Samsung Gear S3 Owners Thread

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Ultimate Geek
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#1892523 30-Oct-2017 11:50

Those look good, are they softer than the original? Otherwise they look the same (not necessarily a bad thing!)

This is the one I was talking about: Thin silicone strap

JaseNZ

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#1892641 30-Oct-2017 14:54

LazyDr: Those look good, are they softer than the original? Otherwise they look the same (not necessarily a bad thing!)

This is the one I was talking about: Thin silicone strap

Much softer than the original , a lot more comfortable.

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paulchinnz

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#1908702 27-Nov-2017 21:35

@Mspec thanks for that aliexpress recommendation, got one and it is as you say.

PS - anyone in Chch? My altimeter has been completely inaccurate last 3 days, mostly ranging from -150m to -30m (as opposed to +20m), which has led to me getting herculean floor counts (50?!). Hoping it's Accuweather/software, and not hardware.

PPS - I see Tizen 3 rolling out to gear s3...

Dingbatt

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#1909042 28-Nov-2017 15:44

paulchinnz:

PPS - I see Tizen 3 rolling out to gear s3...

Yes. Updated my watch a couple of days ago. Haven't noticed too much difference except all the Samsung stuff I had inhibited/uninstalled has burst back into life. I am in the process of strangling it all again.
No noticeable affect on battery life as far as I can tell.

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MikeAqua

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#1917508 12-Dec-2017 15:57

I bought an S3 frontier in HN's 'Black Friday' sale.

Pretty happy with it really. I spend a lot of times in meetings and at conferences. The watch allows me to stay across messages and calls without opening my phone, which is reasonably discreet.

The pre-set replies are handy too and about 90% of the time I can use one of them. I also like the water counter as I have to be careful to drink enough water.

I haven't tested the exercise functions yet.

It would be nice if banks would extend Android pay functions to the watch. I don't really see a difference between getting out my phone and getting out my wallet. But the watch would be a lot easier.

Mike

dorthabell

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#1917776 13-Dec-2017 06:10

Howdy,

Can anyone comment on whether the 3G version is worth the extra $100 ?

If yes, it seems it only works on Spark and you need to get a 'Sharer' data plan to go with it.

Problem for me is that my smartphone is on Vodafone (work decision, not mine) and the S3 would be on Spark which is probably not a recipe for success.

(Haven't bought a Gear S3 yet, just looking into it).

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Lizard1977

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#1917779 13-Dec-2017 06:45

I bought the 3G version from Spark when I got my Note 8. The S3 was $599, which was same price everywhere else. I figured it would be better to have 3G option than not, especially if there's no extra cost. That being said, I haven't activated it. For my purposes, there's little that I would make use of on the watch that needs its own data connection. For instance, I tend to use Telegram and Viber for messaging, and there's no watch app for that. You can reply to notifications, but I don't see that working without a Bluetooth connection to my phone. I don't really make calls from my watch, but if I did, then having a dedicated connection would be good. The only other reason to use 3G on the watch would be to listen to Spotify say while running, so you can leave your watch behind. Spotify is pretty good on the watch, and you can download songs to the internal storage but if you had a big data plan and you wanted to stream, then a dedicated 3G connection for the watch is a good idea.

It's nice to have the option of 3G, but until it gets specific messaging apps, there's little reason to activate it. Spark told me it would cost $5/month to share my phone plan, but for the little use I would make of it, it's not worth it.

If you are facing a $100 premium to get the 3G version, and you don't jog and listen to Spotify, or need to make like Dick Tracey and call people from your watch, then I think you can stick with the standard version.

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#1917788 13-Dec-2017 07:28

I would be interested to see how much of a hit the battery takes using 3G. At the moment my non 3G S3 lasts 2 days and if I stopped using Watchmaker faces and went to a simple one, maybe even longer.
The 'adventure' advertising doesn't provide a compelling enough case to spend the extra $100 on what is already an expensive device.

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JaseNZ

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#1917795 13-Dec-2017 07:58

Yup love mine to bits, I wouldn't bother with the 3g unless you have a real specific need for it. JMO

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paulchinnz

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#1919317 13-Dec-2017 21:22

1) @MikeAqua I'm with you re the banks. Is yours parallel imported?

2) Interested in how accurate others are finding the altimeter. My floor counts went gangbusters for a fortnight (10x increase on previous, with no change in physical activity e.g. 20 floors instead of 2 floors/day) and that's when I noticed negative altitude measurements on the Alti-Barometer app. Curiously, floor count has settled in last 2 days, but still negative altitude (e.g. -10m) while on the flats of Christchurch. GPS working (used Quick GPS Position watch app), but unfortunately haven't found a good alternative altimeter watch app to Samsung's Alti-Barometer.

3) Watch faces - Jeweler makes some dressy + informative ones IMHO - favourites are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6mQ36HwDs&t=1s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS0hVsgMHUk&t=49s. I'm not a fan of configuring the watchface because the settings can't be saved, but the default active screen and AOD on both of these are pretty cool.

Dingbatt

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#1927778 1-Jan-2018 21:20

Just downloaded and installed Tizen 3.0.0.1 for my Gear S3 Frontier.
A few new menu items, including the ability to turn it into a watch! (Only).
That mode blanks the screen and it will only illuminate and display the time when the power button is pressed briefly. Up to 28 days battery life apparently.
Other things include a new pulldown quick settings menu.

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JaseNZ

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#1927783 1-Jan-2018 21:33

Yeah I see that install the other day. Still really like mine.

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paulchinnz

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#1927795 1-Jan-2018 22:04

@dingbatt so was the update you posted about on 28 Nov not Tizen 3?

I just got it yesterday, very slightly laggy vs previous but some nice new functionality without noticeable impact on battery.

Dingbatt

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#1927859 2-Jan-2018 06:51

paulchinnz:
@dingbatt so was the update you posted about on 28 Nov not Tizen 3?

I just got it yesterday, very slightly laggy vs previous but some nice new functionality without noticeable impact on battery.

I believe this is an additional dot point update. It is certainly the second update in (just over) a month for my watch.

There is a YouTube review of the changes (on my phone so too hard to post a link sorry).

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

paulchinnz

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#1927890 2-Jan-2018 07:55

I went from 2.x to 3.0.0.1, didn't get 3.0.0.0.
Traipsed round neighborhood with the health app tracking. Still not the finished product - distance measured was fine but the map of route missed half the circuit.
Anyway nice that gear S3 remains the Samsung smart watch flagship for another year.

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