Today there was a Samsung Gear S2 Training video of sorts posted online which has since been taken down from YouTube. In it they go over features of the Gear S2 and release dates, etc. The meeting was lighthearted but informative and they were being brutally honest at times about things which was refreshing to see. Here's a few "wait, really?" things I picked up and some still yet unanswered questions...
1) The Bluetooth Version will be released in the US on October 2nd and the 3G version will be released on November 6th.
2) The 3G version will initially be only available on Verizon, At&t, US Cellular, and T-Mobile. Not Sprint...at least not right away.
3) They went over IP68 and while it's definitely the highest rating among all smart watches for water resistance, they still don't "recommend" it's used deeper than 1.5 m and the rating doesn't necessarily apply to salt water or when swimming where your arm is paddling heavily through the water which creates more "pressure" on the watch. It's strong for sure, above all others, but don't go diving with it or anything. They were being honest about the rating which was refreshing but sorta "woah really?" if you know what I mean.
4) Straps on the non-classic version are through samsung only. Classic version can use any standard watch strap from 3rd parties.
5) They started working on the round bezel smart watch in 2012. Crazy when you think about the whole timeline of how long these things take and when other watches were released.
6) The feature that works with cars looks awesome (BMW/Volkswagon) but might not be operational until 2017 because there's lots of things to work out on both Samsung's side AND the car manufacturer's side.
7) It sounds like the speakerphone feature will only be on the 3G version. This was a bit confusing to me since bluetooth versions of their current smart watches have speakerphones that work great with phones. For example, my Gear 2 Neo can answer calls and the speakerphone on the watch is GREAT! I use it WAY more than I thought I would to answer calls. All versions of Gear S2 have mics for SVoice, but unless I heard wrong (and they mentioned it a few times) only the 3G version will have the speakerphone. Sucks. You'll still be able to answer/reject calls on ALL versions but the non-3G versions will simply open the call on the phone.
8) Their custom watch faces look great and are very much customizable. If you combine all the custom designs you can make with the 26 faces, you end up with around 6000 possible variations. Nice start.
9) The wireless charger has a magnet in it which sorta suctions the watch into place so it's always a nice clean connection. Nice! You can't use current charging pads with the watch because the underside of the watch is curved. It takes about 2.5 hours to charge from 0% to 100% and it'll last 2-3 days and 4-5 days if you run it on powersaving mode which makes things black and white and reduces resolution. I believe the battery thing as my Neo running Tizen lasts 2-3 days.
10) With messages, you can see the whole back and forth history which is a nice change from my current Gear 2 Neo which shows each individual message separately instead of in conversation view.
11) I think they said each watch comes with the larger band attached and a 2nd smaller (women's?) band in box as well.
12) You can easily use any picture on your phone as watch background. The user interface of the watch was really smooth as they navigated through it.
13) There will be a "buddy" option where you can add your top 11 contacts for quick access to contact them, etc.
14) With the two buttons which they said they debated leaving off the watch but ultimately added it in (why not I guess, can't hurt) I wondered how left handed people like myself would fare since we wear watches on our right hand.
15) They said they improved the accuracy of S-Voice "very much". However, the one time they were doing stuff with the watched and they used S-Voice it looked about as slow as before and got only the first two of the 3 words he said. They played it off well but I was like "bummer, it still stinks compared to Google Voice!" Maybe it'll be better when the production versions come out but I'm no longer holding my breath on this.
16) Someone asked if the accuracy of the health tracking features like "Steps" has improved and they sorta brushed it off saying "samsung is the best at this way of tracking things" and they are always "improving things" and learning from customers, blah, blah, blah. Hope they're right.
17) Again I'll say the way the bezel works and the way the user interface looks is SOOO much better than any other watch I've seen out there and especially better than the current Tizen on my Gear 2 Neo. It was smooth and intuitive throughout. I believe that the bezel will eventually be the "norm". Just my opinion though.
18) They are using Gorilla Glass 3 instead of 4 because version 3 is better with scratches.
19) The guy brought up the keyboard but even he had a hard time typing on it and eventually laughed and said "maybe just use S-Voice". While he was lighthearted and saying it sort of as a joke, it led to one person asking if 3rd party keyboards can be used within the messaging app, and he said no. Bummer if that's true. Just like bummer if Google Voice can't be swapped in for S-Voice.
20) Samsung Pay will work only in US at first and will work when the watches are released. The NFC is located at the top of the watch (so you know how to angle your hand when tapping it to the NFC reader.
21) They were able to make a battery for this watch that was not totally square which is why they could squeeze more of it inside and make the watch not so huge and still have a good size battery. They're working on an even more round battery for the future which will allow them to make it even bigger size and thus last longer, etc.
22) The e-SIM in the 3G version cannot be taken out and cannot be used on more than one carrier. It's locked into the carrier it's made for.
That's all I can remember. Which is kind of a lot for only watching it once. But now that it's down and no longer available I figured I'd let others know what I saw. Looks like a great watch. Still have lots of unanswered questions but I guess I'll find out in October!
1) The Bluetooth Version will be released in the US on October 2nd and the 3G version will be released on November 6th.
2) The 3G version will initially be only available on Verizon, At&t, US Cellular, and T-Mobile. Not Sprint...at least not right away.
3) They went over IP68 and while it's definitely the highest rating among all smart watches for water resistance, they still don't "recommend" it's used deeper than 1.5 m and the rating doesn't necessarily apply to salt water or when swimming where your arm is paddling heavily through the water which creates more "pressure" on the watch. It's strong for sure, above all others, but don't go diving with it or anything. They were being honest about the rating which was refreshing but sorta "woah really?" if you know what I mean.
4) Straps on the non-classic version are through samsung only. Classic version can use any standard watch strap from 3rd parties.
5) They started working on the round bezel smart watch in 2012. Crazy when you think about the whole timeline of how long these things take and when other watches were released.
6) The feature that works with cars looks awesome (BMW/Volkswagon) but might not be operational until 2017 because there's lots of things to work out on both Samsung's side AND the car manufacturer's side.
7) It sounds like the speakerphone feature will only be on the 3G version. This was a bit confusing to me since bluetooth versions of their current smart watches have speakerphones that work great with phones. For example, my Gear 2 Neo can answer calls and the speakerphone on the watch is GREAT! I use it WAY more than I thought I would to answer calls. All versions of Gear S2 have mics for SVoice, but unless I heard wrong (and they mentioned it a few times) only the 3G version will have the speakerphone. Sucks. You'll still be able to answer/reject calls on ALL versions but the non-3G versions will simply open the call on the phone.
8) Their custom watch faces look great and are very much customizable. If you combine all the custom designs you can make with the 26 faces, you end up with around 6000 possible variations. Nice start.
9) The wireless charger has a magnet in it which sorta suctions the watch into place so it's always a nice clean connection. Nice! You can't use current charging pads with the watch because the underside of the watch is curved. It takes about 2.5 hours to charge from 0% to 100% and it'll last 2-3 days and 4-5 days if you run it on powersaving mode which makes things black and white and reduces resolution. I believe the battery thing as my Neo running Tizen lasts 2-3 days.
10) With messages, you can see the whole back and forth history which is a nice change from my current Gear 2 Neo which shows each individual message separately instead of in conversation view.
11) I think they said each watch comes with the larger band attached and a 2nd smaller (women's?) band in box as well.
12) You can easily use any picture on your phone as watch background. The user interface of the watch was really smooth as they navigated through it.
13) There will be a "buddy" option where you can add your top 11 contacts for quick access to contact them, etc.
14) With the two buttons which they said they debated leaving off the watch but ultimately added it in (why not I guess, can't hurt) I wondered how left handed people like myself would fare since we wear watches on our right hand.
15) They said they improved the accuracy of S-Voice "very much". However, the one time they were doing stuff with the watched and they used S-Voice it looked about as slow as before and got only the first two of the 3 words he said. They played it off well but I was like "bummer, it still stinks compared to Google Voice!" Maybe it'll be better when the production versions come out but I'm no longer holding my breath on this.
16) Someone asked if the accuracy of the health tracking features like "Steps" has improved and they sorta brushed it off saying "samsung is the best at this way of tracking things" and they are always "improving things" and learning from customers, blah, blah, blah. Hope they're right.
17) Again I'll say the way the bezel works and the way the user interface looks is SOOO much better than any other watch I've seen out there and especially better than the current Tizen on my Gear 2 Neo. It was smooth and intuitive throughout. I believe that the bezel will eventually be the "norm". Just my opinion though.
18) They are using Gorilla Glass 3 instead of 4 because version 3 is better with scratches.
19) The guy brought up the keyboard but even he had a hard time typing on it and eventually laughed and said "maybe just use S-Voice". While he was lighthearted and saying it sort of as a joke, it led to one person asking if 3rd party keyboards can be used within the messaging app, and he said no. Bummer if that's true. Just like bummer if Google Voice can't be swapped in for S-Voice.
20) Samsung Pay will work only in US at first and will work when the watches are released. The NFC is located at the top of the watch (so you know how to angle your hand when tapping it to the NFC reader.
21) They were able to make a battery for this watch that was not totally square which is why they could squeeze more of it inside and make the watch not so huge and still have a good size battery. They're working on an even more round battery for the future which will allow them to make it even bigger size and thus last longer, etc.
22) The e-SIM in the 3G version cannot be taken out and cannot be used on more than one carrier. It's locked into the carrier it's made for.
That's all I can remember. Which is kind of a lot for only watching it once. But now that it's down and no longer available I figured I'd let others know what I saw. Looks like a great watch. Still have lots of unanswered questions but I guess I'll find out in October!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram