Samsung Gear Sport preview: Our initial impressions
The Gear Sport is at the SamMobile office, and while we’re working on the full review, we felt like sharing a few thoughts about the watch in this short preview. For those unaware, Samsung announced the Gear Sport at the IFA as a small upgrade to the Gear S3. The Gear Sport is smaller (something a lot of consumers had asked for) and its highlight feature is its ability to withstand water at up to 50 meters of depth.
Samsung Gear Sport preview
Our Gear Sport arrived last Friday, and I was surprised to see that Samsung has sent us the blue version. We normally receive black review units, which can lead to monotony and also make it harder for us to take great pictures. The first thing I noticed after unboxing the watch was its size. The Gear Sport feels small compared to the Gear S3 Frontier I use everyday, and it also gave me mixed feelings in terms of design.
The Gear Sport has design elements from both Gear S3 variants. It has the buttons from the Frontier model and the bezel ring from the Classic Gear S3. However, the bezel ring doesn’t have laser engravings, unlike the ring seen on the Gear S3. A nice little detail here is that the heart rate sensor juts out by around 1 mm from the rest of the body, which means the sensor is closer to your skin compared to the Gear S3; this will hopefully make for increased accuracy when detecting heart rate.
Something unexpected on the Gear Sport is the presence of a microUSB port, even though USB Type-C is close to becoming the new standard (I guess this isn’t exactly a deal breaker, but it’s still odd to see on a 2017 product). The Gear Sport has almost the same interface as the previous Gear smartwatches. The icons have been upgraded to match those on the Samsung Experience UX on the company’s 2017 phones. I’m glad the see the interface hasn’t changed much, and I have to say the new sporty watch faces that come preloaded look awesome.
I can’t wait to share my final opinion on the Gear Sport, so stay tuned for our in-depth review! Have questions about the watch? Ask away in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer them!
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What about battery’s lasting? That’s something makes me doubt buying an smartwatch, and also the dock charge. I’d like having a more normal way to charge it. Thanks!
Is it possible to pair it with an external bluetooth heart rate sensor (e.g. a chest strap)?
A nice watch. Though I don’t think you can make calls on it so it’s not exactly the S3 update. But more for swimmers maybe. I heard there’s an Gear S4 coming out, not sure if that’s right or not.
You can make calls with your BT headset in combination with your smartphone. Same for music.
You don’t need a smart watch to make calls with a BT headset, so your answer is not really relevant…
Biransahin is right, you cannot make calls from the watch without relying on an external speaker (phone or headset), so it’s a serious downgrade from the S3.
Guys can the gear sport track weight lifting or strength training at the gym? That’s something the previous models couldn’t do and could be a deal breaker for me. Thanks a lot
S Health includes:
– Running
– Walking
– Cycling
– Hiking
– Swimming
– Elliptical trainer
– Exercise bike
– Step machine
– Treadmill
– Lunges
– Crunches
– Squats
– Star jumps
– Pilates
– Yoga
– Rowing machine
– Other workout
You can set your target and sets.
None of those are appropriate for weight lifting. Google fit on Wear can count your reps during weight lifting and I was hoping Samsung would add something like that..
How does the charging dock look like?? The only thing I hate from Samsung’s watches is that the charging docks don’t resemble the quality of the watch itself. My Gear S2’s dock feels plastic-y and so does the S3.
I like how Apple created the circular, leathery-like dock for the Apple Watch. Although their watches suck, their design matches well with the dock. Samsung’s watches are way better but the dock just sucks.
Same as Gear S2 / S3
You’re seriously complaining about the dock; that works perfectly because it FEELS cheap?! both are wrong anyway – I got dual sided sticky tape and stuck it to the side of my wardrobe at an angle that faces me; and because it is magnetic, it doesn’t fall off and I can essentially just take it off and drop it on dock without worrying.
It’s actually not an upgrade to Gear S3. It’s their first sports watch rather than a fitness band. The Gear S4 next year will be the upgrade to Gear S3. We can always rely on Sammobile for amateur and inaccurate reporting, every single time.
I read on sammobile that “created to bridge the fitness-shaped gap between the Gear S3 classic and Gear S3 frontier”
It’s an upgrade in terms of software and water resistant, not on size.
I understand there’s no speaker on the watch for making calls without taking your smartphone out of your pocket?
If not, it’s a downgrade from the Gear S3… So I’ll keep my Gear S2 hoping for a device with similar form factor and with a speaker.
nice watch