[Samsung Galaxy Gear] Skeleton:
I love the Galaxy Gear. I love the native apps on the watch. However, while a few of the add-on apps are good, I am disappointed some of the others are poor.

I recognize some of the physical design shortcomings of the Gear, but accept the product as it is. In my mind, the watch is not a sport watch, it is a little computer on my wrist. I accept that I need to take reasonable precautions to guard it from water exposure, cold shock and physical impact (caution with glass bezel).

The native apps are fabulous. They are what I consider essential in making the device a truly smart watch (swatch). Overall, it allows me to interact with the smart phone (sphone) upon urgent events: answering phone calls, reading text messages, notification on email, controlling media player while walking, monitoring distance and pace while running. The native watch faces are even good: review of weather or accessing any three apps. Of course, the camera is a huge bonus - not essential, but it truly makes the Gear a distinctive swatch. The inclusion of a speaker for phone calls is an outstanding feature, again this is handy when receiving a call while walking.

The issue I want to make in this thread is my experience with the add-on apps. A few of the apps are excellent and add value to the overall swatch experience (eg: Runtastic). However, some other apps are poorly coded, or outright fail to install or work. It astonishes me that some apps fail to work, given that Samsung has vetted this library of restrictive apps. As I understand it (read elsewhere), Samsung had exclusively invited developers to code apps for the Gear. I presume Samsung would also test these apps prior to including them in the download library. Well, I now suspect they may not have.

I am also disappointed at how slowly apps are being added into the library. I appreciate that the user base for Gear is small and thus revenue opportunities are assuredly small. However, any developer that introduces apps for the library could develop early expertise, etc. However, reality shows that third party apps are few and sometimes even disfunctional.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- GREAT APPS

Four apps in particular work very well and add value to the swatch experience:

RUNTASTIC

- Shows running performance (pace, distance, etc) on watch

EVERNOTE

- Read notes, checklist etc on watch when shopping etc.

- Upload camera photos to user account for later use.

POCKET

- Play audio reading of previously saved internet articles.

ZDCLOCK

- Set alarms, etc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- POOR APPS

I tried with frustration and disappointment a few other apps.

MyFitnessPal

- This works, but it forces a very lengthy synchronization with sphone and internet on each access.

- The delay caused by syncing is so frustrating that I uninstalled it, and refuse to use it.

RunKeeper

- This works, but it displaces far less performance data than Runtastic.

- Because of its inadequacy, I uninstalled it.

QuickSpeedometer

- This app fails to install. This failed on numerous attempts.

Mini Gallery

- This app fails to install. This failed on numerous attempts.

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