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Infographic: How the New Galaxy Gear Smartwatch Compares to Apple’s 2010 Smartwatch

samsung galaxy gearSamsung unveiled their entry into the smartwatch market yesterday, and after the initial elation wore off the news went over like a lead balloon.

A number of blogs are criticizing Samsung because the $300 Galaxy Gear isn’t nearly as smart as it could be, and one even went so far as to compare the Galaxy Gear to the 2010 iPod Nano.

According to ReadWrite, it has an unimpressive battery life, a weak speaker, and is closer to being a smartphone accessory than a smartwatch. The Verge says that the software leaves a lot to be desired:

First and foremost is the speed and intuitiveness of the user interface — or rather, the lack thereof. There’s a tangible lag to anything you do with the Gear, while the swipe gestures are hard to figure out and do different things depending on where you are in the menus.

But that’s not the most useful review so far.

TUAW also reported on this story, and they took quite the different approach. Rather than criticize the Samsung Galaxy Gear directly, they compared it to the 2010 iPod Nano. They even put together a handy little chart which showed the basic abilities of each device.

I embedded the chart at the end of the post, but the tl;dr version is that the iPod Nano is a better smartwatch than the Galaxy Gear. It costs half as much, is more capable, has better battery life, and doesn’t need to be paired to a smartphone.

Yes, I know that some will say that it’s normal for a smartwatch to be paired with a smartphone, but IMO any device that can’t operate independently is not smart enough to be called a smartwatch. It’s a BT-equipped smartphone accessory strapped to your wrist, not a smartwatch.

 

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Comments


Bob W September 5, 2013 um 3:13 pm

Based on past behavior I suspect that Samsung only released this for future legal battles. They can now blatantly copy whatever Apple releases and claim that they didn’t copy it because they released a SmartWatch before Apple did. It was Apple that copied them. ;^)

Nate Hoffelder September 5, 2013 um 3:14 pm

Given past Samsung-Apple interactions this is not the craziest idea ever.


Bara Minata September 6, 2013 um 3:07 am

Oh no! Samsung better have their own Mickey Mouse watch face ASAP or they are DOA!


WT (Tom) Sharpe February 27, 2014 um 10:08 am

Wondering if either has Bluetooth capabilities. Bluetooth earbuds would be a plus for listening to music.

Nate Hoffelder February 27, 2014 um 10:12 am

The galaxy Gear has BT, yes. I can’t speak for the iPod nano.


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