When they unveiled the Galaxy Gear, Samsung announced that it can exclusively pair with only the newly released Galaxy Note 3, and other devices such as the Galaxy S4 after receiving a software update. There has not been any word about any update for android devices, especially Samsung android device, to make the Galaxy Gear compatible with something else rather than the Galaxy Note 3.
It comes to no surprise that the Korean electronics company lied about that. But who would not try to hide the compatibility options available for the device if you are a company like Samsung which wants to sell its newly released toys. Recently, a developer from the XDA Developers forums was successful in modifying and then installing the Galaxy Gear compatibility app onto his HTC One, which was running on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. He reported that every single feature was working, except for S-Voice.
However, after installing the same app on a HTC One with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the Galaxy Gear remained incompatible. To mention here is that the app installed on the Android 4.2.2 HTC was installed by another developer and it is not yet clear if the issue is the app itself or the Android version. But of course, the results of the first test still remain valid.
It comes to the conclusion that Samsung has intentionally restricted the Galaxy Gear to be compatible only with the Galaxy Note 3. But since the Android platform is open-source and developers can easily “play” with the software, it is a matter of time until an unofficial version of the app that is compatible with multiple Android devices surfaces.
Thank you NextPowerUp for providing us with this information.
Images courtesy of NextPowerUp.
I have it paired to my S4 on 4.2.2 most things work so far. no txt msg abliites yet until 4.3
No texting-how about phone calls?
phone calls work fine.