Verizon not getting Samsung Gear S3 afterall?

[Ackmed]

Edit, meant Gear 3, can't edit title.

First there was news about it making its way to the FCC, and coming out late Q2.

https://www.sammobile.com/2017/02/14/gear-s3-frontier-for-verizon-stops-by-the-fcc/

Now a friend of my wife who works for Verizon posted on FB that Verizon is not getting the Gear S3 and is instead getting the Wear 24?! Wtf is this.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/connected-devices/verizon-wear24/

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/verizon-wear24/

Perhaps he has his info messed up, this would really piss me off. Anyone heard any differently?

*UPDATE*
Verizon now has it, at least mine did.

 

[Raduque]

I don't understand why anybody would want a cellular radio in a watch. They already have terrible battery life.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't understand why anybody would want a cellular radio in a watch. They already have terrible battery life.

I don't get it either. Then again, my experience with a smartwatch made me realize they aren't for me at the moment, so I'm fairly biased against them at this point. The only perk I could think of is if there's a wireless radio on the watch, then you should be able to get away with not having bluetooth connection at all times. The Android Wear watch I was using drained the phone battery so much by staying connected that I couldn't use it anymore. The fitness bands I use don't drain it nearly as fast, so I'm sticking with those.

 

[dawheat]

I don't understand why anybody would want a cellular radio in a watch. They already have terrible battery life.

Lots of reasons IMO the extra cost and monthly fee for a cellular enabled watch is a waste, but battery life these days isn't that bad. My regular S3 gets 3-4 days between charges consistently which is adequate for most people.

 

[Ackmed]

I am not looking for it to use as a cellular device so much. I love Samsung Pay, use it everywhere on my phone. The watch can do it too. I wanted it for fitness as well, I hike and exercise a lot. Just bought a new pack to put our 5 month old in to hike with. Using it to play music at the gym or when out, not having to have my phone on me. So many other reasons.

My wife loves her Apple watch, I was not sold on the whole idea either. After seeing how much use she gets from it, and makes some daily activities even easier I am ready to try. But Verizon seems to be doing this whole exclusive bullshit deal with the Wear 24, I hope its not true.

 

[Raduque]

I am not looking for it to use as a cellular device so much. I love Samsung Pay, use it everywhere on my phone. The watch can do it too. I wanted it for fitness as well, I hike and exercise a lot. Just bought a new pack to put our 5 month old in to hike with. Using it to play music at the gym or when out, not having to have my phone on me. So many other reasons.

My wife loves her Apple watch, I was not sold on the whole idea either. After seeing how much use she gets from it, and makes some daily activities even easier I am ready to try. But Verizon seems to be doing this whole exclusive bullshit deal with the Wear 24, I hope its not true.

Honestly, you sound like a perfect use case for a non-cellular watch. I'd just go and pickup a Gear S3 from Best Buy instead. A Wear24 runs Android Wear 2.0, and IMO, that's two steps forward and 50 or so backward from 1.5. I hope my Moto360v2 never gets it.

 

[Ackmed]

I've been researching it, and just decided to wait since it was supposed to be coming to Verizon with LTE. But yeah, I don't need cellular connectivity, and I think I will get a Bluetooth version. Becoming a bit of a Samsung fanboy, 8+, IconX ear buds, VR, next is watch. Not to mention TV's and washer/dryer.

 

[Will Thatcher]

Hi,
I have to agree, the Gear S3 is the best solution on the market right now. It has a great battery life, it looks great, has a great processor and more than enough RAM power to keep it up.
I love this watch and I would choose it once more instead of the Wear24.

 

[Raduque]

I'm dropping my 360v2 once I can find a buyer, and getting a Gear S3 - mostly for Samsung Pay.

But also so I can get rid of the buggy Android Wear app - it seems to silence notifications on my phone sometimes and stays that way till I reboot. Note that I never manually put my phone on silent, nor do I ever use DND on my watch or phone.

 

[Will Thatcher]

Did you try a factory reset, this may solve the problem, just make sure you save all of your data from the phone before factory resetting it!

 

[Raduque]

I've had 5 different phones paired with my 360v2 since I got it and they all do it.

Galaxy Note 4
Droid Turbo 2
Galaxy Note7
Galaxy S7 edge
Galaxy S8

 

[Will Thatcher]

In that case the watch is the problem!. Reset it or take it to a repair shop, or even better, as you said earlier, change it with the Gear S3 which will solve all of your problems, and it's a great smart watch!

 

[Ackmed]

Guess my wife's friend was mistaken, Gear S3 is now "coming soon" on Verizon's site. Pretty damn excited.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/connected-devices/samsung/?intcmp=INT-SITESEARCH-REDIRECT-GearS3

 

[Raduque]

In that case the watch is the problem!. Reset it or take it to a repair shop, or even better, as you said earlier, change it with the Gear S3 which will solve all of your problems, and it's a great smart watch!

It's Android Wear. I think it did it with my 360v1.

 

[core2slow]

It's Android Wear. I think it did it with my 360v1.

You sure it's not Moto's tinkering of the android wear version? Never heard or encounter of such issue on my huawei watch.

 

[Raduque]

You sure it's not Moto's tinkering of the android wear version? Never heard or encounter of such issue on my huawei watch.

It's all over the wear subreddit. Or used to be, now it's flooded with "aw 2.0 sucks/is Jesus" posts.

 

[core2slow]

It's all over the wear subreddit. Or used to be, now it's flooded with "aw 2.0 sucks/is Jesus" posts.

And I assume you didn't select the "silence phone while wearing watch" option in the wear setting?

 

[Raduque]

And I assume you didn't select the "silence phone while wearing watch" option in the wear setting?

Never.

 

[Ackmed]

UPDATE

My Verizon girl called me yesterday and said they got them in, and I could get it today. They couldn't sell until today. I looked online last night to try and confirm, didn't see anything. But sure enough, I show up, and she has my new LTE S3 Frontier ready to go!

I can't fix the fucking picture, sorry. I tried rotating and then uploading, its the same damn way. Anyhow, got it all installed, everything updated. Setup Samsung Pay and was fun blowing minds of cashiers, nerd in me coming out I guess. Just starting to fool around with it. Taking to gym tomorrow to put thru the test, next up is getting Pandora to use it. Not having to keep my phone on me at all times is going to be a plus.

I can't wear it to work which sucks, but still excited about it. Gonna dig into it some more.

 

[Red Storm]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. While I prefer Android Wear, this watch has my interest because apparently T-Mobile Digits will work with it, which is a huge draw for me. Does it work well with non-Samsung phones?

 

[MuchTooSexy]

so Verizon is selling the LTE verison for $349 with two year commitment. ($5 a month). or $399 with no commitment. i can't decide if that is a good value compared to the $299 (presumably non-LTE) from best buy.

 

[Ackmed]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. While I prefer Android Wear, this watch has my interest because apparently T-Mobile Digits will work with it, which is a huge draw for me. Does it work well with non-Samsung phones?

From reviews I have read, this watch works best with a Samsung phone. Everything is more seamless. Same for my Gear Iconx earbuds too. A downside however is the store for apps, not as much as the google store. I don't have any personal experience with another smart watch sorry. I am sure there will be reviews out soon that will hopefully help you.

I have used it a few times at the gym and in other ways. Had to turn off the auto exercise setting because it took me riding my motorcycle as riding a bike. It is VERY nice to be able to function without my phone. Streaming music from either Pandora or Spotify, or I put music on the phone itself is nice. I don't like carrying my phone in my pocket with at the gym or running. The S8+ is pretty big, bounces around. I can receive texts, emails, phone calls etc while not having my phone. Replying to a text with more than a few words is annoying unless using voice to text. The Samsung Pay is great, I have been using it for months, not with the watch it is even easier. I just really like being "free" from my phone. I can't use my phone at work anyways, so most of the time I don't have it. I am a minimalist, I don't like carrying stuff if I don't need to. Even less now with this watch when I am off work. Sound a bit like a fanboy, but I am loving it so far. I can try to answer any specific questions if you or anyone else has any.

 

[Red Storm]

From reviews I have read, this watch works best with a Samsung phone. Everything is more seamless. Same for my Gear Iconx earbuds too. A downside however is the store for apps, not as much as the google store. I don't have any personal experience with another smart watch sorry. I am sure there will be reviews out soon that will hopefully help you.

I have used it a few times at the gym and in other ways. Had to turn off the auto exercise setting because it took me riding my motorcycle as riding a bike. It is VERY nice to be able to function without my phone. Streaming music from either Pandora or Spotify, or I put music on the phone itself is nice. I don't like carrying my phone in my pocket with at the gym or running. The S8+ is pretty big, bounces around. I can receive texts, emails, phone calls etc while not having my phone. Replying to a text with more than a few words is annoying unless using voice to text. The Samsung Pay is great, I have been using it for months, not with the watch it is even easier. I just really like being "free" from my phone. I can't use my phone at work anyways, so most of the time I don't have it. I am a minimalist, I don't like carrying stuff if I don't need to. Even less now with this watch when I am off work. Sound a bit like a fanboy, but I am loving it so far. I can try to answer any specific questions if you or anyone else has any.

Thanks for the info! Yeah the idea of being able to go out without my phone but still remain connected is very appealing to me.

Those emails you're receiving, is that through the generic email app on your phone, or is it through Gmail? In other words, can the watch receive Gmail notifications and then act on them (as in reply)?

 

[Ackmed]

Gmail. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it. I was going through settings and saw it. Clicked it, and it opened up gmail on my phone for me to acknowledge that it was ok, and that was it. I have gotten notifications, I have not tried to reply. But you can read the whole email by turning the watch face to the right. Which is honestly the best thing I like about the watch, how useful that is.

I haven't tried any others. I only have AT&T because I have DirectTV and my work email, which I cannot get outside of work.