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Samsung's charming Galaxy Gear ad mines decades of sci-fi

Samsung's new ad for its £300 smart watch is a classic compilation of brilliant sci-fi, with wrist-talking heroes from 50 years of movies and TV.

Nick Hide Managing copy editor
Nick manages CNET's advice copy desk from Springfield, Virginia. He's worked at CNET since 2005.
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Nick Hide
2 min read

The first thing any self-respecting nerd would have thought on seeing Samsung's Galaxy Gear smart watch is, "Just like Dick Tracy!" And while the reality might not be quite so compelling, that's the way Samsung's trying to flog the thing in a great new ad.

Unlike many (so, so many) of the Korean company's previous ads, which have either been terribly feature-heavy or making fun of its competitors, the new Gear commercial is simple, elegant and packed full of dorky goodness, with clips from some of our favourite sci-fi shows.

I had forgotten the Hoff had a watch to talk to KITT. Man, he was cool. Extra points, too, for Penny from Inspector Gadget.

As several commenters have pointed out, it's reminiscent of Apple's 'Hello' ad when it launched the iPhone in 2007:

They both even have clips from the Flintstones. That's not to say Apple has a patent on the concept of the clip montage (I wouldn't be surprised if it tried to file it), but it's interesting Samsung has gone the same route of trying to make a concept mainstream by appealing to a where's-my-hoverboard strain of nostalgia.

It's a shame, then, that the Gear itself is such a letdown. Hobbled by miserable battery life and a tiny number of features at launch -- you can't even get email notifications -- it's nevertheless a very classy thing to wear on your wrist. For £300 though, you'd expect rather more. Even Samsung has admitted that it "lacks something special".

While the Gear is the highest profile smart watch to date, there's already a bunch of Internet-enabled phone companions for your wrist, and more on the way.

How many of the sci-fi smart watches did you recognise? Shout them out in the comments, and let me know what you'd want in a watch on our watchable Facebook page.