Wearable Tech

The time for technology has come.

By technology I mean Samsung, and by time I mean watch. Samsung has been the top tier company to release a next generation watch, that attempts to bridge the gap between you cell phone and your wrist.

It’s a simple and intuitive idea, in that the watch is something that most people already have, and it’s so small form factor and placement make it easy to look at and quickly draw information from.

With something that most people already own, it seems brainless to not add more features to it. The ad that accompanies the Galaxy Gear watch, is a testament that the idea of a techie watch is nothing new, but it coming to fruition is still fresh on the minds of possible consumers.

“That’s sick. I’ve heard of some other less known companies making some smart watches, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I want one of the real big companies to see what they could do with. But Samsung? I really have to look into this watch. It’s really futuristic looking,” said Michael Sawyer, a senior at Cardozo High School.

That’s what Samsung is banking on too. One of the most successful ways that this watch has gained momentum is the commercial that has only been running since early October. The ad features a package of old shows ran together giving their interpretation of what a watch would look like and the features it would have in the new millennium  It has clips from shows such as The Jetsons, The Power Rangers and even Star Trek. With 3.5 million views on Youtube and nothing but nostalgic and encouraging compliments, its hard to deny the hit the commercial has become.

But has the watch had the same impact?

The answer is subjective in that it’s hard to determine the impact a product has or what it should offer with the product category being so young. First it is important to understand the watch itself, with its 1.63 inch screen. The watch features a full-color Super AMOLED display, a built-in camera. The coolest and most futuristic feature of the watch is the S Voice feature. It can most closely be compared to Apples’ Siri, somewhat of a personal assistant, now on your wrist. The most important feature, aside from telling the time, is the watches ability to deliver notifications.

The Galaxy gear does a pretty good job of that by delivering text messages and emails with no hiccups and even allowing you to respond to your text messages with S Voice. You can delete emails with ease too. This is the quintessential point to the device, to be able to use the limited functionality of the device to utilize the overwhelming technology of your mobile device. To be able to answer a text message without have to type, or much less take out your phone, already seems to be a huge help. The app store at this point is still pretty lacking, which is to be expected. However you can make and receive calls with the watch, and the camera gets the job done. The device itself doesn’t look gimmicky or flashy at all, instead it looks very mature, with its rubber wristband and stainless steel face, which will wake up to reveal the time and notifications with just the flick of the wrist. Upon the device waking up, it is very simple to use with basic navigations. For instance, if you ask the forecast, it will simply tell you the forecast.

Perhaps the most striking about the watch is how it liberates you from the practice of constantly pulling your phone from your pocket or leaving it in clear view to see your most recent alerts. It's all right there on your wrist.

But with its $299 price tag, many have purchased the device and saw that the time for such a device had not yet arrived.

Geek.com has obtained leaked documents that state that the Galaxy Gear has a 30% return rate, much higher than normal. Samsung has found that more than 30% of Galaxy Gear purchases are returned in Best Buy locations, and they have asked that Samsung employees on site help try to figure out why this is.

While the product is conceptually interesting, it gives us more of us an idea of what smart watches could be like in the future instead of what we should expect today.