Gear up

Samsung Gear S2 specs and review

Here comes another buddy for our smartphone. Samsung’s new smartwatch, the Gear S2, looks more like a classic watch thanks to its circular design, leather band and bezel with ridges.

There are two versions of the device – the white Samsung Gear S2 and black Samsung Gear S2 classic. Both run on Samsung’s homegrown Tizen OS instead of Google’s Android Wear. 

The Samsung Gear S2 has a 1.2-inch circular display that uses Super AMOLEDtechnology with a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels or a pixel density of 302 ppi. The surrounding bezel can be rotated and serves as one way of controlling the device.

It is powered by a 1.0GHz dual core processor with 512MB of RAM. That might seem low for a smartphone but we are talking about a smartwatch.

A 3G version of the smartwatch will be available too. It uses a built-in e-SIM instead of the traditional plastic SIM card.

Here’s the Samsung Gear S2:

The black color means this is the Classic version.

The underside of the Samsung Gear S2 Classic - notice the visible sensors.

Just like the Apple Watch and Motorola’s Moto 360, the main function of the Samsung Gear S2 is to show notifications to the user without picking up his or her smartphone.

There are health services such as Samsung S Health and Nike+ Running; information notifications from News, Schedules, Maps and Weather; entertainment by playing music and browsing your phone’s photo gallery; and communications by having your contacts and allowing you to read and create emails and text messages.

It supports voice input so you don’t have to use its tiny keyboard and NFC for mobile payments and smartphone unlocking.

The Samsung Gear S2 has silver and white colors.

The Samsung Gear S2 comes with several sensors such as a heart rate monitor, barometer, compass, gyroscope and accelerometer.

It’s also water and dust resistant with an IP68 certification. Meanwhile, a 250mAh batterypowers both versions. Samsung claims that this can last up to 2 days on a single charge.

We’ll update this article once the official pricing and availability here in the Philippines is announced.

Samsung Gear S2 Smartwatch Specifications

• 1.2-Inch Circular Super AMOLED Display (360 x 360 Pixels, 302 ppi)
• Tizen OS
• 1.0GHz Dual Core Processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 4GB Internal Storage
• e-SIM (3G Version)
• Wi-Fi
• NFC Support
• Bluetooth 4.1
• Heart Rate Monitor
• Barometer
• Compass
• Gyroscope
• Accelerometer
• Ambient Light Sensor
• 42.3 x 49.8 x 11.4 mm @ 47 g
• 39.9 x 43.6 x 11.4 mm @ 42 g (classic Version)
• 250mAh Li-ion Battery
• Wireless Charging