Whilethe 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 TheGear S2 might be a feature-rich smartwatch, but its predecessor is nothing short of a wearable smartphone. Its curved and spacious 2.0-inch rectangular display is the polar opposite of the SHealth integration is extensive and spread all throughout the Gear S2. We love how the Gear S2 reminds us in a friendly manner to move a bit after long periods of inactivity. AsSamsung gears up to start selling its new round-faced smartwatch in Malaysia this week, DNA"s Keith Liu reviews the Gear S2 smartwatch to and tells us it's worth wearing. Kaliini tim hashtech mau nostalgia dengan review smartwatch yang rilis kurang lebih 3 tahun silam. Apakah spesifikasi serta fiturnya masih oke untuk tahun 2 SamsungGear S2. Kembali lagi pada Samsung Gear S2. Smartwatch ini menampilkan edisi klasik dengan gaya desain konvensional namun bergaya sporty dengan tali yang terbuat dari bahan silikon yang bisa dilepas, dan berarti dapat pemiliknya dapat menggantinya sesuka hati. KSGrW. Verdict Pros Bright, sharp display Rotating bezel is the best wearable feature yet Not limited to Samsung handsets Cons Tizen is limiting Expensive for what you get Poor, slow voice search Key Specifications Review Price £ Circular watch face Rotating bezel thick 360 x 360 AMOLED touchscreen 3G option with e-SIM technology NFC for mobile payments 2-3 days battery life Tizen OS dual-core processor 4GB internal storage 512MB RAM S Health support IP68 certified dust- and water-resistant Wi-Fi Bluetooth Optical heart-rate sensor Wireless charging 250mAh Li-ion battery What is the Samsung Gear S2? Samsung’s back catalogue of smartwatches has been, to put it mildly, poor. The vast array of Gear-branded wearables have been bulky, ugly and running an operating system devoid of killer features and decent apps. The Gear S2 hopes to change this. I’m happy to report that in pretty much every area it achieves this. The Gear S2, with its circular display, is the first in the series that actually looks good. Instead of simply following the crowd, Samsung’s headline rotating bezel results in a smartwatch that’s the easiest to navigate yet. However, by failing to opt for the constantly improving Android Wear OS, and instead choosing to stick with Tizen, Samsung’s Gear S2 feels hamstrung in many areas. Samsung Gear S2 – Design and rotating bezel Smartwatch manufacturers are no longer happy to make only a single model, instead churning out multiple varieties at varying prices. Apple started the trend, and Samsung has continued it. Related Best fitness trackers The Gear S2 is available in three versions the standard, more sporty model that I’m using, and a slightly classier one called the Gear S2 Classic; a 3G enabled smartwatch will arrive later. I can’t comment on the pricier Classic £299, but the standard model £249 looks and feels superb. It isn’t in the same league as Huawei’s Watch, but it’s one of the better smartwatches on the market. The circular display is surrounded by a metal bezel, with two clicky buttons. There’s one for jumping back a step and another for heading to the homescreen. Both buttons sit on either side of a microphone on one side of the smartwatch. The Gear 2 isn’t overly thick either, sitting only off my wrist. While the Classic model has a standard 22mm watch strap, this version uses a proprietary connection, so it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to swap out the rubber strap for one your own. I like the strap, and it fits in with the more sporty look of the watch. It doesn’t become overly hot and sweaty during extended workouts and it’s comfortable enough to wear for extended periods. Unfortunately, it isn’t particularly durable mine has already picked up a small tear. The overall look of the Gear 2 is certainly more fitness watch than one you’d match with a suit, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Related Apple Watch review The most notable design feature on the Samsung Gear 2, however, is the rotating bezel. This is the main method by which you navigate the Tizen OS, and in my opinion it’s truly fantastic – it’s easily the best way I’ve found so far to jump around menus on a wearable. It turns smoothly as you twist it around, providing a satisfying click instead of just spinning endlessly. Both Apple with its Digital Crown and Android Wear makers with their touchscreen-lead approach should take note. It isn’t perfect, though. You can’t press down on the bezel to select an item – even though naturally it really feels like you should be able too – so you still have to use the touchscreen for that. Buy Now Samsung Gear S2 at from £190 Samsung Gear S2 – Display Samsung’s smartphone panels are the best in the business, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise to find that the AMOLED display used here is probably the best on a smartwatch to date. It’s in size, with a 360 x 360 resolution that makes it hard to pick out individual pixels unless you get up really close. Colours are rich and vivid, while the black backgrounds are inky and blend nicely into the bezel. Viewing angles are great too, but outdoor visibility could be better. Being an AMOLED panel, it can be put into an ambient mode. This means it will continue to display the time and only burst into life when you flip your wrist and look directly at it. An always-on clock is a vital feature that ensures smartwatches don’t resemble a computer on your wrist; it’s something Apple Watch severely lacks. Brightness isn’t an issue either, but the lack of an auto-brightness setting means you’ll be constantly altering it manually. This isn’t ideal, and certainly noticeable when it’s dark and the whole watch lights up. Thanks to the rotating bezel, you interact with the watch much less through the small touchscreen, but it’s still responsive to the touch. A couple of features short of perfect, then. Samsung Gear S2 – Performance and Battery Life Referring to the performance of a watch can still seem slightly odd, but as proved by the first-gen Moto 360, it can be a real problem. I can safely say it isn’t an issue on the Gear S2. The dual-core Exynos 3450 processor paired with half a gig of RAM is pretty standard on a smartwatch, and it provides plenty of oomph to keep the watch feeling smooth and fast. Battery life, like performance, is also on a par with the majority of 2015 Android Wear devices – and slightly better than the Apple Watch. With the always-on mode turned on, the 250mAh cell can easily make it through the day and on until lunchtime the following day. Switch that off and the Gear 2 will keep going for about two full days. Personally, I’d rather have slightly shorter battery life and always have the clock visible, but the option to turn it off is there if you want it. If you’re all about battery, I’d still recommend the Pebble Time Steel. Charging is via the supplied wireless dock – it’s the spitting image of Motorola’s Qi cradle – and my Gear S2 can go from 0% to full in less than hour. Slightly annoying is the fact that there isn’t a way to power up the watch without the dock, but at least it’s a sleeker solution than those pesky charging adapters supplied with previous Gear watches. Samsung Gear S2 – Software and fitness features So far, things are looking pretty rosy for the Gear S2. It has a comfortable, sporty build, impressive display and performance and battery that are good – if not anything to worry the competition. It’s a shame then that Samsung chose not to complete the package by opting for a more capable OS. Instead, the Gear S2 is severely limited by the Tizen operating system. I’ll start with the bits I do like. For once, Samsung has made something that doesn’t disappoint in the looks department. The selection of watchfaces – which range from digital ones to those built for apps such as ESPN and Bloomberg – are attractive and customisable, and the general UI is slick. As you scroll through your homescreens, widgets display handy information such as the current weather, your step count and current heart rate. They’re a little slow to update – the music one takes an age to show the current song I’m listening to, for example – but on the whole they’re easily accessible and handy tidbits of information that work well on a smartwatch. There’s also a good selection of fitness features, all tied together by Samsung’s S Health app. An accelerometer tracks your movements throughout the day, while the heart-rate sensor takes constant readings. The lack of GPS will put off those looking to ditch their dedicated running watch, though. An IP68 rating means you’ll be able to submerge it in of water for 30 minutes, and I’ve used it in shower without any issues. I find the heart-rate monitor here to give much more accurate readings than Android Wear watches, which often fluctuate massively between readings, and the step-tracking is as good as a dedicated wearable such as the Misfit Shine. The real problem with Tizen is the utter lack of apps. Now, while I don’t want apps on my smartwatch that I have to open, I do want them throwing up handy information – and to be there when it’s more convenient than whipping out my phone. Apps such as Citymapper, Uber, Google Maps and so on make sense on a wearable, but the Gear S2 app store is a barren wasteland. Aside from an overly US-centric ESPN app, I haven’t really been able to find something that I want to download and install. Not good. With the Gear S2 costing a pretty pricey £249, I’m not sure why developers would bother building apps for this platform rather than focusing on Watch OS and Android Wear. This could be a serious problem for the longevity of the Gear S2. Notifications – the bread and butter of any decent smartwatch – are also hit and miss. Connected to a Nexus 6P, HTC One A9 and Moto X Style – all at different times, obviously – buzzes of new alerts were constantly a good second or so behind the phone. And when they did come in, they were too quick to disappear from the watch. I was left wondering what that last buzz was about until I headed into the notifications section. S-Voice, Samsung’s alternative to Google voice search and Siri, is another disappointment. It’s limited in what it can do – it won’t even let me quickly create a note. When it does work – calling a contact, for instance – it’s slow. The Tizen experience is frustrating. It looks good, but limited app support is a bleak sign for the future and the poor voice integration is a shame. If Samsung really is so against using Android Wear, it needs to find a way for developers to choose its platform instead. Should you buy the Samsung Gear S2? The Gear S2 is a good smartwatch, but the limited Tizen operating system stops it from being a great one. At least Samsung didn’t make it exclusive to Galaxy handsets; the Gear 2 will work with any Android device with of RAM or above. The build, display and the fantastic rotating bezel – the cleverest input method on a watch yet – are all impressive and it’s Samsung’s best wearable, but it’s not better than anything running Android Wear. That could change if Tizen takes off, but judging by previous devices running the OS, this is unlikely to happen. Poor voice search, the on-occasion dodgy notifications and lack of customisation on the cheaper model also make the Gear 2 more difficult to recommend. Samsung has improved plenty with the Gear S2, but it just isn’t quite enough. Buy Now Samsung Gear S2 at from £190 Verdict A well-built smartwatch with a great screen, but it’s let down by a lack of support and the half-baked Tizen operating system. Trusted Score 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. Farwell, Android Wear. Hello, Tizen. Samsung's latest smartwatch abandons the Android Wear OS in favor of the company's homegrown Tizen OS, which proves to be a smart choice indeed. The Samsung Gear S2 $ has a user-friendly interface that's worlds easier to use than Android Wear. And the watch itself has a great design that combines the round face and stainless steel case of a traditional timepiece with a futuristic, rotating bezel that makes navigation even easier. But there's still some room for Tizen to grow, as a dearth of apps and weak voice recognition keep the Gear S2 from nabbing a higher score. Pricing and Design The Samsung Gear S2 comes in two flavors There's the regular Gear S2 for $ and the $ Gear S2 classic. The regular Gear S2 comes with a black or white silicone wristband, while the classic model has black leather strap. No matter which version you choose, the watch face is made of matte stainless steel. We reviewed the $ model, with a white band and a silver face. You Can Trust Our Reviews There are also 3G versions of each watch available with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon service. Pricing and availability will vary according to carrier; T-Mobile, for instance, offers the option to add the watch to your plan for $5 per month. Similar Products The standard Gear S2 model is extremely comfortable and light on the wrist, with a simple clasp and an adjustable buckle to stay in place. No matter which model you choose, you're sure to be happy with the watch's most distinguishing feature, a rotating bezel. Similar to the digital crown on the side of the Apple Watch $ at eBayOpens in a new window , you physically turn the bezel around the watch face like a dial in order to make selections. It's precise, quick, and feels very satisfying to use thanks to the little clicks it makes. The watch also has a Back button in the two o'clock position, and a Home button in the four o'clock position. The Home button brings you to the default watch face or to your main app library if you're already at your home watch face. The Back button brings you back one step in whatever app you're in. Of course, you can also tap your way through the interface without bothering with the bezel. I'll discuss navigation more in a bit, but the Gear S2 is the most easily navigable smartwatch I've tested. Left to right Apple Watch, Samsung Gear S2, Moto 360 The Gear S2's round watch face measures inches around, inches thick, and weighs ounces. The Huawei Watch at AmazonOpens in a new window , by comparison, is slightly larger at inches wide, inches thick, and ounches. The Motorola Moto 360 , meanwhile, meastures inches wide, inches thick, and ounces. The variations might seem slight on paper, but you can really feel a difference on your wrist. The watch is rated IP68 for water-resistance, which means it can withstand splashes at the sink, but you shouldn't take it to the beach or in the shower. DisplayThe Gear S2 has a circular Super AMOLED display with a 360-by-360-pixel resolution that works out to a sharp 302 pixels per inch. It doesn't get quite as bright as the Huawei Watch, but I was always able to see it outside, even with the brightness set to low. The screen is not always-on by default, but there is an option to do so if you wish. Without it on, the screen still activates quickly when you life your wrist, and it never accidentally turned on in my testing, which is very helpful for conserving battery. The screen turns off fast, though—after about five seconds—which can get a little annoying when you're trying to read an email, text, or CNN headline. However, a quick tap or turn of the bezel keeps the screen activated. Samsung uses an ambient light sensor to adjust brightness depending on surroundings, without the "flat tire" effect that cuts off the Moto 360's circular display in a horizontal line at the bottom. It's also easy to adjust the brightness on your own just swipe down on the display and tap the Brightness setting. I didn't detect any prismatic screen aberration here like I did on the Moto 360, unless you count some very slight reflections of light around the edge of the bezel. The watch can be paired with Bluetooth devices, including headesets or speakers for music playback, or mobile devices that run Android or later. Unlike Pebble or Android Wear devices, there is no iOS support. To start the pairing process, you need to download the free Samsung Gear Manager app on your Android device and follow the simple on-screen instructions. I easily paired the Gear S2 with a Samsung Galaxy S6 $ at AmazonOpens in a new window . Once connected, you have a number of options at your command, like customizing the watch face, managing apps and notifications, and sending music files to the watch, which comes with 4GB of internal storage. Features, Performance, and TizenThe Gear S2 has an accelerometer, a barometer, a gyroscope, proximity sensors, and a heart rate sensor. Unlike the Sony SmartWatch 3 $ at AmazonOpens in a new window , there is no GPS, but there is Wi-Fi, which extends the range of the watch when connected to a wireless network. The heart rate sensor here works better than the one in the Huawei Watch or the Moto 360 by automatically measuring your heart rate throughout the day. By default it checks in about five times per day, though you can adjust it to check more or less frequently. You can also check manually, and it lets you know whether your heart rate is average when you're resting, in a state before exercise, or after exercise. The watch reported resting numbers in the low-to-mid sixties while sitting in a relaxed state, which is on par with measurements taken by the Huawei Watch. The watch counts steps and detects when you're exercising or resting for too long, similar to the Apple Watch. You can also keep track of the amount of water or caffeine you've been drinking. And you can install the Nike+ running app for more detailed fitness analysis. However, like I usually advise, you probably want to go with a dedicated fitness tracker rather than a smartwatch if fitness is your primary concern. The Misfit Flash Link $ at AmazonOpens in a new window is great if you're on a budget, while the Fitbit Charge HR $ at AmazonOpens in a new window is worth the splurge. Powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, the Gear S2 uses Samsung's proprietary operating system, Tizen. It has the best user interface for a smartwatch yet, though it does have one annoying flaw. For some reason, the Gear S2 doesn't go back to the app you were previously using after it goes to sleep. Instead, it goes back to the default watch face every time it wakes up. That can be frustrating if you want to keep reading a story, or reply to a text when suddenly the screen shuts off from inactivity. Thakfully, the watch keeps images and headlines loaded in news apps when you finally return to them. The strength of Tizen lies in its layout, which is a pleasure to navigate. Turning the bezel or swiping to the left brings up any notifications, which you can tap to open or swipe up to dismiss. Swiping or turning the bezel to the right brings up the main menu for Apps, a list of favorite contacts, Settings, or the S Voice assistant. Keep swiping or rotating the bezel and you can see a whole collection of apps around the perimeter of the screen, as if they were numbers on a watch face, including the calendar, heart rate monitor, music playback control, pedometer, or whatever other apps you want to include. It beats swiping through endless vertical lists and cards like in Android Wear. However, you still have to tap on the touch screen to make selections. It would've been nice to be able to push the bezel in to make selections, but since your fingers are already on the watch anyway, it's not a big deal. Unfortunately, Tizen's selection of third-party apps is weak compared with Android Wear, Apple, and Pebble. There are no music streaming services besides Samsung's Milk Music, little in the way of fitness apps besides Samsung's S Health, and nothing when it comes to note-taking apps or popular social media like Facebook or Twitter. There are some useful apps available, like Bloomberg, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Yelp, but Samsung needs to lure many more companies if it wants to compete. And although watch apps aren't available, you can still receive and respond to phone notifications from Facebook, Google Hangouts, and Twitter on the Gear S2 with a robust set of options. You can choose from some short, canned phrases or send an emoticon. You can also respond with voice-to-text, though unfortunately this feature is hit-or-miss; I never reached a point in testing where I felt like I could rely on it to quickly send an accurate message. Surprisingly, the Gear S2 also offers a phone number pad-style keyboard with three letters assigned to each number so you can type out messages. It's a slow process, but predictive text helps things along. A friend texted me some good news and I was able to type in "Wow, that's great! Congrats!" fairly easily. Don't expect to take calls on the Gear S2, though. You can use it to dial a call, but you'll have to take out your phone or put on a Bluetooth headset if you want to take things any further. Battery life is relatively excellent. Samsung promises up to three days of use, which is accurate if you keep the display set to power off automatically. With it set to always-on, the watched lasted for nearly two days, which is still better than any other smartwatch with a color display I've tested with the exception of the Pebble Time, which can last for about a week, albeit with a much dimmer, lower-resolution display. The Gear S2 can also be set to go into Power-Saving mode, which turns the screen monochrome when you're running low on battery. It charges with an included magnetic dock and micro USB cable. ConclusionsThe Samsung Gear S2 should certainly sit alongside the Apple Watch and the Pebble family as one of the better smartwatch options on the market. It sports a sleek design, a user-friendly interface that blows the confusing Android Wear out of the water, very good battery life for a smartwatch, and a unique, rotating bezel. Unfortunately, a paltry selection of apps holds it back, especially when Apple and Pebble have so many to choose from. And underwhelming voice recognition ultimately makes the Apple and Pebble watches easier to use. I'd certainly choose the Gear 2 over Android Wear options like the Huawei Watch and the Moto 360, but it's a harder pick from there. The Apple Watch remains the smartwatch for dyed-in-the-wool Apple users, with a reliable heart rate sensor that works as you exercise, NFC so you can pay without flashing your credit card, the best selection of third-party apps, and an intuitive interface similar to that of the Gear S2. But our Editors' Choice remains with the Pebble family, which we highly recommended to smartwatch newcomers. The original Pebble is inexpensive, is compatible with both Android and iOS, and works with many useful apps. The Pebble Time $ at AmazonOpens in a new window adds a color screen and reliable voice-to-text messaging. Or you could wait for the Pebble Time Round, which is the Pebble Time with a traditional round watch face. The Samsung Gear S2 is definitely an intriguing new option, but it's worth waiting for the second generation. Pros Sleek design. Nice display. Useful rotating bezel. Intuitive user interface. Good battery life. View More Cons Weak app selection. Spotty voice recognition. Pricey. The Bottom Line The Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch has great software and a thoughtful design going for it, but a paltry app selection and finicky voice recognition hold it back. Like What You're Reading? Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. Summer '16 updateSo far, 2016 has been a quiet year for wearable tech. The best watches and fitness bands you can buy right now were, for the most part, released in 2015. You can count the number of new and notable wearable things that debuted in the first five months of this year on one hand The Fitbit Blaze, Fitbit Alta and - for hard-core runners - several new GPS watches from Garmin. The Good The Gear S2 has an eye-catching design, a clever rotating bezel that's actually useful, beautiful display, solid health tracking and slightly better battery life than other high-end smartwatches. Plus, it works with a variety of Android phones. The Bad Fewer available apps or seamless connected services than Android Wear and Apple Watch; no speakerphone; S-Voice commands work, but not as well as they could; not compatible with iPhone. The Bottom Line Samsung's newest smartwatch reinvents itself with a whole new look and feel to create one of the best-designed wrist gadgets around - but it still lacks the apps to set it above the competition. Samsung'sGear S2 debuted last year at at the IFA show in late August. It's a safe bet that the Gear S3 unveiling could happen at the same show this year. In the meantime, earlier this year, Samsung introduced the Samsung Gear S2 3G - a close copy of Samsung's Wi-Fi-only S2 smartwatch, only with the addition of a speakerphone, built-in GPS, and phone and data service. Though it's an interesting device, it's not particularly easy to use and it comes up short compared with the Gear S2; it's bigger, more expensive, and comes equipped with a weaker battery. Samsung also has yet to deliver the iPhone compatibility it promised for the Gear S2 back in January. And its app selection is still pretty weak. This summer, the company introduced its Samsung Gear Fit 2 - a mini fitness smartwatch featuring a slim design, beautiful curved AMOLED display, GPS, heart-rate monitoring, onboard music storage for up to 1,000 songs, all-day fitness and sleep tracking and automatic exercise detection. Despite relatively short battery life and some shortcomings for the hard-core athlete, it's a great-looking, feature-packed fitness band. Editors' note The Samsung Gear S2 review, first published in October 2015 and updated since, one has really truly nailed the next great the Apple Watch landed in April, Google's Android Wear smartwatches have already been around for more than a year.. Some of them look really nice. But they all run the same software underneath. And even after a 2015 software update, however, it hasn't changed enough to really make any of these watches feel new and imagine if someone reinvented the Android smartwatch. And that someone was Samsung. What would that be like? The Samsung Gear S2 is that watch. I've been wearing it for several weeks and, yes, I really like it, both for what it does and for how it's designed. And for how it advances thinking about smartwatches. But forgive me, I have a hard time recommending that you plunk down $300 AU$499 or £299 and scoop it A dearth of apps, mostly. And, from time to time, a lack of some of the deeper smartwatch hooks that lurk in Apple Watch-to-iPhone and Android Wear-to-Android phone, enabling even deeper connected functions. Sarah Tew/CNETBut as a reference design for how watches should look next? Wow, it's cool. And it's brought sexiness back to Android-compatible watches alas, it doesn't work with iPhones. It is the best-designed smartwatch next to the Apple Watch. And yes, it's going to have an uphill battle competing against two very aggressive platforms in Android Wear and Apple is a watch I really liked note January 5, 2016 Samsung has announced that it will be bringing iOS compatibility to the Gear S2, as well as two new colors rose gold and platinum, later in round, with a spinThere are already many round Android smartwatches Moto 360 , Huawei Watch , the LG Watch Urbane and so on. Here's a secret They don't do anything differently than square-screened ones. The round look is all for show - and it does make round Android watches look more attractive. Get closer, though, and their beauty is only skin-deep. Android Wear doesn't do anything differently with interface or hardware across all the various watches...by design. But that makes the watches start to blend together, and prevents them from being ambitious or Gear S2 uses round for its design, down to the interface. It's built to be round. And its really impressive rotating bezel is part of that magic. Giving the bezel a spin. Sarah Tew/CNETInstead of the Apple Watch's digital crown, a side-mounted button-slash-wheel, the Gear S2 lets you spin around the bezel that surrounds the watch face, rotating different interfaces into action. Suddenly the watch face slides away, and you see your fitness status. You can set the time by rotating. r dial up an app from a wheel of app rotating bezel, in some instances, just replicates what you can already do on the touchscreen. Other times, it feels like a revelation, hearkening back to the genius clickwheel on the original iPods. It's the best watch idea in smartwatches next to Apple's digital crown, and it feels good, too. Subtle clicks give a sense of motion and the raised metal dial also protects the inset Gorilla Glass-covered had a smartwatch before Android Wear or Apple Watch even existed - and it was a mess. Then there were five more in just 14 months, during which Samsung vacillated between Google's Android Wear platform and its own Tizen operating system. But this Gear S2 is a total rewrite of the whole idea. It's a ground-up rethinking. And that's pretty rare in an industry where companies tend to dig in and perfect. Imagine if Apple Watch and Android Wear met in the middle, and that's a little how the Gear S2 feels. Left to right new Moto 360 42mm, Apple Watch 42mm, Samsung Gear S2. Sarah Tew/CNETAnd yet, amazingly, the Gear S2 manages to stand out, despite also being a round watch. And that's partly because of its looks. The white watch I tried looks clean and futuristic, like a Swatch married with a prop from "Minority Report". It catches people's eyes; and, to my surprise, people want to try it say, "Cool watch, what is that?" even when I'm wearing an Apple Watch on the other wrist. The steel body isn't too thick. The rubberized white bands hug my wrist well. It's comfy there's another sized band in the box in case you have different wrists. And it looks really good. The watch face is about as large as the 42mm new Moto 360 inches, 360x360 pixels, and the body is nearly the size of the 42mm Apple Watch. It's not too big at all. It's perfect for me. The problem with the S2 is that watch bands are proprietary and they clip in and out using a button release on the back. The Samsung Gear S2 Classic. Tyler Lizenby/CNETThere are a few other Gear S2 options to choose from Samsung's step-up Gear S2 Classic uses regular watch bands and has a slightly more compact ceramic body, but costs a bit more at $350 AU$599, £350. There's also a thicker-bodied 3G version coming in November to the US on AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which adds standalone functions and built-in GPS using its own 3G cellular connection for around $350 some carriers may offer different pricing.Dialed-down complexityThe Gear S2 doesn't do as much as the crazy feature-rich previous Galaxy Gear and Gear 2 watches did on paper. There isn't a camera and you can't make phone calls via speakerphone anymore some will regret this. It's more like Android Wear get messages; look at apps; track your fitness; listen to music stored on internal storage 4GB with a paired Bluetooth wireless headset; and respond to messages or trigger voice-activated actions using a built-in microphone. The watch vibrates but there's no speaker. Sarah Tew/CNETThe Gear S2 has a lot of built-in watch faces with about 13 styles, many of which can be customized into several more versions. Soon it begins to feel like their are dozens of options. There are also specialized watch faces you can download that add extra features I'll get to those in a bit, and they all look great on the Gear S2's vivid OLED screen in bright daylight you'd better dial up the brightness.To get to other functions, you rotate the bezel fitness, weather, calendar, music remote, heart-rate tracking, and a news spin into view, ready to help. These act like mini-apps; like Glances on the Apple Watch, you can tap on them and open the app lurking underneath. The wheel of apps. Sarah Tew/CNETThere are full apps, too, and you can reach those with a button-press. Instead of a big grid like on Apple Watch, they're laid out as a can get to most things you need by touching the screen and rotating the outer bezel, but there are also two buttons on the side of the watch one brings up that wheel of app icons, the other acts as a "back" button. It seems like a button too many to keep track of, but it's not too difficult to figure out, which is a first for a Samsung smartwatch. Samsung Gear S2 and its side buttons middle next to the Apple Watch left and Moto 360 right. Sarah Tew/CNETWhen notifications come in which they will, you can tap to respond, scroll through, or swipe away. Android Wear watch owners will recognize the experience. But on the Gear S2, the notifications feel less invasive. Sometimes, too much so messages sometimes didn't appear on-screen at all, and I had to find them by rotating the bezel to my notifications can be responded to the same way you as on Android Wear or Apple Watch with emoji, quick preset text responses, or by voice dictation. You can also type via onscreen keyboard - if you have the clever pull-down quick settings menu from the watch face that lets you adjust brightness or enter do-not-disturb mode, watch is made to live alongside your phone, but it can use Wi-Fi to bridge across and get messages when your phone's not in range. This happens on the Apple Watch and Android Wear watches, too. The Gear S2 loads Wi-Fi network passwords automatically if you have a recent Samsung phone, but makes you enter passwords manually otherwise. Bloomberg's financial watch face. Sarah Tew/CNETClever watch faces, with functionHere's another great idea the Gear S2 has It focuses on watch faces that actually do of opening apps, the S2 has watch faces that are apps ESPN has a watch face that shows scores of teams you follow; a Bloomberg watch face tracks certain stocks; and a Nike+ watch face acts as your fitness tracker display. ESPN's watch face. Sarah Tew/CNETYes, Apple Watch has many watch face complications, which can let you add at-a-glance information from many sources easily. But the advantage of Samsung's brand-built faces is you can hone in on a particular purpose more directly. Am I in sports-watching mode? Or in fitness mode? I can decide. Stopwatch watch face. Sarah Tew/CNETSamsung's other included watch faces also play with clever ideas there's an activity watch face with two dancing bubbles for your active vs sedentary status through the day. Watch one get larger than the other, or try to achieve balance. Two different heart rate apps, Heart Wave and Pixel Heart, take readings are also a few classic-style round watch faces that can have added bits of info added in, like steps taken, weather, battery status and so on. One watch face even works that data into watch-like mini-dials. But these particular watch faces seem to offer too few ways to customize, or too few spots for complications to my taste. The Yelp app on Gear S2 is cleverly round. Sarah Tew/CNETWhere are the apps?If you're looking for a lot of great apps, the Gear S2 has some bad news for you. Much like previous Samsung Gear watches, the S3 runs on its own Samsung Tizen operating system...and it's only compatible with a limited library of Gear apps. These apps can be downloaded some are free, some cost a few dollars via a small app store connected to the Gear Manager app you need to connect the watch to your phone. It's similar to what Pebble does with its smartwatch. The problem is obvious This means the Gear S2 is standing apart from Android Wear's growing app landscape and the Google Play fact, Tizen watches and apps have been around since 2014, and a solid bunch of older Gear apps have been ported over to work on the S2. A few new big-name apps have arrived, too, for example Nike has a watch face. So do Bloomberg and ESPN, as mentioned before, and there's a CNN app. Samsung has promised a dozen or more big-name app partners for the Gear S2, including Twitter and Uber, but they're not all here yet. Browsing news headlines. Sarah Tew/CNETThat's the biggest problem here is that apps will be hard to come by. Those that are here work pretty well, and fast; mini games load very fast on the watch, and other apps are zippy. At times it feels like a speedier, more dynamic experience than either Android Wear or Apple Watch. But those moments are has included its own collection of pre-installed apps, too a stopwatch, alarm clock, timer, maps with navigation, email, messages, and voice memo. I downloaded a Milk Music remote app, a Flipboard-based news app, Yelp, Lifesum, and a few weird games a coin-flipping app, and a Flappy Bird clone. All the basic things you'd need on a smartwatch are here, and I don't know if I really need that many "killer apps" on my watch. But I do worry about the Gear S2 not having enough - and about being the odd watch out down the road, as Apple Watch and Android Wear carve up the wearable/connected with a non-Samsung phone Hit and missGood news The Gear S2 now works not just with Samsung Galaxy phones a limitation of all past Samsung smartwatches, but with nearly any smartphone running Android or higher with of free RAM. I tested the Gear S2 on a Galaxy Note 5 , then re-paired it with a Nexus 6 phone. On non-Samsung Android phones, the experience is pretty close to identical, at least on the Nexus 6 I tried it with. You can install the Gear Manager app that the watch pairs with, you can manage nearly the same watch settings and change watch faces. And you can still access the Gear app store, downloading apps and installing news The differences, while subtle, do show up. The email app disappears instead, you can respond to emails as incoming notifications, using emoji, quick responses or voice commands, like with messages. But Wi-Fi connections don't happen automatically and some functions, like S Health and Maps, still require their own app downloads on the phone itself. Sometimes the watch triggers these downloads, sometimes it doesn't. Samsung admits that supported devices "may vary depending on region, device model and carrier." Basically, if you don't have a Samsung phone, it's a bit of a used the Gear S2 to navigate while driving, using turn-by-turn directions provided by Nokia's Here Maps. It worked and I was able to use my voice to start navigation, but the experience wasn't quite as intuitive or as good as what I've experienced on Android Wear and Apple Watch. Samsung S Health Not a bad fitness experience for a watch. Sarah Tew/CNETFitness, improvedThis is actually a pretty good fitness watch. Samsung S Health has its own baked-in app that runs all the time if you want it to, tracking steps and activity. The pedometer was accurate enough compared to other fitness trackers I wore simultaneously, including the Apple Watch. Heart-rate tracking worked well, too better than previous Gears. You can track your heart rate continuously, but otherwise it's used for spot-checking and occasional automatic measurements during the day Moto 360 and Apple Watch do this too. Heart rate seemed similar to Apple Watch, when resting. Sarah Tew/CNETIf you start walking a brisk pace, the watch pulses a green activity tracker to keep you going; it's automatically always working, a rarity in watches. Again, you can dial that down to not have it interrupt you, but I found its coaching motivating yes, it bugs you stand up once in awhile, too. A daily activity clock. Sarah Tew/CNETThe S Health app does a decent job as a basic fitness hub, syncing activity progress, setting goals, tracking water and coffee intake, and working with a number of third-party apps including Nike+. It's not particularly pretty or as helpfully designed as what Fitbit and Jawbone offer, but it works well enough to stand in as a good daily fitness commands "Hello, Gear"Apple Watch and Android Wear have pretty stellar voice-activated controls with deep hooks into core phone and watch functions Siri and Google Now can do a lot. Samsung's S-Voice probably won't ever be as good as those, but I found voice-activated controls responsive and ready to work. You can set your voice cue, too I used "Hello, Gear," and asked about the weather, driving directions, US presidents, and basic math problems. It can search and give answers pretty reasonably. For navigation, however, I had to install a separate app based on Nokia's Here navigation and maps. It even worked in a loud, crowded bar while watching a Mets game. Compared to previous Samsung Gear watches, it's a quantum leap payments via Samsung Pay coming later onExpect mobile payments, too. A future feature that will set this watch apart for Samsung phone owners is Samsung Pay, which should become available via a firmware update. The Gear S2 has near-field communication NFC, which can allow for mobile payments like the Apple Watch, or other types of smart functions acting as a door key, for example. Right now, NFC isn't being used. But having Samsung Pay on this will be a big plus. The Gear S2 won't work everywhere like recent Galaxy phones can that's due to LoopPay technology that mimics a magnetic card swipe, which is absent from this watch, but it should work at most of the same places that Apple Pay and Google's Android Pay do. Once this watch gets Samsung Pay no confirmation yet on when that's going to happen, I'll update this review. The magnetic charge dock is compact. Sarah Tew/CNETA solid weekend's worth of batteryGuess what? You can forget to charge this watch and be okay! High-end smartwatches are notorious for needing daily recharging the Apple Watch and Android Wear watches, while they can both last into a second day of use, won't make it all the way through day two unless you top them off with a recharge. Daily recharging, for a watch, is a terrible way to Samsung Gear S2 doesn't blow the doors off any of its competition, but it does last about a day longer. I found myself getting to a third day of use with the screen set to middle brightness - not bad at all. I'd still want to charge every day, but I wasn't screwed if I didn' Gear S2 keeps the watch face dark when it's not in use after a few seconds unless you lift the watch to look at it, tap a side button, or turn the dial. You can have the screen set to always on, like Android Wear watches dimming down to a lower-brightness ambient watch face when resting, but that'll cost you on battery life it only lasts a day in that another weird quirk of the Gear S2's build. You can't tap the screen to turn the display on if it's completely dark unlike on the Apple Watch. It's a small detail. Sarah Tew/CNETThe best attempt yet at redesigning the Android smartwatchHere's an idea Google, hire Samsung to rebuild Android Wear...or at least the way Android Wear watches look and feel. Samsung's aggressive design decisions, inside and out, have made the Gear S2 a better watch, and a more attractive watch, than nearly any Android Wear watch I've ever used. And even Apple Watch owners may find themselves there's a lot of work under the hood that I feel still needs to be done before the Gear S2 can really be a killer watch for all your needs. Or maybe not, maybe it does already work for all your needs. At the moment, it's really fun to use, even without every killer app I'd like. Plus it does most of what I'd is the kick in the pants that Android watches needed. All I want next is for the Gear S2 to work with Android Wear apps and iPhones. But I also want the Gear S2 to work even better under the hood, with Google Now and all the connected functions it offers. I guess I can dream for next year. Early Verdict Where the Samsung Gear S2 proper proves the concept for the firm's impressive sixth – yes, its sixth – take on the smartwatch, the Gear S2 Classic proves it can make a chic watch you'll honestly want to buy. Pros +Classy, understated design+Unique, clever rotating bezel+Works with all Android phones Cons -Some features still Samsung-only-Lack of apps Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test. Before even getting into the nitty gritty, let me answer what's undoubtedly on many of your minds if you've been holding out for the right Samsung smartwatch to buy, you may well have just found Samsung Gear S2 may be the first of the Korean firm's wearables worth your attention, but the Gear S2 Classic might be the first worth the scratch. Due out this October for a still-undisclosed and likely eye-watering price, the Gear S2 Classic takes everything that's brilliant about its primary counterpart and fits it in an incredibly stylish includes the hardware inside, from the Super AMOLED screen to the processor and array of sensors, to the hardware outside, like that clever, rotating bezel. This isn't just Samsung's answer to the more fashion-forward Android Wear watches, like the Moto 360 and Huawei Watch, but its number one rival the Apple look at Samsung's updated S Health app How the Gear S2 Classic looks and feelsBeing aimed more at nailing the traditional watch look, the Samsung Gear S2 Classic's looks are a far cry from the more tech-heavy, sportier look of the Gear S2 proper. That said, the S2 Classic is slightly smaller – 40mm to the S2's 42mm – and uses a different, more traditional mechanism for how it attaches to of which, the S2 Classic comes with a sharp, genuine leather black band to match its black, smoothed and glossy metal case. There are no other customization options here, save for compatibility with nearly any 20mm watch band. But you shouldn't need many more options when the watch looks this slick already – it should match with almost everything in your being slightly smaller, the S2 Classic still manages to fit the same 360 x 360-pixel Super AMOLED touchscreen as its chunkier mate. And it looks just as sharp and vibrant – much more so than what I've seen from last year's Moto 360 2014, for instance. However, Samsung's largely white-on-black approach to its fonts within Tizen, the firm's proprietary operating system OS for these smartwatches, is a bit over the the S2 Classic feels much lighter and looks less imposing on our wrists than its larger, more rubbery counterpart – though the difference on paper seems minimal. But when it comes to this type of technology, it's those minute details that can make the difference between a must-buy product and something doomed to the Gear S2 Classic sure one-ups the Pebble Time Steel How the Gear S2 Classic worksSave for the S2 Classic's rotating bezel featuring a notched design for more tactile grip to the S2 proper's smooth ring, the former operates in exactly the same way. All versions of the Gear S2 feature a Home button at the bottom right of the case and a Back button on its top former returns you to the watch face, of which there will be 24 loaded into every Gear S2 at launch, while the latter bumps you back one menu selection per the rotating bezel to the left takes you to the essentials your call log and your text messages. Each click to the right takes you to one of the widgets you've selected. What really makes it all click is just that, a satisfying click as you turn the bezel that not only makes navigation easier, but somehow more it needed? Perhaps not, as the default impulse was to flick the screen with a finger which works fine - it remains to be seen whether using this for longer will yield a desire to start flicking the outer preloads a number of widgets onto the device, like a quick settings panel, the S Health step counter, more detailed weather info and a weird tracker of your water and coffee intake that depends entirely on your input. However, all of these widget spots are customizable - and you can even add in your own apps into this paper, it may sound like Samsung loaded this tiny device with too many inputs. But in practice the two buttons and rotating bezel make for an elegant control solution on a Gear S2 Classic's message layout is mighty clean What about the apps?The million dollar question. With Samsung sticking to its own Tizen OS for the Gear S2 line, a common worry was that the watches would be left wanting for apps. The good news is there will be around a thousand at launch - with some really cool things in the pipeline, like unlocking your car or house with a flick of the launch partners include a robust Uber app that will surely be the only way to hail a cab by 2018, a focused CNN news ticker app and a highly customizable Twitter app among others. But perhaps the most important Gear S2 app is the updated Samsung Gear Manager on the Google Play that? Because the Gear S2 line is compatible with many phones running Android or later through this very app. We can't be the only ones who were worried that the new Gears would be a Samsung-only ordeal, considering that was the case with their predecessor, the Gear said, certain Gear S2 features will not be compatible with just any Android phone, namely Samsung Pay, which makes heavy use of the company's proprietary firmware for security purposes and it's card reader-spoofing technique, MST, or Magnetic Secure Transmission. Whether the Gear S2 will work with Android Pay is yet to be is weather at a glance on the Gear S2 Classic What else is packed in there?The brains of the operation is an optimized, dual-core 1GHz processor. Samsung wouldn't specify the make of it, but our money's on a variation of its own Exynos chip. That's backed up by 512MB of RAM, plenty for such a tiny device, and 4GB of storage for some of those 1,000 or so out the spec sheet is a gamut of sensors – an accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, ambient light sensor and barometer – b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Gear S2 Classic can also automatically join a Wi-Fi network that you've saved, without a phone, something that the Apple Watch won't be able to do until watchOS 2 lands later this year, although Android Wear has had the same trick for a works by sending messages from your phone to Samsung's cloud server, with the Gear S2 Classic picking them up and firing them to your wrist. Chances are you won't be using this on a run, though, given the more 'refined' brawn behind the brains, so to speak, is a 250mAh lithium-ion battery that Samsung claims can last between two and three days. Every Gear S2 model will come packing a wireless charging kit, the difference that a little leather makes? Early verdictWhere the standard Samsung Gear S2 proves the concept for the firm's impressive sixth – yes, its sixth – go at the smartwatch, the Gear S2 Classic proves that it can make a chic watch, too. We don't foresee many people leaping at the rubbery Gear S2, but this watch is no doubt one to, well... you Gear S2 Classic captures everything that wows about the Gear S2 – namely the rotating bezel and subsequent interface – and puts it into a design that many would honestly be comfortable having peek from under a cuff. And while that sounds mighty shallow, that detail makes all the difference when considering whether it's worth your hard-earned interface and lack of apps do cast something of a shadow on the device, so the main thing it has going for it now is aesthetics, with the ridged bezel and leather straps making it look highly premium... but that's no bad hasn't even been six months since the Apple Watch launched and already it has the Samsung Gear S2 Classic nipping at its heels. Well, at least at first glance. We'll save final judgment on that point for the full review, so keep it locked here when the Gear S2 Classic launches this October. Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV. What is a hands on review? Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee. Most Popular

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