Samsung Gear S2 circular smartwatch officially announced -Tizen-powered with no Android Wear
Samsung has unleashed its seventh smartwatch, the Gear S2, in three variations - standard, classic and 3G. All three will be powered by its own operating system, 'Tizen,' and instead of the previous oblong design, Samsung's Gear S2 has a circular display.
The standard Gear S2 will be available in a dark gray version and a silver-white combo version, both with rubberized bands.
The Gear S2 3G is the standard model that has been upgraded to connect to 3G cellular networks.
The high-end Gear S2 Classic is all black - black case with black leather band. The Gear S2 Classic is clearly positioned to take on rivals like the Apple Watch and the LG Watch Urbane.
Consumers can create their own styles by swapping the bands.
What is inside the Gear S2?
Display: 1.2-inch diameter, circular touch display with a 360×360-pixel resolution, surrounded by a rotating bezel.
Battery: All models of the Gear S2 are said to contain two to three days of battery life.
Storage: 4GB of storage with 512 MB of RAM
Powered by:1GHz dual-core processor
Connections: wireless charging; NFC, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
OS:Samsung's own Tizen operating system that usually runs in TVs and low-end phones.
Apps: Nike+ Running app, Samsung S Health, Samsung apps for calendars, maps, news, weather and music playback, S Voice to answer your questions and schedule your appointments.
From the above specs, Samsung has not done anything ground-breaking in the area of smartwatch. One major disadvantage is that since the Gear S2 runs on Tizen, it does not support Android Wear so you will not have access to Android Wear's third party apps. Samsung has plans though to expand the range of Tizen to get all apps into its fold but it still is a far cry from the Apple Watch.
In terms of design, it has gone a notch higher with its circular bezel display.
Samsung had introduced six smartwatches in the past two years. Now, it has announced a new smartwatch before the start of IFA. The motive seems to be to give competition to LG Urbane and the Apple Watch. Samsung has not let out details of price or release date of the Gear S2.