Android Phones

[deanb]

The Sidebar? As in multiple windows? That's a feature that came with Jellybean, so one I've not really used. I've got a Note article for my personal blog waiting in the wings since a few folks have asked me about it. Could do one.

 

As for the Gear, it's like £190, so certainly more than $100. And it works with most Samsung phones, hence my confusion of them artificially associating it with the Note III. If the size of the Note bothered people, it wouldn't be the third Note, and on top of that folks with S3 n S4, the more common Galaxy phones, might not be aware it's built for thier phones.

[Mal]

Geez, $300 is nothing to sneeze at but $100 with a plan seems fair. Thus I wonder if carriers will do a subsidized price, say with a bundle when you get a new plan or upgrade. If I recall correctly, my Note 2 was $200 or $300 ($700 MSRP), so hopefully $300-$400 for the pair (Note 3 and Gear). With other phones, it would be cheaper (As a bundle).

 

The size problem (Though the Note 3 being slightly bigger is eh-ish but workable) is not what draws me to the Gear but mainly convenience. As I've said, I wear a watch already so it would be nice to be able to read email titles, texts and general stuff without pulling out my phone. I am also in the market for a nice watch so if the Gear can fill the role, then hello Gear. I just have to change up my watch handling habits... I can see a replacement being $100 as well. With durability mentioned, I wonder how it can handle water from hand washing and rain. Hell, sweat may be an issue as well*.

 

As go for it Dean.

 

* As a side note, it seems like I've triggered the submerging sticker in my Note 2... from being hot and bothered? From fog? IDK.

Edited September 6, 2013 by MaliciousH

[Thursday Next]

Problem I have with Notes is that they use pens and I am sinister. Means that little things like the menus and stuff tend to be aligned for right handedness. Also, I totally get pairing your biggest phone with the smart watch.

 

It's the third Note, but lots of people might have been holding off due to size issues. The gear removes that barrier to entry (at a significant cost).

[deanb]

@Mal: Wait, with the price were you asking about the phone or the watch? It's a watch, so I doubt you can get it on contract. And the Note 3 itself is likely in the £450+ range

And if you're wanting a smart watch there's others on the market. Sony have one that's semi-universal and fair bit cheaper.

 

@Thirsday: I assume it's still in the Note 2 and Note 3, would be weird to remove it, but it asks you on start-up if you're left or right handed, and many of the built in stuff Samsung have tweaked, like dialing pad, calculator etc, can change the handedness on the fly.

 

You tap the arrow and it scoots to the left.

 

As for holding out due to size...Galaxy range goes from measly 3.5" through to 5.7" with plenty of increments in-between. The main reason you get the Note is for the size, so if the size is an issue there's other phones.

[Thursday Next]

Did not know that. Maybe they should add a lefty or two into the ads.

 

As for size. I, for example would be happy with a Note sized device for emailing, watching videos and playing games. But for general phoney things like checking the time, texting, and checking emails, tweets and other notifications a smaller device would be preferable. A Note III + Gear bundle would be tempting.

[Mal]

@Mal: Wait, with the price were you asking about the phone or the watch? It's a watch, so I doubt you can get it on contract. And the Note 3 itself is likely in the £450+ range

And if you're wanting a smart watch there's others on the market. Sony have one that's semi-universal and fair bit cheaper.

I was asking about the Gear but the price is out there. For the Note 3, I think it should hold at the £450 ($700) mark. On Sony's Smartwatch 2, it is "only" about $50 more than the Gear. I feel at that price difference, the Gear kind of wins out when considering just how in its infancy the smartwatch market is right now*. With the Note 3 (and other popular Android devices like the S4) and the Gear both coming from Samsung kind of make me feel that they will grow with each other thus inspire a bit more confidence.

 

*With the smartwatch being a fairly new concept (at least in its current form), it kind of needs a push (as a product and a concept). A bundle just seems to make sense. As it stands, it looks like I'll be dishing out $500 (Contract priced $200 Note 3 and MSRP $300 Gear), maybe add another $100 for the Note 3 for $600. I feel a rebate program of sort for compatible Galaxy phones would do a good deal of good. It would help push out the Gear to consumers on the fence. I know I am on the fence. As of right now, the smartwatch concept seems as alien to me as smartphones were to me a while back. The first smartwatch that I've heard of was the iWatch which I think should be revealed sometime next week.

 

Honestly, if Apple cannot do it then I don't think anybody can but a combined ripple from Apple and the Android world would help.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

The Sidebar? As in multiple windows? That's a feature that came with Jellybean, so one I've not really used.

 

 

 

Multi-tasking is why I swear by Nexus. Having an entire button for it is amazing.

[deanb]

@TN: See I'd say it's on two extremes there. Gear would be far too small to read emails and other messages from. And certainly far too silly to take calls on. Though I think smart watch market in a "cram smartphone in watch" capacity is a silly and forced market. It's best suited for fitness features and maybe alarms n that's about it.

 

@mal: I need to double check but last I saw the Gear was most expensive, with Pebble cheapest then Sony in the middle. Gear is already on the high end as is.

 

 

@FDS: Pretty sure, unless something has changed in AOSP with launch of Nexus 7 2013 it's a TouchWiz exclusive feature on JB device...

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Wait am I drunk and just reading that wrong? Didn't you call it a  JB feature?

[deanb]

It came with JellyBean for the Note, which is what were were talking about.
 

Maybe I haven't realized the sidebar potential... when I first saw it I thought it was in the way.

The Sidebar? As in multiple windows? That's a feature that came with Jellybean, so one I've not really used.

The Note, GT-N7000, launched with Gingerbread, then updated to ICS (which is what mine updated to as soon as I got it). The Jellybean update took a while to come, with the launch of the Note 2. And that's what brought with it the Multi-Window feature:

 

The Galaxy S3, S4 and Note 10.1 also feature it.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Oh okay. Yeah. I meant I was literally drunk. I woke up early after being out late.

[Thursday Next]

@TN: See I'd say it's on two extremes there. Gear would be far too small to read emails and other messages from. And certainly far too silly to take calls on. Though I think smart watch market in a "cram smartphone in watch" capacity is a silly and forced market. It's best suited for fitness features and maybe alarms n that's about it.

 

@mal: I need to double check but last I saw the Gear was most expensive, with Pebble cheapest then Sony in the middle. Gear is already on the high end as is.

 

 

@FDS: Pretty sure, unless something has changed in AOSP with launch of Nexus 7 2013 it's a TouchWiz exclusive feature on JB device...

 

Checking emails, not reading them. If I see something from say Amazon, that is not a dispatch notification I can happily delete it and not waste time taking out my phone to see that it is a pointless marketing email. The watch enables me to know when I need my hugemungous phone and when I can safely dismiss such notifications.

[Mal]

A quick rumble will cue you to check your watch If you want the email you can just leave it or swipe it one way to mark it as "read". Swipe the other way to delete it. That would be pretty nice. When it comes to the Gear and other smart watches, its going for the small things.

 

I personally could see myself using it in the car to skip to the next track or even switch to a new playlist. Answering phone calls would be pretty nice as well. Note, I use the auxillary cable to do all these things. I hate Bluetooth headsets. They never fit quite right with my glasses on and plus, I like to have full hearing in my ear.

 

Again, it is the small things. Now the question of if it is worth $300... maybe? If I'm looking for a nice watch, might as well make it a smart watch.

 

Edit: Also I should invest in a microSD card or... salvage my old one from my Epic. Only when swapping phones did I realize that I didn't have one.

Edited September 9, 2013 by MaliciousH

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

 

@TN: See I'd say it's on two extremes there. Gear would be far too small to read emails and other messages from. And certainly far too silly to take calls on. Though I think smart watch market in a "cram smartphone in watch" capacity is a silly and forced market. It's best suited for fitness features and maybe alarms n that's about it.

 

@mal: I need to double check but last I saw the Gear was most expensive, with Pebble cheapest then Sony in the middle. Gear is already on the high end as is.

 

 

@FDS: Pretty sure, unless something has changed in AOSP with launch of Nexus 7 2013 it's a TouchWiz exclusive feature on JB device...

 

Checking emails, not reading them. If I see something from say Amazon, that is not a dispatch notification I can happily delete it and not waste time taking out my phone to see that it is a pointless marketing email. The watch enables me to know when I need my hugemungous phone and when I can safely dismiss such notifications.

 

 

Is it really big deal for the marketing email though? If you use Kaiten mail instead of Gmail you can mark as read right from the notification bar. On the Moto X you can see that notification and deal with it really fast, too. Though I also use Unroll.me to deal with shit like that so I have my email on lock pretty well.

[Thursday Next]

 

 

@TN: See I'd say it's on two extremes there. Gear would be far too small to read emails and other messages from. And certainly far too silly to take calls on. Though I think smart watch market in a "cram smartphone in watch" capacity is a silly and forced market. It's best suited for fitness features and maybe alarms n that's about it.

 

@mal: I need to double check but last I saw the Gear was most expensive, with Pebble cheapest then Sony in the middle. Gear is already on the high end as is.

 

 

@FDS: Pretty sure, unless something has changed in AOSP with launch of Nexus 7 2013 it's a TouchWiz exclusive feature on JB device...

 

Checking emails, not reading them. If I see something from say Amazon, that is not a dispatch notification I can happily delete it and not waste time taking out my phone to see that it is a pointless marketing email. The watch enables me to know when I need my hugemungous phone and when I can safely dismiss such notifications.

 

 

Is it really big deal for the marketing email though? If you use Kaiten mail instead of Gmail you can mark as read right from the notification bar. On the Moto X you can see that notification and deal with it really fast, too. Though I also use Unroll.me to deal with shit like that so I have my email on lock pretty well.

 

 

What I mean is, I can check the watch, see the subject / from and decide whether I want to take time out to read and respond to the message, or just delete it. If it's deletable, the phone never leaves my pocket, if it's important then I get the phone out. It might be a notification from Amazon saying "Your package has shipped" I'd dismiss but not delete that message. It might be from my friend asking me to take a look at his CV in which case I'll need the phone, it might be from my Dad forwarding on some stupid joke that I can just delete. It adds another layer of filtering beyond the notification tone / vibration.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

It might be a notification from Amazon saying "Your package has shipped" I'd dismiss but not delete that message.

 

 

This is showing up in Google Now anyways. Either way it sounds like what I'm pulling out my phone for but not unlocking my phone for.

[Thursday Next]

Well yes, but if I can not pull out my phone, so much the better. That convenience has a value to me. Not sure that it is as high a value as Samsung put on it.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Well when you're not buying a Galaxy Note pulling your phone isn't an arduous task. I'm more concerned with the number of steps. Google Now and using an email client like Kaiten Mail cuts down steps.

[Thursday Next]

Then we clearly have different priorities. I'm happy with more easier steps. You prefer fewer more cumbersome steps. Luckily there are devices for each of us within the Android ecosystem.

[Vecha]

 

 

http://www.android.com/kitkat/ Being a while coming. Also gotta say I'm not a fan of these scrolly sites that are becoming more n more common.

 

Who the hell eats KitKats so wrong?

 

I eat it like that sometimes.

 

Especially if I'm rushed and don't feel like taking a break.

 

Har har

Edited September 12, 2013 by Vecha

[Thursday Next]

You are sick. Sick and wrong.

[deanb]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/10/04/samsung-galaxy-gear-review-what-am-i-supposed-to-do-with-this/

 

Since a fair few of you seemed interested in the Gear, here's a review.

[Mister Jack]

Ugh, I hate the new update that AT&T pushed to my Galaxy SIII.  Not only does it change a bunch of the menus, thus forcing me to relearn how to navigate my phone, but it also ruined the LED notifications for me.  It used to be that my phone would only light up when I had a voicemail or a text.  Now it lights up for EVERYTHING, including steam messages, and since I get a lot of steam messages this makes the indicator effectively worthless because now I can't tell at a glance if I have voicemail or not.  There's one other thing that is a minor detail but it still drives me nuts.  The clock on my lock screen used to be in the center and now it's shoved up into the upper left corner and I can't find any way to put it back.  That probably doesn't matter much to most people but I can't stand looking at it.

 

Has anyone else gotten this update?  If so, have you also found a way to at least fix the notifications so that they only apply to texts and voicemail? 

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

You probably got pushed to KitKat or something. I find it hilarious that you're pissed off you're on a newer, better, more up-to-date version of the software. In fact, if it is KitKat, it should run better.

[Mister Jack]

I already had kitkat.  This is something AT&T Samsung did, not Google.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Mister Jack