SMARTER (and bigger) AIN'T ALWAYS BETTER

Time for a smart watch reality check. For those of us into gadgets, we've been subjected to a lot of hype around the development of a useful, wearable device.

Many are waiting for the Apple Watch before they join the wearable world - after all, it promises so much. Trouble is, in recent years Apple products haven't always delivered on the pre-release build-up and they're still to announce the date you'll actually be able to buy one... could be February... could be March... who knows?

So let's deal with something I can actually put on my wrist right now, Samsung's latest offering, the Gear S...

May as well admit it straight up, it's the first thing everybody says; this thing is massive. Really far too big. Hard to know what Samsung was thinking when they decided screen size was more important than looking remotely normal. To be completely fair, because of its unique curved screen, the Gear S is a lot less nerdy looking than its predecessors, the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo.

Because I own a Gear Neo, I'm going to be doing a lot of head-to-head comparisons and there's no question the square-faced Neo looks like a 1980's style calculator watch, while the wrist-wrapping Gear S is genuinely stylish. Still huge though. In fact, it actually felt really heavy on my wrist - maybe it's all part of Samsung's fitness regime; wear the watch, work out those forearms.

However, the bigger screen does mean you can fit more on it. Now you can choose a watch face that includes shortcuts to take you straight to your favourite apps. This is the first hint of how the Gear S is almost more phone than watch. This time there's a light sensor (just like on most phones) so now the screen can automatically adjust its brightness to the conditions, a major advantage when it comes to outdoor use.

The big point of difference with this device is it has its own sim card. While it still has to be paired with a compatible Samsung phone, you no longer need to take the phone with you to receive texts, emails and other notifications. This is great news for runners and cyclists who may still want to stay in the digital loop without wearing an oversized and uncomfortable armband.

For some reason I couldn't manage to forward actual voice calls from my phone via 3G but this may have been due to my mobile plan, which isn't actually a plan, because I'm on prepay. Once back within bluetooth range, phone and watch reconnect conventionally and you can once again make and receive phone calls on your wrist, Dick Tracy style.

So the Gear S wins over the Neo in terms of style and 3G connectivity, although loses ground in sheer size. Is there any other reason to spend the extra $200 if all you want is a smart watch that works?... Maybe not. In fact, the Gear S doesn't even have some of the features you'll find on the Gear 2 devices.

One of those features is a camera. The Gear 2 came with a camera which was a nice idea, but nobody ever used it so it was no great loss. However, both the Gear 2 and the Neo included an IR Blaster which effectively meant you could use the watch as a basic remote control. I've found this feature to be the opposite of the camera; this time although it sounds like a stupid idea, in reality, it's surprisingly useful. When all you want to do is mute the ads really quickly, or check what's on the other channel, the remote on the other side of the coffee table seems so far away when there's already one on your wrist.

The Gear S has no IR Blaster, so that's no fun.

Another feature I missed is software based, so it may be remedied in future updates, but what happened to the media controller? You can download one on the Gear app store, but the stock media controller on my Neo is elegant in its simplicity and it works well, whether I'm listening to podcasts on my run, or music through my sound system. Why Samsung would leave something so essential off the Gear S is a mystery, or perhaps just a temporary oversight.

What the Gear S DOES give you is more options. Like earlier models, it still uses a Tizen-based OS but they've given it a more Android-like look and feel, blurring the lines between phone and watch even further. This provides a more familiar experience when browsing apps and changing settings. You can only swipe left or right on the Neo, to access shortcuts to your apps. The Gear S let's you swipe in all 4 directions for 4 different reasons.

Swipe left for widgets like your daily calendar. Swipe right for notifications (email/texts/app updates) Swipe up for shortcuts to apps. Swipe down for common settings like volume, brightness and best of all, the Do Not Disturb button, a one-press shortcut that prevents your watch ringing, vibrating or lighting up in the middle of the night... or in the middle of a movie.

This adds another 3 dimensions to the previous generation and is fairly easy to learn to navigate. One small bug I couldn't seem to remedy involved the vibration setting for my notifications. I keep my Neo on vibrate and as a result, I seldom miss a text or an email. I don't keep my phone on vibrate for emails because a constantly vibrating phone is annoying for everyone. When using the Gear S however, unless I set my email notifications to vibrate on my phone, they wouldn't vibrate on my watch. A trivial inconvenience, but annoying all the same. Again, maybe this is something that will be corrected in a future update.

Finally, let's talk battery life. Given most conventional watch batteries last for years, the idea of having to charge your watch every night probably takes a bit of getting used to, but when you're powering bluetooth, 3G, a surprisingly high-end processor and a full-featured screen, there's really no way around it. Presumably the Gear S uses the latest battery technology to maximise charge time, but presumably they've also included a million new ways to drain the power too, so I didn't notice any dramatic improvement or drop-off in battery life between the Gear S and the Neo.

What I did notice was how poorly designed the charging cradle is, that's if it was designed at all. The Neo's charger was tricky enough to attach; it took me about a fortnight before I felt like I wasn't just fluking it into place, but to get the Gear S cradle to snap on is one step short of impossible. I'm guessing the attachment is built the way it is to preserve the water and dust resistance of the device - you can't just have a socket you plug things into and have it rain-proof at the same time. So why oh why oh why wouldn't they just do it wirelessly? Surely plonking the watch down on a Qi charging pad makes more sense than PULLING THE STRAP AWAY FROM THE WATCH to get the cradle in place. I'm not even kidding. The Apple Watch is claiming to attach its charger magnetically which would be a major selling point as far as I'm concerned.

There's also one of those stupid blue lights on the charging cradle we didn't have to endure on the charger for the Neo. What is this obsession with stupid blue lights that serve no useful purpose other than to light up your entire bedroom at night? We know the charger is plugged in; we're the ones who plugged it in! At least give us the option to turn it off. Enough with the stupid lights already.

All that aside, the Gear S works and that's the main thing. The extra processing power means apps seldom crash or glitch, even during vigorous exercise. The same can't always be said for my Neo which has been known to give up on recording my workout halfway through. While basically offering the same core features; heart-rate monitoring, fitness tracking, email, text, voice calls etc, the Gear S does everything just that much more thoroughly. (It's capable of stand-alone GPS navigation, for example)

At the RRP of $499, I couldn't honestly justify upgrading from the Gear 2 or the Neo, but if this is your first smart watch, I don't think you'd be disappointed with the investment. And the best thing about the Gear S - you can buy one today. 

Whenever you're ready, Apple...

THE RISE AND RISE OF THE FABULOUS PHABLET

Over the last few years, I've been lucky enough to try a number of cutting-edge mobile devices. Generally, the evolution of smart phone technology has been both logical and exponential, although somewhere along the way, the iPhone was overtaken in the innovation stakes by Samsung and other Android-based handset manufacturers and now Apple seem doomed to a game of catch-up to protect any semblance of cool.

Of course, the latest iPhone is available in extra-large (and apparently extra bendy) but it's late to the game. Sumsung has been making the Galaxy Note since 2011 and what's more, the larger version of the iPhone 6 is still not as big as Samsung's latest phablet, the Note 4...

Let me be clear, I don't think you can consider these things to be "hand-held" devices, not "one-hand-held" anyway. In saying that, while giving the Note 4 a go, I did attempt to use it as my everyday phone, just to see if I could.

Obviously the key here is screen size, and while the Note 4's 5.7 inches doesn't sound dramatically larger the the Galaxy S5's 5.1, I can assure you, I definitely noticed the difference when I changed back to the smaller one.

The phone itself isn't so much bigger than the S5, and the leather-feel back case is more contoured and streamlined, giving the impression of a much more slim device. When I say, "not so much bigger," it's still big enough to move it well out of front-pocket territory and probably all the way into your handbag or inside jacket pocket.

This may seem like a bit of a pain, but I had it paired with the Samsung Gear S smart watch so I could even leave the phone at home if I wanted and still receive texts and emails on my wrist. But without the watch, you're left with a choice; do the disadvantages of handling a massive phone outweigh the advantages of a huge screen?

I'd suggest there are so many advantages, you'd really have to give the Note 4 serious consideration.

Let's start with the obvious stuff - video looks great. You can genuinely watch TV on this screen without coming across as some tech-nerd trying to prove a point. Documents display just that much more clearly, photos show up well, and there's plenty of room for the on-screen keyboard if you're working in landscape mode instead of portrait as I prefer to.

Samsung has really taken advantage of the large screen with a couple of unique little tweaks. The stock email client now has the option of a split-screen view which lists all the emails to the left and allows you to read any specific email you select on the right. (Yes, just like a real computer)

And there are other split-screen innovations to behold...

Samsung introduced what they call "Multi-Window" functionality a few generations ago, in order to allow users to access more than one app at once. This makes sense of course as there's not much point in having a multi-tasking phone if you can't actually see what those tasks are up to.

The Note 4 takes this to a whole new level. You can now access Multi-Window multiple ways, either using the traditional long press on the Go Back button and dragging the apps you want onto 2 halves of the screen, or, and this is where it gets cool, press the Recent Apps button and choose an app you'd like to add to your current screen from there. This second app then appears on top of the first in its own resizable window which you can drag anywhere on screen. (Yes, just like a real computer)

Of course, the best way to do all this is with the good old S Pen, Samsung's nifty on-board stylus. Except they've redesigned this too. More accurate than ever, the Note 4's S Pen now draws thick dark lines if you push hard and skinny light ones with less pressure. (Yes, just like a real computer... ah, I mean PEN)

Being a phone user rather than a tablet user, I haven't had a great deal of experience using a stylus, but the I found the S Pen to be so accurate and intuitive, I ended up using it more than my finger.

Whether you're making hand-written notes that can easily be converted into text, or touching up photos, the S Pen seems to be one of those easy-to-use tools that knows what you want it to do before you do.

As an example, the other day I had a very frustrating online retail experience involving a live-chat conversation that almost drove me insane. I wanted to keep a record of the conversation to use in evidence when I eventually broke down was forced to kill everybody involved. But rather than take a series of screenshots, I highlighted the conversation in my browser using the S Pen and sent the pictures to myself in an email.

Imagine my surprise when my email arrived not only with the pictures attached but with the whole conversation transcribed as text to boot.

Yes, the Note 4 can turn pictures of text into actual text, all with the push of a pen.

If like me, you're concerned about putting the S Pen down and leaving it behind, not to worry; the phone reminds you if you haven't placed the stylus back in its slot as soon as you start moving off.

Oh, this is a clever machine alright.

Is it perfect? Close. I found the battery life a little underwhelming, probably due to the constant connection to my watch via bluetooth and I'm assuming the more you use the S Pen, the faster you burn through the juice too. To support the big screen and the wizzy gadgets, it does have a big battery, and it ships with a new 9 volt fast charger which will do about 50% in half an hour. Trouble is, the standard chargers you have everywhere else (car lighters, docks, PC USB slots, etc) only pump out 5 volts. They still work, but you're in for a long wait for a full charge.

While we're talking charging, why all phones don't include a wireless charging receiver as standard these days is beyond me. The Nokia Lumias have had it built-in for ages and while the Galaxies can do it, you have to buy a wireless charging receiver separately which is just plain silly.

One other small design flaw with the Note 4 is unlike the Galaxy S5, it is not water and dust resistant. I don't understand why Samsung decided it wasn't worth making this device toilet-proof, as the peace-of-mind this feature has given me with the S5 is a real selling point.

Ultimately, as a dedicated S5 user, there's not quite enough here to move me to the Note 4, but if I was upgrading from any other device, I think I'd probably be swayed. The editing and multi-tasking abilities of the Note 4 are genuinely ground breaking. Combine that with its large screen and if you're a person who spends a lot of time cutting photos and links from your browser into emails, tweets and Facebook posts, this is definitely the device for you.

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH A WHOLE NEW GALAXY

So I'm sitting here watching a movie on my TV, even though it's stored on my PC. I'm streaming it through my phone. While I do that, I'm also checking my emails, my twitter-feed and an on-line auction. With my phone.

I just got back from my run, which I tracked with my phone. While I ran, I listened to some podcasts and a nice lady told me how fast I was going and how far I had gone. On my phone.

And I'm thinking, "How can they make this any better?"

Ladies and gentlemen, the Samsung Galaxy S5...

Not even a year since Samsung released the S4 and already it's time to consider an upgrade. But what does the new one offer the 2013 model can't provide? Do this year's modifications add up to a major evolution, or are they just a collection of minor tweaks?

For that matter, was there really anything wrong with the SIII?

Of course there wasn't. These days, phones are pretty much all awesome but that doesn't mean you can't make them a bit awesomer.

At this point, I've had limited access to the latest model, so I can only really give you first impressions. Let's start with size, shape and feel...

It's too big. There's always a fine balancing act between screen size and something you can actually hold with one hand. Obviously everyone wants a massive screen, but two handed operation makes it a mini-tablet, not a handset.

In truth, the screen is only slightly larger, but the phone itself is quite a lot longer than the S4 - about the same width though. On the bright side, the new dimpled back plate provides a much grippier surface than its more plastic-feeling predecessors.

The S5 is water and dust resistant. Don't take it swimming, but you can drop it in the loo, as this video clearly demonstrates. This means you can go running in the rain, no probs. Unfortunately, it also means a cover over the USB socket at the bottom. It's actually a double USB port, because there's a microUSB 3.0 socket right next to the normal one - a belt-and-suspenders approach Apple didn't take when they made all their previous accessories obsolete with the new cable for the iPhone 5. So it's a big plug hole, requiring a big plug if you want to keep things watertight.

This is a major pain in the arse. Nobody wants to fumble around with fiddly little rubber bungs just to plug in or unplug their charger. And if that wasn't annoying enough, every time you unplug your charging cable, a reminder window pops up on the screen nagging you to make sure that plughole is all covered up again in case you get things wet and dusty. How many times do I need to be told? I get it. Put the plug back in. What am I going to do, leave it dangling around, hanging off the bottom of my phone. STOP REMINDING ME! Hopefully wireless charging options will be made more available for this handset than the last couple of generations, making the whole tedious plug process redundant. (That's right, guys. You can actually charge your S3 or S4 wirelessly, although you will have to scour the net pretty intensively to source the right accessories. I don't know why Samsung doesn't ship their handsets with wireless charging back plates by default, like Nokia does with their Lumias)

But the S5's bung hole is literally the only thing I could fault in the whole 4 days I had to play with it.

Everything about this phone just works a little bit more seamlessly and in some cases, a lot faster. Apps generally opened more quickly than on the S4. You can select the Download Booster function which combines the best of your WiFi and Mobile Data speeds to suck large files into your phone more efficiently than ever. But what really blew me away was the consistency of the WiFi connection. Apparently there are not one, but two swanky new WiFi antennae in there somewhere and whatever they've done to them, my streaming experience became noticeably smoother and more stable.

Some new features are just cute - like Kids Mode, which gives your sprogs access to the fun stuff without risking them messing up your important bits. Other features are potentially life-changing; the S Health app has been souped up to monitor even more of your exercise and nutrition routines than ever before. This all syncs up with Samsung's latest range of wearables, so you can literally plug yourself into the matrix. I tried this combination first hand (excuse the smartwatch pun) in an actual gym the other day. I nearly died, but was impressed by the results, which I'll share with you in the next blog.

I could go on all day, and that's probably the point. None of the changes are massive, but in combination, there are enough of them to make this Galaxy a very tempting upgrade.

AN END TO BARE-CHESTED BLOKES

Over the last few days, I've been lucky enough to have a sneak peak at both the Galaxy S5 and Gear Fit smartwatch from Samsung. I'll get to the new phone in the next blog, but what I'm most excited about right now is this cool thing on my wrist.

I'm the first one to admit I have a magpie-like tendency to fall in love in the latest piece of tech wizardry to cross my line of sight. So when the idea of a smartwatch became reality, I really, really wanted one. I didn't really know why, I just did. I wanted one even though I secretly suspected they were probably next to useless, couldn't really do any of the things they promised to and none of the things you actually wanted them to. Oh, yes - and they looked ridiculous and uncomfortable too.

Still wanted one though. What a tech tragic.

Sadly, or perhaps fortunately, depending on which way you look at it, I never managed to get my grasping mitts on the first couple of generations of smartwatch. I'd see other people wearing them. I'd stare. They'd wonder why I was creepily checking out their left hands.

That's all changed now - so have the watches. Not only does the Gear Fit live up to the hype, it surprised me by doing a whole list of things I had no idea it could.

As opposed to some of its predecessors, the Gear Fit is slim and light. Throw in the innovative curved AMOLED screen and the whole package is a super comfortable fit.

Not only can you choose from a small selection of watch faces, (presumably more will be available for download further down the track) but you can change the wallpaper colour, pattern or image in the background - if want, you can put your actual face on your watch face.

That's fun, but not especially useful. What moves this thing from the category of nifty gadget to genuine tool is how seamlessly it connects with the phone it's paired to. I've never encountered a bluetooth device that works so consistently with no glitches and over such a long range.

You'd expect something called "Fit" to feature things like a pedometer and heart-rate monitor. I'd hoped I'd be able to read texts and maybe be alerted about emails and phone calls. What I didn't anticipate was what happened when my mum texted me.

I texted her back. With my watch. And it was easy.

Texts appear clearly on the curvy screen and then you have the option to send a pre-programmed quick reply. Remember, these are texts, so replies are supposed to be quick.

What surprised me more is emails work exactly the same way - obviously you only get a preview of any longer emails, without attachments, but again you can still send a quick reply or do what you normally need to do with 85% of emails... ignore them completely.

That's right, folks; you get an email, your watch vibrates, a quick glance and you've successfully ignored that message about the lunch man arriving. All without getting your phone out of your pocket or handbag.

But the thing that impressed me most was the media controller.

I use my phone to access more and more media all the time. Obviously I listen to music, directly from the handset using earbuds or headphones, via bluetooth in my car or at home on various sound systems. Once you're playing something, you can then use the Gear Fit to pause, play or skip it, or even adjust the volume. While your phone may be plugged in to something across the room, you are now effectively wearing a bluetooth remote control on your wrist. What's more, it seems to work with everything; streaming apps like iHeart radio? Not a problem. Even when streaming video from my PC through my phone to my TV, I can still pause and play from my watch.

Kill me now, it doesn't get better than this.

But back to exercise... Do you know what I hate most about running? Guys who take their shirts off. Why do they do it? I get that it's hot work, but that's why there are singlets. It's always the guys who are a little too old, fat or gross who insist on getting their gears off as well. Ick. Goes without saying, I would never go there... except... the other day it was a bit cold and rainy, so I elected to wear my phone/armband UNDER my long-sleeved running top in case there was a deluge mid-run.

When I run I use my phone to track my route, pace and time and listen to podcasts. Unfortunately, for some reason I had downloaded a whole bunch of podcasts I'd already listened to. Very difficult to skip a track when your phone is in an armband, under your shirt. Bugger. Nothing else for it, I made sure I waited till I reached a secluded section of my run, removed my shirt, skipped to the next podcast and away I went.

Only to discover I'd heard this one before too. DAMMIT!!!

I had to go through this at least 3 times before I sorted it all out. Luckily, no-one spotted me (and my moobs) at least, not that I'm aware of. I can't rule out the possibility some poor soul may have copped an eyeful, turned and fled while I was still wrestling with my phone.

If only I'd been wearing the Gear Fit that day. With 3 simple swipes of the screen, these atrocities could have been avoided.

Ironically, the only area I felt the Fit let me down was when it came to tracking my fitness. The heart rate monitor works well, but will only measure your pulse if you're standing, sitting or lying still - so not particularly helpful for maintaining a specific pace while working out. (NB: Since first writing this I have been shown a secret setting on the Gear Fit's big brother, the Gear 2, which would probably make the heart rate monitor work perfectly while exercising, so forget everything I just said) I also had an issue with the exercise tracker dropping out of Running mode and back into Pedometer mode without me realising, a short distance into my run, so the pace and distance information synced to my phone were all out of whack. This may have been a one-off though, as unfortunately, I had to give my review model back before I could re-test it.

Minor complaints about what is generally, an over-delivering device.

Now I'm suffering serious withdrawal. Every time someone texts me I reflexively glance at my wrist, but all I get is the time! What use is that? And now I have to walk all the way to the kitchen to pause my music. It's like living in the dark ages.