Samsung Gear S2 Smartwatch Review

How to setup Samsung Gear S2 Classic

SOFTWARE

Samsung is utilizing its own customized circular UX with the Gear S2, which works well with the hardware and total design. The watch is easy to make use of, although it does need a bit of a knowing curve to discover what all the buttons do, and which way to turn the bezel. Turning the bezel clockwise will scroll through your widgets, which can easily be personalized to match your requirements– we have actually ours established so we can quickly start a run, track our day-to-day activity and log our caffeine and water intake. Turning the bezel anticlockwise will show your notices, and pushing one of the buttons on the side will show all set up apps on the watch. Simple, however as we say, it took a while to get made use of to.

The initial setup procedure is relatively easy, though you don’t simply have to install the Samsung Gear app on your Android device– as soon as set up, you’re triggered to set up 2 more apps from Google Play in order for the phone to be able to communicate with the watch. Once you’ve gone through the setup process, the Gear app is the central command for everything to do with the Gear S2.

The Gear app is where you can personalize the design of apps on your watch, personalize the watch face itself, along with a variety of other levels. It’s likewise where you can search for apps to set up on the watch, although we discovered almost every app we installed required a full phone app to be set up to run appropriately. While this isn’t any different from the likes of the Apple Watch and its buddy apps, it’s aggravating having to download the app twice instead of having it all bundled together like Apple’s offering.

Samsung is striving with business in numerous sectors (retail, social media, etc) making sure that the apps operating on the Gear S2 can carry out as best as possible. We picture this is because generally, enjoy companion apps are pretty disappointing in terms of what they can do without needing you to use your phone. Take the CNN app as a prime example – with other smartwatches, you’re able to see headlines of CNN stories but very little else. However, with the Samsung Gear S2 you can tap on an interesting short article and read it in its entirety, directly from the smartwatch.

iOS users can likewise participate the Samsung Gear S2 action, though many of the features pointed out here won’t be offered to them. Connecting an iPhone to the Gear S2 will supply users with notifications and minimal fitness monitoring, but not much else. Though it’s supported, we would not encourage iOS users to purchase this smartwatch, especially as the Apple Watch is only $50 more and provides a lot more capability for iOS users.
In general, Samsung’s circular UI is a winner for us, as it’s basic to utilize and offers functionality not readily available on other smartwatches, though we do want Samsung would in some way simplify the app installation procedure.

SAMSUNG GEAR S2: PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

So, how much does the Gear S2 cost, and where can we get our hands on them? Samsung launched the smartwatch back in October 2015, and is readily available to purchase straight from the Samsung website for $200. Those trying to find something a little fancier can go with the Gear S2 classic, which looks more like a classic wristwatch with a grooved bezel and leather strap, costing $50 more than the conventional edition at $300.

Samsung Gear S2: Specs

  • 42.3 x 49.8 x 11.4 mm
  • Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC connection
  • Circular watch face
  • 1.2 in 360×360 AMOLED screen
  • Heart rate screen
  • 1GHz Exynos 3250
  • 512MB RAM
  • 4GB storage
  • 250mAh battery
  • IP68 resistance rating
  • Circular UI

DECISION

Based on our time with the Samsung Gear S2, we think it’s a smooth smartwatch with an attractive design. It offers fairly basic smartwatch features like physical fitness tracking, but likewise includes some rather fascinating features consisting of a rotating bezel used for browsing the UI and improved app abilities. At $299, it sits itself along with the likes of the Moto 360 2, and we think the Gear S2 is an excellent, if not better option for Android users– specifically with a custom, instinctive UI.