Dear Samsung,
You made a great smartwatch in the Gear S2, but you left a few things out that I hope you'll find a way to include in your next round (no pun intended) which will almost certainly lead to even better reviews and better sales across the board. While I'm sure you're aware of what reviewers and users are saying out there, to keep it simple and all in one place, here's a few features we'd love to see in the next Gear S3 smartwatch... in no particular order...
1) Size: please have a model of the exact same size (1.2" screen) plus a 2nd option at 1.5" screen for those with larger wrists or who just want a larger screen option.
2) Voice integration - while we appreciate the hard work that's gone into SVoice, most reviewers and users alike will agree that it's far, far behind in speed and accuracy compared to googles voice search. Please allow users to use Google Voice Search on the watch to reply to messages, perform searches, etc. etc. This is a major disappointment in terms of effectiveness and usability especially on a smart watch where typing isn't optimal.
3) Reminders - please allow users to quickly and easily set reminders using the watch. Hopefully using the speed and accuracy of Google's Voice Search engine, not SVoice (see #2).
4) Left Handed People Left Out - while most people wear their watches on their left hands, many of us who write left handed wear our watches on our right wrists. Please allow the watch to have an orientation setting/mode that flips the watch around so it can be used effectively on the opposite hand and the hardware buttons and speaker will still face away from the wrist so as not to interfere. Apple watch does this nicely in their software settings.
5) Apps - while your initial release showed many great apps coming including home and auto integration...users have no idea where many of those apps are currently and have no way of knowing when they'll be here. 2015? 2016? 2017? I know it takes time for developers to catch on and make it right for this unique platform, but there's a level of uncertainty with any new user as to when, if ever, quality applications will arrive for this watch.
6) Please integrate with Google Maps, especially on versions that have GPS.
7) Although it appears that your watch does have an ambient light sensor, it's not clear if there's auto brightness functionality. Most reviews say there is not auto-brightness, but users have reported that the watch can be manually set to a low brightness level and will adjust higher automatically when you go outdoors, etc. That's auto brightness to me. Why hide such a nice feature that other makers have to incorporate a flat tire just to have.
8) When a notification comes through please allow the users to define how long they'd like it to appear on their screen as the current way it's set up, the notifications that come through go away REALLY quickly and users are forced to go home, then rotate left just to find the notification that just came through. More settings allowing users to customize how they'd like notifications to show and for how long would be nice so if we want notifications to always remain. On Android Wear for example, notification stays on main watch face until it's been dismissed there or on the phone. Would be nice to at least have the OPTION to make this happen.
9) Speakerphone and GPS on all models. Not that everyone wants it but once they realize that have that capability it leaves nothing for any one to complain about and you won't have reviews out there that are different because that particular user didn't use the "best" model for their review. You can still have a separate 3G model for those that wanna be independent of their phones.
10) Please address the fact that many reviews have pointed out that the step count for users of the Gear S2 is often 10-20% less than other devices.
11) IR Blaster - not "necessary" by any means but nice to have. So why not add it to the top of the watch above the bezel like you had in previous models?
12) Release a Classic version of the Gear S2 3G model. We all love how this model has built in speakerphone, GPS, and a bigger battery to allow for the independence of using the 3G...but the Classic is more "classy" in style and some of us would love to be free of our phones and dress nicely with a nice sleek watch.
13) Better bands - this is bound to happen over time I'm sure, but more options, classier options, metal options, sleeker options with nice easy clasps as opposed to just the old school type latches used with the S2.
14) iPhone support. Great job on including other android users on your Gear S2. Now time to tap into the millions of iPhone users out there which will give them a killer (better) option and is bound to consequently increase the number of developers that want to create great apps for the watch. Since it's already "in the works" might as well try to make it function even better than Android Wear's current "limited" integration.
15) Sleep monitoring - where have you gone?
16) Better integration with 3rd party email apps. Gear S2 works nicely with the native email app but would be nice if other 3rd party apps had better integration to allow users to read the whole message, reply, delete, archive, flag, etc. just like you can with the native app. I realize this is a lot to do with how those 3rd party apps support this platform, but it would be nice if this was improved as many Android users use 3rd party email apps.
17) MST Integration - The inclusion of NFC is great! Take it one step further for Samsung Pay users.
Thank you Samsung.
That's all for now. Feel free to add to my list if you'd like.
You made a great smartwatch in the Gear S2, but you left a few things out that I hope you'll find a way to include in your next round (no pun intended) which will almost certainly lead to even better reviews and better sales across the board. While I'm sure you're aware of what reviewers and users are saying out there, to keep it simple and all in one place, here's a few features we'd love to see in the next Gear S3 smartwatch... in no particular order...
1) Size: please have a model of the exact same size (1.2" screen) plus a 2nd option at 1.5" screen for those with larger wrists or who just want a larger screen option.
2) Voice integration - while we appreciate the hard work that's gone into SVoice, most reviewers and users alike will agree that it's far, far behind in speed and accuracy compared to googles voice search. Please allow users to use Google Voice Search on the watch to reply to messages, perform searches, etc. etc. This is a major disappointment in terms of effectiveness and usability especially on a smart watch where typing isn't optimal.
3) Reminders - please allow users to quickly and easily set reminders using the watch. Hopefully using the speed and accuracy of Google's Voice Search engine, not SVoice (see #2).
4) Left Handed People Left Out - while most people wear their watches on their left hands, many of us who write left handed wear our watches on our right wrists. Please allow the watch to have an orientation setting/mode that flips the watch around so it can be used effectively on the opposite hand and the hardware buttons and speaker will still face away from the wrist so as not to interfere. Apple watch does this nicely in their software settings.
5) Apps - while your initial release showed many great apps coming including home and auto integration...users have no idea where many of those apps are currently and have no way of knowing when they'll be here. 2015? 2016? 2017? I know it takes time for developers to catch on and make it right for this unique platform, but there's a level of uncertainty with any new user as to when, if ever, quality applications will arrive for this watch.
6) Please integrate with Google Maps, especially on versions that have GPS.
7) Although it appears that your watch does have an ambient light sensor, it's not clear if there's auto brightness functionality. Most reviews say there is not auto-brightness, but users have reported that the watch can be manually set to a low brightness level and will adjust higher automatically when you go outdoors, etc. That's auto brightness to me. Why hide such a nice feature that other makers have to incorporate a flat tire just to have.
8) When a notification comes through please allow the users to define how long they'd like it to appear on their screen as the current way it's set up, the notifications that come through go away REALLY quickly and users are forced to go home, then rotate left just to find the notification that just came through. More settings allowing users to customize how they'd like notifications to show and for how long would be nice so if we want notifications to always remain. On Android Wear for example, notification stays on main watch face until it's been dismissed there or on the phone. Would be nice to at least have the OPTION to make this happen.
9) Speakerphone and GPS on all models. Not that everyone wants it but once they realize that have that capability it leaves nothing for any one to complain about and you won't have reviews out there that are different because that particular user didn't use the "best" model for their review. You can still have a separate 3G model for those that wanna be independent of their phones.
10) Please address the fact that many reviews have pointed out that the step count for users of the Gear S2 is often 10-20% less than other devices.
11) IR Blaster - not "necessary" by any means but nice to have. So why not add it to the top of the watch above the bezel like you had in previous models?
12) Release a Classic version of the Gear S2 3G model. We all love how this model has built in speakerphone, GPS, and a bigger battery to allow for the independence of using the 3G...but the Classic is more "classy" in style and some of us would love to be free of our phones and dress nicely with a nice sleek watch.
13) Better bands - this is bound to happen over time I'm sure, but more options, classier options, metal options, sleeker options with nice easy clasps as opposed to just the old school type latches used with the S2.
14) iPhone support. Great job on including other android users on your Gear S2. Now time to tap into the millions of iPhone users out there which will give them a killer (better) option and is bound to consequently increase the number of developers that want to create great apps for the watch. Since it's already "in the works" might as well try to make it function even better than Android Wear's current "limited" integration.
15) Sleep monitoring - where have you gone?
16) Better integration with 3rd party email apps. Gear S2 works nicely with the native email app but would be nice if other 3rd party apps had better integration to allow users to read the whole message, reply, delete, archive, flag, etc. just like you can with the native app. I realize this is a lot to do with how those 3rd party apps support this platform, but it would be nice if this was improved as many Android users use 3rd party email apps.
17) MST Integration - The inclusion of NFC is great! Take it one step further for Samsung Pay users.
Thank you Samsung.
That's all for now. Feel free to add to my list if you'd like.
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