Smartwatches are a relatively new concept and there is still a lot left to be explored in them, which is why manufacturers keep coming out with strange devices that are a bit of a hit or miss situation. We still have a long way to go until we’ve come to a proper solution for how a good smartwatch should look and feel, but some companies are definitely making solid progress in this area and have been making some very interesting releases.
Case in point, the Samsung Gear S2, a watch which many companies have been praising for truly putting together the best from Samsung’s engineering so far, and managing to combine all the best features that the company has included in a smartwatch before. It’s an interesting device in many aspects, according to reviewers, and we definitely expect to see a lot of discussion about it once it’s been out for a while.
Comments about the watch have been aimed at various aspects of its design, most notably the navigation options – it’s a watch that was made from the ground up with the idea of being used with its unique navigation system, and it doesn’t feel like the controls were tacked on as an afterthought. More specifically, the watch can be controlled by rotating its dial, a little bit like how the Apple Watch works – but unlike the Apple Watch, this device actually feels like it was designed from the very beginning with the idea of being usable and intuitive with its controls.
Everything just comes together nicely and the watch simply “clicks”, according to most – and this is of course a very important feature for a device that one would be using all day long, especially those who like to be a bit more active with their portable devices.
The interface is nice and smooth too, and everything is right where the user would expect it to be. Scrolling through the menus is a breeze, and even reading longer texts works out nicely thanks to the rotating dial. There are some minor quirks to be worked out in the design, according to some critics, but we need to remember that Samsung are likely going to revise the design a little more through updates and we may see some even more interesting features on it.
The screen has been praised for offering a nice, clean picture, surpassing most expectations that people would have towards a device of this type. At the same time, it’s a small screen that doesn’t get in the way of anything, and the watch actually feels quite compact and neat on one’s hand, or when scrolling through its menus.
One thing that reviewers have been particularly fond of is the keyboard input – it’s possible to type on this watch, something which not many other smartwatches offer right now. This is indeed a rather novel feature but we don’t know how much use most people will have for it in the end.
It’s still good to see that Samsung are at least exploring their options and learning what works and doesn’t work though. There will be various design elements that will be scrapped in the future and companies won’t put them in their smartwatches after they’ve failed on the market once, but we won’t know for sure what people want until we’ve seen enough devices out there which cover all the basics and explore the possible features nicely.