The next Smartwatch that Samsung launched called the Gear S2 is pretty interesting and innovative. The Samsung Gear S2 is using a new style of navigation; simply rotate the circular dial in clockwise or anti clockwise direction.
Gear S2 Unboxing
Inside the circular box pack you will find the Gear S2 Smartwatch, user guide, warrant card, extra rubber strap, wireless magnetic charging dock and travel charger 5V / 0.7A.
Design
Gear S2 is awesome, it is using a stainless steel body, pretty sleek and cool looking. S2 is available in dark grey and white colour options and there is also the Classic version that will cost extra. The regular version comes with rubber straps and the class version is with premium leather straps.
But this is not what makes the Samsung Gear S2 awesome, it in fact is the dial, you can rotate it (for navigation) clock wise or anti clock wise. Probably Samsung engineers might have got inspired by a lot of thing that we do in our day to day like opening and closing the battle cap.
I am not sure if you are impressed with this new circular style of navigation but I guess ACP Pradyuman from the popular CID serial will definitely love it.
S2 actually feels closer to the generic watch that you might have used. It looks great, comfortable to wear. Its weight is 63 grams. There are two buttons on the right side. The top button functions as the back button and the bottom button is for power on/off and can also be used to jump to the home screen or the default watch face. There is a microphone between these buttons.
The straps are specially made for Gear S2 with a unique lock based attach / detach mechanism. You can easily remove / attach the strap without any tool.
Display
The next best thing on the Gear S2 is the display. It comes with a circular screen – it’s a super AMOLED screen of size 1.2 inches supporting 360 x 360 pixels resolution. The Super AMOLED screen looks awesome, quality is really good. Colour reproduction, touch response and viewing angles are very good.
Features
S2 comes with built in heart rate sensor that can be used to measure your heart rate, the watch will also keep checking your heart rate automatically (occasionally). Gear S2 can also count steps, calories burned, food intake (you will need to add that manually) and monitor your sleep.
You can easily read messages, emails etc., the dial based navigation makes it easier to scroll. You can also compose message using voice input.
This Smartwatch is not running Android Wear instead it sails on Tizen OS. It has a whole new style of navigation you can either use touch or rotate the dial. You can change watch faces (select for pre-installed) or download / install more.
Gear S2 is powered by Exynos 3250 chipset and comes with 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM (internal storage – around 1.9GB free), is IP68 certified, built in (NFC, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1). There is accelerometer, barometer, gyro, light, and heart rate sensor. Another version of S2 that comes with SIM slot (3Gsupport) comes with built in GPS too.
Performance
I used the Smartwatch for few days and it was gives me consistent results for near about similar kind of activities. The S2 keeps encouraging and motivating your. For example it will motivate you when you complete 50% or 100% of the target steps or when you become active after a long period of inactivity. Heart rate sensor is pretty accurate.
Battery
You will need to use the magnetic wireless dock to charge this Smartwatch. It takes about 2 hours for a full charge and with default settings (always on off) I got a comfortable one and a half day of battery backup.
Verdict
Samsung Gear S2 is an excellent Smartwatch with an innovative dial based navigation. The next best thing is the screen quality which is definitely better than when compared with the Moto 360 Smartwatch. Overall good performance, decent battery backup and motivating.
S2 is a bit pricey when compared with Moto 360 but worth it.
Samsung Gear S2 is available in Standard and Classic version starting from ₹22,900.