The Good The
Gear Live has a clean metal body, more features for the price than the
LG watch, works with many Android phones (4.3 or later), has impressive
Google Voice recognition, and could have an interesting variety of apps
sooner than later.
The Bad Terrible
battery life; a display that doesn't work in bright sunlight; a strange
card-based notification system that doesn't always pop up with the info
you want; annoying snap-on charger that's not easy to attach.
The Bottom Line Samsung's
new smartwatch feels like its other Gears, but injected with Google's
new Android Wear software. The makeover means better Google phone
connectedness, but it's not a killer smartwatch.
Design
There's no denying it, the Gear Live feels a lot like previous Gears. It's attractive, but in a space-age way: more Star Trek communicator than the classic feel of throwback Pebble Steel or Martian Notifier design. It only has one button, on the side, to turn the display on and bring up Google voice, or dim it again. You won't be confusing this for an everyday "normal" watch.It's a hybrid design of previous Gears: there's a metal body like the Gear 2, yet it's camera-free like the Gear 2 Neo, with a simple swappable wristband that ditches a standard watch buckle in favor of a two-prong pop-on fastener, like the Gear Fit.
Feature-wise, if you follow smartwatches closely, it's really a Gear Neo Lite. Its feature set is even more limited than Samsung's last round of watches released in the spring. Yes, it has a big bright screen and metal design, but the Gear Live lacks speakers or a camera. It has a microphone for taking dictation, text chatting or asking Google Voice for things, but it can't currently record voice memos. A heart-rate monitor on the back, like previous Gears, is present, but it doesn't do much yet.
The Gear Live is IP67 water- and dust-resistant, like Samsung's Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit, and LG's G Watch. You should be able to wear it in the rain, while washing your hands, or even in the shower (I did), but not for swimming. And showering with it all the time might not be the best idea if you don't want to tempt fate.
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