MANCHESTER: The dream of a fully standalone wrist gadget that can make phone calls, stay connected and even help you be sounds good, at least on paper. That’s starting to change. A few bold watches are trying to break away and be their own devices, with their own phone service to boot.
The Samsung Gear S is one of those. This is Samsung’s sixth smartwatch in a little over a year, but it has one big difference: it gets its own cell service and data. It even has its own SIM-card slot. It’s a watch that’s also a phone. The Gear S is one of Samsung’s best watches to this point, though it’s still just big on many wrists. And more competition, including the Apple Watch, is fast approaching.
Contacts can sync automatically if you set it up in the Gear’s Samsung app, or you can finger-dial from the touchscreen, which isn’t easy. It made me want to reach for a regular phone. The Samsung Gear S has a big, bright curved display, decent battery life, comes with its own bonus battery pack and can stay connected away from a phone with its own 3G data or Wi-Fi. It’s attractive, albeit rather large. It’s a complete on-wrist phone.
With its integrated cellular connectivity, the Gear S is a much more independent smartwatch compared with what’s currently on the market. It doesn’t need to rely on your phone to pull down social media updates or email notifications. You can even make phone calls from the watch, though it won’t use the same number as your regular smartphone.
