Review: Samsung’s spinning smartwatch a revolution

Samsung’s newest device achieves where others have failed — this is a smartwatch that is truly simple to use.

Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch

SMARTWATCHES can be annoying.

Some are ugly, some are large, some run out of battery before the sun sets, and almost all require you to swipe, poke, prod and puzzle for weeks as you tackle foreign, often unintuitive software.

This is where Samsung’s newest device excels.

The company’s first smartwatch in a year is the simplest to use by far.

The spinning bezel on this watch is a masterstroke. It can be used to cycle through apps, to see notifications, to scroll down messages, or to find the perfect emoji.

It’s solidly constructed and easily the hero piece of Samsung’s first round smartwatch, the Gear S2.

But, before you ditch your Android Wear device or eBay the Apple Watch, it’s important to note that Samsung’s newest Gear does not have it all. In fact, it’s missing a critical feature offered by past devices, and one that may make investors think twice.

The Samsung Gear S2, due in Australian stores shortly, is a futuristic and sporty-looking creation with a body waterproof to 1.5m.

Its plastic shell is reminiscent of a running watch, though it has a much slimmer profile at 1.14cm and a significantly crisper, brighter screen.

That 1.2-inch AMOLED screen packs a lot of pixels (302 pixels per inch), making it sharper than Samsung’s Gear S from a year ago and Motorola’s second Moto 360, though not quite as sharp as its Apple competitor.

But it’s that spinning bezel that really catches the eye.

You can’t help but want to twist the dial on this watch even before its screen lights up.

When round menus do appear, it’s irresistible.

Spinning the dial to the left shows notifications, while the right hand side shows widgets you can customise.

Home screen options include the day’s agenda, a calendar, the weather, heart rate, and exercise stats.

Aside from the dial, Samsung has added two buttons to this watch: back and home. The back button makes it particularly easy to get out of an unexpected selection, while the home button opens a circular menu of apps you can scroll through by turning the bezel.

The home key can be awkward to reach but, with these two buttons and a dial, Samsung has created the most straightforward smartwatch navigation to date.

Its software delivers gems too. Notifications can be dismissed by sweeping your finger up the screen, or selected with a tap. You can scroll through messages using the dial or a finger.

Samsung also delivers a lot more watch faces with the Gear S2, including several traditional clocks that can be customised with colours and complications, and others with artful designs, cartoon characters, and breaking news.

This watch’s fitness smarts have picked up the pace too, with an app that doesn’t just count steps but measures how long users are active, lightly active, and inactive.

Sit on the couch too long and the watch will congratulate you when you rise to walk to the kitchen. It feels a little like sarcasm, but it could be useful.

Its heart-rate monitor also captures your pulse at regular intervals (you can set it to frequent or moderate measurements), and its exercise app offers plenty of modes to record information when you’re running, cycling, using an elliptical machine, and more. It will also count down to your target exercise time and monitor your pulse as you stride.

Replying to messages is also simple with this watch, and there are many ways to do it.

A Gear S2 app called Buddy delivers quick access to favourite contacts on the watch, and users can choose to send friends preprepared messages such as “Call me later,” select an emoji from a circular menu, dictate a message using the S-Voice feature, or type it in using an alphanumeric keyboard like those used on phones in the 1990s. The last option isn’t ideal but it gets the job done … slowly.

Making phone calls on this smartwatch is an entirely different story, however, and one that lets this device down.

Samsung has produced three flagship smartwatches to date and all let users accept phone calls from the watch, turning them into a speakerphones in the style of Dick Tracy.

Sadly, this feature is missing from all but the 3G versions of the Samsung Gear S2 and S2 Classic — a strange omission given rival Apple embraced it and that it would have given Samsung an advantage over Android Wear competitors.

Sure, not everyone wants to talk into their smartwatch, but those who do could leave Samsung talking to the hand for this omission.

The company’s voice control, S-Voice, also lacks the sophistication of some of its peers, the Gear S2 won’t let you set reminders from the watch itself, it should not be worn in the shower, and though users can scroll through apps with the dial, they must tap the screen to select one.

Its battery gives this watch a longer life than others, however, powering on for two days or comfortably seeing the day out even if you choose to have the screen constantly switched on in ambient mode.

Ultimately, Samsung has created its most polished and considered smartwatch to date in the Gear S2, and answers the calls of many baffled by byzantine smartwatch menus. Its waterproof body, slender profile, comfortable fit, and wider Google Android compatibility is also likely to win fans, even though some will be turned off by its inability to hold a conversation.

Samsung Gear S2

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$499 / samsung.com/au/gear-s2

Out October 14 / Other stores November

Pros:

— Simple, compulsive navigation with a spinning bezel

— Lightweight, waterproof body

— Many message reply options

Cons:

— No speaker to take calls in non-3G versions

— S-Voice does not match its competitors

— Limited app options