I actually glad to hear that it is very sensitive. I had the first gen M360 and half the time it would not wake up when I moved my wrist. That was really annoying to me.
Samsung Gear S2 First Impressions
- Thread starter winpeguy
- Start date
I actually glad to hear that it is very sensitive. I had the first gen M360 and half the time it would not wake up when I moved my wrist. That was really annoying to me.
Not being able to make or take calls from the watch is a deal breaker for me wish I'd known before I bought one. Will be taking it back for refund tomorrow.
L_E_O
Well-known member
- Jun 4, 2011
- 46
- 0
- 0
Yeah... I'm kind of with you with the calls. I was really banking on the call functionality and NFC bringing enough new features to justify another $300 watch, but so far I'm not quite seeing it. Don't get me wrong... It's a solid device. It's just that the new/different stuff I've seen so far hasn't outweighed the cons of moving to a new OS without the full weight of Android behind it.
Its just Day 1 though. We'll see how it feels after 2-3 days.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
Its just Day 1 though. We'll see how it feels after 2-3 days.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
I thought I could give it a few days but as I go through the watch I see that I can't change the orientation from left to right handed, or put my own pictures. These were all features for the first watch which I own. Huge step back Samsung. Big mistake
On you phone open the Gear App, then Send Media. From there you can send pictures to your Gear S2. Open Gallery on your S2 to view the pictures. You can even enable an album to Auto Sync. Have you even looked at all the apps on your S2 and in Gear Manager? Give it a few more days to make sure you know all the features before breaking down.
As for the left / right handed, not sure how to change it or if it is possible, but keep in mind you live in a Right Handed World.
Watch Always On
Settings > Display > Watch Always On
I am finding that I prefer to not have the S2 always on. Aside from the battery gain, the responsiveness of the S2 is fast enough to work beautifully. Kudos to Samsung for getting this right. I have had several other Tizen and Android Wear watches where the response was slow and I thought leaving it on Ambient Mode would help.
There are very few false positives in my usage. As soon as I list my hand to look at my watch, the display comes on instantly, and stays on for 7 seconds before going off again. Picking up a drink didn't fool the watch, it performed rather well at least 90% of the time in my testing. I'll see what kind of battery gains I get. Give it a try for yourself!
Wi-Fi
Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi
Just turn it on. By design it will stay off when you are connected to BT, but as soon as your phone disconnects (you walk far away from your phone), the Wi-Fi will turn on and connect back to your phone (assuming you are on the same wireless network). It should pull and use the Wireless Profiles you have on your phone automatically, no need to configure or enter passwords. Excellent work here Samsung.
Some features won't work (can't configure the S2 like the Watch Face) but you will get your Notifications.
Settings > Display > Watch Always On
I am finding that I prefer to not have the S2 always on. Aside from the battery gain, the responsiveness of the S2 is fast enough to work beautifully. Kudos to Samsung for getting this right. I have had several other Tizen and Android Wear watches where the response was slow and I thought leaving it on Ambient Mode would help.
There are very few false positives in my usage. As soon as I list my hand to look at my watch, the display comes on instantly, and stays on for 7 seconds before going off again. Picking up a drink didn't fool the watch, it performed rather well at least 90% of the time in my testing. I'll see what kind of battery gains I get. Give it a try for yourself!
Wi-Fi
Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi
Just turn it on. By design it will stay off when you are connected to BT, but as soon as your phone disconnects (you walk far away from your phone), the Wi-Fi will turn on and connect back to your phone (assuming you are on the same wireless network). It should pull and use the Wireless Profiles you have on your phone automatically, no need to configure or enter passwords. Excellent work here Samsung.
Some features won't work (can't configure the S2 like the Watch Face) but you will get your Notifications.
sag7392
Well-known member
- May 17, 2010
- 67
- 3
- 0
To the OP...great write up and I agree with your points. S-voice is no Google Now, but it does have usability. Plus, I'm sure more apps will come and Samsung updates will make the S2 even better. And coming from a Moto 360 (Gen 1), I actually like the S2 a little better. So it will be sitting on my wrist.
Posted via the Android Central App
Posted via the Android Central App
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I agree with you...I'm a lefty too who wears watch on right hand. Since the screen automatically rotates when you place it in the charger it seems Samsung could easily add a screen rotation/orientation setting to make it easier for those wearing the watch on their right hand.
The screen automatically rotates when it goes in the charger so I'm sure Samsung could add a setting for rotation/orientation for those wanting to wear the watch on their right hand with the buttons on the left side of the watch for ease of use.
I did a write up of my first exercise session with the Gear S2. Unfortunately it was not all roses. You can read about it at this thread.
Thanks for writing this. Very cool. Using a Moto X 2014, I had to enter a password (which was a pain). But, it is working.
Opened Buddy. Chose my home. Clicked place call. Call went right out from my phone. No problem.
Haven't tried to take a call yet.
Haven't tried to take a call yet.
Amazing write up! What impresses me the most is battery life. When I got it yesterday with 90%, I went to bed at about 11 with around 35%. This is with a lot of email notifications, texting and WhatsApp. I am NOT running ambient mode as I wanted to test first without it. Today, I've had it unplugged for 9.5 hours, with a 30 minute treadmill jog with continuous HRM and still have 72% left which compared to my old Android Wear device, is way better.
S Voice is just meh compared to ok Google. I do miss the Google Now cards. The one thing I don't really like is how some times I have to scroll to the notification screen to see my notifications where with Android Wear you would see cards towards the bottom. What I'm mostly frustrated about is the apps Samsung promised that are not in the store!
Oh, I also don't like the fact that I have to download apps separately where in Android wear you just download the phone app and the watch could use that.
So far these are my annoyances but haven't found any deal breakers and all of my apps have interacted very well with the watch. I really am in love with the fluidness and speed of the UI. No hiccups, no lag whatsoever. I also love the interaction with the bezel, I think samsung did really good in UX with this watch
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
S Voice is just meh compared to ok Google. I do miss the Google Now cards. The one thing I don't really like is how some times I have to scroll to the notification screen to see my notifications where with Android Wear you would see cards towards the bottom. What I'm mostly frustrated about is the apps Samsung promised that are not in the store!
Oh, I also don't like the fact that I have to download apps separately where in Android wear you just download the phone app and the watch could use that.
So far these are my annoyances but haven't found any deal breakers and all of my apps have interacted very well with the watch. I really am in love with the fluidness and speed of the UI. No hiccups, no lag whatsoever. I also love the interaction with the bezel, I think samsung did really good in UX with this watch
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
How did you setup continuous HRM? Can't find that setting. Thanks.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
In the S Health app on the watch when you start a workout it monitors your heart rate throughout the workout until you finish the workout.
Also, there's an option to increase the frequency of auto heart rate monitor throughout the day which I think automatically takes your heart rate twice an hour.
The help menu tells you that HRM will happen throughout a workout. Every time I looked at the watch the S Health app came on by default and HRM was always going and changing
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
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Battery Life
I am impressed and disappointed in the S2's battery life. While the press release states 2-3 days, I might just barely hit 2.
So my morning started at 6:00 AM. Not a typical Saturday as we had a Garage Sale this morning, lots of moving stuff, etc. Ran some errands, spent some time outside, you know, the usual.
I turned Always On Display to Off, and Brightness to 5.
It is 7:10 PM right now, so 13 hours later and I am exactly at 50% with about 8200 steps taken so far today.
I'm pretty sure this whips up on anything Android Wear can offer, and as it stands if I don't sleep I should make it to 26 hour. So while I am happy it made it will probably make it to Day 2, but just barely.
Edit. So 8:34 PM (1 hour 24 minutes later) my battery is at 41%. I did give my son a bath, and also noticed the Heart Rate Monitor light (green on back) kicked on for its health check. This may not make it to morning.
I am impressed and disappointed in the S2's battery life. While the press release states 2-3 days, I might just barely hit 2.
So my morning started at 6:00 AM. Not a typical Saturday as we had a Garage Sale this morning, lots of moving stuff, etc. Ran some errands, spent some time outside, you know, the usual.
I turned Always On Display to Off, and Brightness to 5.
It is 7:10 PM right now, so 13 hours later and I am exactly at 50% with about 8200 steps taken so far today.
I'm pretty sure this whips up on anything Android Wear can offer, and as it stands if I don't sleep I should make it to 26 hour. So while I am happy it made it will probably make it to Day 2, but just barely.
Edit. So 8:34 PM (1 hour 24 minutes later) my battery is at 41%. I did give my son a bath, and also noticed the Heart Rate Monitor light (green on back) kicked on for its health check. This may not make it to morning.
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The jury is still out for me on the battery. Today was a lazy day due to the rain and great college football games on all day ;-)
Yesterday I was a little worried but I must have played with the watch for 4 or 5 hours straight getting to know it. Today i put it on around 9am and messed with a few watch faces but besides that I was a hermit until around 7 pm, then I went out for dinner with 75% left.. I was really impressed untillll... The restaurant was about 15 mins away and I noticed that as I was driving using the steering wheel with my left hand caused the face to come on ALOT. By the time I reached to BBQ spot I was at 71%. Again that was a 15 mins ride... I was out for a few hours enjoying the meal getting plenty of notifications and I arrived home with 68%. It's 10 pm now and I'm sitting on 65% which I think is great but on a normal workday with 45-60 mins of exercise?? I don't know yet... I would give a thumbs up if I'm going to bed in the 60s on a normal day for sure... Still don't know if that translates to 2-3 days tho..
Posted via the Android Central App
Yesterday I was a little worried but I must have played with the watch for 4 or 5 hours straight getting to know it. Today i put it on around 9am and messed with a few watch faces but besides that I was a hermit until around 7 pm, then I went out for dinner with 75% left.. I was really impressed untillll... The restaurant was about 15 mins away and I noticed that as I was driving using the steering wheel with my left hand caused the face to come on ALOT. By the time I reached to BBQ spot I was at 71%. Again that was a 15 mins ride... I was out for a few hours enjoying the meal getting plenty of notifications and I arrived home with 68%. It's 10 pm now and I'm sitting on 65% which I think is great but on a normal workday with 45-60 mins of exercise?? I don't know yet... I would give a thumbs up if I'm going to bed in the 60s on a normal day for sure... Still don't know if that translates to 2-3 days tho..
Posted via the Android Central App
Battery Life Day One
Ok, so from 6:00 AM to 10:11 PM (16 hours 11 minutes) ends at 33%, or about 4.14% per hour with 10,095 steps of activity, no running. At this rate, the remaining 33% will get me to 6:09 AM, so a few minutes over 24 hours, but I am sure sleeping will use much less power, so I'll find out in the morning where I stand.
I decided to turn the Auto HRM to Off to gain a little more Battery life. I'll update tomorrow.
Ok, so from 6:00 AM to 10:11 PM (16 hours 11 minutes) ends at 33%, or about 4.14% per hour with 10,095 steps of activity, no running. At this rate, the remaining 33% will get me to 6:09 AM, so a few minutes over 24 hours, but I am sure sleeping will use much less power, so I'll find out in the morning where I stand.
I decided to turn the Auto HRM to Off to gain a little more Battery life. I'll update tomorrow.
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