't notice much lag, or it happening often. It has the juice to behave like a smart watch should. No complains here. + There is 4GB of memory in the watch so it can store your songs(and even your videos if you can fit them) if you want to have it locally for when you're out for a run or exercise. + The physical button really adds to the userability and functionality. I also have the LG G Watch, and trying to do things quickly on there can get very frustrating. With the Gear S, you can double tap the Home button to initiate any app you want. I use it for S Voice, which is really handy, like when caught in a bind I can just say redial and it'll call my last dial-out number. Or check the weather, calendar, etc. You can hold it down to get additional functions, like to power it down, to mute it or put it on vibrate, check the battery life, manually change the screen brightness, etc. LOOKS: + The curved surface not only looks great, it really adds to the functionality, so your swipes has that natural trailing off that gives you a really cool and smooth feel/gesture. + Some of the clock "faces" look pretty cool, and very functional with additional info and apps built into them. - There are not enough, and most in the Samsung app store you have to buy. ** Maybe the most compelling case is how does it compare with the older but cheaper Gear 2, and even more so, the Gear 2 Neo? Well, I wrote a little about it at the top - the Gear S is the next step up on the Samsung ladder. So there is really no real reason why you should get the Gear 2 versions, except for if: 1) Money is a big issue. In that case, I would REALLY recommend the Gear 2 Neo. I had it and I loved it. Trust me, you won't miss the camera feature it lacks from the Gear 2 bigger brother. It can do pretty much everything the Gear S can do, except that it doesn't have its own phone line. Actually, so if money is an issue then it's an even bigger deal, as you'll save at least $100 for the watch, and at least $10 a month that you would have to pay to the phone carriers to use the Gear S as a standalone phone. For reference, so you can get this Gear S from AT&T for $200, but need to pay $10 a month for 24 months for its contract. So that comes out to $440 over that time span, or you can buy the unlocked international version for about $380 and use your own SIM card in it without paying extra. So you would roughly save about $60, but then you would not have that extra phone line for those 24 months. 2) IF you didn't need a watch with its own phone line, which pretty much everyone doesn't NEED, since you can receive and make phone calls anyways because it's tethered to your phone. The Gear S has that call-forwarding feature which the Gear 2/Neo doesn't have because the older watches don't have the phone radio to make and receive independent calls. So in the end with the Gear S you have that convenience of not needing to be tied to your phone all the time, which is actually very useful and valuable. 3) You don't like the big-*** size of the face of the Gear S. Yes, it is THAT big. So, overall, if you love Samsung and can afford it, then this is THE smart watch to get. If you don't, or don't really care, then there are great alternatives in LG and Motorola, and HTC should have one soon too. Sony has the 3rd version of their smart watch, but it's been receiving negative reviews so far. And then there's always the Pebble Steel, or even the upcoming iWatch.Get now