The quick takeSamsung was a pioneer in the new generation of smartwatches, but it hasn't produced the best overall products in its past few tries. With the Gear S2 it finally has a lot of things right — the watch looks nice, has a good screen, is built well and is now a proper size for most wrists. The Tizen-based operating system doesn't have as many restrictions as before and now works properly with non-Samsung phones, which is huge. Unfortunately the software still feels a little rough around the edges, and tries to do far too much considering the screen size it has to work goodCompact and lightInnovative rotating bezelGreat screenGood battery lifeThe badSoftware still tries to do too muchNative apps offer poor experienceMore complicated than Android WearNotification support not entirely universalSamsung's best watch yetGear S2 Full ReviewWhen you look at the history of the modern smartwatch, it's hard to ignore Samsung's involvement in the process. Though it hasn't necessarily made blockbuster products that have led the wearable industry, Samsung has been eager to keep trying new things with each generation — whether it's large screens, new software interaction or standalone cellular connections in watches. Samsung also hasn't shied away from different operating systems, starting with Android, trying Android Wear and finally settling on the launch of the Gear S2, it's clear that Samsung has been learning from its mistakes as well — and this is finally the first watch from Samsung that feels like a complete product. The new watch is compact, capable and designed to look like a watch — and the new rotating bezel is a truly innovative way to interact with it. Perhaps most importantly, the Gear S2 works with Android phones other than Samsung's own, which was a bigger issue for most people than the overall quality of its previous while the Gear S2 is a better product than any previous Gear, the competition is a bit stiffer now as well. Android Wear finally has some legs, and Pebble has released new versions of its own watches. Does the Gear S2 have what it takes to be considered as your new primary wrist computer? We're here to answer that question in our full review — read this reviewI Andrew Martonik am writing this review after a little more than a week using a silver and white Gear S2 with a cameo appearance by Phil Nickinson's black and dark grey model. It's a standard Bluetooth and Wifi model not 3G, and for the entire review period was connected to either a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 or Moto X are two distinct designs of the Gear S2. There's the "standard" model which I have here that's a bit sporty in design, and then there's the Gear S2 Classic, which has a more standard watch design with proper lugs and a standard watch band on it. Both are roughly the same internally — the only difference is the case design. There is also a 3G model of the standard Gear S2, which is slightly larger and has a bigger new take on GearGear S2 Hardware and displaySamsung has tried various approaches to its smartwatch designs, but the one unifying feature — from the original Galaxy Gear to the gigantic Gear S — was that they kind of just felt like little phones. They were all bulky for smartwatches, had relatively large and rectangular screens and some even integrated cameras into the bodies or the straps. It doesn't make sense to do so much on a watch, and with the Gear S2 Samsung no longer tries didn't just move down to the competition, it went smaller with the Gear than just drop down to the same size on offer by the current crop of Android Wear devices, Samsung went a step further with the Gear S2 and went smaller than what's out there already. The Gear S2 has a slightly smaller display, and is thinner and lighter than your average LG Watch Urbane or Huawei Watch. The only downside here is that there aren't two different case sizes on offer like the Moto 360 2015 and ASUS ZenWatch 2 — you'll have to like the one size off, let's talk display. Samsung went with a relatively small circular Super AMOLED screen, at 360x360 resolution, and it looks beautiful. The reliance on black backgrounds in the interface make the whites and colors pop, and while there's no automatic brightness mode I found myself comfortable with brightness set to 80 percent. The resolution is plenty high for this screen size, and it has good viewing angles as well. I just expect Samsung's displays to be good at this point — no matter what the size — and the Gear S2 doesn't display is really great, and the simplistic stainless steel case is of top-notch display is surrounded by a solid casing made of 316L stainless steel, available in a light silver or a dark grey, with a plastic and glass insert on the bottom to allow for wireless charging and heart rate monitoring. And while it doesn't have standard lugs for attaching watch bands, it does extend on the top and bottom to marry up with a proprietary connector for its own bands. The bands are designed to flow seamlessly into the case, giving it a slick look, but some may still prefer the more "standard" look of the Gear S2 Classic case is nicely machined in a minimalist design, with the flat and lightly-textured steel being set off just a bit by a shiny bevel all along the rotating bezel that surrounds the screen. That rotating bezel serves as a main way of interacting with the watch, which I'll get to in a later section, but it's important to note that the bezel is very well engineered. It clicks along as a great interaction mechanism for the watch, but also doesn't look out of place or get in the way when it isn't in the same can't be said about the dedicated "back" and "home" buttons on the right side of the case, which indeed stand out as not only poor choices for usability but also kind of detract from the otherwise sleek case. A single button would've looked much better, but I can at least applaud Samsung for ditching the big front-mounted home button of previous Gear S2 comes with a flexible elastomer aka rubber band out of the box, with a standard watch buckle in matching metal to the case, and while it still has a proprietary connector it's at least easily swappable and can be changed without tools. Samsung includes both large and small bands in the box — but really they should be called "long" and short" because the only difference between the two is the length. You can mix-and-match the two bands to get the right fit, and while I just used the standard large set, those with smaller wrists will want to opt for the small only downside to the standard Gear S2's design is its sporty style, which doesn't work in all is only offering the Gear S2 in two color choices, but at the launch of the watch showed off quite a few different band color options. We haven't heard anything more about when or where those band choices will be available Samsung did eventually sell replacement bands for previous Gears, or if third parties will be able to get in on the action, but I wouldn't put much stock in them becoming available — just pick the color you'll be happiest with out of the box, and anything more is just a elastomer bands give the Gear S2 more of a sport watch feel, not unlike the Sony Smartwatch 3 or any other basic non-smart active watch from Nike or Adidas, and that can be a little polarizing. It feels right at home with casual attire and daily wear, but stands out notably if you're dressing up for a nice dinner or a meeting. Of course the opposite is true with a design like the LG Watch Urbane, which is just far too flashy, but I do wish that the standard Gear S2 band and case were a bit more neutral. At least Samsung is offering the Gear S2 Classic, which costs $50 more but has a design that should work in more How to change the Gear S2 strapsTizen is better, but incompleteGear S2 Software and performanceSamsung's Tizen-based smartwatch operating system has greatly evolved since it took over for the Android offering on the first Galaxy Gear. And just like its smartwatch hardware story, Samsung's smartwatch software often feels more like it belongs on a small phone rather than a watch. Though the latest iteration is far simpler to understand and use, I still get the impression that Samsung is just trying to do too much on the watch — particularly for a device with only a circular entire interface is navigable with swipes, but the rotating bezel is preferable in almost every this watch packs a touchscreen, there are multiple ways to interact with it that don't involve tapping the screen. The Gear S2 has two buttons on the side — one for "back" and another for "home" — as well as a rotating bezel to help alleviate navigating a rather complex interface on a small screen. The back button simply takes you back to the previous screen you were on, just like on an Android phone, and the home button returns you instantly to the watch face. You can also set a double-press of the home button to launch any app of your the entire interface is navigable with swipes, the preferred method is twisting the watch bezel. The bezel clicks while turning, with each click in position being analogous to a full-screen swipe. In most of the interface you'll turn the bezel clockwise to move right, and counterclockwise to move left. In vertically-scrolling lists, menus and apps, you'll turn clockwise to go down and counterclockwise to go up. Turning the bezel means you aren't covering the interface you're trying to manipulate, and on such a small screen it helps to just move in a series of bezel clicks rather than swiping. In multiple areas of the interface, you can highlight items from a radial list with the bezel, and then simply tap the center of the screen to select the highlighted the highest level of the interface you have a set of home screens, with your watch face of course being the primary screen — a swipe down on the screen returns you to the watch face, and a swipe down again on the watch face gives you quick controls for media playback, do not disturb mode, and brightness controlls. To the left you'll find your notifications as they come in, and to the right you'll find a succession of customizable widgets. There are 13 in total pre-loaded, and you can choose to organize, add or remove them as you see fit — by default you'll have a quick app launcher, as well as widgets for your calendar, S Health step count, weather and heart Gear S2's software still feels a bit like it belongs on a phone, and can get confusing quickly when you use the cleanest possible look you can remove all of these widgets, but you'll still get a blank page to the right of your watch face with a "+" imploring you to add more. Many of the widgets just aren't useful at all, like the full-month calendar widget, or some of the widgets that require deep multi-level dives into apps to make use of. But others, like the media playback control widget and the step counter, are genuinely useful to have at a glance over from your watch face. The best part about these is being able to choose which ones you main interface paradigm is rather simple to figure out, but it gets quite confusing once you dig deeper into it. Again you get the feeling that there's more smartphone DNA in this watch than anything else, as there are still situations where you need to be several taps, swipes or clicks deep into the interface to get things done. Diving into the settings is just a rabbit hole of lists upon lists, with every option imaginable available, and doing some things like replying to an email can take upwards of five taps on the screen. You can get by with just the simple things on the Gear S2, but there's a lot going on here that can get frustrating and confusing to navigate on such a small facesSamsung has done a pretty good job with the watch face offerings on the Gear S2. Out of the box you'll have 15 distinct watch faces to choose from, some of which are branded with pre-loaded apps like Nike and CNN, but in general run the range between modern and classic, as well as analog and digital. Most of the faces can be customized some more than others, with options to change the dial, hands if analog, colors and information can also browse through dozens of watch faces from Samsung's Galaxy Apps store, though I honestly couldn't find many that appealed to me and was more than happy with a customized version of a pre-loaded face. Perhaps these offerings will improve over time, but only time will tell there — there's nothing in the Galaxy Apps store that can rival the watch face offerings for Android Wear of the most important experiences on any smartwatch is how it handles notifications from your attached smartphone, and thankfully Samsung has made huge strides in this area compared to the original Gear S. There are two major improvements to the notification system — two-way notification sync, and actionable third-party notifications. Two-way sync means any action you take on the smartwatch is reflected on the phone, and vice-versa, while actionable third-party notifications mean you can actually do things with notifications that arrive rather than just clear notifications arrive on your phone they're pushed over to the watch and lined up in chronological order — grouped by app — on individual screens to the left of your watch face. You can also have the watch screen turn on when notifications arrive, as well as adjust the vibration intensity on your wrist for notifications. Unfortunately if you turn on this heads-up notification mode, you can't actually clear the notification right as it arrives — you need to hit the back button and then go back to the main notification area to clear it. Baffling, but that's how it you scroll or swipe through your unread notifications you'll see an app icon indicating where it came from, as well as a brief bit of information on the content — such as the subject line of an email, or the first few words of a text message. Tapping individual notifications expands them so you can view the full content — as in, you can actually scroll through a 500 word email if you want. If it's a text-based chat — like an email or Hangouts message — that can warrant a response, you can reply with quick canned responses, a set of emoji, voice dictation which is unfortunately not very well done, or even type in words with an absolutely tiny T9-style keyboard believe me, it's not great. If you'd prefer to just clear the notification, you can swipe it up on the watch and it'll also clear on the sync and actionable third-party notifications are a minimum requirement in a modern the Gear S2 now supports more than just Samsung phones that also means it supports non-Samsung apps, and the compatibility is surprisingly good. For example when Gmail messages arrive you can actually archive or delete them from the watch, and when Hangouts messages come in you actually see the person's picture as a background and can reply properly. There are also a few glaring omissions, like a lack of turn-by-turn notifications from Google Maps, and informational pop-ups that are more watch-specific like boarding information from airline as is the case with Android Wear you can't expect every app you have to interact properly with the watch, but it seems as though Samsung has done its part to get popular apps working as expected on the Gear S2. Unfortunately it isn't likely that new apps released further down the road will be supported, and if a developer is choosing to hook into just one wearable platform on Android, chances are they're going to start with Android using Tizen for its wearable platform has many advantages, but one of the biggest downsides is in its handling of apps. Because there's no inherent link between the apps on your phone and the watch outside of just basic notifications, if you want any more complex interaction you need to install an app on the watch directly. Samsung showed off dozens of apps from well-known names at the launch of the Gear S2, but unfortunately a large number of those have yet to show up in the Galaxy Apps store for download. And those that have are quite a pain to install, involving downloading the watch app from Samsung's store, often followed by another app download from the Play Store on the phone side, and then some complicated of the big name apps aren't here yet — but unfortunately even those that are here aren't like CNN, Bloomberg, Nike+ and Here Maps are on-board, but dozens of others — like Uber, for example — aren't here and have no time frame of when they'll arrive. But I'm not losing much sleep over it, because the app experience as a whole isn't that good anyway. As you'd expect there isn't a ton you can do on a screen, and reading CNN articles three words at a time or scrolling through Bloomberg headlines just isn't in any way something I want to do on a outside of direct fitness trackers and small utilities, there isn't much you can do on a watch that would warrant a full app running on it. And while the apps do run smoothly and work, they don't offer a good enough experience to make you want to use them on the watch instead of just taking out your phone. The only real downside of not having local apps is for things like messaging, where it's impossible right now to initiate something like a Facebook Messenger message, a Gmail email or a Skype call — the only way to interact with those apps would be through a reply to a VoiceSamsung's S Voice service — think Google voice search, only from Samsung — is baked into the watch, and getting beyond the awkwardness of trying to interact with a watch for voice controls, it has some limited functionality. You can initiate phone calls by number or name, send text messages though only if you use the default app on your phone, show contact information, get calendar information, play local music, set an alarm and get current can turn on always-listening mode to respond to your command of "Hi Gear" or train it for any other phrase, which works any time the watch is on, but that feature is turned off by default, likely for battery voice command list is relatively limited, and S Voice just isn't as robust as Google's offering on Android voice commands for calls and texts seem to work, other natural language queries like "What was the Seattle Seahawks score last night?" just came up blank and queries such as "Send an email to Phil Nickinson" returned a "no matching applications found" error. It's hard to knock S Voice too hard considering that voice commands aren't the biggest feature of a watch, but when it doesn't work properly for basic Google-style searches or can't handle basic queries, it limits the number of times I'm going to actually turn to it throughout the Voice is also the speech-to-text engine when you're sending messages or speaking voice replies to messages, as an alternative to the other text input methods. Voice replies are rather accurate, but the method for taking input and sending the message is a bit clunky. S Voice doesn't do a good job of identifying when you've stopped speaking when you're replying to a message, leaving you to simply hit the "send" button to stop the recording — I really wish it would identify the end of your sentence as it does in the main S Voice ManagerIn order to get up-and-running with the Gear S2, you'll need to have the Gear Manager app installed on your phone. The Gear Manager app itself hasn't changed dramatically since Samsung's last wearable release, but quite importantly the compatibility of this companion app has opened up to non-Samsung phones. The full list of supported phones is right here{.nofollow}, but basically anything running Android or above with of RAM should work just finally supports other Android phones, and thankfully the experience is nearly Manager is the middleman that lets your phone talk to your watch, and it's necessary because Android doesn't inherently talk to non-Android Wear smartwatches. You can use the app to change your watch face, choose which apps give you notifications, and toggle a few different settings on how the phone interacts with the watch. You'll also find it puts a persistent notification in the shade, not the status bar telling you the watch is connected, but you can simply "block" it in the phone's application settings without the experience of using the Gear S2 on a Samsung phone and any other Android phone is nearly identical. Of course things are a bit more seamless on the Samsung phone on account of the Galaxy Apps store and Samsung's apps being pre-loaded on the phone, but you can overcome these things on any other device — the Gear S2 hooks right into the stock dialer, messaging app, calendar and other system-level functions on compatible phones. I never had any issues or notable differences in app performance, notifications or Bluetooth connection when using the Gear S2 on a non-Samsung phone in my case a Moto X 2014.Just charge at nightGear S2 Battery lifeWith the Gear S2 being relatively small and thin, I was immediately worried about how Samsung was going to handle battery life with the 250 mAh cell inside. Thankfully my concerns were completely overblown, as I haven't had a single worry about battery life on the watch. Leaving the Gear S2 at 80 percent brightness remember, there's no automatic brightness with its ambient display mode on, S Voice listening for a wake-up phrase, and receiving nearly all notifications on the watch, I would end each day with at least 20 percent battery life — many times ending with up to 40 that's with what I'd consider "normal" smartwatch usage, as in I wasn't interacting with it all day. I would regularly check messages, archive Gmail, check my step count, look at the weather or my upcoming appointments on the calendar — but I didn't regularly perform lots of voice searches or do anything that kept the screen on more than 20 seconds or so at a you do plan to use the watch on a more frequent basis — as in more often than when notifications arrive — I'd recommend turning off the ambient watch face mode and lowering the brightness to get the most out of the 250 mAh battery. You can also flip into a limited Power Saving Mode, just like Samsung's phones, that severely limits functionality to preserve battery. In any case, I don't think you can actually expect the Gear S2 to make it through multiple days of use comfortably, which is hardly a knock on it considering that's the case on just about any other non-Pebble smartwatch out be charging every night, but at least the cradle is well Gear S2 charges wirelessly, which is preferable from a case design standpoint but does mean that you'll need the included dock to get the job done even though it's Qi, the band design makes it tough to use on other charging pads. The dock is a simple small cradle that holds the watch with the screen vertical and the strap ends resting on the table, similar to the Moto 360 2015's cradle, but unlike that model the Gear S2 actually holds magnetically to the back of the cradle for a secure charge. The entire cradle is quite a bit smaller than Motorola's offering, which is vertical cradle style certainly looks nicer when on display on your desk or bedside table, but it's far less practical if you plan to bring it with you when you travel when compared to the flat disc-style charging attachments. That's a small deal for most, but considering the watch will need charging every day you'll have to bring this thing with you wherever you're going to be spending the best Gear, but not the best smartwatchGear S2 Bottom lineIt's hardly a stretch to say that the Gear S2 is Samsung's best effort yet at making a compelling smartwatch. The hardware is very attractive and well made, and between the standard and Classic version you'll likely be able to settle on one that fits your style. The Gear S2 is refreshingly small for a smartwatch, and the rotating bezel is a genius way to overcome issues related to interacting with a very small touch screen. The screen is absolutely top-notch, and the battery lasts a full day without the software on offer is still a bit of a mixed bag on the Gear S2. It's very capable when it comes to handling basic notifications, giving you glanceable information and using native functions provided by Samsung. On the other hand, the third-party app support is anemic and poorly implemented at best, interaction between the watch and the phone can be a bit clunky, and voice commands and speech-to-text leave something to be clearly learned a lot of lessons from the original Gear S, but with the Gear S2 it's still trying to do far too much in the software considering the limitations of the screen size. Having lots of options and features on a watch is great in theory, but those extra options and interactions get in the way of getting things done on the watch — and in the end the goal should be to interact with the smartwatch less, not you buy it? Android Wear is still in the leadOne of the biggest hurdles facing Samsung on previous Gears was its limited support of just its own phones, which with this generation it has finally eliminated. Though that opens up the Gear S2 to dramatically more people, it doesn't mean the Gear S2 has vaulted to the top of the list of smartwatches to buy if you have an Android the hardware on the Gear S2 is really great, and surely on-par with other Android Wear offerings in the same price range, the software doesn't quite offer the great experience it may have seemed to at first glance. And even though Samsung has made leaps in adding support for third-party apps and improving its overall interface, there's no getting around the fact that Android Wear more seamlessly integrates with all Android phones and is simpler to there are places where the Gear S2 beats Android Wear — namely in the use of widgets, the rotating bezel for interaction and albeit limited on-watch apps — but those few wins don't overtake the issues in interface and interaction that are handled much better on Android Wear. And when we're talking about a $299 or $349 smartwatch, I don't think you should feel the need to settle for something that doesn't work as well as the other offerings out to buy the Gear S2Amazon BestBuy Samsung Macy's Expansys UKWhere to buy the Gear S2 ClassicAmazon BestBuy Samsung Macy's Expansys UK{.nofollow .cta .shop} Andrew was an Executive Editor, at Android Central between 2012 and 2020. Most Popular

Samsung Gear S2 By Samsung As easy to get on with as a Pebble, as stylish as an Apple Watch and with that tactile, rotating bezel as its secret weapon, the Gear S2 is the kind of smartwatch you’d kick yourself for leaving at home. It’s not perfect – this isn’t that dream hybrid of fitness tracker and all-round wrist computer, and the Tizen app store is a big miss – but by giving us decent battery life without sacrificing features it feels like a leap forward. The 3G and GPS model has the chance to change what an everyday smartwatch is capable of, but the regular S2 and the Classic should be on every Android owner’s smartwatch shortlist. Rotating bezel FTW Simple, speedy to use OS Good battery life Tizen apps are limited Software extras aren’t perfect Not as customisable as rivals We first tested the Samsung Gear s2 in November 2015 when it launched. Recently, we've spent more time with the device and added our thoughts on how it holds up and compares to newer devices. When it comes to Samsung smartwatches, our Gear S2 review breaks new ground. Never before have we been able to describe a Samsung smartwatch as desirable, intuitive or – most importantly of all – compatible. Wareable verdict Samsung Galaxy Watch review With its Swatch-like looks and ability to play nicely with rival Android smartphones, Samsung has performed a spectacular U-turn. The result is a bold wearable that gets as much right as its predecessors got wrong. Read on to find out why Samsung is back in the game. Samsung Gear S2 Design It's impressive how many bases Samsung has covered in just two designs the standard Gear S2 and the upscaled Gear S2 Classic. It should be noted that the stainless steel and plastic editions look like watches and feel well made – and if you've ever worn a previous Samsung smartwatch, you'll know that is big news. If we'd had a choice of which Gear S2 design we prefer, we'd have to pick the Classic. The ridged bezel, leather strap and smaller body combine for a premium feel, and it can be easily fitted with third party straps. And both are now the same price after receiving cuts due to the arrival of the Gear S3. One note to mention, though, is that we haven't had a chance to test the Gear S2 with 3G and GPS – the obvious choice to compare to the Sony SmartWatch 3 or Moto 360 Sport if you want a cheaper smartwatch for everyday use, as well as running or training. With two different designs and a bunch of different straps, there's some choice of style in the Samsung Gear S2 line-up, though it can't rival the likes of Apple for personalisation options. While the Gear S2 Classic, with its leather strap, looks more in line with a Fossil watch, the plastic strapped Gear S2 has more in common with a Swatch. This is key for a couple of reasons. First, the Samsung Gear S2 doesn't try too hard. With its pre-loaded watch faces it looks fun and off-the-wall. It's not trying to be as classy as an Omega or as blingy as a Michael Kors. It has a confident style and it translates well. Read this Samsung Gear S2 v Samsung Gear S3 One of our only criticisms here is that the thick S2 is still quite chunky and sits quite high on the top of your wrist. This is similar to the second gen Motorola and if there's one guarantee about the next generation of devices it's that they will be slimmer, but right now smartwatches are still chunky. The Classic will work for women but it wouldn't be our first recommendation. Still, one thing is for sure – we are so far away from the first Gear watch. This is a polished, unisex, circular smartwatch that no one will be ashamed of wearing. Samsung Gear S2 That rotating bezel The Gear S2's rotating bezel is far and away our favourite thing about the piece. Rather than try to disappear the bezel altogether like Motorola or primp it up to look like a traditional wristwatch like LG, Samsung has transformed it into a satisfying, addictive and most importantly, intuitive way of interacting with the smartwatch. When you move your hand to hover over the watch on your wrist it's the exact place your fingers land, even when you aren't looking down yet, and thanks to some clever UI design in its Tizen OS – more on that later – you can switch between apps, cycle back to notifications, change volume and brightness all in the same smooth motion. In short, it's genius and we're still yet to see any rivals take advantage of the same feature, despite Android Wear possessing the power to make this happen. It's faster than Apple's Digital Crown on the Watch and the touchscreen prods and gestures of Android Wear. You can control everything with your finger on the right half of the bezel if you're right handed which means you will always be able to see the whole display. The bezel's closest rival here is actually a little known Chinese watch, designed by Frog design, called the Ticwatch which has a capacitive strip on the outer edge. There are also two buttons on the right-hand edge of the round watch body 'back' at two o'clock and 'home' at four o'clock. The first of these is in the perfect position, the second can be a bit annoying to shift your hand around to press. You can set a double tap of the home button to launch an app, such as the music player or maps, which is handy, though unlike say, a Pebble, in order to select an app or setting it's back to prodding the touchscreen. Samsung Gear S2 Screen With so much love for the rotating bezel you might forget to pay proper attention to the bright, vivid and sharp Super AMOLED screen. It's smaller than some smartwatch screens and set into the watch so it doesn't look quite as modern as the Moto 360 2. But this just increases its retro/classic charm. At 360 x 360 pixels, the Gear S2's screen has an impressive pixel density of 302ppi, which means you can choose to set the font very small and see more messages or notifications on one screen as you scroll through them. It's as pin-sharp as the smaller Apple Watch and it shows. And unsurprisingly for a Samsung product, it can go very bright – probably too bright, though, as most days we settled for a low, easily readable setting. Samsung Gear S2 Tizen Tizen has always been a gamble for Samsung but this time it has paid off. Unlike all the Android Wear watches from Huawei and LG and Motorola which benefit from recent updates but can't really move the category on, the Gear S2 is doing its own thing. And its thing is a damn well easy to use smartwatch OS. As easy to use, in fact, as our beloved Pebble OS. The home screen is the watch face screen and you simply rotate left one click for recent notifications. Rotate right to get to a screen with an apps icon, settings, buddies for quick messages and S Voice. Keep rotating right and you can get easily glanceable information – weather, S Health progress, heart rate and information from third party apps. Choose the apps menu instead and Tizen makes the most of the circular screen and bezel with round app icons around the edge of the display to cycle through. Keep going with the bezel and it simply takes you to the next screen of apps. It is much quicker than zooming in and out with a Digital Crown. Notifications are there, messages are there, call logs, third party apps… You can't get lost. One niggle is that images, say from WhatsApp, don't display on the watch but this can be excused for the time being. Tizen performs well too with no lag between transitions – the only thing that keeps you waiting is animations when apps open. Unlike Android Wear, the music player controls work without fail every time. With alerts, the vibration is quite subtle – not refined subtle like Apple's Taptic Engine but more in a you-might-miss-it kind of way. You can set the Gear S2 to long vibrate and there are levels to choose from but even 'strong' isn't that strong. Our only criticism is that it would be great to be able to customise the aesthetic of the whole UI – it looks a little clownish and in particular will probably look a little odd on the Classic. Apple's watchOS 2 is colourful but looks more suited to a stylish accessory and watches such as the Olio Model One are offering bespoke watch faces and UIs custom to each finish. Like the Apple Watch, it's missing the contextual alerts of Google Now which can be really handy, but arguably what Tizen offers is – for now – more useful; a quick way to find out and access what's happening. What we really want is a blend of the two – Google's virtual assistant is the future but Android Wear is still a work in progress after 18 months. Outside of Apple and Google, Samsung has obviously been looking elsewhere for its services and maps are taken care of by HERE Maps. It's generally accurate and you can zoom in and out of your location using the bezel but it can be rather slow to load on the watch. Directions are handled by a separate HERE app, Navigator. Tizen supports Bluetooth – the S2 works with most Android phones, another first for a non-Wear Samsung smartwatch. It also has Wi-Fi on board – pull down to see if it's in 'standalone' mode or paired to a phone – as well as NFC for Samsung Pay, its mobile payment service which is a hit in Korea, just launched in the US and is coming to the UK. We'll update this review with our impressions of using Pay with the Gear S2 very soon. There is also the small matter of the 3G and GPS Gear S2 with a bigger battery but we haven't seen this model yet, and according to a Samsung exec it's not due to come to the UK or Europe. Samsung Gear S2 Health and fitness So many health and fitness features are bolted onto smartwatches these days, we'll focus on what Samsung does well. Step counting is accurate and S Health offers some easily glanceable graphics to show your progress to specific goals set in the smartphone app. If you want to be more active, the Gear S2 can vibrate to remind you you've been sitting down for nearly an hour and also give you the time you've been inactive as well as active – all useful, motivational stuff. Other alerts include step target achieved and healthy pace. You can also input that you've drank a glass of water or cup of coffee with one tap once you've reached that screen with the bezel which is exactly the kind of thing a smartwatch can help with. The S2 isn't going to replace your sports watch, especially as neither the regular nor Classic models have GPS, but there are some attempts to give you that option. It auto tracks walking, running and cycling, with estimates of calories burned, which is perfect for the kind of casual user who would consider the Gear S2 as an all-rounder. Though it did detect our evening jog, it also had a blip when it once – only once – classed sitting on the sofa as light activity. Nike+ Running is also preloaded and is a better choice for regular runners as it shows time, distance and pace right on the watch face. The heart rate monitor on the underside of the Gear S2 is a cut above too, and while it's no more accurate than the tech you'll find on an Android Wear watch, it's a lot more useful. It can take on the spot readings and can also be set to continuously take your pulse at intervals with two settings, moderate or frequent. When you're not exercising, you can also tag your bpm readings as 'resting', 'before exercise', 'after exercise' or with moods such as 'excited' and 'angry' so you can keep an eye on your heart's health. The app also lets you know if your resting heart rate is average or lower/higher than average, though the stats get annoying fairly quickly. Samsung Gear S2 Apps Here's the part of the Tizen gamble that might not pay off. There are a handful of preloaded watch faces to choose from – both analogue and digital style, customisable and some with 'complications' to show the date, the weather or whatever you want instant access too. As for apps, Samsung promised over 1,000 Tizen apps designed for the Gear S2's circular screen and it gave developers plenty of notice to get them ready. What we have is a bunch of big names like Nike, CNN, Yelp and Twitter as well as some smart home control options, and then a lot of, shall we say, interesting apps to sift through. Interesting may be generous. You can head to the Samsung Gear Apps store via the Samsung Gear app to see the limited selection for yourself, but chances are you won't be too impressed. But this is Samsung and the Gear S2 has the potential to outsell all Android Wear watches. We haven't seen anything available for Tizen so far that pushes the boundaries of what smartwatches can be great at – we're thinking of standalone options that are genuinely useful. Things have improved since the early days of the app, but there's no hiding from the fact that Tizen's app support is the weakest of the proverbial 'Big 3'. Samsung Gear S2 Battery life and charging Wareable The battery life on the Gear S2 is slightly above what you'd expect for smartwatches - it's still not going to blow you away, but also won't kill you within a day. Of course, this also depends how you use it – whether you go for the always on screen, how much you use apps like S Voice and Maps, etc. But when using the S2 as much as we've used Android Wear watches day to day, Samsung's smartwatch is the one left standing. The 300mAh battery inside is officially good for three days – we haven't got more than two and a bit days out of it, even without the screen 'always on', but we're sure it can go for longer with lighter use. To find out the battery level, you swipe down from the watch face, exactly the same as on Android Wear. Especially worth mentioning is the superb Power Saving mode. We left the house on 15% battery one morning having forgotten to dock the S2 in its tidy wireless charging dock overnight. We popped power saving on and it got us home from work before the Gear conked out. This switches the watch face to a simple grayscale screen, disables everything apart from alerts, calls and messages and turns off Wi-Fi. In short, it's wonderful and it means you won't be wearing a blank circle on your wrist on your commute home. As for that dock, it's the spitting image of the Moto 360 dock a little smaller and helps to build charging into your daily routine. The only annoyance comes with needing to charge your watch at work or when travelling, but nine times out of ten we prefer this kind of dock to a random proprietary cradle. Amazon PA Samsung Gear S2 Samsung Gear S2 Voice Voice controls on the S2 are actually a bit of a letdown – it's one of the only areas Samsung needs to improve on. S Voice can be accessed on the first screen right of the watch face and it can also be set to open by double pressing the home button as can any app. The software uses Nuance voice recognition tech, like Pebble watches, and this just isn't as reliable as Google Voice or Siri. The watch's mic picked up what I was saying without having to bring the device up to my mouth, choosing to open a result on my phone was quick and reliable and it's nice being able to add your own command phrase. I also recorded a voice memo with Samsung's built-in app which handily transcribed my mutterings. Annoyingly though, it was with only around 75% accuracy. It's much the same with voice searches, plus it's a bit of a pain that it defaults to Yahoo search results, rather than Google, on the watch. That can make for some odd results. As ever, voice needs to work more times than it doesn't in order to get people trusting the technology. It could have been a great anti-touchscreen one-two with the rotating bezel, but S Voice isn't quite there yet. Perhaps we'll see improvements with future devices taking advantage of Bixby. Samsung Gear S2 Long-term view It's been a long time since the Gear S2 launched and marked Samsung's shift to its own Tizen platform, so we've decided to go back and live with the smartwatch to see how well it stacks up to its rivals 18 months on. However, unlike in the initial review above, we've been strapping the Gear S2 Classic onto our wrists, as opposed to its plastic twin. And while the latter is by no means provides an uncomfortable fit or ugly look, the leather strap gives the device a more classy feel. For our money, the overall design holds up well with the current crop of flagship devices, and many would prefer the smaller bezel over the hulking, rugged successor. If you're used to larger watches or you simply have a bigger wrist, it may take some time to the S2, but generally this is a neat and versatile look. We reckon it's a more reasonable size than the S3. Its small screen does have the potential to dampen notifications, but thankfully its brightness and sharpness are still up there with the best. When you compare it across the board, only really the Apple Watch Series 2 can leave it trailing behind. And while we're on the topic of hitting its strong points, it's worth noting that we still find getting around the device via the rotating bezel better than any others — it just works, and makes going back to other devices and swiping screens feel like a chore. Now, for the not so good. While the Gear S2 3G and GPS model dropped outside the US and Korea six months after the original variants, we've been testing the standard non-GPS model. With smartwatches adding an increasing amount of sensors since the S2's release, it's been left behind as a device for those in need of an exercise companion. When you get used to running with an in-built GPS in your watch, it's rough to go back to tethering. And as with any heart rate monitor from the wrist, it can suffer when playing at high intensity, despite offering helpful features to help you keep track of your long-term heart rate. The lack of support in terms of apps is also a big problem that Samsung has improved over time but ultimately failed to resolve. Strava is a perfect example of this; there's no native app available and only Android smartphone users are able to sync activity data from S Health. Overall, Samsung's Gear S2 is still a viable smartwatch for those looking to get in on the ground floor with a major player. There have been moves to add more apps and also cater for iOS users, but this still adds up to a slightly feature-dry package when compared to fresher devices.

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