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A Tale of Two Smart Watches

ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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A Tale of Two Smart Watches
on: April 24, 2017, 02:59:01 AM
As many of you know I have been wearing a Pebble Smarsmurfch for the last couple of years, and I have grown to appreciate it.  This past weekend I was visiting my parents and my mother gave me her old watch- a Samsung Gear S.  She has upgraded to the Gear 3, and rather than let the Gear S go to waste she passed it on to me.  I figured it might be a fun comparison to put these two very different smart watches together and see what I like and don't like, as well as see how accurate they are to eachother.



As you can see, the Gear S is quite a bit larger than the Pebble- in fact the screen alone is bigger than the entire face of the Pebble. It is also quite a bit heavier.  The Samsung weighs in at 66g while the Pebble is a mere 43g.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is noticeable.

I decided today that I would test the pedometers, so when I woke up I put the Pebble on my left wrist and the Samsung on my right.  Yes, I feel a bit strange doing it, as I have never worn a watch, bracelet or anything else on my right wrist, but I've managed to keep them hidden under jacket sleeves when leaving the house, so no one else knows how strange I am.  As of right now (2038hrs) the Samsung is just over 100 steps behind the Pebble, but that could easily be due to walking the dogs (holding the leashes in one hand) or doing other things while walking.  As I am right handed, my right wrist may not have moved as much as my left as I may have been doing things.  So, to see if it is a sensor/sensitivity issue with the watches or a hand dominance thing, I will repeat the experiment tomorrow with the watches on other other hands.  Even so, 100-150 steps in the course of approximately 8,000 steps in a day is not a huge margin for error.

So what do I like and don't like?  Well, it is early yet, so I still haven't gotten all of the features and functions of the Gear S down yet, but I am finding some differences and preferences.  For example, text messages- both watches have pre-programmed messages that I can respond with, and both watches also offer the ability to send a personalized text, but in very different ways.  The Pebble Talk used voice to text- I talk to it and it often types out something reasonably similar to what I said and sends it.  The Samsung either doesn't do voice to text, or I haven't figured out how yet.  Instead, it brings up a keyboard that is all of one inch wide.... which sounds very awkward to use, and is, but it still manages to figure out what you are trying to type more often than not. 

Which do I prefer?  Well, that's a hard one to answer- while driving I absolutely prefer the Pebble, because I can respond safely while driving or doing other things.  But, it also has to go online to do it, so if I am in places where the Internet fears to tread, or I'm getting close to my data limit and shut off my data connection, it doesn't work.

In those instances that going online isn't an option I am pretty sure that I would prefer the Samsung, but all in all, the Samsung isn't difficult to use- as long as you aren't busy with something else.  For example, in a public place someone may look at you funny or even call the men in white coats if they see you yelling the same phrase into your watch repeatedly because it keeps mis-hearing you.

None of this is valuable consumer advice though, as both of these watches are discontinued- there are two newer generations of the Samsung since this one, and Pebble has gone the way or the dodo and Blockbuster, so it's not like anyone is really going to rush out and buy these based on my say so.  Still, it's fun to look at them both and see.  By far the Samsung has more features and it will be fun discovering them, but then, it was also several times more expensive in it's day than the Pebble, so that could account for that.

One more thing to mention- the Pebble battery can last up to 5 days if you are careful- after wearing it for one day (I put it on at 7am this morning and it is now 9pm) the Samsung has been reduced to 40% battery, which means you have to charge it every night.  The neat thing is that the charger for the Samsung takes a standard Micro USB plug, so you can use the same cable you probably already use to charge your tablet, phone, bluetooth headset etc to charge your watch and the charger actually holds an extra full charge for the phone inside it, so you can actually charge the watch with the charger not even plugged into a power source.  Pretty cool.
By comparison, the Pebble Talk uses a special cable that only works on the Pebble Talk and maybe one other Pebble model, and is different from the cable that I had for my previous Pebble.  If I ever lose that cable, I'm probably quite screwed,.  :facepalm:

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #1 on: April 24, 2017, 06:59:51 AM
What's a Smarsmurfch?
Think: :rofl:


gr Offline kkokkolis

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #2 on: April 24, 2017, 07:14:10 AM
It is a wrissmurfch that ousmurfches your daily activities. Some of them are resistant to salsmurfer.
I hope I wasn't smurfling that much.


cy Offline dks

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #3 on: April 24, 2017, 09:42:08 AM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...
Kelly: "Daddy, what makes men cheat on women?
Al : "Women!"

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00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #4 on: April 24, 2017, 12:36:04 PM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...
Or a tiny calculator...
Or a Casio...

Which reminds me...
https://youtu.be/1HT7OTFoXUI


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #5 on: April 24, 2017, 12:37:12 PM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...
Or a tiny calculator...
Or a Casio...

Which reminds me...
https://youtu.be/1HT7OTFoXUI
I wear a F91-W Casio...
Is that retro?  :-[
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

All hail the hook!


cy Offline dks

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #6 on: April 24, 2017, 12:42:27 PM
I sometimes wear one too, but being retro is a modern idea, like reverse snobbery, so maybe wearing a retro watch makes you a modern hipster.... :)
Kelly: "Daddy, what makes men cheat on women?
Al : "Women!"

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no Offline Steinar

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #7 on: April 24, 2017, 12:42:57 PM
No, it's suspicious!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Claimed_use_in_terrorism

(Yes, you are allowed to be depressed now.)

Edit: Just fixed an annoying typo.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2017, 01:42:38 PM by Steinar »


fi Offline AlephZero

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #8 on: April 24, 2017, 01:11:55 PM
It is a wrissmurfch that ousmurfches your daily activities. Some of them are resistant to salsmurfer.
I hope I wasn't smurfling that much.

Some of them may even be found in Ssmurfthorpe!

 :tu:
"Hoarder of weirdness,
Always posting random things,
I'm AlephZero" :ninja:


fi Offline AlephZero

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #9 on: April 24, 2017, 01:13:22 PM
No, its suspicious!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Claimed_use_in_terrorism

(Yes, you are allowed to be depressed now.)

Also allowed to :facepalm:
"Hoarder of weirdness,
Always posting random things,
I'm AlephZero" :ninja:


england Offline Kev D

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #10 on: April 24, 2017, 01:42:02 PM
It is a wrissmurfch that ousmurfches your daily activities. Some of them are resistant to salsmurfer.
I hope I wasn't smurfling that much.

Some of them may even be found in Ssmurfthorpe!

 :tu:

Did I hear Ssmurfhorpe?

No smarsmurfch here, but my G Shock is ok in salsmurfer  :D


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #11 on: April 24, 2017, 01:50:19 PM
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

All hail the hook!


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #12 on: April 24, 2017, 01:51:18 PM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...

I don't recall either of my parents ever having an automatic.  My father at one point had a mechanical one (don't know the brand) with a skeletonized face and exposed gears but I don't think it was automatic.  Mom has stuck mostly to the $5 watches that have been available since at least the 70's and gotten a new one whenever it died.  I think she spent more on batteries than she did on the watches.

Then my brother got a Pebble and Dad had to have a Pebble and he sent me one too, then he got an Apple watch, at some point Mom got the Gear S, then the Gear 2, then went back to the Gear S because she liked it better etc.

Oh yeah, and there was a brief phase in my early teens when Dad got a Timex Iron Man and liked it so much that my brother and I both got Iron Man watches for our birthdays that year.  Of course Dad's was the only real Iron Man watch, and he insisted that ours were really Rubbermaid....  :facepalm:

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #13 on: April 24, 2017, 03:07:25 PM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...

I don't recall either of my parents ever having an automatic.  My father at one point had a mechanical one (don't know the brand) with a skeletonized face and exposed gears but I don't think it was automatic.  Mom has stuck mostly to the $5 watches that have been available since at least the 70's and gotten a new one whenever it died.  I think she spent more on batteries than she did on the watches.

Then my brother got a Pebble and Dad had to have a Pebble and he sent me one too, then he got an Apple watch, at some point Mom got the Gear S, then the Gear 2, then went back to the Gear S because she liked it better etc.

Oh yeah, and there was a brief phase in my early teens when Dad got a Timex Iron Man and liked it so much that my brother and I both got Iron Man watches for our birthdays that year.  Of course Dad's was the only real Iron Man watch, and he insisted that ours were really Rubbermaid....  :facepalm:

Def
Boss, we were doing the best we could to derail your thread, but suddenly you go :b2t:?

Smurf!

I ousmurfched the smarsmurfch's functions while the melsmurfer poored in to sea to become salsmurfer.

:think:


fi Offline AlephZero

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #14 on: April 24, 2017, 07:22:31 PM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...

I don't recall either of my parents ever having an automatic.  My father at one point had a mechanical one (don't know the brand) with a skeletonized face and exposed gears but I don't think it was automatic.  Mom has stuck mostly to the $5 watches that have been available since at least the 70's and gotten a new one whenever it died.  I think she spent more on batteries than she did on the watches.

Then my brother got a Pebble and Dad had to have a Pebble and he sent me one too, then he got an Apple watch, at some point Mom got the Gear S, then the Gear 2, then went back to the Gear S because she liked it better etc.

Oh yeah, and there was a brief phase in my early teens when Dad got a Timex Iron Man and liked it so much that my brother and I both got Iron Man watches for our birthdays that year.  Of course Dad's was the only real Iron Man watch, and he insisted that ours were really Rubbermaid....  :facepalm:

Def
Boss, we were doing the best we could to derail your thread, but suddenly you go :b2t:?

Smurf!

I ousmurfched the smarsmurfch's functions while the melsmurfer poored in to sea to become salsmurfer.

:think:

Some people don't like wrissmurfches and really prefer pockesmurfches  ;)
"Hoarder of weirdness,
Always posting random things,
I'm AlephZero" :ninja:


00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #15 on: April 24, 2017, 08:51:31 PM
I remember the days when your parents' old watch would have been an automatic...

I don't recall either of my parents ever having an automatic.  My father at one point had a mechanical one (don't know the brand) with a skeletonized face and exposed gears but I don't think it was automatic.  Mom has stuck mostly to the $5 watches that have been available since at least the 70's and gotten a new one whenever it died.  I think she spent more on batteries than she did on the watches.

Then my brother got a Pebble and Dad had to have a Pebble and he sent me one too, then he got an Apple watch, at some point Mom got the Gear S, then the Gear 2, then went back to the Gear S because she liked it better etc.

Oh yeah, and there was a brief phase in my early teens when Dad got a Timex Iron Man and liked it so much that my brother and I both got Iron Man watches for our birthdays that year.  Of course Dad's was the only real Iron Man watch, and he insisted that ours were really Rubbermaid....  :facepalm:

Def
Boss, we were doing the best we could to derail your thread, but suddenly you go :b2t:?

Smurf!

I ousmurfched the smarsmurfch's functions while the melsmurfer poored in to sea to become salsmurfer.

:think:

Some people don't like wrissmurfches and really prefer pockesmurfches  ;)
Yes, but usualy those are old smurfs.

:rofl:


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #16 on: April 24, 2017, 08:56:04 PM
Lots of smurf going smurf.  :facepalm:
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

All hail the hook!


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #17 on: April 24, 2017, 11:49:36 PM
Well, I wore the watches on different hands today and the result for the pedometer were more or less reversed, so I am convinced that the pedometers are close enough to even with eachother.

I have to say that if I had to choose one smart watch over the other, I am thinking I would take the Gear S.  It seems to have more options and capabilities than the Pebble, and it can also function more independently than the Pebble as well.

I don't mind the size, and you can put a much prettier watch face on it so it looks like you have a nice watch when you go out.

Def
Leave the dents as they are- let your belongings show their scars as proudly as you do yours.


00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #18 on: April 25, 2017, 07:29:21 AM
Well, I wore the watches on different hands today and the result for the pedometer were more or less reversed, so I am convinced that the pedometers are close enough to even with eachother.

I have to say that if I had to choose one smart watch over the other, I am thinking I would take the Gear S.  It seems to have more options and capabilities than the Pebble, and it can also function more independently than the Pebble as well.

I don't mind the size, and you can put a much prettier watch face on it so it looks like you have a nice watch when you go out.

Def
Do the batteries need daily charging? Both of them?


ie Offline Don Pablo

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #19 on: April 26, 2017, 12:19:14 AM
Well, I wore the watches on different hands today and the result for the pedometer were more or less reversed, so I am convinced that the pedometers are close enough to even with eachother.

I have to say that if I had to choose one smart watch over the other, I am thinking I would take the Gear S.  It seems to have more options and capabilities than the Pebble, and it can also function more independently than the Pebble as well.

I don't mind the size, and you can put a much prettier watch face on it so it looks like you have a nice watch when you go out.

Def
Do the batteries need daily charging? Both of them?

From first post.  :whistle: :cheers:

.

One more thing to mention- the Pebble battery can last up to 5 days if you are careful- after wearing it for one day (I put it on at 7am this morning and it is now 9pm) the Samsung has been reduced to 40% battery, which means you have to charge it every night.  The neat thing is that the charger for the Samsung takes a standard Micro USB plug, so you can use the same cable you probably already use to charge your tablet, phone, bluetooth headset etc to charge your watch and the charger actually holds an extra full charge for the phone inside it, so you can actually charge the watch with the charger not even plugged into a power source.  Pretty cool.
By comparison, the Pebble Talk uses a special cable that only works on the Pebble Talk and maybe one other Pebble model, and is different from the cable that I had for my previous Pebble.  If I ever lose that cable, I'm probably quite screwed,.  :facepalm:

Def
Hooked, like everyone else. ;)

All hail the hook!


00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: A Tale of Two Smart Watches
Reply #20 on: April 26, 2017, 06:47:29 AM
Woops... :facepalm:


 

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