Samsung Gear Live review: With a a 1.63-inch, 320 x 320-pixel Super AMOLED display, 4 GB storage, 512MB RAM, and a 1.2 GHz processor the Samsung Galaxy Gear Live proves that less doesn’t necessarily mean more.

Joining the Samsung smartwatch line up (Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit), the Android Wear-powered Gear Live boasts of a colorful and vibrant always-on display. Although it has the spitting image of the Gear 2 Neo, the Gear Live has a slight edge because of its more comfortable wrist strap.

When it comes to being a fashionable wear, the Samsung Gear Live is still a bulky piece in spite of its lack of camera and home button. It has also kept the inconvenient charging design at the back. Its screen display is also quite difficult to view in harsh sunlight.

The Gear Live’s main difference against its brothers, however, is its compatibility with other smartphones, as long as they are running at Android 4.3 and higher. It also has snappy functions such as Commute, Fitness, Flights, Keep, Music Control, Navigation, Next Appointment, Reminders and Voice Search.

Its voice recognition software has gone an extra mile to be snappier compared to its predecessors. You can also tell the Gear Live to call people from your contacts and even do spontaneous web searches.

In recent years, the Samsung Gears have been must-haves for fitness buffs. Now, this Android Wear also delivers. With its improved dust and water resistant body that can be submerged up to three feet of water for 30 minutes, the Gear Live offers a pedometer, basic fitness functions, and a built-in heart-rate sensor.

With its release against the LG’s G Watch, critics are saying that the Samsung Galaxy Gear Live still needs more time in the oven. Samsung has failed to address its bulk issue as it almost replicated the Gear 2 Neo with a screen that is hard to read in sunlight. Still, its voice recognition software is a plus. And in the end, the Samsung Galaxy Gear Live performs its prime function as an extension of Android smartphones at a lower cost.