Gadgetory

Samsung's own take on Android wear looks pretty familiar but brings a couple of different aspects to this new SmartWatch ecosystem hey it's Josh freghar from Android authority and this is the Samsung gear live as we are dealing with another Android wear device and I already took a look at the software in my LG G watch review this and any following Android wear videos are going to basically be follow ups on the software itself so we're going to just go ahead and jump into the hardware as it does bear the gear name this device looks like the most recent offerings from Samsung in the SmartWatch game the gear 2 and the gear neo the watch face looks quite bold with its metallic lining around a large bezel that houses the screen you get curves on the top and bottom of the unit as the screen quite literally rises up to meet your tabs and presses on the side is one lone button that currently can only be used to wake the device or access the settings via a hold and if you move to the bottom of the unit you'll notice how it's curved which is different from the flat back of the G watch it allows it to more or less contour to the shape of a wrist the charging pins and the heart rate monitor are located on the back as well whereas you might be used to having flat and otherwise very malleable watch bands on other offerings the gear life has one that is perpetually curved but luckily is easy to put on taking a page out of the gear fits book the watch is easily donned via a couple pins that poke into the secure holes on the other side and when you have the actual SmartWatch on it actually feels quite comfortable despite the somewhat rigid Flair of the gear live it sits very nicely on the wrist and can comfortably become a fixture of your arm one quick note about replacing the watch band on the gear live while it is possible I don't imagine that it's something that you would want to do too often because this band is made specifically for the shape that this watch is supposed to have and hug around your wrist I have been seeing some pictures online and on various forums and on reddit of people that have replaced it with otherwise curved bands like metal ones that use a clasp system now Samsung couldn't help but put their AMOLED display on this Smart Watch outfitting the gear live with a 1.6 3-inch 320 by 320 resolution screen while results is quite the pleasing display experience with the AMOLED colors really making the con trust this screen sport a a higher-resolution also allows for a bit more sharpness all around which is easily noticed when looking at icons or otherwise busy notification cards touch sensitivity is about as good as it should be on this wearable with no problems tapping and swiping whatsoever daylight viewing is still difficult as was expected but moving away from the direct rays of the Sun still brings pretty serviceable vision the bottom line is the display here is quite enjoyable on the gear life and it feels almost as if Samsung already knew the right combination of specs for the size that this ecosystem calls for I also didn't have any problems with performance as the gear live comes with a Snapdragon 400 and half a gigabyte of RAM it's worth mentioning again that Android wear at its core is not particularly intensive and thus retains a good speed throughout even with the many applications that I've installed on here in the past week or so I have not noticed any problems running notifications running specific apps or even when I'm playing some games the processing package also has to run a couple different offerings for the gear life specifically the first of which is the heart rate monitor I already have a pretty set opinion on Samsung's general heart rate monitors so aside from the gear fit the HRMS on Samsung devices typically aren't made for serious fitness enthusiasts and the gear live unfortunately is no exception I did use it a couple times on here just out of the sake of novelty and out of curiosity really but aside from that unless google fit provides a coaching apparatus of some sort the heart rate monitor and the gear live will announce a little more than a tool that will collect dust the 300 million power battery of the gear live is a little smaller than the one found in the LG G watch and the real world performance unfortunately reflects that I struggle to get two days out of the gear live even when muting notifications when I needed to and letting the screen go completely off when idle charging time also didn't do much justice as it took around two hours for a full charge and speaking of charging I'm still not a fan of the charging modules that Samsung puts with their watches not only is it a small piece of plastic that could easily get lost it has to snap onto the back of the watch charging is thus a bit of a chore and highly unflattering to what is otherwise an actually pretty good looking device not to mention all the users out there that have been reporting that their Chargers have broken quite easily and finally as will be a motif for all of these smartwatches these feet is our thankfully protected by an IP certified body and finally in software we revisit Android wear as I mentioned earlier an in-depth look at this ecosystem was already had in my LG G watch review and other videos available but here's the gist Android wear is a great way of getting your notifications and in most cases manipulating them without having to take out your phone despite some fundamental issues like not being able to call back cards that you've dismissed it gets the job done as long as you're consistent with what you have to do each time you get your notification voice recognition works a treat as I only have to repeat myself once in a while to the watch but it allows for not only any general wear command but also for the dictation of messages and texts which is great when it's working smoothly adding applications on top of this core functionality is what will help make Android wear grow and we've already seen quite a few additions in the Play Store replaceable watch faces have been piling up as well as new apps for further functionality and control music boss thankfully has found its way to Android wear and provides a way to start your music and media where there previously was none games like 2048 and tic-tac-toe have made it onto here as well providing some novelty and fun when used as a raw notification engine Android wearables are a wonderful alternative to actually taking out your phone to check it there are some aha moments when you look at the deeper functionality and they are sprinkled throughout but otherwise Android wear has yet to really come into its own and we're really looking forward to the day that it does the Samsung gear live is available for the price of 199 making it a little cheaper than the current alternative the LG G watch and though the G watch provides a much more minimalistic design it does benefit from that simplicity by being somewhat more customizable with its flat watch band it doesn't provide much else than a screen that you strap on to your wrist making the gear live and actually pretty good value considering that on paper it does offer a little bit more and that's the rub thus far with the Android wear it's an operating system made to be used on a plethora of devices and will ultimately feel the same no matter which one you pick up so manufacturers can keep things really simple and just provide a screen for Android wear to live on or they can try to add a little bit more to the general experience via the hardware Samsung did the latter providing a heartrate monitor in body that is a little bit more than just a black slab is that enough to put Android wear over the top for people that are still on the fence probably not the heart rate monitor currently doesn't provide much value and though it's screen is a pleasure to look at it's really only a modicum better than the alternative what Samsung has done with the design of the gear live just shows how much longer they've been in the SmartWatch game with their gear series but the onus is on Google and the community of developers to make Android wear really blue and until it does you can choose Samsung's flavor of Android wear if it's design language and screen maybe not so much the heart rate monitor truly speak to you as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the Samsung gear live compared to the LG G watch it does provide a little bit more in terms of design its screen and yes it does have that heart rate monitor but in the end Android wear is meant to just be a tap swiping go type of operating system on a screen that lives on your wrist so if those extras really do appeal to you the Samsung gear life might be the one for you to choose we do still have the Moto 360 coming up so stay tuned for that and more coverage of Android wear whether it's on this the Moto 360 or the LG G watch we do have a couple more things coming in the pipeline for Android wear so keep it tuned here drop us some likes on our videos and to subscribe to our channel hit that button down below after that make sure you head on over to android authority comm because we are your source for all things Android