Samsung Gear 2 Review

Our friends over at AT&T have sent us the Samsung Gear 2 for us to review! The Gear 2 is one of three new wearables devices that Samsung announced along with the Galaxy S 5. The Gear 2 is the flagship of this new lineup and is essentially the successor to the Galaxy Gear. It moves away from an Android based operating system, instead it is running Samsung’s own Tizen operating system. It comes in at a higher price point of $300 and while we didn’t call the Galayx S 5 the best smartphone on the market, does the Gear 2 make it better? Keep reading to see our full thoughts.

Unboxing

Watch our unboxing of the Samsung Gear 2 below and also see our first look at the device.

Design

If you were looking for a complete redesign from the Galaxy Gear to the Gear 2, Samsung did not opt for this. It looks very similar to the original Galaxy Gear, but does bring a few new features to the table. For starters the watchband it self is now replaceable, from several others that Samsung has made available. This is due to the fact that the speaker is no longer built in to the watchband. This also leads to a more comfortable fit on the hand.  The watch itself is slightly thinner and lighter than the original coming in at 2.4-ounces without the strap and just 0.40-inches thick. Portability is a key feature when it comes to any wearable. I am testing out the silver variant, which means you get a black watchband, a black back, but a silver front to the device. The 2.0-megapixel shooter is located on the top of the watch, while your one button control is located on the bottom of the watch. Along the back side you will find some FCC information, along with the heart rate sensor and charging sensor.

Display And Battery Life

The Gear 2 features a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED Display and it is a square orientation. Like Samsung’s other Super AMOLED displays, it looks gorgeous. Colors look very bright, text and images are quite crisp, and blacks look very dark. Samsung has certainly set the bar high for other smart watches and other wearables on the market when it comes to display. The one on the Gear 2 will be hard to beat.

Believe it or not the screen uses up a good amount of power, although battery life is an improvement from the original Galaxy Gear. Inside the Gear 2 is a 300mAh battery, which Samsung estimates you can get around 2-3 days of usage out of. With my usage testing I got around a day and half with moderate usage, but with heavy usage only a day was given. You should certainly plug the Gear 2 into the charging cradle every night to make sure it has power to get through the day.

Software And Camera

When you first get the Gear 2, you will have to set it up, the device does a good job of walking you though this. After that you are ready to use the Gear 2. You really won’t notice a different between the Tizen based OS on the Gear 2 and the Android based OS on the Galaxy Gear. It looks very similar and runs better, due to the better hardware on board. Out of the box the default home screen is one that shows the date and time, along with quick access to the camera, pedometer, and settings applications. If you swipe to either left or right you will see the different screens with all of the different applications. If you want to go back in the OS, simply swipe down and it do this, similar to motion gestures.

Out of the box the biggest features would be the Samsung applications and the pedometer. You will find S Voice and Voice Memo, both pre-installed. And for the most part, many of the applications work much better, including S Voice which does a better job of catching what you are saying. Unfortunately, Samsung still does have any multitasking capability and you can’t back to the application you were last working on after the screen goes black. On the original Galaxy Gear, the speaker was somewhat front and center, but it wasn’t that loud. The only difference with the Gear 2 would be that the speaker is hidden, but it sill doesn’t perform that well. An IR blaster in built-in to the Gear 2 so you can control select televisions and cable boxes.

If you were looking for a state of the art camera with the Gear 2, you won’t be the happiest camper. It comes in handy for shaping quick shots, but the quality of the image is not that good. Keep in mind that you have just a 2.0 megapixel lens, it will be able to took the photo relatively quickly, but the quality is not the best. If you don’t need a camera in your smart watch, the more affordable Gear 2 Neo might be for you.

Bottom Line

Overall, the Gear 2 brings many improvements to the table, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like a next generation smart watch. It does bring added capabilities to Samsung device and that does include the Galaxy S 5. Just because there are improvements on board, doesn’t mean you should upgrade. If you don’t need the camera, I would look else where, maybe even at a Gear 2 Neo as it is more affordable at $199.99. The battery life has been improved, the design is slightly lighter, you can customized it with different wristbands, and this warps up the biggest improvements. If you are looking for a smart watch, Samsung seems to be going in an interesting direction and it does work really well with the Galaxy S 5. Unfortunately, it is locked to the S 5 and 17 other Samsung devices. I would personally wait and see what the LG G Watch, the Moto 360, and the rest of the Android Wear smart watches bring to the tablet. For More Information On The Samsung Gear 2, Please Click Here. We would like to thank AT&T for providing us with a copy of the “Samsung Gear 2”.