The Galaxy Gear Is Wrong for My Wrist and the Runway

What's This?

By Christina Warren2013-09-05 14:15:03 -0400

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its long-rumored, much anticipated smart watch, the Galaxy Gear.

Much has been made of the Galaxy Gear's feature set, its potential pricing (global pricing is $299 but the U.S. price has not been announced) and its device compatibility. That's all interesting and valid, but what most immediately concerns me about the Galaxy Gear is how it looks.

Samsung described the Galaxy Gear in its press release as an "iconic fashion accessory." With all due respect to Samsung's design team, I'm not sure "iconic" means what they think it means.

From the exposed screws to the weird bezel around the screen to the unattractive pattern on the band, this is not a fashionable-looking watch. As John Gruber opined, if your smart watch doesn't look any better than an old iPod nano snapped into a watchband, why bother?

As much as Google Glass has been maligned as looking out of place and unfashionable (unless you happen to be a model appearing in Vogue ), I'd much rather wear Google Glass in public than a Galaxy Gear.

Of course, that's largely because I'm a tech savvy, yet fashion conscious, female — and apparently I'm not Samsung's target market.

Designed for Men and Men Only

Although Samsung is ostensibly targeting men and women, the size, shape and overall design of the watch seem to have been designed without any consideration at all for a woman's wrist.

As Mashable editor in chief Lance Ulanoff mentioned Wednesday, "at least they come in a variety of colors."

This issue isn't unique to Samsung. Most of the other smart watches on the market offer little appeal to fashion-conscious women. The Pebble, for instance, isn't much smaller than the Galaxy Gear.

The difference, as I see it, is that until now, most other smart watches have been sold in part as sport watches. The Pebble is waterproof, for instance, and can be used in a variety of situations that the Galaxy Gear may not be able to handle. The Pebble looks big on my wrist (and I've encouraged the Pebble team to look at developing a smaller more female-friendly watch), but I can accept it, in part because it's not meant to be a fashion statement.

The Galaxy Gear, on the other hand, is not primarily a fitness or sports accessory — that's what the S Band is for. It has plenty of fitness-friendly features, sure, but it's not what I would call a sports watch.

Regardless of how useful the device might be, if it's big and clunky, it's not something I'm going to want to wear. Samsung's press videos very conveniently eschew showing full views of women wearing the watch. The angle on the videos is just so — and straight on, the size and shape doesn't look as problematic as it might actually be.

Swedish music duo Icona Pop praised the Galaxy Gear (which isn't a surprise, they are Samsung celebrity partners), but I was struck by the photos of how the watch actually looked on a female wrist.

Samsung Galaxy Gear and Icona Pop.jpg

Seriously, how is that fashionable?

Even worse — if you are unfortunate enough to have small wrists, the watch band itself may be a major problem. At least with the Pebble — and even my LunaTik iPod nano watch — I could replace the watch strap for something shorter and more form fitting for my wrist. With the Galaxy Gear, because the camera is built in to the strap, this doesn't look like it will be a user-replaceable option.

Moreover, by not making the band adjustable (or replaceable), Samsung makes it nearly impossible for women (or men) to make the watch a true accessory.

Samsung has done a good job attracting women to its Galaxy products. The company may not be as evenly distributed amongst men and women as Apple, but I see almost as many female Galaxy S3/S4 and Galaxy Note owners as men.

I can't see any of my female Galaxy-owning friends agreeing to wear — let alone purchase — a Galaxy Gear. It's just too bulky, too unattractive and too overtly masculine.

The irony of course, is that the camera and memographer feature (which lets users add text to photos and share them with their social networks) — are potentially features that young women would appreciate more than young men.

As a tech savvy woman, I'm the perfect audience for a smart watch. By making something that is so clearly not designed for those of us with small wrists and a sense of style, it's as if Samsung has decided to write off half of its market. That can't be right. Can it?