In the beginning, computers were the size of buildings. To use one, you walked into it. Over the decades, they grew small enough to sit on a desk, then to carry in a briefcase, then to keep in your pocket. And now we?re entering the age of computers so small we wear them like jewellery.
Just what kind of jewellery, however, has yet to be decided. Will we wear our computers on our foreheads, as with Google Glass? Or will we wear them on our wrists, as with the new Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch ($300)?
Samsung isn?t the first company to put a computer on your wrist. There have been a bunch of crude early efforts: the Pebble, the Cookoo, the Metawatch, the Martian. But the world waits for an Apple or Google or Samsung to do a more coherent job of packing a lot of components into a minuscule space.
Apple?s iWatch is only a rumour. But Samsung?s Galaxy Gear watch is here now. It?s ambitious, impressive, even amazing. But it won?t be adorning the wrists of the masses any time soon. One big reason: It?s really only half a computer. It requires the assistance of a compatible Samsung phone or tablet; without one, the watch is worthless. And right now, only two gadgets are compatible: the Galaxy Note 3 (an enormous phone with the footprint of a box of movie-theatre Raisinets) or Samsung?s new 10.1-inch Galaxy tablet.
By Thanksgiving, Samsung says, it hopes to make its popular Galaxy S4 phone compatible, too; after that, the older Note 2 and S3. But the Gear watch will never work with devices from rival companies; Samsung is trying to create an Apple-like ecosystem of Samsung gadgets that work smoothly?and?together.
The watch is huge, but it?s beautifully disguised to hide its hugeness. You can buy it with a plastic wristband in different colours. You can?t exchange the bands, though, because important elements are built into it: a micro-speakerphone in the clasp and a tiny camera lens in the band.
The Gear feels fine on your wrist. It?s not waterproof, but it can withstand little splashes. You charge its battery by clamping it into a tiny USB charger?every night. So what does the Gear do? A hodgepodge of random things. Some work well, and some not. For example:
Tell the time: On your compatible Samsung phone, you install an app called Gear Manager. It?s the front end for the watch, like iTunes for an iPod. It?s how you change the watch?s settings and customise its features? and choose a watch face for its Home screen.
Take pictures and videos: These aren?t what you?d call National Geographic quality. The photos are 1.9 megapixels and the watch holds only 50 of them. Videos are tiny; you can?t shoot more than three in a row, and the watch holds only 15 of those. But let?s not quibble?it?s a watch.
Find your gadgets: If you?ve misplaced the phone or tablet the watch is paired with, the watch can make it chime to help you find it. And vice versa. Just be sure to lose them within 25 feet of each other. That?s the range of Bluetooth, which is what keeps the watch and device connected.
Auto-unlock your device: If you?re wearing the watch, you don?t have to enter your password to unlock the companion phone or tablet.
Alert you on incoming messages: The watch lets you know who?s calling, and even shows you text messages right on its 1.6-inch, 320 x 320-pixel touch screen. Goofily, though, it can tell you only that an e-mail message has arrived; it can?t show you the text.
Take and make calls: You can make phone calls on the watch, via the phone in your pocket. It actually works, and it means you can be hands-free in all kinds of life situations besides the car.
Run apps: There aren?t many, but there?s real promise here. The Vivino app lets you photograph a wine bottle?s label; the watch?s readout shows you the wine?s name and rating (usually). The Evernote app lets you take pictures and record sound snippets .
Let?s admit it: that is an absolutely unbelievable list of features for a watch. And Samsung, sooner or later, will learn that it can?t build a coherent device just by throwing features at it.
The Gear is a human-interface train wreck. All of it. The software design, user guide, English translations and design consistency.
Here?s how you navigate this watch: Swipe sideways from the Home screen to view the 13 screens of the watch: Logs, Contacts, Camera, Clock, Dialer, Notifications, S Voice (voice command), Voice Memo, Gallery, Media Controller, Pedometer, Settings and Apps.
Going on: You swipe down to open the camera, but only at the Home screen. Swipe down to go back one screen if you?re not at the Home screen. Tap and hold with two fingers to see the list of recent apps. Double tap with one finger to zoom in.
Nobody will buy this watch, and nobody should. But there?s something here under all the rubble. Sometimes the Gear can be liberating; sometimes it makes possible tasks that you can?t do while you?re holding a smartphone. We just need somebody to find the right balance of labour between the watch and its companion device? to figure out what a smartwatch should and shouldn?t be.
Once somebody nails that formula, the age of genuinely useful smartwatches will be upon us. They will tide us over until we start wearing our computers on our earlobes.
David Pogue
