Gear 2 Neo or Sony Smartwatch 2?

It's too bad you couldn't jump in on the AT&T deal when it was 25% off with two other accessories. Saving $50 would have swayed you instantly. I am 100% glad I purchased this, as it provides exactly all of the functionality I need it to...

Vibrating alarm so I don't wake up my wife on her days off.
Notification and full text of SMS
Notification and full text of work Emails
Notification and full text of Appointments from my work calendar
Notifications are with just enough vibration so those around me don't know it went off
Don't show notifications until I look at the watch
Customizable watch faces depending on my mood for that day
Won't be overly susceptible to dings/scratches - it's got Gorilla Glass 3!

It also adds some things I didn't need, but use nonetheless
Pedometer (wish the pedometer allowed you to enter your stride length instead of estimating off height)
Heart rate monitor (a little wonky sometimes)
Exercise tracking
Tracks my sleep (when I remember to turn it on...or sometimes OFF...lol)
Backup Remote w/ the IR Blaster (need a way to add a Roku so I don't need either remote)
I can answer the phone and talk if I'm busy
I can reply to text messages with canned quick text responses
I can skip tracks and pause Pandora with my phone charging in the other room

If I had to pick a couple negatives...
Battery power is okay. I have to charge it every other day or at least top it off every day.
It would be nice if I felt more comfortable showering with it. Some people say it's possible and they have had no issues. I would rather not at this point.

All I know is I love it and I'll be using it for a while. I also have 3 coworkers who have Pebbles and they've all commented on how great it looks/acts. One of them is waiting for the LG G Watch to drop. I'll probably wait for the second gen of Android Wear before committing.

Best of luck to you in figuring out what it is you want/need. ;-]

EDIT: Just thought of a more significant con...

If you spend time at a desk typing, you may end up scuffing the clasp against the desk. This will cause wear on that clasp as well as metal transfer to the desk itself. It wipes off fairly easily, but the wear is very evident on the watch.

I purchased the Sony SW2 to save money and had regretted it the whole time. Some of what I am about to say can be fixed with some modifications (Sony SW2) and apps but not out of the box. Not being able to raise my arm to active the watch was a negative. Not being able to take a simple phone call was a negative. The positive at the time was being able to change watch bands that is solved with the Gear 2 and Neo being able to change bands. The health monitoring of the Gear is nice as well.

The negative for Gear 2/neo is the limited app market. Since changing to Tizen not a lot of apps out there.

I am 100% happier with the Gear 2 Neo than I was with the Sony. For what that is worth.

admiral70 said:

The negative for Gear 2/neo is the limited app market. Since changing to Tizen not a lot of apps out there.

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+1!!!

I also looked at the Sony before buying the Gear 2 (AT&T deal)...
What I did not like about the Sony is that besides watch functionality it only seems to be able to push notifications. If indeed true, the Gear 2 has much more potential to be used offline (running apps locally on the watch), once they are available of course...
The screen looks better on the Gear, but I like the Sony to be reflective (always on). Not sure if it suffers from the same issues as Pebble, such as the fact that with polarizing glasses you cannot see anything on it....
Also, I think the Gear 2 looks better overall, but that is just my personal opinion of course....

Sent from my GT-N5110 using xda premium

I'm also debating between two of them right now. Seems like if I choose to save some money I should buy SW2, but I can also buy a used Neo so.
Because I was collecting information only about sony's watch, I'd like to ask a couple of questions to the Neo's owners.
1. Can I make (root,rom, hack,etc) the Gear 2 Neo to work with sony xperia z1c? And will all the functionality remain(for example, if sw2 is connected to a phone rather than sony, you cannot answer calls) if connected to sony instead of samsung. This is the main question.
2. Is the screen always on, like on sony sw2, so I can check the time.
3. Can it control the music being played on a phone, or is there an app for that.
4. Can it answer phone calls
5. How long does the battery last
I'm even thinking not to buy any smartwatches at all, because all of them seem imperfect. What I really would like is SW2's functionality in a better screen from samsung. On the other hand, I don't want to spend money on useless(for me) features like IR blaster or pedometer, or even heart rate sensor. I just need a smartwatch to control music on the phone, check notifications, and to answer calls with a headphones on. and maybe an alarm, if its really so useful. Maybe those are not the watches i'm looking for, so sorry for the off-topic.
Thank you in advance.

necr0manser said:

1. Can I make (root,rom, hack,etc) the Gear 2 Neo to work with sony xperia z1c? And will all the functionality remain(for example, if sw2 is connected to a phone rather than sony, you cannot answer calls) if connected to sony instead of samsung. This is the main question

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I have no experience on anything other than a Galaxy phone with this watch, but I do know there are some threads out there about getting the Gear 2 working on other phones. You may have to do some investigation.

necr0manser said:

2. Is the screen always on, like on sony sw2, so I can check the time.

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No, but you can set it to turn on when you look at the phone (as well as determine whether you want it to display the clock or the last screen you had up)

necr0manser said:

3. Can it control the music being played on a phone, or is there an app for that.

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There is a music player app for playing files on the watch itself. There is also a Media Controller app to control media players on your phone. Both of these are on the device out of the box.[/quote]

necr0manser said:

4. Can it answer phone calls

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Yes. it actually works really well. The person I tested it with said they couldn't tell it was anything other than a phone.

necr0manser said:

5. How long does the battery last

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This answer really depends on settings and what you have sent in terms of notifications. I get about 2½ days out of mine, but I typically charge it in the evenings when I'm on the PC and again in the mornings while I shower.