Samsung Galaxy Gear? Cool little smartwatch, and what it lacks in battery life, it tries to make up for with attractive features like that strap-mounted camera. But maybe the largest hurdle it’s yet to overcome is that of compatibility; unless you’ve got a Samsung smartphone – and even then, only one of a few select models running the latest software – the watch is practically going to waste. That is, unless you’re willing to get you hands a little dirty, roll up your sleeves, and manually configure your Nexus 5 to play nicely with the Galaxy Gear.

Over the past couple weeks, this information’s been coming together over on the XDA-Developers forums, and while it’s still not perfect, you can get a lot of Galaxy Gear compatibility out of your Nexus 5. The guys at Smartwatchfans put together a nice summary of the steps you’ll need to follow, which you can find through the source link below – all the operations are very straightforward, no ADB or anything of the nature required. Follow them, and you’ll have a mostly functional Galaxy Gear working with your Nexus 5.

What do we mean by “mostly?” S Voice is a non-starter, lacking the requisite Samsung code on the Nexus 5, and in the same vein weather is broken. That said, the camera, call functionality, and general notifications are working, so you may still be able to squeeze a decent smartwatch experience out of this hack job.

So far, we haven’t heard of much success in getting the same arrangement to work with additional non-Samsung Androids, but we’re hopeful that the situation will improve.

Source: XDA-Developers forum, Smartwatchfans
Via: Android Central