3 days battery life with galaxy gear

Hi folks,

Yes 3-4 days battery life, is quite possible, with your Galaxy Gear!!!

As most of you knows, Samsung already declared that, new "gear 2" battery, will last 2-3 days and this was considered as an important improvement, compared to initial "galaxy gear".

So i have decided to check, what was this enhancement, in the battery of this new device and seen that, "gear 2" battery, is even less powerful (300 mAH) then the one which was coming with "galaxy gear" (315 mAH)

In fact, this was a confession from Samsung side that, the issue wasn't at the hardware, that is why, they have just made some fixes on the OS (tizen) and apps running on top of it.

Then i have loaded to my "galaxy gear" an application, which shows top battery consumers:) The result wasn't so big surprise, default applications, specially the ones which were dealing with my mobile phone, for handling data transfers between phone and watch were consuming almost all resources.

So, as these features, were nearly completely useless to me (because i was looking for a "real smart watch" not a phone accessory) i just uninstalled gear manager, enabled "Nova" as default launcher and VOILA; in a reasonable usage (you can still drain your battery in a few hours, if you continuously play subway surfer;)... or watch movie, on your "smart watch") it is lasting more then 3 days...

If you have rooted device like me, yes i also passed to dark side:) you can even rename/delete completely system apps, which you don't want to use at all...

Here i would like to open a small brackets for rooting; It's quite easy and gives you a lot of control on your "smart watch" (reaching it as a physical drive from your PC, installing apps by just running apk, without android developer kit, etc...), with tools like "root explorer", but without it also, you can still do a lot, as i have tried to show in the scope of this blog;)

Thanks for reading, cheers;)

How to transfer files, between galaxy gear and android phone, via bluetooth

Hi again,

You can use following tool, in order to transfer files via bluetooth, between your android phone and galaxy gear.

You have to install same app to both devices... The rest is quite straight forward.

Bluetooth File Transfer

Galaxy gear video capture sample, with lowest quality (table soccer)

Hi guys,

I prepared a sample video capture, with galaxy gear and ICS Camera app. 

I used lowest quality (SD 480p), otherwise size is too big, 1.5 GB for 18 min!!! with medium quality (HD 720p).

As you'll see result is quite good, specially for a watch...

Hope you'll like it...

s3 and Note 2 official galaxy gear support with android 4.3

Hi Guys

Finally android 4.3 upgrade reached to my note 2 and as of yesterday, i have started to use my gear with its full support.

If you didn't receive it yet, don't worry!!! i am sure you'll get it soon. Once you have android 4.3 installed, just go to samsung market and search for "Gear Manager". I only had one issue during this switch between manually installed and obtained from samsung market "Gear Managers"; I had to "factory reset" my galaxy gear!!! because, otherwise peering didn't worked.

One quick note about "Nova Launcher" also; As i have started to use my gear more and more, with new standard android applications that i installed, i have realized that, battery life is causing me issue, when i also use "Nova Launcher". So i switched it off.

How to convert your galaxy gear, to a SMARTWATCH, Showtime!!!

Hi again

Finally here is the new look of my Galaxy Gear, after installation of standard android apps, that i suggested in my previous post;)

Hope you'll like it guys...

My top 15 favorite galaxy gear apps

Hi Guys,

You can see below, my favorite Galaxy Gear apps list. 

This list is a bit different then the ones which you'll encounter, when you google "best/top galaxy gear apps" in your browser and in fact this is quite normal:) 

Because, i intend to create a fully functional smartwatch, from Galaxy Gear, without rooting&cracking it and my favorite apps, are useful for this purpose. 

So what i am expecting from a smartwatch?

Of course internet connection, but unfortunately it is not possible for now, without hacking your device... So lets come, to my applicable desires;

- I need an easy to use keyboard, even on such a small screen
- I expect nice functional user interface, with categorized and customized tabs, docks etc...
- i want a camera with unlimited capture time.
- i expect to have a file browser
- i look for a nice alarm clock
- i would like to have calculator (maybe nostalgic, but it is a must for me)
- i must have a functional video player (for watching videos that i captured)
- i absolutely want to play games, with nice graphics, even in such a limited screen.

So, do we have such applications, prepared specially for Galaxy Gear!!! right now? Answer is obviously; NO...

But there is a lot of nice, free, "standard android apps", which suit almost perfectly, with our Galaxy Gear and that is why, here is my list, which will present them to you:)

Ranking of listed apps, is according to their importance, of course regarding my evaluation.

1- Nova Launcher

Perfect free launcher, with nice functional user interface, categorized and customized tabs, docks. You'll have a great new custom smartwatch menu, with it, in your galaxy gear. 

Even auto starting an app (for example your clock app) after hibernate (Nova setting->gesture buttons->home button) is possible. 

Only negative issue is, not working widgets, when gear is not rooted. If you manage to make it work, with non rooted device!!! please let me know;)

2- Fleksy Tastatur
 
Great keyboard, works perfectly with gear.

3- Camera ICS

Very functional camera app, it work perfectly with galaxy gear and you can capture unlimited video with it;)

4- AppDrawer (MIUI App Drawer)
 
Useful tool for reaching, all installed apps together, when you work with customized menu of Nova Launcher. 

5- Androzip Data Manager

Great file browser, zip and search tool.

6- Alarm Clock Xtreme
 
A must have alarm clock application, which fits perfectly to galaxy gear.

7- Studio Clock

Nice clock app. You can set it, as default home button app, in Nova Launcher;)

8- MX Player
 
Best android player, works perfectly with Galaxy Gear also.

9- Calculator
 
It is simple, easy to use calculator, for your gear...

10- Subway Surfers
 

11- Temple Run 2
 

12- Fruit Ninja
 

13- Traffic Racer
 

14- Angry Birds


15- Doublemill

How to install standard android apps to your samsung galaxy gear

How to install standard android apps to your galaxy gear?

part 1

part 2

PS : Your Galaxy Gear should be "USB Debug" enabled.  If "Settings->Gear Info->USB Debug" is not present!!! click 10 times "Settings->Gear Info->About Gear->Software Version", to make it visible!!! and then enable it...