Samsung’s Gear S2 Will Challenge Apple Watch

The smartwatch industry hasn’t exactly taken off, but Samsung hopes to make waves with its next smartwatch, the Gear S2. CNET recently broke the news.

“The Gear S2 will run Samsung’s own Tizen operating system, rather than Android Wear, a Google-controlled watch OS that Samsung used in some of its earlier smartwatches. The new model will be the company’s first to feature a round screen rather than a rectangular one.”

The Gear S2 will run Samsung’s own Tizen operating system, rather than Android Wear, a Google-controlled watch. CNET notes that the display, which resembles recent Android watches like the Moto 360, gives the watch a more traditional design. It appears to be a vast improvement over the original, which Engadget called “painfully flawed.”

“The Samsung Gear S is a smartwatch that’s also a phone. But it still needs a phone — and a Samsung phone, at that — to be of any use. That, combined with its bulky design, small app selection, and $350 asking price, makes the Gear S difficult to recommend.”

Engadget adds that the watch is bulky and not something a lot of people would want to put on their wrists. There certainly weren’t a lot of people who actually tried to put the Gear S on, which is why Samsung went back to the drawing board for the Gear S2. The watch hopes to give the Apple Watch a run for its money. The problem is that the Apple Watch, in its first generation, hasn’t exactly taken off, either.

The Apple Watch, which was introduced in March, does have a very high consumer satisfaction rate. According to AppleInsider, 97 percent of Watch buyers are satisfied with their device – that’s a higher percentage than the first iPhone or first iPad. The main problem seems to be the Watch’s dependence on the iPhone for just about everything. However, future generations of the Apple Watch may change that and may entice a lot more customers.

Samsung’s Gear S2 is different from the Apple Watch, in that it will contain its own GPS and has a separate 3G radio. According to Phone Arena, the S2 will also have its own nano SIM slot, which would enable the user to take the SIM out of their phone and put it in the watch in order to make calls, browse the Internet, etc. This could definitely make Apple Watch users want to switch over in order to get a full smartwatch experience. Are you excited about the Gear S2? Let us know in the comments section.

[Photo by Bloomberg / Getty Images]