Tech Review: Gear S3 Frontier smartwatch

So ever since this whole smartwatch craze started I’ve been a bit hesitant. At the beginning, it was only Apple that put out the main ones other than a few smaller companies putting out lets say, the pebble. With that, its an easy decision…No. Apple tends to overprice almost everything. Then the Android equivalents started popping up, at a decent price, which is when the inner minimalist started considering other factors. Am I going to break this smartwatch easily? Is this smartwatch going to bring extra functionality that I actually value? Do I need this or just want it?

These are the factors that I will be judging on today. Knowing Verizon has a 2-week return policy on contract items with only a $35 restocking fee, seemed like a good way to try this out for a bit for pretty cheap. Determining return on investment, ROI, value has been pretty important lately as I purchase anything anymore.

Am I going to break this smartwatch easily?

I cant tell you how many watches I’ve smacked against door frames or accidentally run underwater, or how many Otterbox I’ve cracked my way through so this is a major concern. Will I get the ROI before something happens to it? So, as my two week trial comes to a close, my proximity to door frames and various other hard surfaces has not changed. This watch has not only withstood all impact, but it also has not taken a single scratch. No chipped outer paint. Nothing. I’ve managed to keep it out of any water, although its rated at IP68, 6 for dust resistance and 8 for water resistance up to 1.5 m for 30 minutes. Onto the next!

Is this smartwatch going to bring extra functionality that I actually value?

App availability isnt real vast with its Tizen OS unless you are uber health conscious. I’m not there…yet. I’m more worried about what I can make this smartwatch do, than what it can do natively. I found a nice little remote capture app for my phones camera which is nice for hands-free functionality. It also has Spotify and a sleep monitoring app. Now this has pretty helpful in tracking times I wake up throughout the night. Other than these 3 apps, the others are pretty unnecessary.

Do I need this or just want it? An overview…

I save this question for last, as the answer is really dependent on how the previous ones are answered. I don’t necessarily need a watch as my phone does a good job of keeping track of that, and events. So with that being said, the value of it not breaking in normal wear and tear over the past week and a half, the vital apps I would use on a daily basis being available, it definitely proves its worth. Now one thing though, This smartwatch needs to be charged for at least 30 min each day. With normal out of the box use and my two extra apps, with or without using Spotify throughout the day. Samsung advertises it lasts 4 days, but I think we know better by now. With this and limitations of other apps, I’m rating this a 4(on the higher value of 4) of 5 stars. I do feel it is one of the best out there, especially if you are more health conscious. with all of its tracking features, it will be quite an asset.

Update 4/20/2018: I have to change the rating on this as after trying different watch faces, I found you cannot change the date and time settings once paired with your phone. It also does not sync the time with your phone or at least all the features samsung and verizon state they do. I tried troubleshooting this issue, and neither company has addressed this issue. Their KB articles and manuals tell them to go under one menu, but its actually located in a different one. Its also disabled unless unpaired. no one in the forums have any set method or fix other than the previously mentioned or resetting which did nothing except lose their info. I called Verizon, they were unable to help without resetting the device. Samsung was the same situation. So with the lack of support, and inability to set the time…on a watch…I have to lower this to a 1.

Our advice / for the TL;DR..

• Check the specs here on the Samsung site
• If you need any assistance with setting up your smartwatch, or even just computer repair questions, give one of our techs a call at 434-515-0539 or fill out the contact form here.