Revamped hardware and a plethora of software highlight the second round of Samsung’s smartwatch.
Samsung has announced the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches ahead of Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona, Spain. These are follow-ups to last summer’s Samsung Galaxy Gear.
Unlike the original Galaxy Gear, which has a full build of Android 4.2.2 on board, the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo are running the Tizen OS — an open-source OS Samsung played a big hand in developing. (More on that here.) That’s good and bad, of course. It’s great for those who have been waiting to see Tizen on a mainstream product (insofar as smartwatches are mainstream, we suppose) and bad for the tinkerers. That’s also led Samsung to drop “Galaxy” from the product name.
Thew new OS is just part of the changes, though. The hardware’s been revamped as well. The ugly wart that is the camera on the Galaxy Gear is gone, moved from the strap to the body of the watch itself. And Samsung’s tucked an IR port in there for good measure, turning the watch into a living-room remote — not really much of a surprise given that wearables will make up a good part of Samsung’s Smart Home initiative, announced in January.
And that’s just for starters.
Samsung Gear 2 image gallery
The difference between the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo? Lack of camera in the latter.
Visually speaking, there’s not a huge difference between the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo. You get different color options, but other than the the biggest change in that the camera’s been stripped out of the Neo. So instead of a larger transparent window, there’s just the small circle for the IR port. It’s also slightly lighter. Does one look better than the other? Your call.
Overall, the design of both Gear 2s is largely the same as the original Galaxy Gear.
Your still going to need some sort of charging cradle, and the pins have moved from the first time around. You’re also missing the speaker grille on the wrist from the Galaxy Gear. And the button has moved from the right-hand side to the bottom of the watch face.
Also worth mentioning: The Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo are rated IP67, meaning you can actually get these a little wet. That was a big concern we had with the original Galaxy Gear.
Samsung Gear 2 Neo image gallery
Samsung Gear 2 specs
Hardware-wise, the Gear 2 sports a 1.63-inch (320 by 320) Super AMOLED display, so you’ll get the same sort of superb colors we’ve enjoyed on the original Galaxy Gear. It’s all powered by a dual-core processor running at 1 GHz, has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of on-board storage.
The Gear 2 has a 300 mAh battery, which Samsung says will last two to three days with “typical” usage, or up to six days with low usage.
| Display | 1.63-inch Super AMOLED (320 x 320) |
| Processor | 1.0 GHz Dual Core Processor |
| Operating system | Tizen-based wearable platform |
| Camera (Gear 2 only) | 2.0 Megapixel Auto Focus (1920×1080, 1080×1080, 1280×960) |
| Video | Codec: H.264, H.263; Format: 3GP, MP4; HD(720p, @30fps) Playback & Recording |
| Audio | Codec: MP3/AAC/AMR/Vorbis; Format: MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG |
| Camera Features | Auto Focus Camera, Sound & Shot, Location Tags, Signature |
| Fitness features | 1. Heart Rate sensor; 2. Pedometer; 3. Exercise (Standalone Modes: Running, Walking; Companion Modes: Cycling, Hiking); 4. Sleep & Stress (Downloadable) |
| Music | Music Player with Bluetooth Headset and Speaker |
| Watch-on Remote | Remote Controller via IrLED Sensor |
| Basic Features | Bluetooth Call, Camera, Notification(SMS, E-mail, Apps) |
| Apps | Media Controller, Schedule, Smart Relay, S Voice, Stopwatch, Timer, Weather |
| Downloadable features | Calculator, ChatON, Flashlight, Quick Settings, Voice Memo |
| Gear 2 strap options | Charcoal Black, Gold Brown and Wild Orange |
| Gear 2 Neo strap options | Charcoal Black, Mocha Grey and Wild Orange |
| Ruggedness | IP67 Certified Dust and Water Resistant, Noise Cancellation |
| Featured apps | Banjo, BMW, CNN , Conde Nast, Expedia, eBay, Evernote, Feedly, GARMIN, Glympse, GM (Onstar 4GLTE), iControl, Line, Path, Paypal, RUNTASTIC, Volkswagen, Weather Channel, Under Armour (Map my fitness). |
| Samsung Services | Samsung Apps |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth® v4.0 LE, IrLED< |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Heart Rate |
| Memory | 512MB RAM |
| Storage | 4GB |
| Dimensions | Gear 2: 36.9 x 58.4x 10.0 mm, 68g; Gear 2 Neo: 37.9 x 58.8 x 10.0mm, 55g |
| Battery life | Li-ion 300mAh; Typical Usage 2~3 days, Low Usage up to 6 days |
Gear 2 software: Out with Android, in with Tizen
Question is: Do you care what OS your smartwatch runs?
Tizen is Samsung’s own open-source OS that’s been hanging out around the fringes for a while now. (It followed Samsung’s last failed stab at a counter-culture OS, Bada.)
But so long as the Gear 2 has the apps, the underlying OS might not matter that much. (A full Android build might always have been overkill, really.)
As you’d expect, Samsung has a suite of its own apps on the Gear 2, many of which look familiar. To wit, you get: Bluetooth Call, Camera, Notification(SMS, E-mail, Apps), Media Controller, Schedule, Smart Relay, S Voice, Stopwatch, Timer and Weather.
Other downloadable apps include a calculator, ChatON, flashlight, quick settings and voice memo.
That’s just the start, of course. Other apps that are available include:
- Banjo
- BMW
- CNN
- Conde Nast
- Expedia
- eBay
- Evernote
- Feedly
- GARMIN
- Glympse
- GM (Onstar 4GLTE)
- iControl
- Line
- Path
- Paypal
- RUNTASTIC
- Volkswagen
- Weather Channel
- Under Armour (Map my fitness)
Gear 2 as a fitness device
As you’ve probably noticed, Samsung’s positioning the Gear 2 as a fitness tracker. In addition the apps listed above, you’ll be able to use it as a heart-rate sensor, pedometer and generic exercise tracker.
The Gear 2 camera
The Gear 2 sports a 2-megapixel camera with autofocus that’ll shoot in three resolutions — 1920×1080, 1080×1080 and 1280×960. It also has the “Sound and shot” feature to give some context to your images, location tagging and signatures.
The Gear 2 Neo has no camera.
The bottom line
We’re going to have to wait to get our hands on the Gear 2 to be able to pass any sort of judgment, But addressing the placement of the camera is a good start, providing that it’s as easy to shoot with the camera in the body rather than on the strap.
Same goes for Tizen versus Android. We’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the user experience will mostly be the same — the Gear is one of those platforms where OS is more important as a framework than it is user experience, and even then the apps involved are more important than both. That Samsung has so many partners ready to go speaks volumes.
Stick around for more on the Gear 2 just as soon as we’ve got it.