Watches are region locked with samsung pay. I have the s3 frontier that I procured from Argos; pay would never activate. After speaking to samsung my watch was from stock intended for united arab emirates. Explaining this to argos in Newport was interesting, but they swapped the watch and now it works as intended.
Smartwatch Thread (news/apps/updates)
- Thread starter Mint_Sauce
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Watches are region locked with samsung pay. I have the s3 frontier that I procured from Argos; pay would never activate. After speaking to samsung my watch was from stock intended for united arab emirates. Explaining this to argos in Newport was interesting, but they swapped the watch and now it works as intended.
Oh, I've just bought mine in Cyprus as Amazon royally screwed my pre-order up and meant I wouldn't get the pre-order bonus.
Though no samsung pay on my cards yet anyway.
Glad I went for this over the 46mm Galaxy, it would've been too big. Where as this is perfect size for me. I don't have tiny wrists, but I also don't like wearing jewelry so it's a good fit.
Can anyone reccomend a dual charger? The Samsung ones are insanly overpriced.
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Here's my saddle brown barton strap. It's really nice in the flash, rubbish photos!
Hey mate, hows your Barton strap holding up? Still ok?
Paging @TheOracle !
Soldato
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Sorry mate. I bought two. Brown one and a blue one.
Both were fantastic but on the blue one the dye ran and stained my shirt. Barton sent me £35 to buy a new one so great customer service. They said first time they've ever known it.
I was really happy with them. That said the fabric ones also look nice.
Check bellroy to see if they also sell straps. I've just bought one of their phone cases. Now they are nice!!!
Soldato
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Any rumours of a Ticwatch Pro 2 coming out any time soon? Getting a big itch for a smartwatch now and it's the best one for me, but the size is massive (I have skinny arms) and I'll wait if there's a new one a few weeks/months away...
I'm getting annoyed with my Galaxy watch now. I have a reoccurring issue where the watch will only give me the option of rejecting the call, or checking my phone to answer it. Strangely enough, this has worked previously where I can rotate the bezel to the right in order to answer a call and speak/listen to the other person via the watch. Using the watch to take calls was ideal when my phone was in another room and I wouldn't be able to find it before it rang out.
Anyone come across this issue? I also hiked up a peak today (863ft) and the watch was telling me I had hiked -900ft
This is typical Samsung, inconsistent software performance. Hopefully the Pixel watch looks good, has a SoC made on a smaller manufacturing process and with a next iteration of WearOS that's better on battery.
Anyone come across this issue? I also hiked up a peak today (863ft) and the watch was telling me I had hiked -900ft
This is typical Samsung, inconsistent software performance. Hopefully the Pixel watch looks good, has a SoC made on a smaller manufacturing process and with a next iteration of WearOS that's better on battery.
Right, I'm really struggling to decide between some watches, and could use some help. I'm a big runner and "nice to haves" would be interesting data, accurate heart rate readings, etc (I'm taking GPS tracking etc as a given). More importantly, however, are offline Spotify (so I can run without my phone) and payment (with broad takeup from banks) as I often run from point A to point B and get the tube home. I'm less fussed about things like usual apps, notifications, etc, although Uber would be nice. I'd also like one which I can use daily at work (office, clients, etc) without looking to absurd. My thoughts are below:
1. Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music: I like the transflective screen, has offline Spotify, excellent run tracking, heart rate monitoring, fitness data, etc. Poorly supported payment, not sure about Uber. Looks pretty average.
2. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active: Shorter battery life, apparently terrible HR sensor but good GPS, reasonably well supported payment, offline Spotify, looks nice. Less impressive fitness data than Garmin and no transflective screen.
3. Fossil Sport or Ticwatch Pro: Apparently decent run tracking, not heard much about the HR sensor, well supported payment, but no offline Spotify which is a big miss for me.
I think the Samsung best fulfils my needs, but something is holding me back from buying it. Is there anything I'm missing? I wouldn't want to go above about £250.
1. Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music: I like the transflective screen, has offline Spotify, excellent run tracking, heart rate monitoring, fitness data, etc. Poorly supported payment, not sure about Uber. Looks pretty average.
2. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active: Shorter battery life, apparently terrible HR sensor but good GPS, reasonably well supported payment, offline Spotify, looks nice. Less impressive fitness data than Garmin and no transflective screen.
3. Fossil Sport or Ticwatch Pro: Apparently decent run tracking, not heard much about the HR sensor, well supported payment, but no offline Spotify which is a big miss for me.
I think the Samsung best fulfils my needs, but something is holding me back from buying it. Is there anything I'm missing? I wouldn't want to go above about £250.
If you want a fitness tracker, buy a fitness tracker not a smartwatch.
Well that's the issue, I want both really! My use will be literally every day at work, and then running 2-3 times a week so realistically I need something which does the job as a smartwatch primarily, but can also at a minimum give me GPS info from runs, play me music while running, and allow me to pay to get home from running.
Soldato
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I don't believe android wear Spotify has offline music, even for premium users. So you're out of luck on that at the moment.
You'd have to manually download music to the watch, and/or use google music.
A quick google shows that offline on the samsung is possible - https://community.spotify.com/t5/An...-Samsung-Galaxy-Watch-or-Gear-S3/td-p/4562951 - so I'd say that narrows down your choice a fair bit
Garmin if your need is for better fitness stuff, and samsung if you want better smartphone stuff.
Edit: just watched a quick comparison, Samsung all the way. The Garmin is basically a fitness tracker that looks like a smartwatch. As you want it as a smartwatch primarily, get the samsung.
You'd have to manually download music to the watch, and/or use google music.
A quick google shows that offline on the samsung is possible - https://community.spotify.com/t5/An...-Samsung-Galaxy-Watch-or-Gear-S3/td-p/4562951 - so I'd say that narrows down your choice a fair bit
Garmin if your need is for better fitness stuff, and samsung if you want better smartphone stuff.
Edit: just watched a quick comparison, Samsung all the way. The Garmin is basically a fitness tracker that looks like a smartwatch. As you want it as a smartwatch primarily, get the samsung.
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my gear s3 frontier is great at all of that really, i'd say have a look on ebay etc and see if you can find one new. It's not much different to the new galaxy watches and also has better screen/battery etc.
after recent update it is also very snappy!
The Galaxy Active is great IMO. Though I'm currently broken and not working out. The HR seems ok, but I've not tested against my strap.
Battery life hasn't bothered me. I put it on charge when I get ready for work most mornings and it's enough to last till the next day.
I was in the same dilemma, and it's the best all round imo.
I've found the HR sensor on my Galaxy Watch 42mm (non active) to be reliable, but I've only ever tested it against the electrical signal HR monitor you find on equipment at the gym. Unfortunately I have tendonitis of the patella tendon so can't run at the moment to test. From reading around, it appears optical HR monitors fair well during stable level of exercise but do struggle to pick up sharp changes in heart rate when doing HIIT exercises.
I think the Galaxy Watch active is probably your bet if you want all the features you've listed, with the caveat that the likes of Garmin have better fitness tracking capabilities.
I'm getting fed up of my Galaxy Watch though. At first, it met all my expectations in terms of battery life, responsiveness, notification interaction and fitness tracking. However, I find my expectations tend to evolve over time and this is where the Galaxy Watch has let me down, time and time again.
For example - I wanted to get the hiking app, Komoot, onto my watch but it's not available on the Galaxy Watch. It is however available one of the older Gear Tizen based watches and even then, supposedly it's only available then if you have a Samsung phone.
Honestly, Google needs to sort out Android Wear and it's OEMs because the only thing stopping me from going over to Apple is the fact Google Assistant and Android Auto are much better than the Apple counterparts and I'm happy to compromise on the latter. Essentially, if Siri gets overhauled and improved massively then I would replace my entire Google ecosystem in a heart beat. I'm fed up of having to compromise on my expectation of Wearables with Android.
I think the Galaxy Watch active is probably your bet if you want all the features you've listed, with the caveat that the likes of Garmin have better fitness tracking capabilities.
I'm getting fed up of my Galaxy Watch though. At first, it met all my expectations in terms of battery life, responsiveness, notification interaction and fitness tracking. However, I find my expectations tend to evolve over time and this is where the Galaxy Watch has let me down, time and time again.
For example - I wanted to get the hiking app, Komoot, onto my watch but it's not available on the Galaxy Watch. It is however available one of the older Gear Tizen based watches and even then, supposedly it's only available then if you have a Samsung phone.
Honestly, Google needs to sort out Android Wear and it's OEMs because the only thing stopping me from going over to Apple is the fact Google Assistant and Android Auto are much better than the Apple counterparts and I'm happy to compromise on the latter. Essentially, if Siri gets overhauled and improved massively then I would replace my entire Google ecosystem in a heart beat. I'm fed up of having to compromise on my expectation of Wearables with Android.