Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Samsung Gear Fit review - a curved display fits to the contour of your wrist. The screen also lights if you lift your wrist to read it. Simple swiping gestures (left or right between the multiple home screens) make navigating between functions and menus pretty intuitive once you realise that a swipe down is akin to the back button on Android.Ī single button on the Gear 2 turns the screen on and off, with a double tap launching an app of your choosing. The new Gears are available in a range of colours and straps, while the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo have standard watch straps, so users aren’t limited to the colours and types Samsung sells.Ī bright, high-resolution 1.63in Super AMOLED screen makes the watch easy to read on the Gear 2, while a responsive touchscreen makes it relatively easy to use.
Samsung seems to have appreciated that a watch is a piece of jewellery, and that some users will thus want to customise it. As a watch, it functions much better than its predecessor, which is important if you’re trying to replace a traditional watch.
The subtle changes make quite a bit of difference to the appearance of the smartwatch, and allow it to fit under a shirt cuff much more easily. It has slimmed down, removed bulky additions from the microphone and camera from the strap and looks much more like a conventional watch. The Gear 2 is a refinement of the " unripened fruit" that was the Galaxy Gear smartwatch released last year. Photos by Sean O'Kane, who also contributed reporting.Samsung Gear 2 review - looks and feels more like a watch. There’s a lot for Samsung to take away from its latest adventure in smartwatches - and a lot left to improve upon. But curved screens feel ever more like a good idea, and it’s exciting to see wearables become more and more independently functional. It’s still too big for most people, and still a little awkward to use. And this almost certainly isn’t the pinnacle of smartwatch design, for Samsung or the market at large. The Gear S will be available in October in Korea, though its US fate is still very much uncertain. This isn't quite what a smartwatch could be, but it's closer Samsung offers a handful of nice-looking watchfaces, a heart-rate sensor, and a battery it claims will last two days. This is the rare smartwatch that’s truly independent, not always punting you back to your phone. It’s also remarkably more powerful than your average smartwatch, able to actually read entire emails and see all your workout and sleep information in one place. Its 1.0GHz processor is clearly up to the task of swiping through notifications, and even tapping out quick responses and tracking steps. In a few minutes of using it, the Gear S felt fast and responsive. The big, thick bands that come with the device make it feel even larger, but thankfully the Gear S has swappable bands so you can slim it down a little. It’s a computer on your wrist, and it feels like one. It’s designed to curl around your wrist, and it’s long enough that it does exactly that it doesn’t feel like a watch so much as a cuff. Waterproof, black or white, thick and heavy, it’s like a larger Gear Fit. The watch itself is impressively made, with a 2-inch curved OLED display that looks great from any angle.