Apple Inc. sold 3.6 million watches in the second quarter, making it the top provider of smart wearable devices after just one quarter of sales, market research firm IDC said in a report last week.
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Samsung’s Gear S2 will also feature a somewhat unusual navigation system that combines a pair of physical buttons (Home and Back) with a rotatable bezel. Powering the Gear S2 is an undisclosed Samsung-sourced 1GHz dual-core processor paired with 512MB of RAM.
Samsung hasn’t announced pricing and availability yet, but the company says it’s going to showcase the watch at the IFA conference in Berlin, which starts on September 3.
Introduced in two different options – the Gear S2 and the Gear S2 classic – Samsung designed the Gear S2 to appeal to two distinct consumer preferences. The Gear S2 Classic is a dressier number with a genuine leather band. Still, we’ll need to reserve more thorough judgement until we’ve used the Gear S2 firsthand (and know how much Samsung plans to charge for the thing). NFC is built in, with Samsung claiming it’ll eventually be able to make mobile payments – presumably through Samsung Pay, but there’s no confirmation of that just yet.
Today, Samsung announced a pair of Galaxy Gear wearables for its platform-the Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic.
As with its TVs and other devices, Samsung has rejected Android in favor of its own Tizen operating system on its Gear watches. In contrast to the Gear S2, the Gear S2 Classic will only be available in black with a black leather band. Regardless of which model you buy, the Gear S2 will be water and dust resistant, thanks to its IP68 rating.
When it comes down to specs, both smartwatches feature a 11.4mm thin casing and a 1.2-inch 360×360 display that is a complete circle (take that, Motorola).
The S2 supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but can also connect via 3G so you don’t have to be near your smartphone. Features include notifications and the ability to send emails through the watch, as well as voice compatibility for those who purchase the S2 3G model.
According to previous speculations, the Samsung Gear S2 will offer full stand-alone similar features like its predecessor and also sport a nano SIM card slot. The Gear S2 will ship with a dark gray case and dark gray band or silver case with white band.
There’s one big downside: the Gear S2 won’t have access to Android Wear’s growing collection of third-party apps. The image of the smartwatch posted on Instagram was accompanied by the tagline “Giving the new Samsung Gear S2 a test drive”.
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