Key Highlights: Easy to use, thanks to the bezel based navigation, Sharp Super AMOLED screen, Premium build.While battery life has improved from previous versions, we’d still wish for more.Samsung needs to bolster its app support for Tizen OS
Verdict: The Samsung Gear S2 is a top smartwatch choice today. It scores high on user experience while offering an impressive build and design. The software and UI elements are smartly implemented for a complete overall experience.
The Experience: The ’killer feature’ on the Samsung Gear S2 is undoubtedly the rotating bezel. It solves one of the most important issues of navigation and how one interacts with the device. In fact, the rotating bezel is probably the most intuitive way to operate a smartwatch. When you place your index finger on the display, your thumb and middle finger almost always rest on the bezel, making it really simple to navigate around the watch interface. Perhaps, Samsung can even better it by allowing the user to press down on the bezel to select a particular app or perform other actions. Nonetheless, the Gear S2 is one of the easiest and the most intuitive of contemporary smartwatches in the market.The rotating bezel on the Gear S2 is accompanied by the best display on a smartwatch till date. The 1.2 inch 360x360 pixel Super AMOLED display is warm and incredibly sharp. It’s so bright that we kept the watch on less than 5 on the brightness meter at most times. For folks like us who keep their phones on full brightness, it says a lot.A feature we really enjoyed is the fact that you can put any image on the watch face. It adds a level of customization that really makes it fun to use. While there aren’t too many watch faces to choose from, the fact that one can change the watch face to Darth Vader’s Mask, the Doom Guy or Darth Vader and Kylo Ren standing next to each other, makes it fun to personalize.As far as the battery-life goes, we were able to squeeze out 2 days on a full charge on moderate to light usage. Heavy usage will bring down the battery-life to a day and a half at max. While the UI and the Tizen OS itself feel quite polished and zippy, Samsung really needs to bring in a lot more apps to its ecosystem.