anyone using the Gear S2 with a Pixel phone?

[purplemarauder#AC]

I was thinking of getting an S2, but wondered if it issued nicely with the Google Pixel phone. Does anyone have any experience? Good or bad

 

[Hey I Tried]

Pixel no, but I have used an S2 and Fit2 on an iPhone 6 and an LG G3.
You have to download the Samsung Gear app first. It has S Health and the Samsung store in it.
It doesn't "flow" as well on other devices as it does on a Samsung phone, but it works.
Some of the notifications don't always push to the watch, but it is definitely usable.

 

[Hey I Tried]

As for the Good / Bad. The S2 is way more user and application focused. There are more applications available for it, but most apps on the Samsung store are developed by 3rd parties. And Samsung really doesn't seem to have any type of Quality Control on the apps posted, and as far as I can tell, no refund policy.

There are some very useful free apps and themes, but most have a charge ($0.50 -$3.00). With that said, you don't get free trials, if you buy it, it's yours no matter what, garbage or not.

Battery life is hit or miss. Compared to something like a Fitbit Blaze, it's outright dismal. Depending on usage, apps, and screen settings, expect 18 - 28 hours on a single charge, compared to my wife's Blaze, which can go 3 - 5 days on a single charge.

The application integration (reading and responding to emails, SMS messages, phone calls, alarms) is good with a Samsung phone, but with a Pixel, I dont know how well it will work.

 

[camaroz1985]

I am using it with a Pixel. Have only had it for a few weeks, but has been working great. Only have had issues with ESPN and needing to tap a couple times telling the watch that I am signed into ESPN phone app. Battery life is great, and all my notifications work as they should. To me it is a shame that the S2 doesn't run Android Wear, because the rotating bezel and button arrangement would be perfect for AW 2.0. I am keeping an eye on the AW watches that are coming out. I like the size of the S2, and so far the only one that is comparable is the LG Watch Style.

 

[Hey I Tried]

Right now, Samsung is the biggest user of the Tizen based firmware, where as the Android Ware is compatible and used on more devices.

Each have their good and their bad. The Gear series was originally designed to run on Samsung devices only. They have added support for other Android manufacturers, and iOS recently, but to get the complete experience and performance, it will always be better with Samsung phones / tablets.

If fitness monitoring is a must for you, keep in mind that the Samsung Gear series will only fully sync with S Health. You can link other services with your S Health, but it only shares certain stats, not everything.

This shows you what apps can sync with S Health, and what data it can get. If you noticed, Google Fit isn't listed.

Here's a great article about both the Samsung (Tizen powered) and Android Wear compared against each other.
https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/tizen-os-vs-android-wear

 

[purplemarauder#AC]

I'm in exactly the same place. Love the design wish it had android wear. My only real worry about the LG style is the battery life to be honest, I've heard it's pretty poor compared to the s2?

 

[afblangley]

Samsung tried using AW, but they couldn't make a good watch within the constraints of the OS so they used Tizen. I like the concept of AW. The potential of having a large library of apps. But it's largely unrealized. The reality is Samsung has better execution: from battery optimization to hardware design (like rotating bezel and putting everything in the body not the band) to user interface (though 2.0 has closed the gap) to capability (like LTE and mobile payment).

The S3 works fine with non Samsung phones, I'm using an LG. I'd like to do a direct comparison, but it doesn't work with any of the 3 Samsung tablets I own!

As of this morning, there's been a dramatic improvement in the fitness arena. Under Armour apps are now available in the Galaxy app store.

 

[Hey I Tried]

I wanted to show this. A lot of users of the Gear S2 complain about battery life, but with the right settings, it can last a decent time.

I enable dnd before I go to bed.

The only thing I really have changed is the wake up gesture is off, notifications don't light up screen, voice answer off, auto open apps off.

 

[carchuleta]

I have been using the G2 on a S7 Active for awhile and loved the way it worked. I just moved to a Pixel XL and my experience is not as good. One of the biggest complaint is the watch cannot turn off my alarm from my phone. When my alarm on my Samsung phone would go off I got a notification on my watch and the ability to dissmis it or snooze. I do not get any notification when the alarm from my pixel goes off and cannot find any info on this. I know it sounds small but something I used several times a day. This simple thing makes me wonder what other features are not compatible.

 

[DKBlaze]

My wife has the pixel XL she initially had the gear fit2, but after the Pixel she was unable to snooze or dismiss alarms. We ended up with Fossil as it would allow her to snooze or dismiss, but it was uncomfortable so we went with the S2 as it's comfortable and has better functionality that the fit2. But the one main issue is that she is still unable to snooze or dismiss her alarms, is anyone else having this issue or a possible fix?