Samsung Gear S3 Frontier – review.
Contents
A lot of time passed before we met the successor of the Gear S2 smartwatch. Was it worth waiting for the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier? Find out by reading the review below.
Contents of the box and specification
The Korean manufacturer has focused on simplicity for its latest smartwatch. Offering a black box that has been enclosed in a cylindrical block. We don’t have any plastic window here, thanks to which we can see our device. However, thanks to the use of such a body and deep black, it makes a “wow” effect from the very beginning. However, what interests us most is its content. There are quite a few items inside. In addition to the watch itself, there is also an additional set of straps (the set includes two marked as S and L), as well as a wall charger with a micro USB cable, as well as a docking station for inductive charging. The set is not particularly extensive, but it is absolutely sufficient for everyday use of the watch. A good solution is the ability to easily replace the straps, and when buying a watch, we do not have to worry that we will not fit it to our hand.
When it comes to the specification of the watch, we get gutters from the top shelf. The heart of the device is the dual-core Samsung system – Exynos 7270, which works with a maximum clock speed of 1.0 GHz. It is supported by an additional 768 MB of RAM, as well as 4 GB of internal memory (which, unfortunately, is largely consumed by the system itself, about 2.5 GB remains for the user). We also get a set of all the most important NFC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless communication modules.
Build quality and design
What caught my attention at the very beginning was its interesting design. It can be said that it is full elegance with the addition of a drop of sportiness. Samsung Gear S3 Frontier looks really good, and at the same time it is well made of good quality materials. We have an aluminum case, additionally movable. The whole structure is quite massive, but not exaggerated. The construction is not clumsy despite the large thickness of the watch.
From the front, the standard is a large display that fills the entire watch face, which, contrary to appearances, is not an obvious matter (check, for example, smartwatches from the Moto line). However, the biggest gadget is a movable envelope that performs a navigation function. The whole thing has been very cleverly designed, thanks to which it gives advice when it comes to navigating the menus of the watch, and it also looks good. On the right side we have two physical keys that work contextually depending on what is currently happening on our smartwatch. On the other side, we only have a loudspeaker. The bottom of the device is a set of sensors, primarily a heart rate monitor.
In terms of build quality and design, I have no comments, currently it is one of the prettiest smartwatches available on the market. The predecessor looked very good, and in my opinion it is even better.
Screen
The screen is 1.3 inch full circle. It works with a resolution of 360 × 360 pixels, which gives a density of 392 ppi. The display was made in Super AMOLED technology, which translates into very good color reproduction and true deep blacks. In practice, that’s how it is. Both in terms of resolution and quality of the displayed image, “the fly does not sit down”. As in the case of smartphones, the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass, but in a special SR+ version created for smartwatches. Thanks to this, it does not scratch even with serious abrasions. As for the response to touch and the speed of the display, I have no major comments. The whole thing works without any complaints. The smartwatch responds quickly to any commands.
Battery
The watch is equipped with a cell with a capacity of 380 mAh. This is not a particularly big feat, such batteries have already appeared in smart watches. It can be seen, however, that the Korean manufacturer has opted for quite good optimization and operation of the device, because it can withstand the Samsung Gear S3 for almost 4 days of full operation without any problems. Actions, via Bluetooth connection and pairing with a smartphone. The watch is not equipped with any USB connection, so the entire charging of the watch is done inductively, which of course has its pros and cons. I’ll start with the first ones first. First of all, the charging process itself takes longer than normal cable charging. Of course, the battery capacity is much smaller compared to even smartphones, but the whole time lasts very similarly about 3-4 hours. The second minus is the fact that we have to take another charger with us for longer trips. Pluses are definitely the desktop mode, thanks to which we can see the time when the watch is charging. It is a pity that Samsung has not decided to implement fast charging technology. As in their flagship phones, then this process would be significantly shortened.
Software
Samsung has been pushing its proprietary Tizen operating system in its wearables for a long time. In the case of a smartwatch, it works the best, but you have to take a few things into account. First of all, the interface is based primarily on the mechanism of the moving envelope (although practically all actions can also be performed using the touch screen). You have to get used to this solution, but to be honest, it is a matter of a few minutes. After that, I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. On the other hand, the use of Tizen means that the number of applications in the Samsung store is not too large, even compared to Google Play and the smartwatch category. The use of Tizen is a big plus in the form of a very good optimization of the watch and the system. The whole thing works very quickly, without unnecessary slowdowns. The system is largely responsible for the battery life, which I have already mentioned in the previous paragraph. Samsung has also opened up to other manufacturers, thanks to which the watch is compatible not only with the phones of the Korean manufacturer, and not only with the latest ones. But also those that operate under the control of the system signed with a green robot from version 4.4, and the requirement is at least 1.5 GB of RAM. Here it is worth mentioning the very process of the first pairing. Contrary to appearances, it is not the simplest. In order for both devices to listen to each other, we need to download the Samsung Gear application, a package of additional settings, so that all our sports performance also appears on our phone, including Health S. There is a bit of this and at first you can get a bit lost in the whole system, but fortunately step by step We are led by the hand every step of the way, so all you have to do is follow the instructions that appear on the screen of your smartphone and smartwatch.
Communication
The watch is equipped with the most basic wireless communication modules, i.e. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, the Koreans added NFC to the basics, so that if payments from Samsung for Poland come in, we will be able to pay for purchases using the watch, as well as GPS / Glonass. Other modules work without any problems. There was no case in which the connection would suddenly be broken and you would have to pair the phone with the watch again. It is also worth mentioning that we can easily make phone calls through the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier. We must then have the watch paired with the phone. The smartwatch itself has both a speaker and a microphone.
Summary
Samsung Gear S3 Frontier is a successful device that has many advantages. However, compared to the Gear S2, there is not such a technological leap, so if you currently have a predecessor on your wrist, there is no point in buying the third generation of Samsung watches. And as it happens in the case of devices from the Korean manufacturer, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier is not the cheapest. We will pay about PLN 1,650 for it.
