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Samsung Gear S2 review

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So here’s where we’re at with the Gear S2: it’s a well designed, easy to use smartwatch that makes a good complement to your Android smartphone. If checking notifications, tracking the basics of your physical activity, controlling music, and getting small bits of info are all you want from a smartwatch, the S2 fills all of those needs.

But if you look at smartwatches as an entirely new medium for which developers have yet to fully exploit, the S2 should give you pause. It’s entirely possible, likely even, that Samsung ^aEUR

Harsh, but true. The Gear S2 looks like a decent smartwatch with an interesting and useful interaction model, but we all know the likelihood of any serious developer support for Tizen is small, at best.

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Thom Holwerda

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5 Comments

  1. 2015-10-13 10:44 pm
    leech

    And there are plenty of ‘apps’ for it. None really that I can think of that are missing. Sure the ones it does have could probably use some improvements, and some of the watch faces seem to miss the mark on functionality. But all around it’s pretty decent as far as application support for it.

    I think the real problem is brought up in the question of, do we really need a smart watch? Besides telling time, a quick question / answer thing, or maybe even using it on a run with headphones attached. What else would you really need it to do? Maybe if they can get them so that they can handle deep underwater pressures you could use it as a diving watch.

    I think it’s kind of the same thing as when Smart phones came along though, I mean really when they first released there wasn’t a whole lot of use for them. I rather like Tizen, though I haven’t really played with Android Wear, I’m hoping at some point we get something like the Tizen app store that will work across all Tizen based devices. Then the same Netflix app you run on your Samsung TV would run on your wrist as well.

    • 2015-10-14 2:30 am
      PartTimeZombie

      I also wonder if anyone really “needs” a smartwatch, but I would like one and these look nice.

      I think the point about Tizen is made in the article quite well, there’s never going to be a Tizen App Store, it’s just too niche and so the lack of developer support will kill it.

      I’m not too worried about that. There’s always a period when companies figure out what works and what doesn’t for various types of products and when they do figure out what works best and what people want to buy prices fall and quality improves. (Hopefully).

      • 2015-10-14 3:55 pm
        Bill Shooter of Bul Platinum Prime Supporter

        We don’t need most things we actually have. Having said that, having some of the things we don’t need makes our life a little more comfortable.

        I like my smartphone, its finally up to the task of replacing my Texas Instruments T86 ( not kidding, I wrote all the custom usefull apps for that myself).

        Smart watches are also getting there. I like the pebble I have, but the software could be improved.

        Having said that, I think they are missing a real big marketing opportunity for smart watches. They cut down steps for people who don’t have a free hand or time to do something else.

        Who am I referring to?

        Parents. One of my friends I visited the other day had a kid in an arm and helping the two other small ones with the single free hand. If he had a smart watch, it could help him know what the weather was like, respond to messages, keep informed of news, traffic, other goings on social media, set timers with his voice. That would be a killer feature.

    • 2015-10-14 9:27 am
      jgfenix

      Do we really need it?

      It depends. There are two tendencies in what a smartwatch should be. One is a mere smartphone accesory. It has some convenient use cases but you can live without it. The other is to replace the phone. That has is advantages and disadvantages: it has an extreme portability but it is bad to browse the web.

      I bough an Urbane. I wasn^A't planing on it but I found I good deal. I like it but for me it is just another phone: sometimes I use it and sometimes I use my G-Shock.

  2. 2015-10-14 5:09 pm
    hakki

    I had mine for four days now, and it’s shaping up to be the first smartwatch not ending up in my drawer. That drawer already sports a 2-gen LG and the prev-gen Moto 360.

    Tizen lack apps, but my usecase is indeed notifications, answering mail and, you know, telling time.

    The T9 keyboard looks ridiculous, but actually works fine, since the predictive typing is accurate.

    And yup, I got two full days of battery life, so with normal use, I’ll take you through a weekend.

    The bezel navigation is every bit as awesome as I was hoping for.

    Well done Samsung.