Samsung admits Galaxy Gear 'lacks something special,' will support Galaxy S4 starting next month

When you launch a product that is the first of its kind for your company, chances are it won't quite prove to be a hit and will likely need a few more iterations before consumers warm up to it. That seems to be the case for Samsung's Galaxy Gear, which was unveiled at IFA and launched worldwide yesterday with the company admitting that its first smartwatch hasn't lived up to expectations, and that is “lacks something special.”

“We've acknowledged that our Gear lacks something special,” an unnamed Samsung exec told the Korea Times. “With more investment for user interface and user experience, Samsung devices will be better in terms of customer satisfaction.” Samsung hasn't exactly been expecting the Galaxy Gear to be a success, aiming for only 3 sales of the Gear for every 10 Galaxy Note 3 sold (the only device it is currently compatible for, apart from the Galaxy Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition), and is reportedly already working on a second-generation model, but it wasn't until now that the company admitted that the Gear isn't the breakthrough smartwatch they were hoping for.

Samsung also confirmed that the Galaxy Gear will be made compatible with the Galaxy S4 next month, and with the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 by the end of December. This means that despite the Android 4.3 update for both the Galaxy S3 and S4 scheduled for October, it won't be until the end of the year that the Gear becomes compatible with all Samsung's yesteryear flagships.

What do you guys think of the Galaxy Gear? Did it live up to your expectations, or do you think it's destined to be a dud?

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Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

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First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

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