Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch, full notifications for all your apps

Out of the box, one of the Samsung Galaxy Gear's major failings was its lackluster notifications system. As we noted in our review, the smartwatch often failed to display useful notifications on its display, requiring users to unlock their phone to read emails or other messages. That basically defeats one major benefit of smartwatches, so we're glad to see that Samsung is taking another stab at it with a new software update.

 The latest version of the Gear Manager app reportedly allows for just about any notification to be passed along to the watch. And best of all, they can now include previews for email, Hangouts messages, and so on. The Galaxy Gear's daylong battery life and high cost might still keep some buyers away, but at least Samsung's wrist accessory just got way more useful for those who've already taken the plunge.

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• SOURCESAMMOBILE