Samsung’s first round smartwatch will be released soon enough and as we mentioned in our full review of the Gear S2, the company has finally understood what a smartwatch should be. We firmly believe that this is the best smartwatch design that we’ve seen from Samsung yet and that it deserves credit for making a smartwatch with such understated beauty. The company didn’t have to offer two different sizes of the Gear S2 to appeal to ladies because as you can very well see, the Gear S2 design works just as well for them.
Some smartwatch makers think that offering two different sizes is the only way to cater to female consumers but the Gear S2 shows that this couldn’t be further from the truth. This is the normal version of the Gear S2 and it looks amazing on the wrist, one can imagine just how better the Gear S2 Classic would look, which itself is more subtle and looks much more like a traditional dress watch. Kudos to Samsung for nailing the design of its first round smartwatch.
Samsung announced today that the Gear S2 is going to be released in the United States in just a couple of days, the smartwatch will also be launched in other markets later this month so it’s time to tell our readers how the company’s first smartwatch stands up to the pack. Our full review of the Gear S2 is available for you to peruse and our in-depth video review of the Gear S2 is now live as well.
In the series of in-depth video reviews we cover everything from the design to user interface, watchfaces, features and even apps like S Health on the wearable device. You also get to see how various features of the smartwatch are controlled through an app on the connected Galaxy smartphone. Take a look and let us know in the comments below what you think about this new smartwatch from Samsung and whether or not you’re convinced to put money down for one.
After almost a year of development, Samsung announced the Gear S2, a smartwatch the company says it has tried to make as perfect as possible. The Gear S2 is the first round smartwatch from Samsung, replacing all those square watches that we’ve seen until now. But can this round smartwatch differentiate itself from other smartwatches? Did Samsung create a winner on the wrist, or do other smartwatch vendors still remain stronger (at least when it comes to design)?
In this review we will take a closer look at the Gear S2, which isn’t just round, but comes with a cool new way of navigation through the rotary bezel and is compatible with any smartphone running Android 4.4 and above and with 1.5 GB of RAM.
We also advise you to have a look at our video review.
Design
Finally! That’s the only word that comes to our mind right now. Finally, Samsung developed a smartwatch with a round display. Not just any smartwatch, but a smartwatch that looks extremely good. The Gear S2 Classic is the better looking version; we unfortunately got the normal Gear S2 from Samsung, but we do have pictures of the Classic version as well.
Samsung uses a stainless steel case for both the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic. The biggest difference between the two is the finish. Where the Gear S2 looks sporty and even a little futuristic, the Classic version looks more like a traditional watch. The bezel of the Gear S2 is flat, while on the Classic version the bezel looks more like a big sprocket.
Both versions have two buttons on the right side; in a Samsung-like move, the buttons are not equally sized, which is strange and somewhat takes away from the overall design. Between these buttons is a microphone, which we found worked extremely well during our test period. On the back we find a heart rate sensor and the watch’s IMEI number.
Samsung has used wireless charging on its smartwatches for the first time, so you will not find any connectors on the Gear S2, with everything built right into the watch. It’s very easy to charge the Gear S2. Within the box you get a charging dock similar to the one Motorola uses for the Moto 360; the difference is that Samsung’s charger is magnetic so using the dock is not a hassle. Just put the watch on the dock and it sticks to it, with no worry about whether you’ve put the watch on the charger the right way.
What we do miss is a loudspeaker. It was present on all previous Samsung smartwatches, but with the Gear S2 you are restricted to using a Bluetooth headset to make calls.
Now let’s talk about the watch’s bands. The Gear S2 uses rubbery bands, while the Classic version uses leather. The rubber bands complement the build of the watch; it feels nice and soft and we never felt any skin irritation because of the band. As Samsung had announced, in the future, there will be a plethora of watch bands to choose from. The bands are usually easy to change, though we did face issues with changing one of the two bands that we received with the review unit.
The biggest negative of the Gear S2 is its size. If you have big wrists or are used to big watches, it will be hard to get used to the size of the Gear S2. To us it doesn’t seem like an easy task to do, and we hope Samsung will take notice when it is designing the Gear S3.
Overall, the Gear S2’s design is the best we have seen from Samsung, and the company deserves all the credit it can get for making a smartwatch that looks so understated yet so beautiful.
Display
For the Gear S2, Samsung uses a 1.3-inch circular Super AMOLED display. Its resolution is 360×360 pixels and a pixel density of 302 PPI (pixels per inch), which is higher than any other smartwatch on the market today.
The display’s brightness has 10 presets; it goes from very bright to very dim, and when you walk outside the door the watch automatically switches to outdoor mode. The display is easy to read outside, and it is very vivid thanks to the Super AMOLED technology. The blacks are extremely black, and since the entire software interface uses a black background, the display looks really good.
The black interface background also helps in battery life. Since AMOLED displays light every pixel individually, the pixels get turned off when displaying black, which in turn helps the battery last longer. Also, we noticed the Gear S2 display has the same pixel layout as the display on the Galaxy Note II. It’s not exactly not PenTile but it isn’t RGB either; it’s not an important parameter on a display with a high pixel density, but we thought this is something worth mentioning.
Battery Life
The Gear S2 uses a 250 mAh battery and Bluetooth 4.1 LE (Low Energy) for connecting to a smartphone. One might think 250 mAh isn’t enough for a smartwatch but the opposite is true on the Gear S2. On pre-final software we got about a day and a half of usage time. This is with the watch set to be always on (which means you can always read the time on the screen), screen brightness set to full, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, and the watch turned on overnight.
The Gear S2 also comes with the Power Saving Mode preset so you can get even more usage on a single charge. We are familiar with this mode from Samsung’s smartphones, and it works in a similar way on the watch. Everything except calls and notifications are turned off, and the screen is limited to displaying only black and white colors.
Samsung says the Gear S2 can last about 2 to 3 days, but we weren’t able to reach those figures on the test software on our review unit. It’s possible Samsung turns off the watch at night during long periods of inactivity to achieve that kind of battery life, but we will need to check a retail unit to be sure.
Software
Since the Gear 2, Samsung has opted for its own operating system, Tizen, for its watches. For the Gear S2, it isn’t anything different. While all other manufacturers are using Android Wear, Samsung is staying with Tizen. The big question remains: is this a smart thing to do? When we have a look at the interface of the Gear S2, we must conclude it was certainly a very smart thing to do. In fact, Samsung had to use Tizen since Android Wear is limited by Google and can’t be customized in any meaningful way by manufacturers. Take the rotary bezel that Samsung users; we’re not sure Android Wear would support that.
With this bezel you can control most parts of menus, as it replaces a swiping and touch action with a turn of the bezel. The only part where you usually touch the screen on the Gear S2 is when you want to confirm an action, and the big advantage of that is that your fingers aren’t always blocking the screen. When we have a look at the competition, we see that Android Wear is based on swiping and Apple’s watchOS is based on a digital crown. The rotary bezel is somewhat similar to the crown on the Apple Watch, but is easier to operate.
The entire interface looks cool and awesome. The Tizen effects from the former Tizen watches are still present, but Samsung has also introduced new animations which make the Gear S2 more enjoyable to use. What everyone wonders is how does the Gear S2 work when it comes to support for different apps? That’s different for each user and based on their needs; we mainly used the watch for notifications, S Health, and of course, reading time.
With the Gear S2 Samsung supports Facebook apps like the main app itself and Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. What this means is that responding to someone on these apps is better implemented than on other apps. For instance, Hangouts only lets you open the app on the connected phone and doesn’t let you send any emoticon or respond via voice actions. It’s a shame, really, as a lot of Samsung smartphone users are used to Android and, as a result, many of them use Hangouts as well.
With the Facebook and WhatsApp apps, you can do all of that – the options in these apps include reply, show on phone, block app, and clear all notifications. What about Gmail, one of the most used apps on Android phones? Well, Gmail frankly works quite well. It lets you read the whole email, archive or delete it, in addition to offering the options of opening the app on the phone, blocking the app, and clearing all notifications, which are offered on every app on the watch.
For replying to messages, there are three options: voice, emoticon, or keyboard. Typing on a 1.3-inch screen on a T9 keyboard isn’t the easiest thing to do even if you have really small hands. You can also respond with presets, which you can predefine yourself in the Gear Manager app on your phone.
Now, it’s time to discuss some apps that we did not use too much during our review period.
Phone: When you open the phone app, you will see two icons and a list of your recently contacted contacts. You can use the Gear S2 to initiate a phone call. Scrolling through the phonebook is done by the bezel; when you scroll slowly you scroll by name, and when you do it fast you jump through the list by letter.
S Health: In our opinion the coolest and most beautiful app on the Gear S2 is S Health. It makes you want to run, it creates a nice overview of your exercise, and it lets you know exactly when you achieved your target. Once you open S Health, you are presented with a clock face. This clock face shows the number of hours you have walked, sat down, and laid in bed. Basic functions are also included, like adding your coffee and water intake, check the number of steps you have walked, and measure your heart rate.
Settings: The settings menu is divided in 9 groups, namely display, vibration, device, call, connections, screen lock, input, power saving and Gear info. For more info about the settings menu, take a look at our video review.
Agenda: When you open the calendar, you get the monthly bill first. If you tap on one of the days you only see an overview of the next 15 days, and unfortunately you can’t add an agenda item yourself.
SVoice: We all know S Voice from Samsung’s smartphones, and here it works exactly the same.
Weather: For years Samsung has partnered with Accuweather for their phones to provide weather information, and the same goes for the Gear S2. It is very easy to add your own cities, and when you have entered a desired city, you can click on its name to get detailed hourly and daily weather information.
Alarm: You can set an alarm on the watch (of course), and the entire process is pretty straightforward.
Timer: To set a timer for a few hours, minutes or seconds, the Gear S2 handles that pretty nicely as well.
Stopwatch: Did you always want to clock your workouts? Well, the Gear S2 can do that for you and look pretty cool at the same time.
Music player: Playing music is something a lot of users will do. Every music player that has a notification can be be used to play music on the watch, but Samsung’s own music player is more deeply integrated and lets you browse albums, playlists and more. The Gear S2 doesn’t have a speaker so you will need a Bluetooth headset. You can store music on the watch, so there is no need to take your phone along when you’re going for a run.
Gallery: The most useless app on the Gear S2 is the gallery, if you ask us. We just don’t think anyone would want to look at their pictures cropped in a circle. But how does it work? It’s easy: you open the gallery, then use the bezel to browse through the images. Double tapping a picture enlarges it.
Buddy: Buddy is an app that lets you store 10 of your favorite contacts, which can be set through the Gear Manager app on the phone.
Email: As the name suggests, this app lets you add an email account to your watch, nothing more, nothing less.
Find my phone: This app lets you find your phone by making it ring, which comes in handy when you’ve left your phone somewhere in the house and can’t find it. Of course, the phone will need to be near enough to be still connected to the watch through Bluetooth.
Maps: Samsung uses Nokia’s Here Maps for navigation on its smartwatches, and the app comes preloaded on the Gear S2 as well. It shows navigation data for both driving and walking, and also presents you with a few points of interests, such as hotels and restaurants nearby.
Voice memo: It does what the name says it does: record spoken memos. It’s as simple as it gets: just press the red button and it starts recording. It’s possible to pause, resume and cancel each recording, and every recording is pushed to your phone after you hit the stop button.
More apps: When you press this icon, you go to the Gear app store on the phone, where you can find every app that has been developed for the watch. Popular names include Nike Running, Bloomberg, CNN, and WSJ.
All in all, in the apps department Samsung’s new smartwatch is more than successful. The amount of apps is still somewhat disappointing, but we are hopeful more developers will show interest in the watch and the platform in the future to expand the ecosystem.
Watchfaces
A watchface is a personal preference, and we know that watchfaces can be an important factor for someone is on the market for a smartwatch. With the Gear S2 Samsung has included a lot of watchfaces, and some of these faces can be “stylized”. That is Samsung’s way of saying you can edit things, like the watchface’s dials, backplates, and their overall functionality (think displaying a pedometer, phone battery level, or watch battery percentage.) Out of the default options, you can stylize the classic, modern utility, neon, basic and world clock watchfaces.
If you want add more watchfaces, that is possible through the Gear apps store within Gear Manager. Unfortunately there aren’t many choices available at this moment, but this could be because the Gear S2 hasn’t been released yet.
Performance
The Gear S2 uses Samsung’s Exynos 3250 processor, which is a dual-core chip, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage, out of which 1.5GB is reserved for the system. In our test period, the screen and the rotary bezel responded very well. We found the Gear S2 to be extremely fast and fluid to use, and the performance can be seen in our video review.
(Our sample Gear S2 was running firmware version R720XXU2AOIE.)
Samsung Gear (app)
In Samsung’s Gear Manager app, you can do quite a few things. You can set the watchface, look at and manager installed apps, set up preset responses, check for software updates, add notifications, and ensure your Gear S2 can be found with the Find my Gear app.
Conclusion
Samsung is finally heading in the right direction with the Gear S2. For us this is the first real smartwatch from the Korean giant. It took a while, but if it’s good it’s okay to wait a little longer, right?
Thanks to the rotary bezel and the smooth interface, the Gear S2 is a rock solid smartwatch. The only downside is that Samsung’s Tizen app ecosystem is lacking. Many popular apps are missing, but again, we are hopeful this will be fixed in the future. Oh, and we would also like to see a bigger round smartwatch. Samsung, if you’re reading this, maybe take it into consideration when you’re making your next smartwatch?
Samsung teased us with a quite unique device a couple of weeks ago called the Galaxy View, a tablet with a very large screen meant for schools and businesses. This is the tablet that we exclusively revealed some time ago and it has a 18.4-inch touchscreen display, and the ‘Galaxy’ word in its name means that it’s running Android. The same tablet passed through SIG certification and now it also passed RRA certification, a clear indicator that we could see it released pretty soon.
SM-T670 is the model name for this huge tablet, and it will probably be released in South Korea pretty soon. There are many potential uses for such a big tablet especially in education, art, health and various other domains. According to previous reports, this tablet could sport an 1920 x 1080 pixel display, an Exynos 7580 chipset, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with support for a MicroSD card.
It has been announced today that Photobucket and Samsung have teamed up to create an exclusive Photobucket app for Samsung Galaxy smartphones, the app will be available exclusively for Galaxy handsets and will allow users to simply and easily manage their photos and order personalized print products from their device. Samsung appears to have adopted this new strategy of teaming up with popular app developers to create exclusive versions for its handsets, not too long ago it teamed up with Expedia for an exclusive travel application.
The app is built on Photobucket’s highly scalable infrastructure and the new smart gallery feature in Photobucket for Samsung includes the patented background auto-uploading technology, photo privacy and intelligent photo organizing capabilities. Thus users can easily view, manage, share and print all of their social network and Photobucket photos from within the smart gallery, the print service provides users with a large select of print merchandise such as framed prints, canvas prints and high resolution metal prints. As an added incentive all those who use this exclusive Photobucket for Samsung will receive unlimited cloud storage for six months for their photos, free storage will be expanded to 12 months on purchase of individual prints using the app, aside from quarterly offers and a 30% discount on print product purchases for a limited time in the United States only.
Samsung fans across the globe have been anxiously waiting to find out when the company’s first round smartwatch will be available for purchase, there’s good news for those who reside in the United States, the company today confirmed price and release date for the Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic. The Tizen-powered smartwatches were formally launched last month and Samsung had said back then that it would begin shipments by October.
Customers in the United States will pay $299 for the Gear S2 and $349.99 for the Gear S2 Classic, both smartwatches will be available for purchase starting October 2 through Samsung.com, Amazon, Best Buy and select Macy’s stores. The smartwatch has a 1.2 inch AMOLED display, dual-core processor with 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory with Wi-Fi, NFC and wireless charging built-in. Gear S2 also supports Samsung Pay which has already gone live in the United States. The company is yet to reveal pricing and availability for other markets but since October is when shipments are to begin, it may not take long before it details pricing and availability for other markets as well.
Interested in the Gear S2 but not quite sure yet whether or not you should spend your hard earned money on it? Fret not, our official review of the Gear S2 will be live soon which will make it much easier for you to decide.
The Galaxy S6 edge+. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone make fun of the name. If you think I’m joking, take the time to watch yet another unboxing video on Samsung’s larger Galaxy S6 edge and you’ll understand.
One of the most often-read complaints from website commenters about the Galaxy S6 edge+, apart from the name, is the following: “Why create the Galaxy S6 edge+ in the first place? Why not just stick with the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge? The Galaxy S6 edge+ contributes nothing new to Samsung’s lineup (except for a larger screen), so why create yet another phone that looks like a clone of the Galaxy S6 edge just to provide a larger screen?” This complaint sounds valid until you examine it closely.
First, it’s not necessarily the case that the larger screen is the only reason behind the Galaxy S6 edge+; battery life is another. The Galaxy S6 edge had a 2,600mAh battery that hasn’t gotten the best stats in terms of battery life, depending on whom you talk to about it. The new Galaxy S6 edge+ provides a 3,000mAh battery that has been said to improve the battery life of the “edge”smartphone line. The edge itself must be powered along with the usual “square” display, and powering the larger screen and the “edge” screen slither mandates a bigger battery. Of course, Samsung said at the event last month that it is “betting on big” with larger screens or wider screens, but battery life takes a hit with larger screens; when larger screens include a Quad HD screen resolution, a bigger battery is never too much of a good thing.
The edge can also work at night while the majority of the display goes black, which makes the edge a second screen (although a minor one) that drains battery life. Users have an insatiable desire for increasingly better battery life, but there’s another reason that ties into the larger display: the Goldilocks Philosophy.
What is the Goldilocks Philosophy? The Goldilocks Philosophy says that there are things in life that are too big or too much, too small or too little, or “just right.” The name “Goldilocks” stretches back to an old childhood story called “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” where Goldilocks is a little girl who stumbles onto a cottage while in the woods that belonged to a family of three bears (Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear). While the bears are out in the woods, she taste-tests Mama and Papa’s porridge but finds the baby bear’s porridge to be “just right” and eats it. She tests out each bear’s bed but, once again, finds the baby bear’s bed to be “just right.”
Most consumers are like this, too. When they go to a store to buy shoes, for example, they usually try on a pair of shoes they like while searching for the perfect size. Sometimes, they find the first size of their favorite shoe to be “too large,” the second pair to be “too small,” or vice versa. Then, finally, they stumble upon an in-between size that proves to be “just right.”
When it comes to Samsung, the Galaxy S6 edge+ is meant to be that “just right” smartphone for consumers who would rather have a larger Galaxy S6 edge. Many a Samsung customer over the years has purchased a Galaxy Note but rarely if ever touches the S Pen. Others purchase the Galaxy S line each year but long for the display size of the Note line. And now, thanks to Samsung’s innovation, the Galaxy S6 edge provides just one more factor that they want in the smartphone experience. With the Galaxy S6 edge+, these customers, like Goldilocks, find their “sweet spot” for smartphones: the Galaxy S6 edge+ gives them 1) the edge, 2) the larger screen, and 3) a more streamlined experience that doesn’t mandate they keep up with a stylus they don’t want. The S Pen and the Galaxy Note 5 work wonderfully together, but why purchase a device if you don’t seek to get the most out of the experience?
Thus, the Galaxy S6 edge+ gives smartphone users a chance to enjoy a big beautiful screen, the company’s new flexible “edge,” alongside of mastery of their phone experience without feeling overwhelmed. I love the Galaxy Note line, but I still purchase Galaxy S devices. In my hands-on time with the Galaxy S6 edge, the original edge device feels too small for my mammoth hands. If I were a heavy Galaxy S user, I would prefer the screen size of the Galaxy S6 edge+ over that of the original Galaxy S6 edge. And it’s the Goldilocks Philosophy, the “just right” idea, that Samsung is chasing after. The company may or may not reach it, depending on whom you ask, but you have to give the Korean manufacturer credit for trying.
Intuitive and user-friendly software design is hard. No matter how simple you might make things, there are going to be users who scratch their heads at various aspects of your software. Samsung has been at the forefront of making its smartphone software easy to understand and operate (yes, despite adding a ton of features that many might call gimmicks), and with the refined version of its TouchWiz user interface, one of the changes made by the company over vanilla Android is something very simple yet very effective.
What is that change? It’s Samsung’s move to using full text for actionable buttons inside apps and the general interface over text-less icons. For advanced users and techies, it’s not hard to figure out what an icon in the interface might mean, but the general populace often sits about trying different options out just to see what they do. Take, for example, the copy and paste icons on Android. Us techies can easily understand that the “two squares next to each other” icon stands for the copying text function, but the average joe, for whom computing isn’t as easy as 1-2-3, that icon isn’t exactly simple.
Even Android’s share icon suffers from the same issue. Again, it’s not that hard to see that an icon which shows two branches going out of a single dot means we can make an image or file available to other people, but it’s not as easy to comprehend for the general smartphone using population as it often requires them to spend a second or two pondering over what to press.
Using text for these actions is as simple as it can get if you want to make it easier for your users to understand what button does what, and Samsung rightfully swapped out all those non-user-friendly Android icons for plain text. You still have those icons all across the interface, but barring the camera app, you’ll see an icon’s description right below it. It’s something other companies should be copying shamelessly, and we can only hope software makers begin to simplify their user interfaces through similarly minor changes.
Just a few days back AT&T released the much awaited Android 5.1.1 update for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge, now it’s giving the same treatment to the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 which has now received the aforementioned update. The tablet is being bumped up to Lollipop from KitKat so users will certainly be grateful to receive all of the new features, user interface changes and improvements that come part and parcel of Android 5.1.1.
Firmware version P907AUCU1BOH3 is rolling out now for the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 on AT&T, the update itself comes in over 1GB since it’s a big one, it’s based on Android build LMY47X which is the latest publicly available version of 5.1.1 available for Samsung devices right now. The update removes some preloaded apps such as Beats Music, WatchON and Famigo kids, three go out and one comes in, Amazon Shopping will automatically be installed on the tablet once the update is done.
Samsung Pay finally went live in the United States a couple of days ago, it’s supported by almost all major carriers in the country except Verizon Wireless, which also happens to be the largest mobile carrier in the US. Carrier support is required for Samsung Pay to function, aside from support from card networks like MasterCard and Visa, so unless Verizon flips the switch even if you own a compatible device on the carrier you won’t be able to use Samsung Pay. However Co-GM of Samsung Pay, Will Graylin, says that Verizon subscribers should be able to get the app in “the next week or so.”
Something doesn’t seem to be quite right here, Graylin suggests that Samsung Pay app will be available to Verizon subscribers via the Google Play Store even though one would expect that the company would release it through the Galaxy Apps store. That doesn’t even matter though because the Samsung Pay app hasn’t been released through either app store, newer devices like the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+ come with it pre-installed while older devices like the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge got it via a software update. Moreover Verizon hasn’t said anything as yet to indicate that it’s about to flip the switch on Samsung Pay support, the last we heard from the carrier on this subject was that it’s “evaluating” the service, so all Verizon subscribers can really do now is wait until next week as Graylin suggests to see if the situation becomes clear.
@KochharPulsar soon to be down loadable on Google Play for Verizon customers. Hoping in the next week or so.
