Samsung Gear S3 Review

Samsung Gear S3 Review: The King of Smartwatches

I really wanted to have a smartwatch. Sadly, it's the battery life and the price point were the reasons why I still don't have one. I wanted the Samsung Gear S2 before for the style and looks of the watch. Sadly though it is plastic plus the watch strap and the watch ring for the one that I wanted is on a price point that I am hesitant to buy. A year after, here comes the Gear S3 which I'd call the flagship of Smartwatches.

Size and Awesome Display

Display is a small AMOLED of awesomeness. This is the best display in a smartwatch I have ever seen. It’s 360x360 circular display and has corning Gorilla Glass SR+ which is made specifically for wearables for protection and better sunlight viewing. Gear S3's rotating bezel is back on its 3rd iteration and this for me is the best way to navigate any device this small. When I say small device that doesn’t mean that the device is small for its kind. The watch is big and if you wear long sleeves for work, then this will have a big hump on your cuffs. The size of the Gear S3 Frontier and Classic are both the same as the size of a regular Fossil watch just a bit larger. I have a thin wrists but this watch looks gorgeous on my boney wrist. The free strap have one for smaller and bigger wrist so don’t worry. Mine got bundled with 2 free straps which fit good on my wrist as well.

Unlike the Gear S2 series. Both versions of Gear S3 have quick swap watch straps. Those size 22 quick swap can be used on your Gear S3. So I mentioned about the 2 versions of Gear S3 might as well tell the difference here. If you prefer the business type form factor then you might opt to the Gear S3 Classic. While the Gear S3 Frontier version is for the traveler and sporty type design. Both have the same spec but only the Frontier edition has LTE for now and is carrier exclusive and is available only to some regions. I got mine here in the Philippines and no news for our local carriers if they are going to offer a plan bundled with the gorgeous watch. Anyway, I got the Frontier version because it looks way cooler plus I already have a watch that looks like the classic one.

A Powerful Watch

I remember the Samsung Galaxy S2 before having dual core plus 512MB of RAM. Well, imagine the CPU for phones is powering you mobile phone, a bit overkill BUT smartwatch need that buff for it to run smooth as butter. There are lots of smartwatches out there and it fails to keep up with the demand, specially if there are tons of incoming notifications. Never did I experience stuttering on my Gear S3. The Gear S3 BTW is powered by EXYNOS 7270 Dual core 1.0GHZ, 768MB RAM, 4GB storage, Heart Rate Sensor, GPS and 380mah battery. It already has all the features . You can add music and photo on the device which you can load on the 4GB onboard memory. The 380mah on the other hand promises 3-4days battery life. Having tested for about a month, mine lasted only 2 days due because I turned on the always on display plus consistent heart rate checking. 

Robust features BUT lack the apps

You can receive notifications from applications  on your phone, make phone calls, play games, change watch faces, see the weather, look at your calendar, create reminders, set your alarm, set reminders, stopwatch, world time, play music,  your emails, your messages,  download applications, has thousands of watch faces available, then track your health with S health app. It can already do a lot of things, but sadly, if your thinking that your Android apps have companion apps for your watch then, you'll be sad to hear that there were only few Devs that supported the device. I don't know if it's because the Gear S3 uses Tizen for its OS that caused this draught for Apps. Might be good to have your favorite fitness tracker have a companion app for S3. But……. Anyway, the watch can already do most task anyway. It's still a great watch even though there's a shortage of applications.

My Experience

So how do I use the watch? Well, I enjoy changing the watch face depending on my clothing, I tend to change the straps as well to fit the colors of my clothes for the day. After buying the watch, It made me not look on my phone always since when I receive a notification, I look at it on the watch and it saves me time from unlocking my device then checking out what the message is all about. I charge my device not on a fast charger though it takes 2 hours for a full charge but if you have a quick charger, it says it can charge the device faster if you use the fast charger one.

One of the features I enjoyed is the always on functionality. The watch can survive 2 days even on turned on. Plus you can always see the design of your watch. Just like a traditional one.

I enjoyed looking at the notifications on my watch and navigating the watch using the rotating bezel and that is an experience that's exclusive to this smart watch. Nothing beats a physical touch.

The watch tells me if I am not moving after an hour and for sure it will detect If I am asleep as well. I haven't tried wearing it while asleep though as I don't want to scratch the device. I turned on automatic health tracking and the watch checks my heart beat from time to time and I learned that I don't have a healthy or normal heart rate as it is above the average heart beat for a resting human. I can check the pedometer stats and heart beat on the S health app as it automatically syncs data to my phone.

The watch faces are gorgeous, there's a watch store with tons of watch faces you can download. Anything from replicas and those with really great functionality.

Its cool taking phone calls on your watch from time to time for some quick "where are you?" moments. 

Wrap up

I have waited long to have a smartwatch and with the experience I have with the Gear S3. I must say that the wait is worth it. This device has all the functionality, power and the battery life that will satisfy your thirst for wearable technology. This is indeed the King of smartwatches. Kudos to Samsung.

The Gear S3 is now available in the Philippines for P16K+.   

Specs:

Dimension:

46x49x12.9T(63g) Frontier

46x49x12.9T(59g) Classic

Display:

1.3""(33mm)

360x360 Full Color Amoled

Corning Gorilla Glass SR+

OS

Tizen Based Wearable OS 2.3.2

Processor

Exynos 7270, Dual core 1.0GHZ

Memory

768GB RAM 4GB Memory 

Sensor

Accelerometer, Gyro,

Barometer,

HRM, Ambient Light

Battery

380mah

Wireless Charging

Misc:

Water and Dust Resistant

Mic, SPK, Linear Motor

Pros

Great build quality

Robust Features

Great battery life

Great display

Powerful Processor

Built in GPS

Always on Feature

Cons

Lack of fitness Apps

Rating 4.5/5