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Photo: Nutech / Floris Port

Read the full hands-on and see photos

how many people watch is interesting, remains to be seen: the Galaxy Gear works only with the Galaxy Note 3 and Note 10.1 when the watch comes on the market. Here come later, the Galaxy S3, S4 and Note II later on.

Gear is partly made of metal with a rubber band. That’s quite a difference from the high-end smartphones from Samsung, which are still made of plastic. The watch feels pretty solid, both the ‘clock’ as the band itself.

The watch is a clear set, no little computer with a strap on it. The strap is a 1.9-megapixel camera, in the buckle of the watch sitting speaker and microphone to perform.

nearly 75 grams, the gear is not light. You feel the watch clearly attached to your wrist, but never uncomfortable. The The watch is not really thin: there is a centimeter thick watch on your wrist when you wear the Gear

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Screen

1.63 inch screen Gear is certainly not against. With 320 x 320 pixels is the screen at a pixel density of 277 ppi. That delivers sharp images, especially if you keep the watch at the same distance from your face as normal watches.

goes here to do a super AMOLED screen, the type of screen that is in all recent high-end Samsung smartphones available. These phones are in full sun screen that is often difficult to read.

To save battery, the screen only when you angle the watch towards your face. That seemed reasonable to work, was already the gear during the test session with a cord fixed to the table. Use the Gear not, the screen very quickly again.

Software and control

The main control of the Gear is the touchscreen. That is less flexible than you are of a high-end smartphone used. The Gear has therefore only a 800 MHz processor.

Instead of the busy, brightly colored blocks of Android are the icons of the various functions on the Gear shaping tight black and white symbols with thin lines. The system is based on Android.

Gear has a Home button on the right side, the other two standard Android buttons are missing. From every app, go back down by wiping.

with Gear, however, several things will do, will have a lot of sweeping. Each app is screen and sweep is as said not exactly smooth. There’s an app overview with four apps per screen, but that is not easily accessible.

Camera and apps

Although the camera quick start, the pictures with 1.9-megapixel not phenomenal. You can not expect a huge amount of such cameras: you get the same result that you normally get in front of a camera phone

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Apps for Gear can be downloaded. only by Samsung For although the watch runs Android, apps need to be properly adjusted on the watch, which shows no keyboard and no standard has Android buttons.

apps, of which there are a reasonable number available are really adapted to the smaller screen. You can reading list Pocket include texts to be read, seen reading long texts is not the most ideal solution on a watch screen. And although far from the Gear is aimed specifically at athletes, those by the built-in pedometer and apps like RunKeeper and runtastic Pro could be off.

Extension

Yet the Galaxy Gear mainly an extension of Galaxy smartphones. He is connected via Bluetooth and when the watch is too far removed from the phone, it locked. As if to say: without which phone you have nothing to me

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Are they connected, you can, however, best to have some benefit to the Gear. There are notifications within that you can read. Directly on the watch And shows an example email too long, then the connected Galaxy device in your pocket already opened.

can also use the Gear, but that feels very strange. You have to keep your hand to your ear, preferably a bit like a bowl. The sound comes from a speaker in the tape inside your ear, talking you do in the buckle that is that way right next to your mouth. The sound quality is therefore not fantastic.

Preliminary conclusion

Gear is still especially nice toys. Samsung proves firstly that it is definitely solid, sturdy gadgets can make. But the value of the gear seems small. I’m really wondering how long the promised battery life of 24 hours out in practice. I half hour that I could try out the Gear seemed half empty battery to touch all.

And although the supply of apps for the watch at the start is not small, the question is how attractive it is for developers to also adjust the

In addition, the gear is only for use with Galaxy devices. And finally, the price of 299 euros a proper threshold. For although the watch on individual items is not at all bad, seems killer function is not yet available. The Gear is executed fine, but the attraction is missing now.

Read the full hands-on and see photos of the Galaxy Gear