[Samsung Gear S] alanshortt:
Thanks very much for this forum

I'm an end user not a developer but would like to contribute my experiences.

Apologies i did try to re-find a thread on use -case-scenarios and implementation but wasn't able to find that

Some background : friends think i'm an early adopter techno-geek gadget-hag.

I'm like no - I only buy a new gadget if it offers the promise to improve on things

I have a dream where technology frees one from technology.

Whatever I got an O level in computing in 1981, didn't really understand it and my "coding" was really convoluted compared to my more gifted fellow students (there were only 6 of us) who were talking PEEK & POKE and who bought (or had bought for them) a programmable Tandy "tablet sized" computer albeit one with a very tiny screen.

Fast forward a few years I stumbled on the Casio & Sharp Digital Diaries in a high street store.

I'm like "so you can store all that stuff in your pocket? - I'm in".

Then various iterations of the Psion - "like you can have a spreadsheet, database and contacts list in your pocket - how cool is that?"

So I overcame my computer phobia and then went through a number of very small laptop devices running Windows 3.1 or whatever

The Olivetti Quaderno was the best of these but I think ran a pre windows 286 MS-DOS OS (?), couldn't really do that much and was soon ditched by Olivetti

I tried other tiny laptops including Toshiba but their usability was limited by their connectivity - not their form factor

Fast Forward a few more years and I'm in a heated meeting with my business colleagues playing with my new toy

One says " oh have you got one of them new iPhones"

Another says " they said on the GadgetShow it was rubbish compared to the Sony whatever"

I reached into my other pocket and pulled out the Sony whatever

" yes this is a really good phone but the iPhone is a computer" ...... and could already do things I'd been trying to do for 20 years" (ok so I was an amateur gadget hag all along)

I'd swallowed Apple's tagline "it just works" but lived in a big city with 2 new Apple Stores where the Apple Geniuses knew how to help when things went wrong - rather than the current situation where the Apple Genius/Sales-Person tells you to "just google it"

Fast forward 5 more years (2009?) and i had a wrist phone from LG that was able to make phone text & video calls. I still have it now but it's defunct (battery)

I read on these forums how a user damaged the Gear S charger but the LG you could only make a firm connection using elastic bands)

Whatever

I'm puzzled by any reviews or comments anywhere where the author or poster asks "why would anyone want or need that?"

I'm like " if the use case doesn't resonate with you then shut up"

I made an expensive mistake buying an older PAYG Samsung phone updating the OS and installing Gear Manager - but it wouldn't recognise the Gear S.

Ignoring that mistake, acquisition costs of the Gear S plus my new Galaxy S4 was about $900 which I think is cheaper than an iPhone - very much cheaper when you factor in the costs of repairing damaged screens

(ok I'm not loving the Samsung build/design quality compared to the iDevices or others) but there is something not right about very expensive solid feeling devices designed to fall out of your pocket and smash whenever you jump out of your car or whatever. I've not turned into an Apple Hater - the MacBooks are/were the ruggedest laptops going - they didn't even need the "rugged" tag - but you only have to sit on a Macbook Air to destroy it these days .

Mac Alert "this device is not for sitting on".

Human interface response "yeah but it's so sleek i never noticed it was there when I sat down"

Gear S -" i won't sit on it or drop it because its on my wrist - like a watch but a phone too - what a fantastic idea!"

I am trying to make sense and consolidate all the sim cards & data plans I got to get my Gear S working but imho this device trumps everything .

As one review said - it's cutting edge techno but harks back to retro simplicity.

"all I ever wanted , all I ever needed is here on my arm"

The Gear S is fantastic