Apple Watch rivals! Samsung Gear S2 depth evaluation

[PConline Review] It is not easy to say goodbye to the past. This requires great determination and courage. Of course, this is also true in the digital technology circle. This year, Samsung's only smart watch, the Gear S2, completely gave up its predecessor, Gear S, a curved screen and replaced it with a circular dial that is more sought after by users. Not only that, Samsung is still based on the circular dial. Creatively added a new interactive way - rotating the bezel, and even the operating system Tizen also "changed its face". You can hardly see the shadow of previous generations on the Gear S2. It can be seen that Samsung Gear S2 did a lot of designing this year.

As one of the earliest smart phone manufacturers to deploy smart wear, Samsung launched its first smart watch Galaxy Gear in 2013. In 2014, Samsung also made persistent efforts to release two smart watches, Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, but these products lacked a major breakthrough in design and experience, resulting in Samsung’s smart wear market performance was not as expected. Data show that Last year, Samsung's smart watches sold only 1.2 million.

In the third year of Samsung Smart Wear, you will find that Samsung undoubtedly focuses on the Gear S2. Even Gear Fit, which won a good reputation last year, has not launched an upgraded version this year. Therefore, Samsung's determination in the field of smart wear is evident. With the rapid development of the smart wearable market, the Gear S2 has a long way to go. Its competitors not only include Apple's Apple Watch, but also a large wave of Android Wear smart watches like Moto360. Can Gear S2 change the disadvantages of Apple Watch? Even lead the entire smart wear trend? Today we take a look.

Samsung Gear S2 Get Started Video

Gear S2 Appearance: Is it really a designer?

Samsung Gear S2 Pictures Reviews Forum Quotes Online shopping prices

To say Gear S2 is an upgraded version of Gear S, it is estimated that many people will not believe it. Last year's Gear S used a large curved screen with a small button on the screen, which is almost exactly the same as Samsung's mobile phone design. This time, the Gear S2 changed its past design and replaced the most popular round dial, conforming to the trend of smart wear. The overall design style of the watch is very simple and more in line with the public aesthetic standards. There is no doubt that the design of the Gear S2 is clearly better.

Gear S2's launches include black classic, dark grey and silver. The size of the classic model is slightly different from the fashion version. The regular version measures 42.3 x 49.8 x 11.4mm and weighs 47g. The classic model measures 39.9 x 43.6 x 11.4mm and weighs 42g.

For the strap, the Gear S2 comes with two large and small watch straps. The fashion version offers rubber and the classic is a belt material. In addition, the official and third parties also provide a variety of different styles of straps for consumers to choose, to meet the needs of different personalization and wear.

Gear S2 details Appreciation: exquisite

The front of the Gear S2 is a 1.2-inch circular Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 360 x 360 and 302 ppi. The screen size is slightly smaller than that of the moto360, but parts of the Gear S2 screen maintain a purely round shape. In terms of resolution, Gear S2's screen is better than most smart watches, and looks more detailed and clear. Even the smallest characters have no obvious graininess, and the overall look is more transparent.

The measured screen of this Super AMOLED display is quite good. It has excellent performance in contrast and color, and the viewing angle is also quite wide. In the strong sunlight, the icons and the icons can be clearly identified using the lowest brightness of the first gear. Item function. Friends who usually have more outdoor sports do not need to worry about the lack of brightness in their daylight.

If you don't look closely, it's hard to notice that there is a "bezel" hidden above the dial. Samsung calls it the "simulation bezel." It is similar to the rotating bezel on a traditional watch, but the function of the two is very different. The rotating bezel function on traditional watches only has the function of “seeing”, and can only allow the user to time, adjust the time difference or decoration. .

But the biggest function of the analog bezel is not decoration, but a new way of interaction, and Samsung's largest innovation in smart watches. The analog bezel feels quite good. Every rotation to a node is accompanied by a mechanical “click” sound that can be switched to perform operations such as switching.

Gear S2's body is made of 316L stainless steel (commonly known as "titanium steel") that is commonly used in traditional mechanical watches. This material has a strong corrosion resistance, durability and strength is much better than plastic watches. The author's fashion version of the watch body also uses a similar matte texture treatment, is not easy to contaminate the fingerprints, touch feel cool, more rigid.

There is no crown on the right side of the watch body. Instead, two physical buttons are placed at the two o'clock and four o'clock positions, and a microphone hole is placed in the middle of the two buttons. The above one button default return operation, and the following can be used as the Home button, double-click will exhale the application list, daily use is more convenient, but the button's feel is hard, no bezel operation is comfortable and natural. If the next generation of products can eliminate these two buttons, it would be nice to integrate them into the analog bezel.

The heart rate sensor on the back of the watch can monitor the wearer's heart rate changes at any time. When using heart rate monitoring, it emits green light.

GearS2's stylish strap uses a softer rubber material that feels delicate and not stiff. In addition, the method of dismantling the strap is also very easy. It is only necessary to press down the position of the buckle in the middle of the dial and the strap so that the strap can be loaded and unloaded.

The connection between the strap and the watch has a certain degree of curvature. This curved design can make the watch more fitting to the wrist, avoid loosening and shaking during the wearing process, and can ensure that the watch can be fixed each time the wrist is lifted. In the center of the wrist. Feel comfortable to wear on the hand, foreign body sensation is not obvious.

Wrist flip screen is the most common function of smart watch. In daily test use, GearS2's response is a bit too sensitive. Sometimes the arm will automatically light up slightly. Fortunately, GearS2 supports screen-shutdown and covers the watch's screen with the palm of the hand. The Gear S2 automatically recognizes and quickly turns off the screen.

The Gear S2 supports wireless charging and is placed on the wireless charging stand without being worn. It is more intimate that when the watch is near the base, it can be magnetically attached to the base to ensure that the watch does not charge unsuccessfully because of an offset.

Tizen System Experience: Makeover

On the system side, Samsung's smart wearable products have not become regularized using Android Wear. Instead, Samsung’s own system, Tizen, is used instead. Although Android Wear is currently more common in the field of smart watches and its functions are improving day by day, the use of this system means that their products are less personalized and more homogenous (Say, Android tables are just The appearance is not the same, the head of the system is exactly the same as the dial, so that when the product is designed, it is bound to be bound. In order to avoid such homogeneity, Samsung still insists on using its own system Tizen. As you can see on the Gear S2, the Tizen system is very similar to the Android Wear, including the drop-down menu and so on, all inherited from the Android system. After several years of development, it has formed its own unique operating methods and designs.

Three kinds of interactions are complementary

As mentioned above, the simulation bezel is the biggest innovation on the Gear S2. The user can select App by rotating the bezel, and can switch between different apps, or achieve volume control, zoom function, and vertical and horizontal navigation. Clockwise rotation is the forward operation, counterclockwise selection is backward. Compared with the finger touch mode, the biggest advantage is that it does not cover the screen during operation and improves the operation efficiency on the watch. In the daily use process, the analog bezel forms a complementary relationship with the sliding and pressing of the touch mode, and the operating mode is more efficient.

Gear S2 also supports touch screen interactions, support for taps, long presses and slides, which is almost the same as Google's Android Wear. Click to enter the next level menu or click, slide can switch different interfaces.

In addition, Gear S2 also supports voice control - S VOICE, the user can set the voice wake-up command, in the case of the watch is turned on, directly call the set command to start -S VOICE, directly wake up the watch. Voice control can be used to search, call contacts, set alarms, view media libraries, schedules, etc. It is easy to operate without hands.

During the test, the response speed of voice control is good, and the recognition rate is about 75%. However, this function is used less frequently in our daily use.

New Tizen system experience

Samsung also made optimizations in the system. The new Tizen UI system changed the previous design. Compared with the previous version, the appearance and ease of use have changed greatly. Samsung called the UI on Gear S2 "Rotary UI." (Rotary UI), which is also based on the rotating bezel, and the logical way of rotating with touch also makes the experience more interesting.

The Tizen UI consists of a two-level menu that is very similar to the Android desktop. The first level is similar to desktop gadgets, and the second level is application list. The gadgets on the desktop include similar dials, notifications, weather, step count, and music controls. The first layer of gadgets is mainly used to display application information. Click the corresponding gadget to enter the application. The second-level application list is the entire application collection, and the application icons are also very interesting. They are designed into small circles and form a big circle at the edge of the screen. Not only does it look small and cute, but it's also not easy to misuse other programs when using your finger to click.

Multi-style dial change

For the users with the appearance requirements, the biggest advantage of the smart watch is that it can replace the dial anytime and anywhere. The official pre-installed 22 dial interface in the watch, there are traditional hands and digital display dial, there are also cartoon designs provided by the designer The dial. In addition, there are also various dial downloads in the watch application market, but some of them need to be charged.

The user can also modify the design of the dial and design differently-styled dials, including the dial scale, pointers, fonts, etc., to meet the needs of different users.

Tizen application market

I believe that many people will not have much hope for the application of the Tizen system. After all, Tizen is just getting started and supporting applications is also acceptable. The default comes with the program, Gear S2 supports the setting of alarm clock, map navigation, recording, viewing the mobile phone album and other daily use of high-frequency applications, ease of use is still quite high.

Currently Samsung's application market, the largest application should be the dial, paid free dial has a lot. The number of applications for watches is not that much, and it only supports applications such as Sina Weibo, Baidu Maps, and Alipay. Fortunately, these applications have been optimized for watch displays. They are of good quality and are very convenient to use.

Applications such as Flipboard and Flappy Bird have been optimized for use on wristwatches. Although they are not very effective, they are best for sending out leisure time.

Although the ecology of the current watch is not yet perfect, but in the future it is believed that it will become better and better. Samsung does have the potential of this rich application store.

Samsung Gear S2 function trial: good quality pre-installed applications

System compatibility

Gear S2 is compatible with other brands Android 4.4 and above and the device running RAM (RAM) 1.5GB and above, is Samsung's first smart watch compatible with other brands of Android devices. In addition, some of Samsung's own features, such as Samsung payment and other proprietary features, only support Samsung mobile devices.

Gear S2 synchronizes with the mobile phone through Bluetooth 4.1 in daily use, enabling download and replacement of dials, data synchronization, etc. The watch also has built-in NFC chip that can be used for fast pairing with mobile phones and Samsung payment in the future. In addition, the watch also supports Wi-Fi connection, Flipboard in the watch, maps and other applications can update content through Wi-Fi, even if it is out of the phone, can also be used independently.

Information notification & reply

As an important accessory of a mobile phone, the smart watch allows you to not miss any important information in your mobile phone.

When there is an incoming call, the user can choose to answer or reject directly on the watch, but unfortunately, since the Gear S2 does not have a built-in speaker, it can not directly call the watch (but the foreign Gear S2 3G version can be achieved) In daily use, the phone that does not want to answer can still hang directly on the watch.

The push of SMS, qq notifications, and WeChat applications will all be directly displayed in the notification bar of the watch, but currently only the SMS can reply directly in the watch. The user can select the default reply, voice input (convert to text), facial expression, or Tap the keyboard to reply. Unfortunately, WeChat and qq, whose daily usage rate is relatively high, have not yet achieved the function of replying. It is believed that with the opening of these application interfaces, it will not be a problem to reply directly to the watch in the future.

Synchronous media

The music file or picture on the mobile phone can be synchronized to the Gear S2, and the user can directly view frequently used pictures or play music files on the watch, but this function is relatively niche and the user's frequency is not high.

Operation tracking function

For smart watches, motion tracking is basically one of the essential features. In the sport monitoring mode, Gear S2 can record your pulse, steps and moving distance data, and displayed in real time on the screen. The function is more comprehensive, and it is very suitable for friends who usually have more sports. Its heart rate function is very fast and accurate. The heart rate results measured by the measured Gear S2 are almost the same as those of the Fitbit Charge HR. However, using the heart rate monitoring function will consume more power. The 1 hour exercise monitoring mode will consume approximately 18% of the battery power. It is best to fully use the Gear S2 before going out.

Lifetime charging time & waterproof performance

The Gear S2 has a built-in battery capacity of only 250 mAh, which is 50 mA less than the second generation of the Moto 360. However, the configured Super AMOLED display can consume less power than the competitor. Secondly, the Tizen system has been optimized. Can also be more power-efficient, the official data, Gear S2 2-3 days of life is better than most smart watches on the market.

Of course, how much power consumption is actually depends on how the user uses it, especially when there is more exercise (usually using the heart rate function) or if the screen is used constantly for applications, the performance of the watch will not be very good. If it is normal brightness, usually look at the normal time, receive push, about 1-1.5 hours of exercise time per day, Gear S2 can continue to use more than 2 days, the battery life is better than most smart watches.

The Samsung Gear S2 supports the power saving mode, which automatically turns on when the remaining battery power is 10%. The power saving mode uses a gray screen display and turns off WiFi. It supports only the three functions of call, information, and notification.

Unfortunately, Gear S2 does not support the fast charging function. Since the wireless charging efficiency is not high, the charging time of the watch will be longer, and the actual measurement is filled from 0-100% for the required 2-2.5 hours.

Gear S2 supports IP68 waterproofing, theoretically having the highest level of waterproof and dustproof capabilities. In daily use, Class 6 dust protection is the highest level of dust protection. In theory, it can completely prevent foreign objects and dust from intruding. The level 8 waterproof can prevent the intrusion of water when it sinks, and sinks under the specified water pressure indefinitely to ensure that it will not be damaged by flooding.

The measured Gear S2 was still responsive after the water was poured, and there was no problem even when immersed in water. In other words, in daily life, the user had no need to worry about the damage caused by washing hands, sweating during exercise, or even causing damage. Even if immersed in water, wearing a watch can be used normally.

PConline evaluation room summary:

In the past month, I was satisfied with the Gear S2. The only pity is that the Gear S2 has not made a big breakthrough in the system ecology and life. However, the Gear S2 is the best in the market for smart watches in both design and performance, and is even better than the previous generation Gear S. The first is to replace the very popular round metal dial, and to provide users with more personalized look options. In terms of functions, innovative and easy-to-use analog bezel interactions have also been added innovatively; Samsung’s new Tizen system has also added vitality to watches.

In Gear S2 this product, Samsung did show the strength and creativity that international technology giant should have, I believe this watch can get a good market response. Combining all aspects of strength, Gear S2 may be the reason why you don't buy moto 360 and Apple Watch.

Automotive Staple

Automotive Staple,Automotive Industrial Staple,Moistureproof Automotive Staple,Hog Ring Blunt Galvanized Nail

Zhejiang Best Nail Industrial Co., Ltd. , https://www.beststaple.com