Live data from Hacker News

Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

engadget.com

31–40 of 90 posts

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#31

My reservation with the notion of a smartwatch is battery life. I care to charge my phone, but I really don't like the idea of also having to charge my watch for mildly more convenient features than my phone.

Just sleep in a rapidly vibrating magnetic field, with your watch on your wrist and your phone by your head.

What could possibly go wrong?

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#33
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was being sarcastic, the point is it's big, no, not even big, it's enormous and unwieldy.

Most luxury watches are bigger, and much heavier....

Luxury items are meant to be flashy, a man with a Rolex is basically saying "Hey look here, I'm freakin' rich", while a man with that monstrosity is just saying "I'm a douchebag with a ridiculous-looking watch".

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#34
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4-pounds is about 1.8kg, the weight of most notebooks. I think you have your weights all mixed up. In comparison, the Samsung S4 weighs 130 grams, iPhone 5 is 112 grams. I wouldn't expect this to weigh more than 100 grams. In comparison, a Rolex Sea Dweller weighs 220 grams ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex_Sea_Dweller ). For me this would be useful when going to the gym, I could listen to music, see urgent emails…

As I said, I was joking. Maybe its really light, but that doesn't take away the fact that it' s a giant piece of hardware that shouldn't even exist. It's a smartphone that couldn't be shrunken enough to actually achieve some sort of purpose, it's like a monument to the limits of current technology.

Yeah, sorry, cross post with everyone else. Still, I think it is a valid gadget, it won't be for everyone, but useful for some.

It's not that much different from using the iPod Nano as a watch - http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/ipod-nano-review-as-a-wat...

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#35
post #4

prediction 1: we will soon see smartwatches incorporate biometric measurement full force. After all unlike a mobile phone, a smartwatch is (typically) always attached to your body, right up against the skin. prediction 2: once prediction 1 starts to happen, and people realize that (1) there is a device measuring physiological signals from their body, (2) it also has a gps tracker, (3) it is also connected to "the clo…

> once prediction 1 starts to happen, (...) there will be...

...people that will want to use it to track their kids

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#36
Interesting, not sure the battery life of this watch will sound appealing to the masses.

As a side note, this presentation is one of the most amazing displays of poor taste I have ever seen. You have to give them kudos for improving on the stage decoration of last year (remember the red curtains horror?) - now the music, the acting, and the outfit of the presenters still sound out of this world to me.

PS: for the golden trophy of inelegance, I'm still unsettled between the plastic glasses and the grey smoking!

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#37
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said, I was joking. Maybe its really light, but that doesn't take away the fact that it' s a giant piece of hardware that shouldn't even exist. It's a smartphone that couldn't be shrunken enough to actually achieve some sort of purpose, it's like a monument to the limits of current technology.

Yeah, sorry, cross post with everyone else. Still, I think it is a valid gadget, it won't be for everyone, but useful for some. It's not that much different from using the iPod Nano as a watch - http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/ipod-nano-review-as-a-wat...

Yeah, It's not at all different, but I was the first to say that using an iPod nano as a watch was a stupid idea. I can understand testing the water with some prototype like Google Glass (those just look ridiculous, we're several iterations from something approaching a real product) but it's a stretch to go from prototype to mass product.

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#38
post #4

prediction 1: we will soon see smartwatches incorporate biometric measurement full force. After all unlike a mobile phone, a smartwatch is (typically) always attached to your body, right up against the skin. prediction 2: once prediction 1 starts to happen, and people realize that (1) there is a device measuring physiological signals from their body, (2) it also has a gps tracker, (3) it is also connected to "the clo…

I would love prediction 1 to come true and already have a Pebble. To be honest though, I couldn't care less about the privacy "problem" of having a cloud-connected wearable on you.

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#39

The Gear does not feel like a complete gimmick - not having to take out your (big screen) SmartPhone out for emails/texts/pics/shares etc. is kinda useful to the mainstream people. But the problems are Price, Performance(Battery life, responsivness) and Limitations that make it work only with Samsung phones. For those reasons I think the Gen 1 of the Gear will flop. And who knows what kind of apps Samsung is running…

Keep in mind that not only is it limited to Samsung devices, but it doesn't even support their entire range of currently-sold devices. No launch support for the Galaxy S4, their flagship device and the one that they sell the most. No promised support for their brand-new Galaxy Mega 6.3. No support for any of their other devices that are still on the shelf being sold even today...

Re: Samsung unveils Galaxy Gear smartwatch with built-in camera, 70 apps

#40
post #3

And so the 'production' smartwatch era begins. Notionally kicked off by the InPulse and iPod Nano wrist straps, "proven" by the Pebble kickstarter, now in jumps Samsung and if rumors are to be believed Apple and possibly Google. It is a testament to the new sensibility that something like this can be worn in public and be "cool." I had a CASIO Data bank watch that was really cool but man the nerd-griefing I got if I…

>It is a testament to the new sensibility that something like this can be worn in public and be "cool."

Or, everyone's hedging their bets. Better to be on the train platform than off it if the train actually comes.

Post reply on HN