The Samsung Galaxy Gear and Note 3 Review - Shelly Palmer

When Samsung first showed off the Galaxy Gear smartwatch quotSamsung Unpackedquot last month the possibilities that the company39s first smartwatch held were endless The Galaxy Gear featured a tiny 16inch full color screen along with a 19 megapixel camera a speaker two microphones and a suite of dedicated apps But do the possibilities stack up to realityThe Future is in Wearables This past week my friends at ATampampT sent me a Galaxy Gear to test First of all it pairs with a smartphoneamp8230 as long as you have the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and we39ll get to that phone later Samsung has promised that interaction with the Galaxy S4 is coming soon with other devices following in the futureYou can do lots of things on Galaxy Gear such as notifications from the Note and there are Galaxy Gear adapted screens for many of your favorite apps To receive a call or doing almost anything with respect to the phone you don39t have to take the phone out of your pocket amp8211 convenience is where the Galaxy Gear shines Having a phone with a killer 57inch screen is awesomeamp8230 unless you have to keep pulling it out of your pocket to check it The Galaxy Gear eliminates most of that needWith the Galaxy Gear you can just go and find your apps you can do a voice memo and you can look at your gallery of pictures The Galaxy Gear has nice big icons as you can tell from the photo above You can control all of your phone39s media and even change the settings for both your watch and your phone through the GearThe part that people like the most about the watch is the builtin camera It39s as easy to use as tapping the screen to take a picture It makes a pretty loud camera sound which is okay because I can imagine people walking around going taptaptaptaptap and secretly taking pictures of everyone they see The camera noise keeps users relatively honestIs the Galaxy Gear awesome Yes amp8230 but again you have to also have the Galaxy Note III Today the device is useless with any other phone If you have another Android device and you39re looking for a smartwatch to use now Sony just launched its Smartwatch 2 and it39s priced 100 less than the Galaxy Gear I haven39t tested it but it39ll give you interactivity with your nonNote 3 Android phoneNote 3 Batman to the Galaxy Gear39s RobinIn addition to getting to try out the Galaxy Gear I got to test Galaxy Note 3 units from both Verizon and ATampampT Available in black and white they39re slightly different the phones have different software available from each carrier Some people like the Verizon software others like the ATampampT software It39s all Android 43 which is the latest build of Android for now But the most remarkable aspect of the phone is its screen sizeI39ve talked before about how my Samsung Galaxy S439s screen dwarfs the screen of the iPhone 5 and 5s But check out what the Note 3 does to the S4 Look at the size of the screen differential It39s not even closeEven though my Samsung S4 is still considered huge on a screensize basis it39s nowhere near the size of this The Samsung Note 3 is a big device If you think that39s bad take a look at how tiny the Galaxy Note III makes the iPhone 5 lookThe Note 3 raises two important questions First do you need to have a tablet if you39ve got a phone the size of the Note 3 That question is answered very very simply No you don39tAnd that plays into the second question Is it too big I don39t think it39s too big for a whole bunch of reasons Most importantly the web experience on a device this size is fantastic Also here39s my Kindle app running on the Note 3This is absolutely big enough to read in a very comfortable way I can leave the type alone amp8211 I don39t have to make the type really large As Fox 539s Kerry Drew pointed out when I showed off these gadgets on Good Day Wake Up last week the Note 3 is almost the size of a book It39s just a tad smaller than the size of a pocket bookYour enjoyment of the Note 3 comes down to how willing you are to carry around a phone this size If you39re like me and carry your phone around in your breast pocket most of the time it fits perfectly and isn39t a burden The fun part of carrying it like that the phone becomes a pocket square for the 21st CenturyWhen I carry the Note 3 in my jeans I don39t mind it But if I39m carrying it while wearing dress pants it39s a bit of a nuisance amp8211 it39s banging around a lotThere are many benefits to a phone this size You39ll probably use a headset with it Side note I use a wired headset for almost all the calls I make I don39t do that because I don39t like talking on the phone but because I don39t want to walk around holding the phone up to my ear for half an hour while on a conference call If you39re going to use a headset it doesn39t matter how big this phone isMost importantly if you39re going to use a device like the Galaxy Gear where all the notifications and most important stuff are going to happen on your wrist the Note 3 can stay in your pocket or your briefcase or your purse until you have to take it out and use that sized screenThe StylusI could write another article on the benefits and features of the stylus that comes with the Note 3 It is awesome From handwriting recognition to drawing to just poking around on the Note 3 there is something wonderful about having an 21st century version of a centuries old writing instrumentFinal Thoughts What Will These Devices ReplaceThese two products from Samsung demonstrate two major trends in tech today1 We have more ways to interact with our devices than ever before and2 Phones are getting bigger than everWith each device priced at 299 neither is a device that many people can go out and buy on a whim But the Note 3 is remarkable in that it effectively replaces two devices for the price of one I haven39t been shy about how muchI love Apple39s iPad mini But am I carrying a 7quot tablet when I have a 57quot phone in my pocket Absolutely not A phone like the Note 3 with its massive screen size renders the smaller form factor tablets obsolete It gives you everything you want and need out of a phone as well as the bigger screen benefits you39d normally get from a tabletThe Galaxy Gear on the other hand is more of a luxury item than anything else right now Like I said it can currently only pair with the Note 3 which means it39s pointless for most people right now As it begins to add connectivity with other devices it39ll become more relevant But its limited pairing coupled with its 299 price point makes the Galaxy Gear a nicebutdefinitelynotneeded gadgetShelly Palmer is Fox 5 New York39s Onair Tech Expert WNYWTV and the host of Fox Television39s monthly show Shelly Palmer Digital Living He also hosts United Stations Radio Network39s Shelly Palmer Digital Living Daily a daily syndicated radio report that features insightful commentary and a unique insiders take on the biggest stories in technology media and entertainment He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC an industryleading advisory and business development firm and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences the organization that bestows the coveted Emmyamp174 Awards Palmer is the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2nd Edition York House Press 2008 the seminal book about the technological economic and sociological forces that are changing everything Overcoming The Digital Divide How to use Social Media and Digital Tools to Reinvent Yourself and Your Career York House Press 2011 and Digital Wisdom Thought Leadership for a Connected World York House Press 2013 For more information visit shellypalmercomRead all Shelly39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Shelly Palmer ReportCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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