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  • ArthurG - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    tizen = fail
  • hpglow - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    On a device like this I fail to see how OS matters. In the phone sector I hope Tizen goes somewhere because Apple and Google aren't doing anything good anymore. You get the choice of overpriced mediocre or bloated software on devices that look cheap. Both tied to a shop designed to keep you on the platform. Then there is windows phone while ok has no apps.
  • Mattle - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    A slightly unfair comment on good making bloated software on devices that look cheap, my Nexus 7 (2013) has neither of those faults and has been excellent from day 1. I would agree with phones from third parties (Samsung etc.) though in that they are full of bloatware.
  • cwolf78 - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    Agreed. Also don't forget HTC. My One M8 is on the opposite end of the spectrum of cheap and bloated. Samsung is definitely among the worst when it comes those attributes.
  • jakebruno - Thursday, October 9, 2014 - link

    Another good watch from Samsung, but honestly the Samsung Gear 2 is still more usable it will probably still sell a lot more. /Jake from http://www.consumertop.com/best-wearable-tech-guid...
  • Murloc - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    you hope to see Tizen go somewhere but you complain about windows phone not having apps?
    It has 1/4 of the apps android has and it's been around for years. If that is not enough, then tizen will never work for you either.
  • fteoath64 - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    I agree!. While Tizen for smartphone suffers from the lack of an ecosystem, for a Smartwatch, it is a totally blank slate hence, it makes sense to use Tizen rather than Android Wear. The dependence on Google needs to be reduced in order to innovate further as tight control as Google started for Wear is just going to limit its usefulness. The design cue is nicer than the previous iterations and hopefully with better materials in future, such a watch would be a normal thing for many many people. Yeah, I meant titanium casing for the watch. A highly sensitive and accurate microphone is really needed for this watch to be useful. Keep innovating Sammy!.
  • SultanD - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link

    BS. It's an appropriate OS for the device. Although I am a fan of Android, I think Android wear is bloated, rushed and not ready for prime-time. My Tizen powered Gear 2 Neo just got put to bed with 78% battery power remaining after a full long day. It's fast and efficient. It gets the job done surprisingly well.
  • Kronicle - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link

    Want to make a bet? haha.... Tizen is actually now over 3yrs old and isn't just installed on Samsung's smartwatches. Samsung now isn't the only company involved in what was originally the Samsung Linux Project in 2008. It's went through several stages LiMo being one and then having Bada integrated with it. Samsung doesn't really own it or control it even. HTC and LG are just two of this Linux projects other phone and mobile makers. Then you have car makers, aircraft makers, navigation and mapping companies, home appliance makers, security firms, chip makers like Intel and many other Open Source members in other fields.

    Samsung alone has it running on appliances, cameras (including high end NX1 said to be the Best camera of 2014), original Gear upgraded, Gear 2 and Neo run it. Some navigation companies run it. It's being used on many devices or products without you knowing that's what it's running, either renamed or simply termed SLP instead of Tizen.

    It actually has several application layers/frameworks within it. Flora UI is questionable as being Open Source FOSS as Linux Foundation out licensed it separately from GPL, so some proprietary needs could be fulfilled via media requiring DRM installed. Ubuntu is the same on this subject, recently making agreements with content providers to have non-open source DRM code being available for install after the OS has been installed by users. Like FLASH and other 3rd party drivers are installed on Ubuntu's family of Linux distros. Reality is that Android is just as much Linux as Tizen and Ubuntu. All now have more complex licensing and even though Tizen is mostly open source, it's still running some software that's not completely Open Source!

    Tizen will be around for years and with it starting to be distributed in developing markets on cheaper phones, Tizen will be on many devices in a very short period of time. Just like Bada OS was the 3rd most popular OS to Android and iOS at it's peak and even ahead of Microsoft's WP8 in market share only distributed to a few markets. The object is to get the OS growing in numbers quickly. LG and HTC will also be installing it on smartphones in developing markets. It's the one newest mobile OS that can beat out both iOS and Android over the long haul. With an application framework built on W3C's .wgt Web Widget format within the HTML 5 standards. In fact Tizen has the most open cross platform application framework of any mobile OS and is set up better for the future than both iOS and Android put together. It's already killing them on benchmark performance testing, because it's base is built web widgets that can run on any HTML5 compliant browser. It's also set to run Mirage OS streamed Cloud based applications. Which are totally isolated from System OS itself. Security is therefore built in and that's why Tizen has a better future than iOS or Android. Application Framework is Open Source at it's very core and based on HTML 5 standards from the start!!!
  • Mugur - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    And I bet it's working only with certain Samsung Galaxy / Note smartphones (unless you want to use it as standalone with a SIM).
  • TechieBen - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    FP! And all because a watch with 2-day battery life is being overhyped. My Nokia dumbphone runs longer than that. And my droid does everything this bracelet puter is supposed to, and likely does it better.
  • ddriver - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    "My Nokia dumbphone runs longer than that" is kind of a lame argument, dumbphones tend to have the longest battery life. It's like saying "even F1 cars run faster than that"...
  • TechieBen - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    Ok, a trail watch like a Suunto or Garmin can last a month with GPS datalogging off, with it running they would still outlast this Samsung wristlet. My 2010 iPod Nano lasts three days with my playlist on eight or so hours a day.

    My droid or my wife's iphone would do all its non-wrist operations faster and better, and do more. So what's the point of yet another ARM on the same limb? Other than looking fashion-able, eh?
  • ddriver - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    And my toothbrush lasts a week on a single charge. But so what? Those devices do not compare, their electronics is different, their battery size and capacity is different. Compare it to other smartwatches, not to arbitrary devices.
  • TechieBen - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link

    As I've already said, a droid, an ipod, and even an old Nokia compares to this in most if not all non-wrist functions. You wish this 2-day runtime wonder won't be compared to other ARM'd and ecosystem'd personal digital gear which everyone uses to check time. Users don't segregate tech value that way except for maybe fashion. The internals aren't much of a secret so no "special sauce" for your special pleading.
  • zodiacfml - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    2 days? that would be impressive considering that no smartwatch lasts more than 24 hours. This probably due to OLED display which is basically more efficient that LCDs.
  • uhuznaa - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    It will definitely not run for 2 days with 3G and WiFi on... expect 8 hours then.
  • melgross - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    No. OLED's are not more efficient. That's a myth. Someday that might be true, but it isn't so far. If anything, they're somewhat less efficient. That's why phones that use them are oriented towards black backgrounds. If you have a face on this that's mostly white, as the pic on the right indicates will be available, your battery life will be shorter than if it's black.

    It's also a reason why OLEDs are less bright than LCD screens. LCDs use LEDs as backlight, and they are very efficient. One reason is that they can run hotter. OLEDs, by their very nature, being organic, can't take all that heat. An LEDs life depends on its temperature. So manufacturers must keep OLED temps down. That limits their brightness, and efficiency as well.

    It's slowly getting better. But LEDs are improving faster, as we can see with LED home lighting.
  • 3DoubleD - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    While I don't disagree that LEDs are more efficient than OLEDs (it's absolutely true), the potential power draw for a dark-faced watch style is far lower in the case of an OLED screen than could be reasonably achieved with any background on an LED screen.

    I also think it is unlikely many people would opt for a bright-faced watch style, I think it would be incredibly annoying and distracting if you watch glowed in the dark.

    Also, OLEDs provide the potential to deactivate most of the screen and only use a small section for increased power savings when the battery gets low. For example, you could simply have a small digital time display instead of a larger digital or analog watch display. This flexibility is completely lost with LED displays. Even worse, LED backlit LCD displays actually pull additional power with dark backgrounds vs bright backgrounds since the LCD elements must be powered to block the backlight.

    So, all-around, I think they made a sound engineering choice choosing OLED for a watch. Jury is still out on more versatile screens such as phones though, where multi-purpose applications play less to OLEDs strengths.
  • Daniel Egger - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    That's a common misconception: OLEDs are usually inferior to LCDs with LED backlighting with the difference being that LCD have constant power draw whenever the backlight is on while OLEDs only draw power for powered up pixels. With the white backdrop as pictured OLEDs are most certainly less effective.
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    My Gear 2 Neo lasts 2 days, can't quite make 3 though...

    Oh, and it is SO useful, try one and you'll see. I'll be wearing a smartwatch for the rest of my life.

    And as for this product? Shut up and take my money!
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    EDIT: I feel I must add, I have a black background enabled, and it is noticably better than having the coloured screen backgrounds set.
  • SultanD - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link

    Well said! My thoughts exactly.
  • jjj - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    It also has wifi and UV sensor it seems
  • rpmurray - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    Only a 2" screen? Call me when they have a 5", 2" is too small to do any serious work.
  • melgross - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    You're kidding, right? You expect to wear a watch with a 5" screen?
  • FunBunny2 - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    A big boned sort of guy?
  • rpmurray - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    I'm sure as soon as Samsung releases one it will be proclaimed superior to all those other smartwatches with smaller displays. They pioneered size over substance.
  • name99 - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link

    Of course he's kidding.
    It's sarcasm based on the never-ending "iPhone sux because the screen is too small" nonsense.
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    Samsung:

    Please add a micro usb port, so I don't have to use that bloody charge cradle thingy, that I've lost twice already! Or better yet, add inductive charging to it.

    Also, add a better speaker, if you can.

    Consider making it possible to use g
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    generic watch straps too.

    Thanks.

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