The Gen XY Lifestyle
Forget Basel, check out Samsung’s Gear S2 Bezel
Smartwatches have come along way since their inception, and after Apple released its own Apple Watch, things have been taken up a notch. Enter the Samsung Gear S2.
Designing a usable Smartwatch interface can be quite challenging given the small amount of space you have to work with, and you have to consider the fact that smartwatches seemingly have to offer more functionality to be relevant; i.e. more apps and features.
Navigating through a myriad of apps on a square or a circle no bigger than your wrist has got to be one of the biggest challenges facing smartwatch designers right now, but Samsung’s Gear S2 is probably one of the cleanest ways of going about it.
(Literally) Revolutionary UI
What they have done is to incorporate a critical feature into one the most recognisable parts of a traditional watch – the bezel. Rotating the bezel scrolls through your list of apps, or menus, depending on the context, and tapping on the screen calls up the app or executes the intended action. Include two physical buttons – one is a ‘back’ button, the other is a home/menu button – and the result is an easy-to-use smartwatch that almost feels no different from using an actual watch.
The fact that Samsung used their own proprietary OS, Tizen, probably helped. Furthermore, unlike its predecessor, the new Gear S2 is compatible with most smartphones that are using at least an Android 4.4 OS, and have at least 1.5GB of RAM.
The only potential downside is that we don’t really know what the long term prospects of the Tizen OS are like, especially when Google has its own ‘standard’ Android Wear system. But if a big player of Samsung’s stature is committed, there should at least be enough apps coming through for at least one life cycle (of the device).
Built for Everyday Use
If the new Galaxy phones are anything to go buy, it seems like Samsung has a good feel about what its customers want in a phone. The same could be said about its new watches – they sport simple, minimalist designs. The Classic version of the Gear S2 looks like a typical dress watch, and you can choose a classic clock face design to match as well.
The watch measures 11.4mm thin, and carries a display 1.2 inches wide. The 360 x 360 pixels resolution makes the display exceptionally sharp and easy to read. Overall, it’s a nice size that will fit most wrists; something you can live with everyday. It also carries an IP68 rating, meaning that it is dust proof, and waterproof up to three meters.
And speaking of everyday, you might not need to charge the Gear S2 on a daily basis, depending on how heavy your usage is. Samsung has rated the Gear S2 to last two-to-three days on a full charge (250 mAh battery), so even a conservative estimate of up to two days sounds good. And when you do have to charge your watch, you can do it wirelessly with the charger provided; a welcome change from having to plug in another USB cable.
Last but not least, who would have thought that the hardware for the Gear S2 would be its least interesting bit? But we’ve more or less come to terms with what to expect from Samsung – powerful components, and in this instance, the Gear S2 packs a 1GHz Dual Core processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. It also has the requisite sensors such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, and a heart rate monitor.
Prices start at S$448 for the Gear S2, available in a Dark Gray case with a Dark Grey band, or a Silver case with a White band. The Gear S2 Classic will cost S$100 more at S$548, and is available in a Black case with leather band. Both will go on sale on 2 October 2015.
