Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch - UK Version

I have waited a couple of weeks since receiving the watch in order to fully get to grips with it before writing my review. I am also an owner of the s2 classic smartwatch.First impressions – packaging and contents:The packaging is very stylish with a high quality cylindrical box encased in shiny acetate film.Inside the box, the watch is presented neatly and all its shiny bits were protected with film – which I always enjoy removing from new gadgets!Enclosed in the box with the watch is a magnetic wireless charging base and micro-usb hard wired mains plug which is nice and compact.Also enclosed is a smaller wrist band. The larger band is already fitted to the watch. A flick of the quick release stud on the back of the strap and it comes off easily. Fitting the strap is done the same way.The straps on the Frontier are made of a very soft, flexible black silicone material which is very comfortable. I find the only downside over a traditional leather strap is that it can make your wrist a bit hot after prolonged use.Charging:The watch battery came pre-charged to 77% out of the box.While charging the watch sits snugly and securely on the magnetic charging base and charges wirelessly. From nearly empty the watch charges in about an hour.When charging beside the bed at night the red/green charging light on the base unit is a little bright for my liking so I have to turn it away.Switching on and first use:The watch is powered on by holding in the bottom button on the right side of the watch. After a short startup sequence you are ready to go.The watch quickly connected to my phone’s Bluetooth connection and on opening the gear manager app which I downloaded in advance, the time, date and regional settings were transferred to the watch.First impressions – wearing the watch:It is BIG. A lot bigger than the s2. I have fairly small wrists and needed to use the small strap. Coming from the s2 I initially thought that I wouldn’t get on with this watch. How wrong I was! Once I got used to the bigger screen I would not go back. Seriously. The screen is stunningly clear and bright with vibrant colours and the watch really stands out. I get the impression that Samsung has gone big and bold and firmly targeted the male market with this watch. It is not feminine in any way.The one downside of the size of the watch is that it gets caught on close-fitting shirt cuffs and this can be a bit annoying.Features:Health. The watch integrates fully with s-health on the phone and syncs steps, heart rate, a range of activities (walking, running, working out) and floors climbed.Apps – are a bit limited but the store has a lot more choice than when the s2 first came out. The watch integrates with Facebook notifications and WhatsApp messages without a dedicated app, and has apps for texts, emails, calls, calendar, fitness, weather, news, alarm and more. Make sure you download the calculator, speedometer, stopwatch, timer, alti-barometer – all made by Samsung.Text input - is achieved with a range of pre-programmed responses, typing on a small t9 keyboard or, if you select US language, on screen hand-writing recognition – which is pretty cool. S-voice is also available for various functions but I have really tested this out as I never have much luck with my accent.Hardware – the bezel. Its best feature. Rotate to move around menus, accept calls, accept calendar notifications, dismiss alarms – really intuitive. Two buttons on the side with a knurled texture are useful – the top button goes back, the bottom button opens the app drawer and doubles as the power button when long pressed. The touch screen – works just like your phone. A useful gesture is swiping down quickly to go back. Speaker and mic - allows you to make and receive calls via the watch, you can also set ringtones and notification tones.Watch Faces - compared to the s2 the fitness themed watch faces are better and more varied, but I feel the traditional watch faces lack the range of customisation options available in comparison to the s2. That said, the faces look good but for me, do not have the customisation options I wanted. However, watch faces is one thing the gear store has a great choice of – both free and paid.Battery Life:With the Always On Display set, a 1 minute screen timeout, occasional exercise and regular checking throughout the day I get a solid two days with some room to spare. With AOD off but everything else the same I get 3 days – which is pretty good.In summary:Pros:It is big – and the screen is stunningThe build quality is superbThe hardware / software interaction is intuitive and responsiveThe battery lasts 2-3 days with heavy useThe strap is comfy, easy to change and the watch is compatible with any standard 22mm strap.Great choice of watch faces in the Gear storeCons:It is big - it gets caught on clothing occasionallySilicone strap makes your wrist hotApps are limited in the Gear store, but choice is improving

This is my first smart-watch so I can't compare it to anything else.The rotating bezel is very useful and used for many things depending on what you're doing with the watch at that moment, from selecting widgets from the home screen, to navigating through settings, to adjusting the volume during a call and so on. In fact it's so useful I think that having a smart-watch without an interactive bezel would be a big disadvantage.The watch's operating system is fast and intuitive and it's great being able to change the watch-face. Sometimes I'll choose one of the many free digital watch-faces and other times an analogue version. Some are already installed on the watch but others can be installed in seconds either directly by using the watch or by finding them within the Gear app on your phone, and then sending them to your watch. It's incredibly simple.I'm also surprised by how accurate the heart monitor is. I used it the other day while on a cross-trainer which has a heart monitor where you wear the sensor like a belt around your chest. I checked the watch against the cross-trainer three times, twice the watch gave the exact same reading and the third time it was only two BPM out. I was surprised as I'd often heard heart monitors on watches weren't usually very reliable. In fact, I was also amazed that the watch automatically detected I was on a cross-trainer without me telling it I was doing a workout, really impressive.As for durability, it's definitely well made and a solid watch but like anything metal or glass, try to avoid scratching it.I've since changed the supplied leather strap to (in my opinion) a much nicer looking silicon 22mm strap from Amazon, which is also far more flexible and therefore easier/quicker to take on and off. I actually bought a bright orange strap and then used a pre-installed black/orange digital watch-face and I think it looks pretty smart.Making/receiving calls through the watch is easy and surprisingly good. I wouldn't want to use it where there's a lot of background noise but if I'm at home it's ideal if I've got my hands full and don't want to take my phone out of my pocket. This version of the S3 cannot however make or receive calls on its own, it does it by connecting to your phone via Bluetooth.For its size the sound is more than acceptable. Don't expect wonders if you want it to play music as look at the size of it, it's a watch. It's fine to hear notifications and make a call in a relatively quiet room and that's all you should expect from it anyway.I like being able to customise the watch with which widgets I want to be easily accessible from the home-screen and in what order. I also like being able to quickly check to see if a notification is worthy of attention rather than having to get my phone out of my pocket.I'll make this my last point, as I could go on and on, but I only have positives to say about this watch. Battery life, it's great and will easily last me four or five days at a time between charges, and it doesn't take long to charge back up. I do take it off and switch it off at night though, have a mainly black watch-face and set it only to illuminate if I press a button or raise my arm to see the time. If you chose a bright watch-face and set it to always on then obviously the battery life would be drastically reduced.Without doubt an excellent watch.