This may very well be the best smartwatch on the market. It’s not because of software or even its price tag but it’s because of something so simple yet no one has thought of in the smartwatch world. Welcome to my review of the Samsung Gear S2, quite possibly the best smartwatch around.
The Gear S2’s one interesting concoction of parts. It’s a fairly small circular smartwatch that has one really beautiful display that costs a fair sum of money and has something called a rotating bezel. It’s sort of the ultimate love-hate relationship. First, let’s talk size. The Gear S2 is tiny, really tiny. It only comes in at 30.2mm in the diameter, which means compared to the smooth Android Wear or even the fairly small Apple Watch, this thing looks like a toy. However, you do get a 1.2-inch 360x360 Super AMOLED display which has 302ppi, the same as the Apple Watch with its 42mm with 1.5-inch AMOLED display.
Internally, it’s powered by a Samsung Exynos 3250 chipset, half a GB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. What is different is the software. Unlike most Android-oriented smartwatches, you won’t find Android Wear. This is running Tizen. And before you click away from this page, you might want to see what it can do, especially with this little invention called the rotating bezel. But before I dive into the software, first let me explain what I’m talking about.
The Gear S2 in the sport form has a trick up its sleeve or rather around its display. That’s because the ring you see there is a rotating bezel. You can twist it around in either direction and this is used as an input for the software experience. This is by far the best idea on a smartwatch I’ve seen. It’s so natural especially because you can touch the bezel around the whole diameter of the watch and do exactly the same thing. You don’t have to touch one area or use a little tiny crown to scroll through things. This new hardware feature coupled with new Tizen experience that’s been made for the circle form factor means the software experience is near perfect. Scrolling through notifications and the pages of applications are quite a breeze. And the best thing is, you never get in the way of the content that you’re trying to see. The only thing that is lacking is the ability to select something but that’s a little bit more complicated to figure out.
The comfort of this watch is also really stellar. While in mass it ranks near the lightest and least noticeable, it still feels solid and well-built; especially if you opt for the Gear S2 Classic which gives you an extra ceramic coating and a classier-looking bezel. Battery-life is quite good as well. Definitely a two-day battery life in terms of smartwatch. It’s sort of funny that the Gear S2 is literally one of the best smartwatches around right now yet they only make them in these tiny sizes. Samsung should really make a bigger version of this, like 46mm. Seriously, do it because I want one.
The only thing that’s left to do is make this iOS-compatible. Well, that’s actually a work in progress. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my review of the Gear S2. Make sure to leave your comments below!
