Having come down to a pretty affordable price tag right now, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier may stand out with the qualities of the best smartwatch out there despite the shortage of apps with it’s great control, vivid display and well built design. It adds a pretty nice aesthetic to your outfit, and while the Tizen platform is still not comparable to the interface of the Apple Watch Series 4, it does perform pretty well considering the price tag right now. You also get great fitness tracking with the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier and paired with its own music storage option of upto 4GB, it even makes for a great fitness tracker that doesn’t need you to carry your phone everywhere. If you love this smartwatch, you’ll also be interested in reading our guide to the TapTap wristband. And for more interesting reading, check out our review of the best smartwatch.
Why We Like It – Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch Review
A smart watch that has both a pretty great smart interface and looks nice, whilst also working with android, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch is among one of the best out there. It comes with a unique yet pretty elegant control system of a dial, and along with the good voice control, pretty great fitness tracking and also a good looking super AMOLED screen, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch won’t be a disappointment considering the price you can get it at now.
- Good control system
- Comfortable and well built design
- Great screen
- Slightly heavy
- Shortage of apps
Performance
To start off with how the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch performs, we must first consider that there aren’t many android smartwatches out there. And those of which are compatible with android, don’t come with much of anything called apps. Now, the Tizen Operating system most certainly isn’t the best out there considering how there’s a shortage of apps as developers have to re-code everything to be compatible with this seperate platform. But even so, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch performs pretty well compared to the Letscom Fitness Tracker, with a variety of app options ranging from Spotify to Nike+ running as well as a whole lot of others. Hopefully, there will be more apps available along the way, but apart from that, with the ability to effortlessly switch between WiFi and bluetooth it allows you to answer phone calls, messages in whatsapp or messenger and even use the Maps app for clear and detailed navigation when needed. The best thing about this is that the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch even comes with it’s very own LTE connection which means that you don’t need to rely on your phone to connect to the internet.
Related: If you like this watch, you might be interested in our TicWatch E2 review.
Moreover, when it comes to fitness tracking, apart from allowing you to listen to music from the 4GB on board memory or Spotify through the speakers or bluetooth headphones, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch also comes with an on board GPS tracking, altimeter, barometer as well as a heart rate monitor under the watch. All of these combine together with the voice and display inputs to motivate you to keep going, and to provide you with a good amount of fitness tracking. But do know that during bodyweight exercises, the results may be slightly inaccurate but not too far away from the actual data.
Moving onto the display and controls, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier comes with a 1.3 Inch Super AMOLED always-on display which is made of Gorilla Glass and has a resolution of 360×360 which provides you with a durable and pretty vivid screen. Apart from providing a pretty great watch face for almost everyone and upto 8 apps per screen, it is also a touch screen allowing you to choose apps and use them accordingly. And as for the other controls, you have the unique dial system for browsing through screens while the external upper and lower buttons act as a universal back button and home screen or app menu button respectively. You can also use the S Voice feature by tapping the bottom button, which allows you to make calls, launch apps and even control some other things just through your voice.
However, having a always-on display similar to the Samsung Gear S2 does take its toll on the battery life. According to most Gear S3 Frontier Reviews you get about 24 hours of battery life after a normal day of using the apps, which is a bit of a bummer. But, taking that in as a form of compromise, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier does a great IP68 resistance which allows you to take in upto 5 feet underwater for 30 minutes similar to the Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch.
Finally, unlike most android wear smartwatches, the Samsung Gear S3 also comes with the Samsung Pay feature, allowing you to pay through the watch whenever you need to, without making contact.
Design
Weighing about 59g and being made of stainless steel with dimensions of 49 x 46 x 13 mm, the S3 Frontier is both slightly large and heavy like the S3 classic. But, like the Samsung Gear S3 review from many customer reviews, we could also say that having a android compatible smartwatch that offers so much whilst also coming with a unique and elegant roundlike design, unlike the Apple Smartwatches, the weight is well worth it. It is for most of us, considering that you can even change the provided leather straps for a sweat resistant one during workouts and you get an overall great design with the variety of watch faces.
Value
Priced at about $170 right now, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier is much more affordable now, than it was when it was initially released. And while you may not get as wide a app availability as the Apple Watch Series 4, for something that is compatible with both android and iOS and is also a fairly good fitness tracker, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier is well worth the price for many of you out there, that is if you need the app functionality. Otherwise getting yourself a much cheaper fitness band might be the way to go.
Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch Review Wrap Up
While the Tizen OS is still not on the front face of what developers are working for, it is slowly but surely catching up in terms of the apps available. And along with the good fitness tracking as well as the unique and great look paired with the dial control, it is extremely convenient to use. You even get water resistance, allowing you to go into the pool while the stainless steel build will hold on for the years to come. And so, if you’re someone who really wants a smartwatch, or wants to upgrade from their fitness band, the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier Smartwatch may just be the perfect way to go.
