Despite a push from tech titans such as Apple and Samsung, the smartwatches haven't received much love from the consumers. A glance at most of these products, and you will understand why. Majority of smartwatches look terrible, and are a pain to use.
However, Samsung's Gear smartwatch series is an exception. With the Gear S2, the Korean company showed that it is a brand to watch out for when it comes to smartwatches. Its next iteration the Gear S3, comes with even more features and refinements. It is available in three variants: Gear S3 classic (Wi-Fi + cellular), Gear S3 classic (Wi-Fi only), and Gear S3 frontier (Wi-FI only). The one we received for review is the Gear S3 classic. Let us find out if it is good enough to justify the Rs 28,500 price tag.
Design
What we like most about the Gear S3 is that it actually looks like a watch. It is not some weird-looking phone shrinked to fit your wrist. It features a 22mm leather band and a 316L stainless steel case. The quality of the steel case stands testament to Samsung's industrial design prowess — it is a solid piece with incredible attention to detail.
Samsung has done a great job in terms of aesthetics. Thanks to the elegant mix of steel and leather, the Gear S3 goes well with a variety of clothing. Moreover, it is comfortable to wear. However, it is bigger than its predecessor, so a few people might find it too big for their wrists. Overall though, the Gear S3 is one of the best looking smartwatches in the market.
Screen
Samsung is a brand to beat when it comes to smartphone screens. It is utilising that expertise in smartwatches too. The Gear S3 classic features a 1.2-inch AMOLED screen with 360x360 pixels. OLED tech is ideal for smartwatch screens, as it enables individual pixels to switch off. Light bleeding, associated with LCD screen is the last thing you want to experience on your watch.
The screen produces vibrant colours and can reach a peak brightness of up to 1000 nits. That assures you get screen legibility even under direct sunlight. Samsung has also thrown in ‘Full Color Always On Display’ feature, which allows watchface to be displayed at all times. This takes the smartwatches close to the conventional ones. On the flipside though, the AOD mode takes toll on the battery life.
The Gear S3 Classic comes with a 22mm watch strap-compatible lugs, which lets you customise watch bands. There are plenty of watch bands to choose from Samsung's store.
Fire power
The Gear S3 is fueled by Samsung's own Exynos 7270 SoC (System-on-Chip). The chipset comprises of 64-bit dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU coupled with ARM Mali-T720MP2 GPU. The chip baosts of 768 MB RAM and 4 GB internal storage.
The watch is packed with features such as accelerometer, barometer, gyro, heart-rate monitor, and a speedometer. An ambient light sensor, adjusts the display brightness automatically. In terms of connectikvity, you get GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, and NFC.
Software
The Gear S3 classic runs Samsung's own Tizen Wearable Platform 2.3.2. Unlike other brands, Samsung has thoughtfully designed the user interface around the circular screen. For snappy menu navigation, the watch uses rotary dial on the bezel. There are also two physical buttons to control the gadget. Of course, you can go with the the tried-and-tested touchscreen input.
Unlike the competing platforms, Tizen runs without a stutter. Transitions between menus, sections, and widgets are smooth. You can easily transfer music and images to the Gear S3 using the Gear app on Android, but if you are using it with an iPhone, the process is quite complicated, especially for transferring music.
Notifications are delivered without any lag, and you can reply to instant messages using a built-in T9 keypad or by drawing alphabets on the screen. The Samsung G store features apps such as CNN, ESPN, Flipboard, Glympse, HERE WeGo, Pear, Spotify, Uber, and Workout Trainer. There are lots of built-in widgets that show activity tracking information and some tools such as calendar and calculator. Flipboard and Uber too have released dedicated widgets. So while, Samsung has got the basics covered, the selection is nowhere near that of Android Wear. This is one area where Android Wear devices blows the Gear S3 Classic out of the water.
Fitness monitor
The Gear S3 Classic comes with a feature-packed S Health software suite. Based on the feedback from the Gear S2 users, Samsung has embedded the GPS chip in the latest Gear smartwatch. Users can now independently and accurately track runs and rides. The watch can also keep track of your heart-beat rate. Samsung's virtual assistant can even read out your vitals during your workouts.
The Gear S3 is IP68 certified for dust and water resistance. It can survive monsoons, but you shouldn't be taking it to your swimming classes.
Battery Life
The Gear S3 classic draws power from its 380 mAh battery. It comes with an induction charging plate, which takes around 2 hours and 30 minutes to fully charge the smartwatch.
The Gear S3 classic has impressive battery life. If you disable the 'Always On Display' feature, the smartwatch lasts for four days on a single charge. Leaving that feature on, brings down the battery life to two days.
Conclusion
Smartwatches still lack the value proposition. However, if you are in the market for one, the Gear S3 classic is an excellent option. Samsung latest smartwatch is well designed, user friendly, and packed with features. Fitness tracking features and water-resistance further sweeten the deal. It has its own share of shortcomings too. For instance, it still lags behind Android Wear in terms of apps.
Pros
- A smartwatch that actually looks like a watch
- Vibrant circular screen
- Neat rotary dial for navigation
- Swift UI with minimalistic design
- Impressive battery life
Cons
- Limited selection of apps
- Lacks a compact variant
