Samsung Gear S2 Classic Review - Review 2022

The Samsung Gear S2 ($114.99 at Amazon) is just a few months quondam, but information technology'south already been updated in the form of a new $349.99 Classic edition. The Gear S2 Classic has the same exact interface and hardware as the original, but it'due south built with classier materials (including a leather wristband) that could exist worth the $fifty premium if you similar the await. It'due south an attractive smartwatch, with 1 of the nigh intuitive interfaces we've seen and a unique, rotating bezel you lot won't find anywhere else. But only like the original Gear S2, the lack of 3rd-political party apps and choosy voice recognition keep the Archetype from earning a stronger recommendation.

Design
The Gear S2 Archetype ($219.97 at Amazon) goes for a more subdued, traditional appearance than its sportier sibling. It has a black leather wristband, while the stainless steel case is now adorned with little ridges, giving information technology the appearance of an actual gear. The added chip of texture as well helps when rotating the bezel to control the lookout man. The Classic's leather band is highly comfortable, with a flossy brown suede underside that feels fantastic on the wrist. That said, yous can however pick upwards the original watch, which comes with black or white silicone bands, for $50 less.

To circular out the design, the Classic is slightly smaller than its predecessor, measuring i.57 inches around compared with the original'due south 1.66 inches. The Classic is as well a bit lighter, weighing in at 1.44 ounces compared with the 1.vii-ounce original.

Similar on the original, the Classic's bezel is its best, nearly unique aspect. Information technology can be physically turned around the watch face like a dial to make app selections, which is a much faster and more precise way to navigate menus than the seemingly endless series of screen wipes that are required with an Android Article of clothing spotter like the Motorola Moto 360 . The Gear features two buttons on the correct side of the instance to assistance navigate the interface: a Back button at the two o'clock position and a Home button at four o'clock. The Home push button brings y'all to the default watch face, or your app library if you're already at the picket confront. The Back button, naturally, sends you dorsum one step. You tin besides tap the touch screen to become around.

Brandish and Setup

The Archetype shares the aforementioned screen every bit the original Gear S2: an attractive, circular, 1.2-inch, 360-past-360 Super AMOLED display. Information technology stays off by default unless you wake it with a twist of the bezel, a wrist gesture, or a tap (at that place is also an selection to keep it on all the time, which will seriously drain your battery life). Brightness can be adjusted past swiping downwards on the display and tapping the Brightness setting, or you lot can let the ambient light sensor practise the work for you. Different the Moto 360, in that location is no "flat tire" effect.

Samsung Gear S2 Classic

You lot can pair the Classic with Bluetooth 4.ane devices like headsets or speakers for music playback, or with mobile devices that run Android 4.4 or after. You lot don't need a Samsung device to use the sentry, simply there is no iOS support like you lot get with Android Wear or Pebble watches.

To pair the sentinel, you need to download the free Samsung Gear app and follow the on-screen instructions. I paired the Classic with a Milky way S6 ($114.94 at Amazon) in virtually a minute. Once connected, you tin can select your watch face, manage apps and notifications, or transfer music files to the spotter, which comes with 4GB of internal storage.

Features and Operation

Equally mentioned earlier, the Classic has the same exact internals as the original. This includes an accelerometer, a barometer, a gyroscope, proximity sensors, and a heart rate sensor. Unlike the Sony SmartWatch three ($699.99 at Amazon) , you won't find GPS. In that location is Wi-Fi connectivity, which extends the range of the watch when connected to a wireless network.

The heart charge per unit sensor intermittently measures your heart rate throughout the 24-hour interval, but it doesn't track continuously like the Garmin Vivosmart Hr , a dedicated fitness tracker. Instead, the Classic checks in well-nigh five times per day, though you tin arrange it to bank check more or less ofttimes. You can too have information technology check manually.

Samsung Gear S2 Classic

You lot'll notice a few preloaded widgets on the picket, including the S Health stride counter, weather condition info, and a water consumption tracker. You can customize where the widgets are placed on your watch face up and add your ain apps from the Samsung Gear manager on your phone.

Similar to the Apple Watch ($300.00 at eBay) , the Classic counts steps and nudges you when you're at rest for likewise long. You lot tin can install the Nike+ running app for more detailed fettle tracking, but if workouts are your main concern, you'll want to get with a defended fettle tracker.

The Archetype runs on Samsung's homegrown Tizen operating system, which is very elementary to navigate. A twist of the bezel or swipe to the left brings up push notifications, while the right brings up the carte for Apps, a list of favorite contacts, Settings, and the South Voice assistant. Swipe or rotate over again and y'all'll find every loaded app circumvoluted the screen, like numbers on a watch confront. It'south a far better solution than Android Wear's cards and vertical lists. That said, the Classic returns to the default watch face every fourth dimension it wakes upwards.

Tizen's master shortcoming is its weak selection of third-political party apps compared with Android Wear, Apple, and Pebble. Samsung's Milk Music is the only streaming service available, and as well Nike+, fitness aficionados are stuck with Samsung's Southward Health. A note-taking app has shown up since I last reviewed the Gear S2, but Facebook and Twitter are yet absent. Besides Bloomberg, CNN, Uber, The Wall Street Journal, and Yelp, at that place are few big-name companies lending their services to Tizen.

Samsung Gear S2 Classic

Some other event is that the Classic'south microphone failed to selection my vocalism upward several times when trying to dictate a message, a problem shared by the original Gear S2.

Equally for battery life, you can become about 2 days before you need to recharge the Classic with its proprietary dock.

Conclusions
The Samsung Gear S2 Classic is just a sleeker version of the rubbery original. It looks and feels nice, and Tizen is easier to navigate than any other smartwatch Bone. Unfortunately, the Archetype too suffers from the same issues equally its predecessor, including poor voice recognition and a lackluster app library. Yous'll get a far greater selection of apps with the Apple Watch, though it isn't compatible with Android devices. Your best bet is our Editors' Selection, the Pebble Fourth dimension ($64.51 at Amazon) , which offers a robust app library, longer bombardment life, and support for both Android and iOS devices. If you lot want something that looks a bit sharper, the Pebble Time Round ($180.99 at Amazon) is a solid alternative.