Smart watch Samsung Gear C2. Smart watch Samsung Gear S2. Hardware platform, connection

The Samsung Gear s2 smartwatch is the sixth released representative of the company, which is improving in the field of wearable devices. This model has a pleasant appearance, compact size, works for a long time without recharging and has an ideal control method. These and other features are discussed below.

Specifications

Let's look at the characteristics of the smartwatch:

• screen: touchscreen, 1.2 inches, Super AMOLED, 360×360 pixels, 302 ppi;
• processor: dual-core, frequency up to 1 GHz;
• RAM: 512 MB;
• built-in memory: 4 GB;
• communication: Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 LE;
• battery: capacity 250mAh;
• protection standard: IP68;
• sensors: gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, heart rate, light, acceleration sensors;
• dimensions: 42.2×8×11.4 mm;
• watch weight: 47 g without strap.

Equipment and appearance

The gear s2 device is delivered in a tight round box. Inside is the watch itself, a size L strap (on the device), an additional S bracelet, a charging dock and instructions.

The gadget looks minimalistic and tasteful: a round display, a metal bezel that rotates in different directions, a rubber (for the gear s2 sports sm r720 version) or leather (for the gear classic sm r770) strap. The watch case is made of metal, 316L stainless steel. The matte finish and smooth shapes make the device universal, suitable for any wardrobe style. There are only 2 function keys on the watch panel - “back” and “home”, located on the right. The rubber bracelet does not look cheap, it looks neat. If it gets dirty, it can be easily wiped with a damp cloth or washed with running water.

The IP68 protection standard ensures dust and water resistance. You can safely wash your hands in the watch, take a shower, and can withstand immersion to a depth of 1.5 meters for half an hour. After these tests, there were no problems with the Gear s2.

The quality of fastening parts and assembly of the Samsung Gear s2 smart watch is excellent. If you don't know that the strap is removable, you might think that the bracelet is fused directly into the case. It doesn’t hang out anywhere, all components are securely fixed.

Ease of use

When walking, a smart watch from Samsung is practically invisible, comfortable to wear, and invisible under clothing. Additional comfort in operation is created by a rotating wheel that provides menu navigation. In cool weather, you won’t need to take off your gloves to interact with the watch, and the screen won’t get dirty again.

Thanks to this moving element, the manufacturer was able to reduce the diameter of the watch screen. 1.2 inches seems small compared to other competing models, but it is enough, since you don’t have to hit the right spot with your finger.

The picture on the display is clear and rich, with a good viewing angle. In the settings you can set the operating mode: you can make the screen always on, or vice versa. In the latter case, the clock backlight is turned on with a hand gesture or a couple of taps on the display. There are 10 gradations of brightness, which is adjusted automatically; it can also be adjusted in the parameters. The “outdoor” mode increases the brightness of the backlight and the text becomes readable on a sunny day.

Processor capabilities and memory

The Samsung Gear watch has 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory, where you can download music. You cannot connect a Bluetooth headset; compatibility is only with smartphones. The processor is 2-core, clock frequency up to 1 GHz, everything is the same as in previous models, there have been no changes, but nothing more is required.

The watch operates at high speed, responds instantly to touch, and there is no freezing. Applications open quickly. There is no way to connect additional sensors to the watch; you have to be content with the built-in ones.

One significant difference from the previous version: now you can’t make or receive calls from the gadget. The function was very useful for drivers, or when their hands are full and the call needs to be answered urgently. According to buyers, this is a strong drawback. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 neo has this feature.

Battery

The set includes a special charger – a docking station; the watch is placed on it. After 2.5 hours the battery is already full.

The battery life of 2-3 days declared by the manufacturer for the Samsung Gear s2 smart watch is quite achievable, it all depends on how actively you use the functionality. If you don’t turn off the gadget at night, leave reminders from social networks and light up the screen when they arrive, it will last about 2 days. The result is not bad, but the Samsung Gear 2 neo smartwatch takes the lead - up to 5 days under standard loads.

The power saving mode will help extend the operating time without recharging; when activated, the display turns black and white, most notifications do not arrive, and there is no pedometer.

Functionality, features, features

First of all, the Samsung Gear S2 is a gadget, and only after that is a watch. Let's look at the possibilities and advantages. This is what the device can please you with.

1. Availability of a pedometer.
2. Pulse meter.
3. Sleep and activity monitoring.
4. "Anti-loss".
5. Alarm clock, timer.
6. Receiving notifications on the watch screen.
7. Different dials.
8. Lots of games and applications.

Read also:

Smart watches Skmei - detailed description of models 1227, 1228, 1251, 1188

Now about the main properties separately.

Pedometer

The most useful of functions. There is a measurement error; with every 10,000 steps another 10% is added. For those who need an average result, it will be suitable, but pedants will be disappointed. The sensors independently switch the mode depending on the type of workout: walking, running, cycling and others. If a person has been sitting too long, the smart watch will remind you that it’s time to stretch and move a little.

Heart rate monitor

The gadget's pulse sensor allows you to determine your heart rate, and in 9 out of 10 cases the result is correct. Sometimes the watch, for some reason, does not measure the indicator, although the gadget is tightly tightened on the hand. The good news is that in most cases the work is correct.

The device can measure both in constant mode and on request, this is set in the parameters. If you need regular readings during training, it is recommended to fasten the watch strap tighter for more accurate results.

Sleep motinoring

Sleep tracking works great, just like in professional devices. They catch the time of falling asleep and getting up correctly.

All information is available in the S Health application; in addition, the program displays statistics, builds graphs, and sets goals that need to be achieved. In terms of capabilities, S Health is similar to Google Fit or Apple Health; there are no obvious disadvantages or advantages over them.

Anti-loss

Smart watch Gir S2 can turn on a sound signal (ringtone) on a smartphone, so if suddenly the phone is lost in the apartment, “Anti-loss” can help. Even if silent mode is turned on, the gadget ignores it and still plays the song. You can search for a watch in the same way, but since it does not have a speaker, it will simply vibrate.

Games

The Gear Classic SM R770 watch supports a number of interesting games. In most cases, they are not necessary, but if you are standing in a long line, you can play for 5 minutes. We recommend Bezel Reflex: a ball moves on the screen and changes its color, and there are several platforms around it; by rotating the rim, you need to match the tile with the corresponding shade of the ball. Most games on the gadget take a long time to load, about 15-20 seconds, so they won’t always be necessary. Instead of waiting for the download, it’s easier to take your smartphone out of your pocket.

Proprietary operating system

The sm r770 smart watch runs on the proprietary Tizen operating system, which has a positive effect on long-term autonomy. The manufacturer has achieved smoothness in its development, and this is an important criterion. Of course, there are also disadvantages. Android OS allows you to install much more truly necessary programs than Tizen.

In September, at IFA 2015, Samsung introduced the Gear S2 smartwatch. At the same time, we prepared the first review of this model, telling you in sufficient detail about the design and key features. Now, on the eve of the start of watch sales in Russia, the time has come to take a closer look at those aspects of the new product that were impossible to recognize and study under the conditions of the exhibition.

We outlined the history of the appearance of the Gear S2 and information about the Gear family as a whole in the already mentioned material, so we will not repeat ourselves and recommend that you read it before reading this text. However, at that time it was not yet known when the watch would be available in Russia and at what price. Now Samsung has released this information: sales should start this month (although the exact date has not yet been announced), and the price will be 21 thousand rubles for the regular version and 25 thousand for the classic version.

The pre-order, opened on the Russian Samsung website, was closed quite quickly due to the exhaustion of the first batch of devices, and the more expensive Gear S2 Classic was sold out first, but by the time the article was published, the regular Gear S2 had also run out. This, of course, indicates high interest in the new product, so it’s time to study it closely.

We tested the standard version of the Samsung Gear S2 with a dark gray body and a gray strap.

Let's take a look at the device specifications.

Specifications Samsung Gear S2

• CPU @1 GHz (2 cores)
• Touch round display 1.2″ Super AMOLED, 360×360, 302 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 512 MB, flash memory 4 GB
• Bluetooth 4.1 LE, NFC
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Microphone
• Gyroscope, accelerometer, heart rate sensor, light sensor, barometer
• 2G, 3G (e-SIM support for Sport variant), call transfer to smartphone via Bluetooth
• Lithium-ion battery 250 mAh
• Tizen operating system
• Compatible with Samsung devices running Android 4.3 and later
• Degree of protection from moisture and dust: IP68
• Dimensions: 39.9 × 43.6 × 11.4 (Classic version) / 42.3 × 49.8 × 11.4 mm (Sport version)
• Weight 62 g (Sport version, our measurement)

For clarity, we decided to make a table with the characteristics of other top smartwatches (including the previous version of Gear S), adding into it those parameters that are currently key when choosing a device of this type.

	Samsung Gear S2	Samsung Gear S	Motorola Moto 360 2	Apple Watch
Screen	round, flat Super AMOLED, 1.2″, 360×360 (302 ppi)	rectangular, curved Super AMOLED, 2.0″, 360×480 (300 ppi)	round, flat, IPS, 1.65″, 360×325 (290 ppi) / 1.8″, 360×330 (304 ppi)	rectangular, flat, AMOLED, 1.5″, 272×340 (290 ppi) / 1.65″, 312×390 (304 ppi)
Protection	yes (IP68)	yes (IP67)	yes (IP67)	No
Strap	removable, leather/silicone	removable, silicone		removable, leather / silicone / metal
SoC (CPU)	2 cores @1 GHz	2 cores @1 GHz	Qualcomm Snapgragon 400, 4 cores @1 GHz	Apple S1, 1 core @520 MHz
Connection	3G (Sport version only), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Camera	No	No	No	No
Microphone, speaker	There is	There is	microphone only	There is
Compatibility		Samsung devices running Android 4.3 and later	devices running Android 4.3 and later / iOS 8 and later	devices running iOS 8.3 and later
operating system	Tizen	Tizen	Android Wear	watchOS
Battery capacity (mAh)	250	300	300 / 400	not reported
Dimensions* (mm)	40×44×11.4 / 42×50×11.4	40×58×12.5	∅42×11.4 / ∅46×11.4	39×33×10.5 / 42×36×10.5
Weight (g)	62 (Sport version)	83	doesn't communicate	25 / 30 (Sport version)*

*according to manufacturer information

We commented on this table in the first review of the Samsung Gear S2, so we won’t repeat it, but we note that there will be no 3G versions of the watch on official sale in Russia. The fact is that the Gear S2 uses a virtual SIM card format - e-SIM, but it is not yet supported by Russian operators. This is, of course, a minus compared to the Samsung Gear S, which used a regular Nano-SIM.

As for comparison with the Apple Watch, we note the lower price of the Samsung Gear S2 in Russia (if we compare the sports model with the Apple Watch Sport, and the classic model with the Apple Watch). But the Apple Watch has many more watch and band combinations available. That is, even if you have an Apple Watch Sport, you can buy a leather or metal strap for it, and vice versa, you can attach a silicone strap to the Apple Watch, while with Samsung the “watch/strap” ratio is strictly fixed (silicone - for the Samsung Gear S2 , leather - for Samsung Gear S2 Classic).

Well, let's move on to getting to know the device.

Packaging and accessories

The watch comes in a medium-sized square blue-gray box.

We open the box and see a watch inserted into a mold made of thin white plastic. It should be noted that although there are no complaints about the packaging, Samsung nevertheless approached this task formally. Unboxing the Gear S2 doesn’t give you any emotions (unlike the Apple Watch).

Under the plastic form are located: an additional strap of the same color, but of a different size, wireless charging 5 V 0.7 A, a charger with the same parameters (however, you can use any other smartphone charger), a small warranty booklet and a fold-out leaflet with instructions ( We had it in French, but it is obvious that the Russian version will be sold in Russia).

We were very pleased with the presence of an additional strap - moreover, there are both halves, and not just the one that has a different size. So if something happens to the main strap, one of the two halves can be replaced without any problems.

As for wireless charging, it is good for its compact size and the presence of a magnet inside the wall against which the watch rests with the back of the case. Thanks to this, the watch does not dangle or fall out of this miniature charger.

On the back of the round charging base there is a Micro-USB connector, to which the cable must be connected. Unfortunately, there is no way to connect the watch to a computer via this charger. On the front of the base you can see an LED indicator indicating that charging is in progress (red) or that the device is already charged (green).

In general, the package can be assessed positively: wireless charging and an additional strap are what were missing in the case of previous Gear models.

Design

We told you our first impressions of the design of the Samsung Gear S2 in the material from IFA 2015, and in general they did not change even after a closer look at the device. The watch looks minimalistic and moderately strict. In our opinion, they lose in comparison with the Gear S2 Classic, but the design itself leaves a pleasant impression.

The streamlined shape of the case and its smooth transition into the halves of the strap evoke associations with something futuristic - the “cool” design of the watch would fit perfectly into the interior of some space station. If we think in a more realistic manner, then the Samsung Gear S2 is quite suitable for different types of clothes (from casual to business style), but we cannot say that they will attract attention or become the highlight of your appearance. The design is too neutral or something.

However, the watch fits well on the hand, and its case does not look thick. That's a plus. Here is a profile photo of the watch. Here it is worth paying attention not only to the thickness, but also to the presence of two buttons. The larger one is “Back”, the smaller one is “Home”.

Between the buttons you can see the hole for the built-in microphone - it is needed to work with the S Voice voice assistant, however, alas, there is no way to answer calls directly from the watch (there is no speaker in the watch). This is a disadvantage of the Samsung Gear S2 both compared to previous models of the Gear line and compared to the Apple Watch.

On the back of the watch case you can see the heart rate sensor (in the center) and clips for attaching the strap. To detach the halves of the strap, use your fingernail to slightly bend the clip away from the body and pull the strap down. At first it’s unusual, and it’s not immediately possible to understand how to detach the strap, but when you finally understand the essence of the fastening, then detaching and attaching is quite simple. And yet this mechanism cannot be called intuitive and elegant (unlike, again, the Apple Watch).

Well, the main design feature (common to both the regular and classic versions of the Gear S2) is undoubtedly the rotating bezel. In the watch industry, a bezel is a bezel on which traditional watches usually have notches for easy reading of the time. The Samsung Gear S2 does not have notches on the bezel, but it is possible to rotate it around the screen, thus either flipping through the screens or doing vertical scrolling (if such is suggested in the application).

In our first article about the Samsung Gear S2, we praised this solution, and after more thorough testing, our opinion has not changed. This is incredibly convenient, elegant both in concept and in appearance, and in addition, this becomes an additional weighty argument in favor of a round screen, since, obviously, such a solution would be impossible on a rectangular case. And here we again remember the Apple Watch, but not in favor of the product from Cupertino. We can say that despite such methods of interacting with the Apple Watch as Taptic Engine, Force Touch and Digital Crown, Samsung engineers were able to achieve more in making it easier to control the watch. Although, of course, the rotating bezel also takes some getting used to.

At the same time, an optimal combination of smoothness and elasticity of the bezel movement was found: the bezel rotates very smoothly, softly, without much effort, but accidental turns are almost excluded, and during rotation we clearly feel the divisions (“steps”).

Screen

The watch's screen is completely round, with no dead zones (unlike the Moto 360). The resolution is 360x360, which gives a fairly high density of 302 pixels per inch, close to its main competitors. Detailed testing of other parameters of the Samsung Gear S2 display was carried out by the editor of the “Projectors and TV” section, Alexey Kudryavtsev.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, noticeably better than that of Google Nexus 7 (2013)), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 2013 screen. For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off:

Below on the right is the Samsung Gear S2, and on the right and above is the Apple Watch in the version with sapphire glass and a 42 mm case. The screen of the Samsung Gear S2 is a little brighter (brightness according to photographs is 131 versus 125 for the Nexus 7). Note that there is a not very pronounced bluish halo from bright objects reflected in the screen. There is no double reflection, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. With manual brightness control and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum value (10 on the scale) of brightness was about 330 cd/m², the minimum (1 on the scale) was 9.5 cd/m². There is a non-switchable automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor, which is supposedly located under the screen. With some difficulty, it was possible to establish that in a very bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) the brightness increases to 495 cd/m². That is, given the good anti-glare properties, on a sunny day outdoors, screen readability will remain at a good level. In the graphs of brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for high, medium and minimum brightness, only slight modulation can be seen, so there is no visible screen flicker:

This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B) in equal quantities, as confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

We observed a similar “structure” of the screen, for example, in the case. The spectra are typical for OLED - the primary color areas are well separated and appear as relatively narrow peaks:

Accordingly, the coverage is noticeably wider than sRGB, and there are no attempts to reduce it:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for devices with sRGB screens appear unnaturally saturated. The color temperature of the white and gray fields is approximately 7600 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is 10 units. Color balance is acceptable. Black is just black from any angle. So black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. The screen has excellent viewing angles with a much smaller drop in brightness when looking at the screen at an angle compared to LCD screens. However, at large angles the white field takes on a certain blue-green tint. In general, the quality of the screen can be considered very high.

Smartphone connection and compatibility

All previous Gear devices only worked with a limited number of Samsung smartphones (mostly high-end models). This was perhaps the main drawback of Samsung watches and the Tizen OS used in them. And when it became known that the Android Wear operating system would work not only with Android devices, but also with iPhones, the limited compatibility of Gear devices became an obvious weak point.

Samsung apparently realized this too, which is why it announced that the Gear S2 will work with all Android smartphones running Android 4.4 and later. This is exactly what was said on . But is it really so?

First we tried to pair the watch with the fairly new Huawei P8 Lite smartphone. There is a link on the watch box and on the start screen where you can download the application: . When we access this page through a browser, we see two buttons: Galaxy Devices and Other Devices. Click Other Devices, the application page opens in the Google Play Store and...

We read the inscription “Not supported on your device.” How so? Samsung representatives told us that in addition to Android 4.4, the smartphone must have at least 1.5 GB of RAM. This is already quite strange, since Android 4.4 works even on devices with 512 MB of RAM, which means that in fact not all smartphones running Android 4.4 are supported! But even this does not explain why the Huawei P8 Lite is not supported by the Gear Manager application, because it has 2 GB of RAM. Okay, attempt number two: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. Here we were able to download everything, and it seemed like the connection process was even underway, but in the end we saw this amazing screen (see right screenshot).

That is, at the top it says that the Gear S2 is connected, and at the bottom it says that the Gear was not found. An obvious flaw! Repeated attempts to make friends between the two devices did not yield results. We won’t bore the reader with a detailed description, but let’s just say that the Gear S2 could not be connected either to the LG G4 Stylus (the watch started setting up the configuration, and the process froze), or to the Elephone P8000, or even to the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3.

According to Samsung representatives, everything should have been operational by October 16, that is, by the start of global sales of the Gear S2. But it didn’t work. Therefore, if you are planning to buy a watch, be sure to go to apps.samsung.com/gear before purchasing and try downloading Gear Manager to your smartphone. This still doesn't guarantee anything, as we were able to verify, but at least at the time of purchase you can immediately check whether the watch is connected to your smartphone. But in general, it’s surprising that Samsung was able to afford such a flaw!

In the end, we managed to connect the watch only to the Samsung Galaxy Note5 smartphone, and here everything went like clockwork. Although there are some oddities here too.

Smartphone applications

The Gear Manager application required for operation was already installed on our test unit. However, in the process of connecting to the watch, the smartphone also wanted to download a certain Gear Plugin, apparently developed specifically for the Samsung Gear S2. All further work took place in this application (it’s not clear why Gear Manager is needed then).

The application menu is quite simple and generally familiar to us from previous watches in the Gear line. Here you can view and select watch dials (the same can be done directly in the watch, but choosing on a large smartphone screen is, of course, more convenient). If you're not happy with your current selection (we'll talk about pre-installed watch faces later), you can head over to the Gear Store to select paid watch faces.

The next item in the Gear Plugin menu is “Notifications”. Here we see a number of settings related to notifications: the choice of applications from which you can receive notifications, display features... In general, everything is standard. Next - “Application Management”. Here we see a list of applications installed on the watch, and we can change their order, including distribution across screens.

In the following paragraphs we see options for sending a media file to the watch (audio or image), as well as settings for some applications (as a rule, these are purely auxiliary settings).

Among the settings, an interesting feature is the ability to send an emergency message. You can specify contacts who, when you press the button on the Samsung Gear S2 watch three times, will receive an alarm message with your coordinates.

Watch interface and pre-installed applications

Now let's look at the interface and applications of the watch itself. Let's start with what the user will see most often: watch faces. In total, the watch has 14 dials, and all of them are designed specifically for the round screen (that is, these are not cropped square dials from other watch models on Tizen).

The dials, in our opinion, are beautiful. We will describe only a few of them, while the rest are also very good, there are practically no unsuccessful ones. So, first of all, let’s note the minimalist dials: on a dark neon background, as well as on a black background with a spectacular green circle (see screenshots above this paragraph). In addition, the animated dials are very good: on one there are neon sparkles floating, on the other there is a conventional image of a heart, the color shade of which depends on the last pulse measurement using the watch (the higher the pulse, the more saturated the color).

Of course, there are also all kinds of chronometers and digital menus. And among the unusual options, we were pleased with the dial with two circles, one of which displays the amount of time spent in a sitting position, and the other - your activity. Accordingly, the longer the activity lasted during the day, the larger the second circle will be. Visual and very motivating! At the same time, the minimalistic style of the watch is not disturbed.

To change the watch face without using a smartphone, just long press on the current watch face - and a ribbon of all available watch faces will open, where you can select the one you need. If we swipe the dial from right to left, we will see the main menu from which we can get to settings, open contacts, launch the S Voice voice assistant and open a list of all installed applications.

If you scroll further, you will see widgets for various applications: information about the number of steps per day, calendar, weather, music playback control (this screen looks like an elegant stylization of a vinyl record), results of the last heart rate measurement (by clicking on this widget you can start a new measurement) and a summary of different types of activity during the day. The last screen is to add widgets from other applications.

You can switch between widgets not only by swiping, but also by rotating the bezel. It's incredibly convenient! You can return to the watch face from any widget by pressing the Home button. And the “Back” button is very useful in the application menu - in order to move from one screen with icons to another.

Of course, in this menu the rotating bezel also turns out to be very useful: with its help we can quickly move from one icon to another by seeing the name of the application. And here we note a very important point: as you already understand from the appearance of the screenshots, the interface of the Tizen operating system, on which all watches in the Gear line operate, has been completely redesigned for a specific model. That is, if round watches on Android Wear (LG G Watch R, LG G Watch Urbane, Moto 360) use, in fact, the same version of the OS as regular applications (see our articles), then the entire interface of Samsung Gear S2 was specially drawn specifically for a round screen, taking into account the advantages and limitations of this format. And it should be noted that it turned out very well: the interface is convenient, intuitive, and beautiful.

What else can a watch do and, conversely, cannot do? They can show information about traffic jams and the speed of travel to a selected address using Google Now.

They can show your current location and search for nearby objects (for example, parks) using Here maps. They also allow you to find the nearest public transport stop, but, frankly, the latter takes a long time and is actually of little use for real use.

There are also quite wide possibilities for working with SMS. In particular, you can send a response using one of the templates (you can edit the templates using a smartphone application), or send an emoji. The most interesting thing is that, if you wish, you can even type the answer on the virtual keyboard, although it’s hard for me to imagine a person who would actually do this.

In general, sometimes we got the feeling that the functionality of the watch was even redundant - in addition to the examples given, this is, say, the ability to dial a phone number on the watch. Are you seriously? Why, if you can’t call them anyway? Why not immediately dial on your smartphone if you still have to use it for conversation?

However, excess is not a deficiency. Moreover, the presence of these features does not overload the interface at all. In general, the set of pre-installed applications covers all the main tasks that are assigned to smart watches today. There are no revelations here, but there are also no things that are sorely lacking for those users who are familiar with other smartwatch models. Is it possible to answer calls right on the clock?

If you still need something beyond the existing set of applications, you can turn to the range of the Samsung Gear Apps store. Alas, the choice here is small, mostly watch faces, and as for useful applications and games (the latter is very small), there are a lot of paid ones. Third-party applications must be installed via a smartphone.

Nevertheless, it’s worth a look at the store - even despite the modest assortment, you can find useful and pleasant things here. For example, a calculator from Samsung (yes, not all Samsung applications are pre-installed!) or a cute game made in the image and likeness of Flappy Bird (but a little easier, which is nice).

Let's hope the number of apps in the store optimized for the Samsung Gear S2 continues to grow. It is clear that there is almost no chance of catching up with Apple Watch and even Android Wear, but it is too early to talk about anything. Perhaps if the model is successful, developers will pay more attention to it.

conclusions

Well, after a more detailed acquaintance with the Samsung Gear S2, our first impression only intensified: this is indeed a very interesting, worthy device, which can rightfully be called one of the most successful smartwatches on the market. The main advantages include an interesting appearance, ease of use, largely due to an excellent discovery (rotating bezel), an interface fully optimized for a round screen, a large set of pre-installed applications and excellent watch faces.

It’s obvious that they tried; It's clear that they worked on a lot of details. It is even more strange that by the time the product was released, Samsung did not have time to provide the promised wide compatibility, which should have become another trump card of the device. We were never able to connect the watch to any third-party Android smartphone, and we have some doubts that Samsung will be able to solve this problem quickly and fully. That is, let’s say, there will be compatibility with the most famous flagship models, but with different “Chinese phones”?

Plus, it's not very clear how much the watch's functionality will differ when used with third-party devices. S Voice will not work, this is already known, but what else? When the Samsung Gear S2 Classic version goes on sale, we will try to return to this issue - let's hope that then the connection problems will be resolved. At the same time, we’ll figure out the battery life of the watch. So far we have not had the opportunity to get any long-term experience using the watch in real life to understand how long it will last under different usage scenarios (for example, with the screen always on or, conversely, in economy mode). Presumably, one charge will last from one to two days. But, we repeat, we will return to this later, since the model clearly deserves close attention.

One way or another, we congratulate Samsung on a truly bright and original concept (which is important!) product, which we boldly award with our Original Design award (previously the Samsung Gear S2 Classic version had already earned it), and not only for its appearance and controls, but also for the interface design.

Samsung has already made five attempts to conquer the mass market of wearable devices, constantly experimenting, as can be seen in the five Gear models. The sixth model again goes its own way. This is the first time we get a round display. In our tests, we'll see what other innovations await users of the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic besides the round display.

Apple does not disclose Apple Watch sales levels, so it is difficult to talk about success. But even according to the most pessimistic forecasts, the company managed to become a market leader from scratch. Samsung, meanwhile, is unlikely to be content with second roles. Unlike Android Wear watches, Tizen models cannot be used with an iPhone. And it’s unlikely that users will choose a smartphone platform based on their existing smartwatch. So Samsung had to make the watch "open". For the first time, the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic can work with Android smartphones from other manufacturers, so they could potentially rival Android Wear in the market. So smartwatches can be considered as an interesting alternative along with LG, HTC or Sony smartphones.

Gear S2 or Gear S2 Classic?

Choosing between the Gear S2 or Gear S2 Classic is a matter of taste. The differences between the models are cosmetic. Gear S2 is made in a sporty style, the design is quite simple. The situation is different with the Gear S2 Classic. Samsung has chosen a more delicate design, this version is closer to a classic wristwatch.

	Samsung Gear S2	Samsung Gear S2 classic
Display	1.2", 360 x 360 pixels, Super AMOLED
Battery	250 mAh
Dimensions (body, mm)	49.8 x 42.3 x 11.4	43.6 x 39.9 x 11.4
Weight	47 g (with strap)	42 g (with strap)
Sensors	Acceleration, heart rate, lighting, positioning
RAM	512 MB
Built-in memory	4 GB
Housing material	Stainless steel, glass, plastic
Bracelet material	Elastomer	Leather
Products webpage	Samsung

There are two consequences of the choice. If the classic model supports regular straps with a width of 20 mm, then for the standard version you will have to use only branded bracelets. Additionally, the Gear S2 is slightly larger and 5g heavier.

Almost the same filling

Samsung's own Exynos 3250 processor is hidden inside the case with dimensions of 42.3 x 49.8 x 11.4 mm and 39.9 x 43.6 x 11.4 mm (Gear S2 / Gear S2 classic). The dual-core processor is based on ARM Cortex architecture -A7 and operates at frequencies up to 1 GHz. The CPU part is complemented by a Mali-400 MP2 graphics processor with a frequency of up to 400 MHz. The MP4 variant is known, for example, from the Galaxy S5 Mini smartphone. The SoC is produced using a 28-nm process technology, although modern Samsung chips have already switched to a technology process with structures half the size. In terms of the number of cores and clock speed, the SoC is inferior to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (four cores up to 1.2 GHz), which is used in many Android Wear watches. In terms of memory configuration, Samsung has chosen the same path as its competitors. The new models work with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory. However, about half of the memory is available to the user; it can be used not only for applications, but also for music.

A built-in radio module is used to communicate between SmartWatch and smartphone. In addition to Bluetooth 4.1, it supports WLAN (802.11n) so that the watch does not depend on the short Bluetooth range. There is also support for NFC, although Samsung focuses this protocol on its own payment service Samsung Pay, which is not yet available to us. A version of the Gear S2 with a built-in UMTS modem is not yet planned in Russia or Europe. In the watch case there was room for a vibration motor, a microphone and the usual sensors: acceleration and positioning, heart rate and barometer.

Unfortunately, there is no GPS receiver, which is somewhat disappointing for the sports Gear S2. While jogging or cycling, I would like to receive accurate location information without a connected smartphone. There is no speaker, so SmartWatch, unlike the Apple Watch, cannot be used for hands-free calling. Except that on the watch you can accept an incoming call or reject it.

The last important component is the battery. But the 250 mAh capacity is quite low even for a SmartWatch. The watch is charged wirelessly through the included docking station. As with almost all smartwatches, battery life varies depending on usage scenarios. At medium brightness and without an always-on display, the watch lasted almost three days (about 66 hours), with a moderate heart rate measurement. Switching to full brightness reduced this result by about six hours. Significantly greater losses will occur if you frequently measure your heart rate or monitor your workouts. In the worst case, the watch will not last even a day. The situation will be no better with moderate use, but the display is always active: the Gear S2, if you're lucky, will last all day on a single charge.

Small display with deceptive automation

The Super AMOLED panel is just 1.2 inches in diameter, meaning the Gear S2 has one of the smallest circular displays on the market. The new Moto 360 watch, depending on the version, has a diameter from 1.37" to 1.59". With the Watch Urbane we get 1.38". At least the pixel density at a resolution of 360 x 360 can be called average, at the level of the Apple Watch. As a rule, the pixel density is enough for a detailed picture, except that if you look closely, then on moving elements, such as second hand, ladders will be visible.

The display has a small diagonal of 1.2", the resolution is 360 x 360 pixels - average level

The display brightness can be adjusted in ten steps, and there is an ambient light sensor for automatic adjustment. But not everything is good here - additional options would clearly not hurt. The sensor only works in very bright environments. But the maximum brightness is still not so high, only about 220 cd/m². In direct sunlight, the display is no longer readable.

Color rendition is not much better. We got about 7,800 K, that is, the white areas have a clear bluish tint. But at least AMOLED technology gives rich colors

Leather or plastic?

Samsung approached the case conservatively. The case is steel, the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass, only the bottom of the case is made of plastic - besides the design and dimensions, there are no other differences between the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic. The choice of case in this case is a matter of taste. The build quality of both models is at a high level, although we didn't really like the visible transition between the base and the rest of the body.

Otherwise, Samsung made no mistakes; two buttons on the right side and a rotating bezel are available for control. The buttons are neatly integrated into the body. We also have no complaints about wearing comfort; the base adheres well to the skin and does not irritate. Due to their compact size, the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic are well suited even for thin wrists, in which case the relatively short included bracelet can be seen as an advantage. The same can be said about the relatively low weight.

The choice of a suitable model can also be influenced by the strap. Samsung chose leather for the classic version, but the standard model comes with a black or white (depending on case color) elastomer strap. A leather bracelet looks more elegant, but an elastomer strap is more comfortable for sports. The quality of both options is good; on the standard model with an elastomer strap, the buckle fastened easily and securely. This strap will last longer in high humidity conditions. Both versions of the Gear S2 are IP68 certified, meaning they are protected from water and dust, but the classic watch's leather bracelet showed signs of aging typical of this material after a few days of use.

The smartwatch market appeared quite a long time ago, but devices of this class only gained at least some mass popularity with the advent of Pebble. A young startup that has spun the flywheel has pushed tech giants to explore a new niche. Many companies have already made their mark in this segment, but most of them have not done anything interesting with this type of device. However, products mature and take on an increasingly complete form. Samsung Gear S2 performs exactly in that adult league.

Samsung has been dabbling in the wearables space for a long time, and the Gear S2 is in fact the company's sixth smartwatch. Let's figure out what the Koreans managed to do correctly on the sixth attempt, and where the engineers still have serious work to do.

Characteristics

• round touch display 1.2″ Super AMOLED, 360×360, 302 ppi
• RAM: 512 MB, ROM: 4 GB
• Bluetooth 4.1 LE, NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• microphone, gyroscope, accelerometer, heart rate sensor, light sensor, barometer
• battery: 250 mAh
• protection against moisture and dust: IP68
• dimensions: 42.3×49.8×11.4 mm, weight: 47 g (without strap)

Appearance

Samsung Gear S2 for the Ukrainian market is delivered in a round box, thereby hinting at the shape of the screen. In the box, the user will find the watch itself, a charging dock, and a smaller replaceable strap.

The front-facing watch itself looks minimalistic: a display, a corrugated edging and a metal bezel that can be twisted in any direction. The watch case is made of metal, stainless steel (316L) with matte anodizing. I like the overall simplicity of the design, because the eye does not “stumble” over pretentious elements, and you can wear this watch with any outfit.

The device contains two control keys (“Back” and “Home”) located on the right. If you are used to wearing your watch on your right hand, this is not a problem - the interface can be turned upside down, and the buttons are still easy to feel and press.

The rubber strap included with the silver watch is white; the material does not feel cheap to the touch, as was the case with the first generation Pebble. Of course, the strap gets dirty, but it’s easy to clean it - we did it with wet wipes, but you can easily get by with running water.

Samsung claims compliance with the IP68 standard, which says: the Gear S2 is not afraid of dust, and it will survive immersion in fresh water one and a half meters for half an hour without consequences. We didn’t look for the mark at which the watch would fail, but we periodically “accidentally” washed it from the tap when washing our hands, drowned it in a basin a couple of times, and once even took a shower with it (this really was an accident). No hints of failure were found.

The build quality and fit of parts are excellent, as one would expect from a flagship gadget. The proprietary strap fastening perfectly secures the bracelet, and the design of the latch itself eliminates even minimal play. If you don’t know that the straps can be removed, it will seem that the engineers fused silicone directly into the case.

Convenience

The rotating bezel around the perimeter of the display is the main control element of the Samsung smartwatch: it is used to navigate through menus, lists, and also acts as a tool for adjusting various sliders and serves as a controller in a number of games.

All competitors in the wearable electronics market use two control options: either a touch screen and keys, or just keys. Samsung has added a new control method that solves several problems at once: there is no need to smear skin oil on the screen and then clean it, the content is always in front of the user’s eyes (which means the display can be made a little smaller, this will not affect the final convenience ), on cool days you won’t have to take off your gloves to interact with gadgets.

This shell interaction tool is the best on the smartwatch market

The ring rotates almost effortlessly, but its movement is so precise that there are practically no accidental jumps through the desired menu; you just need to understand how far to scroll the bezel to get to the desired screen. The round interface was initially adjusted to the new principle of interaction, which was made possible thanks to the Tizen OS, the development of which is fully promoted by the gadget manufacturer.

The movable element allowed the company to install a small display without sacrificing convenience - 1.2 inches seems small compared to competitors, but since the user does not need to constantly poke at the screen, the surface shown is enough for comfortable use. The small display also allowed the company not to produce huge boilers, but to make a quite neat gadget that looks good on an elegant female hand, and also suits guys whose hands don’t look like logs.

The regular version of the Gear S2 received a non-standard strap fastening - a dubious decision that Apple is also guilty of. Of course, one could assume that the manufacturer simply plans to make additional profit on the straps (1,599 UAH per piece, for a second), but this conspiracy theory does not stick with the Gear S2 Classic, which received a standard 22 mm mount, and that’s all. only those presented use universal bracelets.

Release an adapter for 22mm straps, don't torture consumers

For the last two and a half years I have been actively using the first generation Pebble, whose body is made of plastic. During this unusually hot summer, it turned out that my skin reacts to the material of the pioneer of the smart watch market with an allergy. And during three weeks of testing the Gear S2, there were no hints of irritation, despite profuse sweating in the midst of running around the city. But do not forget that this is individual for each person, so pay attention to the reaction of your body in the first days of using such devices.

What devices does it work with?

Samsung says its Gear S2 smartwatch supports any Android smartphone running 4.4 KitKat or later, as long as it has 1.5GB of RAM or more. Our testing on 6 devices, ranging from the Samsung Galaxy S6 itself to Chinese ones, showed that the manufacturer is not deceiving.

The stability of the Bluetooth connection can be called satisfactory: the connection periodically disappeared and automatically returned, and auto-switching to Wi-Fi worked well only in close proximity to the access point (up to 10 m), otherwise the watch constantly reported being connected/disconnected from the network.

Functions and software

The Gear S2 is a gadget first and foremost, and a watch second. Consequently, their capabilities are at the head of the table when choosing a device.

Pedometer

The step counter is one of the most useful features of any portable device - it forces you to walk more in an attempt to achieve higher and higher results (achievements!). With the Gear S2 this will not be difficult, since our testing has shown that the watch is steadily adding steps - on average we are talking about an additional 10% for every 10 thousand. Considering that we are not measuring a dose of medicine here, then this level of error is quite acceptable, but pedants will be disappointed.

A set of sensors allows you to automatically detect whether you are walking, running, cycling or sitting still. If you do the latter for a particularly long time, the watch will remind you that it’s time to tear yourself away from your chair and take a few steps.

Pulse

The pulse sensor works mediocre - the watch periodically cannot calculate this parameter, and there is no logic in the failures: the skin on the hand is tightly tightened, the skin is light, there are no tattoos, but sometimes the reading works perfectly, and periodically it gives an alert that the information could not be obtained. I'm glad that 9 out of 10 attempts work correctly.

The watch can both track data on a regular basis and manually. If you monitor your heart rate during sports activities, we recommend tightening the strap to avoid failures.

Sleep tracking

Sleep tracking works no better (or worse) than that of specialized competitors such as Misfit or Jawbone - the watch detects the time of falling asleep more or less correctly, but when you wake up it often adds extra, which is associated with the desire to “lounge in bed some more.” The accuracy of deep sleep tracking is difficult to assess, but the results obtained are consistent with competitors.

All data is synchronized with the proprietary S Health program, where you can not only view the progress of training, heart rate, sleep time and the number of steps taken, but also enter other data related to your body and health. The application's capabilities are close to competing Google Fit and Apple Health; there are no special advantages or disadvantages over them, at least for the vast majority of users.

Search for smartphone and watch

Smart watches can activate a sound signal on a smartphone (the melody set for the call is played), and in the Gear Manager application you can search for a watch from a smartphone (in case you lost it on your wrist). Since the device does not have a speaker, the watch will vigorously vibrate.

If the smartphone is switched to silent mode, the search from the watch will ignore this restriction, and the sound will be forcibly activated.

Alarm clock and timer

Smart watches can wake you up with vibration. This is extremely convenient both for some activities (for example, when boiling an egg) and for getting up in the morning without the risk of disturbing the sleep of your significant other or a small child. By the way, since the Gear S2 lasts more than a day on a single charge, the alarm clock will most likely become a popular feature if you are used to sleeping with your watch on.

A small minus is that the vibration of the watch is rather weak; if you are fast asleep, the Gear S2 may not reach you. We recommend checking the effectiveness several times in pairs with a traditional alarm clock, on which you set a later wake-up time.

Notifications

The most important functionality that smart watches bring is the display of notifications and the ability to somehow respond to them. The Gear S2 is okay with this: the user not only sees push notifications and can reject them (on the watch and smartphone at the same time), but also gets the opportunity to fully respond. The latter is implemented by three methods: templates and emoticons, keyboard (telephone and qwerty), and voice.

The dictated answer turns into text; S Voice is responsible for this function. In practice, it is almost impossible to use - it recognizes short phrases (3-4 words) well, but as soon as the user tries to dictate a sentence, success awaits him only in 20% of cases, the rest of the time incidents happen. The program may completely ignore what you said there and ask you to dictate the message again. And then he will misunderstand what you said. In English, the probability of success is higher, about 40%, but how often do you answer relatives and friends in English?

Despite the presence of a built-in microphone, you cannot answer calls with the Gear S2, since there is no room in the design for a speaker. However, when there is an incoming call, you can click on the green handset, after which the call will be answered on your smartphone. Is it useful? It’s unlikely, because in a car the button to answer a call when connected to a headset is usually located on the steering wheel, and in other scenarios you’ll still have to take the device in your hand.

A proprietary smartphone application allows you to choose which programs to receive notifications from and which to ignore. In general, nothing new, everything is the same as the competitors.

Dials

Samsung Gear S2, although smart, is still a watch, which means it can display the time, and it does it in style thanks to the support of a huge number of skins available in the app store. Many watch faces support significant customization options, from the color of the hands to the information on the watch face itself.

You can also use your own images as a backdrop for the watch, which must first be downloaded to the Gear S2 through the proprietary application.

Navigation

Standard navigation is based on Here maps; for it to work, the appropriate application must be installed on your smartphone. The principle of operation is no different from what we have seen from competitors: we set a route, then follow the prompts. When the user is 20 m (when navigating on foot) from the turning point, the watch vibrates slightly and an indicator appears on the screen in which direction to turn.

Navigation is a little annoying when starting: the application takes an incredibly long time to load (it takes 20-30 seconds from clicking on the icon to starting walking!), and GPS data is not always picked up the first time. But if you managed to launch step-by-step navigation, then everything works fine.

NFC

The Gear S2 smartwatch contains a built-in NFC module, which, among other things, allows for contactless payments. Ukrainian consumers can use this function with the Privat24 application: we activate NFC payment in the program on the smartphone, install the proprietary application on the watch, and follow the instructions in the program. Then we simply pay for purchases in any stores or trips on the Kiev metro (payment terminals must support PayPass).

An important detail - if your smartphone does not have an NFC chip, then you will not be able to activate contactless payment; there are currently no ways to get around this problem, a PrivatBank employee clarified the site.

Music

Smart watches can store on the built-in storage (4 GB) not only applications, but also photos (it’s not clear why), as well as music. The latter makes sense for those who, for example, do not want to take their smartphone for a run or to the gym - we connect wireless headphones or an external speaker via Bluetooth and enjoy our favorite songs.

Important: if the music player blocks data from indexing (the same “Play Music”), then it will not be possible to transfer such files to the watch. That is, you need to download files to your smartphone’s storage directly from your computer or through a browser. This problem could be circumvented by having proprietary service applications, but Google, as well as other competitors, are in no hurry to release software for Tizen.

Games

The application store for smart watches contains a certain (small) number of games of varying levels of interest and with the obligatory mediocrity of the visual component. Of course, games on smart watches are not needed, but for a queue where you only have to wait for a minute, it will do. We recommend Bezel Reflex, the screen displays a ball that jumps up and down and changes color, and your task is to rotate the platforms, placing tiles of the corresponding color under it.

Most of the games from the store seemed completely pointless due to the decent loading time - some projects require the user to wait 15 seconds before the gameplay starts, which does not at all fit into the general concept of instant use in the queue. For greater anticipation, you can take your smartphone out of your pocket, enjoying a much larger display and advanced graphics.

Branded application and software store

Samsung traditionally makes high-quality hardware, which either amazes with its manufacturability or delights with its exceptional precision. However, with the company’s software, as a rule, everything is not so rosy. And this is true not only for older versions of the proprietary TouchWiz shell, but also for Gear Manager, an application that serves as a companion to the watch.

Basic functionality (updating firmware, connecting to a watch, managing notification permissions) is implemented well, although in some places it is not obvious. The application looks more like a website than native software, but this is more an aesthetic perception than a real disadvantage.

But the company's programmers seem to have made every effort to create the most problematic software store on the planet. And, honestly, there is a suspicion that they succeeded.

Problems with the store are not constant, they occur a couple of times a week, but when they happen, you want to throw this technically excellent device out the window

What's wrong with program screenshots? Why do some of them only load one frame, although five are attached in the description?

By what logic does clicking on “Installed” under a previously downloaded program launch, excuse the tautology, re-download the application? For what? For what?

Oh, and this:

Above you see an example of how the S Health app not only needs a SIM card to activate in order to synchronize your activity, it also needs to be inserted into the first slot!

Let's add to this the impossibility of viewing all programs from one developer (even Samsung itself or the same Yandex - there is no such category as "other developer programs"), the amazing slowness of the interface (a web program, no less) and simply a most ingenious limitation - downloading programs from the store are interrupted on some smartphones (for example) if you leave it! No, seriously, how could you do this?

Technical problems are annoying, but not for long - you won't have to keep coming back to the store because new software doesn't appear often.

Tizen

Samsung Gear S2 runs the proprietary Tizen OS, which has a positive effect on decent operating time. In addition, the manufacturer managed to achieve a highly smooth interface, which is encouraging. More precisely, the smoothness occasionally disappears, you literally see a slide show on the screen, but this happened only twice during the entire testing period, so we’ll chalk it up to an exception.

However, the proprietary solution has its problems: the number of third-party programs is small, and most of what is in the store is generally useless. It’s good that the platform is closely integrated with Android, making it easy to respond to notifications in Telegram even without a proprietary program for Tizen.

Things are not so smooth with iOS

Smart watches are not a competitor to the Apple Watch at all - the Koreans have not released Gear Manager for iOS (although they promised back in January 2016), which is why iPhone owners simply cannot use this gadget (or rather, all functionality will be limited to push to the watch to the extent available in the notification shade). And this is Samsung’s mistake, since the accessory itself turned out to be extremely interesting; some Apple users would definitely try a round watch from the Koreans instead of an expensive Apple Watch. Or did Apple itself not let the program into the App Store? (Actually no, not now, but when the app will appear in the app store is unknown).

Working hours

Of course, during the initial setup and downloading of the software, as well as a detailed examination of the capabilities, the battery gave up in less than 10 hours, but as soon as our sample began to be used in normal mode, everything immediately became much better - the average battery life was two days and another 10–15 hours to thirds. For 10 hours of sleep, the device loses about 12% of its charge, while sleep tracking is active.

The charging speed from 8% to 100% through the standard charger took 2 hours 43 minutes, which is not very good at first glance if you always want to track your sleep. On the other hand, an hour of charging lasts a full day and night, so the long recovery time is more of a feature than a drawback.

The Samsung flagship is far from the reference Pebble, which works under our load for about 6 days, but these devices are not competitors to each other - the Korean device should be compared with solutions on Android Wear and watchOS, which work less on a single charge. It turns out that the Gear S2 is a long-liver in its class.

Competitors

Samsung Gear S2 is a flagship device running Tizen, which does not prevent it from competing with manufacturers of smartwatches running Android Wear. Now there is a clear leader on this platform – Huawei Watch. Chinese smartwatches offer maximum functions invented for the OS, an excellent 1.4-inch screen and a pleasant appearance. At the same time, the size of the display does not allow them to be called compact, and the price is threatening - 9999 UAH. The only clear advantage of Huawei Watch is the number of programs written for Android Wear.

Apple Watch

Huawei Watch

Apple Watch, as the only device that fully interacts with iOS, is available in several versions, starting from just over 10 thousand UAH for a compact model. This device will have a tough fight against the much more affordable Gear S2 once the company releases an iOS app. Of course, this will still not be full support at the system level, but the noticeable difference in price and appearance will certainly play into the hands of the Koreans.

The best on the market, with a lot of problems

The Gear S2 smart watch is officially available in Ukraine for UAH 6,999, which is almost the cheapest accessory of its kind in the country. Moreover, even if the choice was wider, the Samsung device would still need to be compared with the flagship platforms: Apple Watch (from 10,399 UAH) and Huawei Watch (9,999 UAH).

What we have? Samsung Gear S2 work longer than the named competitors, although functionally they are no different, they also contain premium body materials, and they don’t lose out in appearance (and in my opinion they even win by a serious margin). Moreover, the rotating bezel and mechanical buttons allow you to perform most trivial actions without touching the screen, that is, the glass remains intact, and with the onset of cold weather this will bring another bonus - Gear S2 owners will not have to take off their gloves to view new notifications. Today, no company has a better solution for clock management.

The size of the display, coupled with the bezel, remains sufficient for comfortable control of the gadget, and the dimensions themselves make the device universal, especially against the backdrop of the massive Huawei Watch, which not every girl will be ready to put on her elegant wrist, fearing that huge cauldrons will simply They'll break her arm.

All the advantages of the Samsung Gear S2 are countered by a proprietary strap fastening (this is not Apple, there are few Chinese analogues for Korean smartwatches), inferior software for the smartphone, as well as a meager application store. And if the fastening is more of a claim to “find fault,” then the software is very frustrating.

Without activity in the store, it will be bad in the future, especially with the release of new services and messengers, which will continue to appear primarily for the more popular and already known to watchOS developers with Android Wear, while Tizen will continue to be kept afloat by a group of enthusiasts, unofficial customers and developers, whom Samsung pays millions in royalties.

Is it worth buying

The lack of software will be important only to active users who constantly want to install something new; for the rest, the existing set of software will be more than enough. In reality, a proprietary smartphone application is used extremely rarely (ideally, only once, to configure the device and download the necessary software from the store). There are fitness functions, the operating time is decent, the appearance is not for everyone, but those who like the round display will remain satisfied even after months of use. And the bezel in practice turned out to be not a far-fetched excess, but an extremely logical and convenient way to interact with the interface.

You don’t use an iPhone or a smartphone with Windows Phone as your main device, you don’t like to fill all your desktops with programs that are good if you run them once, and you also experience aesthetic pleasure when you look at the Samsung Gear S2? Take it without hesitation, especially since this is the cheapest flagship among smartwatches.

Don't use Samsung equipment at all? Is your home filled with appliances with an apple on the logo? Do you feel the dire need to download the latest beta version? Move on, the Gear S2 won't deliver even a tenth of the fun you can get with a smartwatch running watchOS or Android Wear.

4 reasons to buy the Gear S2:

• excellent build, nice appearance
• Rotating bezel is an almost ideal method of controlling a smart watch
• compact dimensions without compromising the information content of the screen
• Decent operating time on a single charge

4 reasons not to buy the Gear S2:

• small amount of software
• you have an iPhone or a smartphone with Windows Phone
• you want to buy a much more expensive Gear S3
• you've convinced yourself that a smartwatch is a useless toy

P.S. Gear S3

Samsung at IFA 2016 a new generation of watches, Gear S3. Current models are slightly larger and have a more brutal appearance. By the way, they cost significantly more (one and a half times). The manufacturer assured at the presentation that the Gear S2 will be sold and developed in parallel with the new product, which means that if you are more inclined to the hero of the review, you can buy them without fear that the Koreans will not release updates and will stop supporting the device in the near future.

The South Korean giant unexpectedly presented an official press release of its new smart watch Gear S2, and 3 models were presented at once, including those with 3G support. What is important for us is that Samsung has finally shown a smartwatch with a round Super AMOLED display. We will be able to touch and see the watch only at IFA in Berlin, so for now we can talk in detail about the characteristics of the watch. By the way, judging by the characteristics, Samsung releases 2 variants of the Gear S2. And in many ways they will differ from all competitors produced by other manufacturers.

Specifications of Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic:

• Tizen OS operating system
• 4GB internal memory
• 512MB RAM
• WLAN 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 as well as NFC
• Battery 250 mAh (enough for 2-3 days of work without the need to charge)
• Gear S2 dimensions: 42.3 × 49.8 × 11.4 mm, weight 42g.
• Dimensions of Gear S2 Classic: 39.9 × 43.6 × 11.4 mm, weight 47g.

Specifications of Samsung Gear S2 3G:

• 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display with 360 x 360 pixel resolution
• Dual-core 1GHz processor
• Tizen OS operating system
• 4GB internal memory
• 512MB RAM
• Samsung Gear Apps Store support
• WLAN 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1, as well as NFC and e-SIM (3G)
• Battery 300 mAh (enough for 2 days of work without the need to charge)
• Sensors: Heart rate monitor, barometer, gyroscope, light sensor
• Dimensions of Gear S2 3G: 44.0 × 51.8 × 13.4 mm, weight 51g.
• Features: Nike+ Running, S Health, Maps and Navigation, IP 68 certification (protection from water and dust), S-Voice support, Weather, smartphone search, viewing notifications, emails and more.

Visually, there are significant differences between the presented versions of Samsung smartwatches. For example, the Samsung Gear S2 Classic version received a leather strap and a black body. The Gear S2 and Gear S2 3G will come in dark gray and silver finishes with a white band. Additionally, the Gear S2 has a rotating bezel.

There is no information yet on the price of the Gear S2 or the availability of the watch.