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.