Enjoying life in 3D: Samsung devices shaping the future of smart experience

Samsung’s combination of different facets of technology could be just what humans need, especially in a world where multitasking is becoming a vital skill.

Imagine replying to emails from your smartwatch by giving instructions to a smart microphones perched on your ears as a background pop music from your smartphone plays into your brain.

From ordering meals on e-commerce platforms, to calling a cab to pick you and starting your gym app for exercises, the power of Artificial Intelligence is gradually shaping how future populations will live. Effortless, accurate and convenient.

When I set out with three devices a week ago, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Buds Pro, I have had an experience I would never wish to be separated from. It is like living life in 3D.

If you’re a journalist like me, you no longer need to carry notebooks or pens around when conducting interviews for your stories.

I am used to commanding the phone to open Live Transcribe, an app that converts speech to text with top accuracy, as I interview my sources. I have to alert them, of course, but my aim is to ensure they never call back saying ‘I was misquoted’ after the story is published.

The text is stored on the cloud, so I cannot lose access to it no matter where I travel.

Sometimes the smartphone is in the pocket, and due to its dear price -Sh170,000, I may not feel secure to remove it to answer a call or text.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 comes in handy. All you need to do is download the smart watch app from Galaxy Apps or Playstore. Then, either via Bluetooth or mobile data, you synchronise the settings so your smartwatch becomes your smartphone.

That means, unless you want to use the phone for video live streaming, video recording, video calls, writing using the S pen, movie watching or photo shooting, where an 8K screen resolution quality is needed, you can actually operate the rest of the phone functions from the Galaxy Watch 3.

But there is something more special about it - the rotating bezel and an e-Sim. It’s smaller on the Galaxy Watch 3, but easier to use, and will reward you with a satisfying click when you rotate it.

The display is crystal clear and that’s why it consumes more energy, though it will still give you two days of battery life on a single charge. If you keep the always-on display turned off and don’t use it to work out too often, you might be able to make it stretch to day three.

However, if its display is always turned on, sleep tracking enabled, blood and heart rate monitoring during runs enabled and GPS-recording on during workouts, you will have to charge it every day.

You will realise that during workouts, you need a silicone strap because the ‘leather’ strap of the Galaxy Watch 3 may feel uncomfortable. And Samsung knows it. It is compatible with 20 mm straps for the 41 mm version while the 45mm model works with 22mm ones.

The device, which costs Sh39,000 across most Nairobi Samsung shops, allows you to track 40 different sporting activities, from running and swimming to cardio-based exercises like mountain climbers. 33 of those activities need to be tracked manually, while seven of them can be auto-tracked.

Advanced running metrics

During and after running, you’ll get advanced running metrics like asymmetry, contact time, flight time, regularity, vertical, and even stiffness.

For the S21, S21 Plus and S21 Ultra, you longer need to carry around a cable charger that I have to plug on sockets as happens with over 97 per cent of smartphones. These devices come with no chargers because of their wireless charging technology. You can always purchase a type-C charger, but that’s not wise as the world grapples with the challenge of e-waste.

But for ultimate performance, you will need the Samsung Wireless Charging Pad which utilizes an inductive charging technology that eliminates the need to attach a charging cable every time I want to charge my device.

The dedicated charging pad is always full of electric charge, and provides me with wireless power when I travel to cover stories in the most remote parts of Kenya where the national grid is several kilometres away.

It allows me to use the phone while charging, meaning I can answer video calls without unplugging. The good thing is that it can charge all devices with a built-in Qi wireless charging system.

Auto mode

I went out for a picnic at Kakamega Forest National Reserve and the photos I took are sharp, clear and ready for use on large billboards. The camera’s dynamic range is impressive and Samsung's ‘tripod lock’ software feature steadies the 30 to 100 times zoom levels on subjects to prevent the viewfinder image from jumping around.

Its night mode is the best I have experienced so far, as it captures clear images in the dusk of the night, even on auto mode.

But the new Director’s View mode is totally a new feature as it allows you to capture videos with both the front and back cameras simultaneously! Video content creators can therefore record reaction shots of themselves, which they can splice in alongside their main footage.

It has two telephoto cameras that offer different perspectives: 3x and 10x. The 10x optical zoom gets you closer to those far-off subjects, while the 3x optical is handy for pulling it back a little bit without digital distortion.

Its 256GB or 512 GB internal storage for 8K video storage eliminates the need for a microSD card slot for expandable storage. The RAM is also huge -16GB- to ensure your device is fast across all apps.

Remember that the Galaxy S21 Ultra screen is Samsung’s first ever screen that’s capable of running at a smooth 120Hz refresh rate while in a pixel-packing Quad HD resolution.

It is also the first non-Note phone that’s compatible with its S Pen stylus though it is not shipped with it, and when you buy it, there’s no way to embed the stylus into the body of the phone.

Galaxy Buds Plus

A key component of the smartphone that you should have is the Galaxy Buds Pro which pairs via Bluetooth. With an asking price of Sh19,000 in Nairobi, the smart earphones are an improvement of both the Galaxy Buds Plus and Galaxy Buds Live.

An in-ear design with silicone tips and style cues, the latest buds are designed to reduce the contact area between your ear and the bud, improving comfort and minimizing any clogged-up feeling.

This is Samsung’s best wireless audio technology yet, with effective active noise cancellation (ANC), punchy sound quality and speech detection feature that automatically lowers your music and lets you hear the outside world as soon as you start talking.

I really enjoyed 3D audio and automatic device switching from the Galaxy S21 Ultra to Galaxy Note 20 and back, giving me seamless audio exchanges, from Diamonds’ The One and Sauti Sol’s Suzanna.

These are the only buds that can let you swim while perched on your ears for up to 30 minutes, meaning if you are working out, you need not worry about the sweat trickling down from your upper head.

While they support up to five hours of playback with ANC enabled, and eight with it off, case top-offs put you at 18 hours of total battery life or 28 without noise cancellation.

For the ultimate experience of Samsung technology, merging the three devices – Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Buds Pro, at a cumulative price of Sh228,000, lets you test life in three-dimensional mode.