Samsung Galaxy Gear disappointment

I'm totally into the ideal of the Smart Watch, and not merely for the "Dick Tracy"-coolness. I used to have a calculator watch in the late 80's because it was like having a tiny computer strapped to my wrist.  It was very difficult to use and it only qualified as a computer in the sense that it could compute, but was nothing like what is possible today.

I really wanted the LG GD910 Wrist Phone, at least it had the ability to make and receive calls. But at over $1000 and with a proprietary operating system, it lacked the one thing I wanted at the time (the Android OS).  It was revolutionary for its time and set a precedence for what could come.  Sadly what has come so far has still not been impressive and may still be so because of the limitations of the small screen size.

It's no hidden fact that anything on your wrist will be small, unless you have a hulk wrist.  So if we are ever to have more screen in that space, it may be necessary to develop holographic projections or realistically much better voice controls.  There's just not enough room in 1.6-inches of screen to do much at all.

There's almost no point in discussing the odd placement of a camera on the wrist strap and the speaker on the clasp.  These things guarantee that you will not be getting a wrist strap replacement in case Samsung's style isn't the same as yours.

A friend of mine made a comment that has stuck with me for a long time, about tech.  The first release of a device is the beta test.  People will buy it, but it is rarely the one you should buy.  The second version of a device is likely to be the best buy because the company has had time to work out the bugs.  This was definitely true for the first Google Phone (HTC Dream / G1), but it was more an operating system issue that was not well resolved until more recently.

I have no doubt that it is hard to spend a great deal of money developing something that doesn't sell.  It would be awesome to get it correct on the first try.  But no company yet has managed to do that.  Or else our (my) expectations are still too high.

For now I will wait and see what Google or Apple debuts.  I hope they can do better in the first round.