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Some people like smartwatches, some don't. I thought it might be worthwhile to ask fellow Soylentists about a decent phonewatch. Maybe there is something nice out there?
About 1.5 years ago I replaced my old Nokia 5310c with an Omate Truesmart. The Omate has died this week - it fell for the third time from my desk, and this time it wouldn't charge (or connect to a PC) anymore. I guess that the USB wiring inside it got disconnected. So now I'm back to my old Nokia.
I was never completely happy with Omate: crappy software and not a single software update from the seller. Buggy apps desperately needed updates, which were in fact released by software authors, but not pushed as Omate updates. At least the Omate worked, and I was mildly content with that. I felt comfortable talking to it on my wrist. It made me pay attention to find a silent spot first, so that I troubled people less during my phone conversations. That was good, since I too hate listening other people yelling at their phones.
I never used a smartphone or a phablet because those are too big for my taste (my wife uses one and sort-of accepts it). I prefer smaller mobiles than bigger ones. They are supposed to be mobile after all, this is why I deliberately did not use the term "smartwatch" in the title because some companies think that smartwatch is "good enough" when it has a companion phone. Well, that is not the case for me, a phonewatch has to have a simcard slot in it. Also it must be able to record audio memos (e.g. to record some idea that I had), and a decent calendar. In fact I look forward to some opensource Ubuntu phonewatch, but it hasn't arrived yet. So until then I'll have to use something that might not be as good.
I looked into Samsung Gear S, but I am not entirely convinced. Do any of you fellow Soylentils had any experience with phonewatches?
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 23 2015, @08:29AM
What does this null_ rom do? [nullproject.net] They seem to fall over themselves to say it's good but missing why and context.
Galaxy Gear = Samsung Galaxy S4-S6 ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 23 2015, @12:22PM
Null_ adds a bunch of customization options, including the ability to add Google apps (including Play Store) and various parts of Android (e.g. the status bar and notification tray, normal Settings app) that were/removed/disabled in the factory ROM. Much (not all) of this can be achieved with the stock ROM by sideloading the appropriate APKs.
Galaxy Gear = Samsung Galaxy S4-S6 ?
If by = you mean "is", then no, Galaxy Gear is Samsung's first smart watch, which runs a lightly modified Android/Touchwiz. (They dropped the "Galaxy" part for subsequent models, which run Tizen or Android Wear: Gear 2, Gear Live, etc.) If by = you meant "is supported on", then approximately true; it is only supported on certain recent Galaxy/Note phones (roughly S4 onward, though I'm not sure of the exact list), but the basic features can be made to work with any phone you can pair it to. (AFAIK it should work even with a dumb phone not supporting Bluetooth LE, but I think the battery impact of using standard Bluetooth for an always-on internet connection would be a bit much -- I know it was big on my MOTOACTV, which lacked Bluetooth LE.)