[Samsung Gear S2] jacobgong:
I was looking to get something for the holidays and I wasn't sure what to get, I've been weighing all the potential benefits of the things I could get for about the same amount of money but eventually I was just like, **** it, the Gear S2 looks cooler than all the other things, plus I'm kind of tired of fumbling around to get out my phone just to check the time. I didn't even bother with online, just went to BestBuy where they had a $60 off promotion and got it there. Overall I think I'm very satisfied, but I'm going to talk about my negative points so I can sort of, end on a good note.

I think I've been spoiled by my Galaxy S5 LTE-A's 5.1' 1440p display, the display on the Gear S2 I really cannot call "sharp". I don't know why it's like forgotten now days, but PPI for these PENTILE layout displays aren't the same as RGB LCD panels. There are only half as many red and blue pixels, so for the Gear S2, density for blue and red are around 150 not 300, which is like, iPhone 3G level. Now my S5 screen's width is about twice the width of the Gear S2's screen, but it's 1440 green pixels across, where as the watch is only 360 green pixels, and 180 blue/red pixels. Obviously I won't be able to tell this just glancing at the time, but when I read any kind of text, or scroll through the apps and looking at their icons, it's quite easy to tell. Given that this is a watch with a tiny display, you would naturally have it closer to your face so "retina" level would have to be at least greater than iPhone 4's 300. Also, all of my other displays, including desktop monitors, are already retina level so yea... I'm a spoiled brat at this.

Everyone is praising the ring like crazy but I don't think I'm so impressed. Sure it's good but not that much better than just using the touchscreen. For example if I want to get through to the next page of apps, I have to turn the thing all the way around to do that, where as you can just swipe once with the screen. Another problem is with the mechanism itself, the steps are too far apart and there is a lot of room in between steps where the ring doesn't tend to snap back or forth. So often I find my self leaving it in between steps, and it becomes easy to accidentally engage the next step and cause unwanted scrolling/wake ups. It could really use smaller steps with more snap force.

And obviously, lack of app support, almost all of them are made by second and third rate solo developers who are just not good at graphics design so their apps look like **** and totally don't fit the elegant design of the device they're supposed to run on. All the countless Mr.Time watchfaces are just swapping different images even with the exact same date dial. Really? Is that the best way you can think of to use a 360x360 matrix of RBGB lights with 16.7 millions colors each? Make slightly different images rotate exactly like a mechanical watch? What a waste of potential!

Fortunately, I went into this knowing that the app support will be **** because nobody will give a **** for Tizen. I made that decision because I honestly don't use that many apps on my phone to begin with, cuz I don't socialize that much. So it really doesn't bother me if I can't reply to Hangouts because I don't use Hangouts, or Facebook, or twitter, or instagram, or watsup, or whatever social network thing people use. The only things I'll be missing are the high quality watch faces actually suitable for a smartwatch, instead of just changing different stickers on the same mechanical watch face. I figured I'll attempt to make my own, can't be that hard. In the mean time Samsung has a decent selection of worthwhile watch designs.

Aside from all that, using this thing is just great, people say things like oh why would you get another device that needs to be charged every day that does all the same thing your phone can do? Well first of all, charging really isn't even a problem because unless you're terribly unorganized person, you're probably gonna leave your watch at the same place every day anyway. Might as well just sit it on a magnetic dock, it literally adds no complications to your daily routine. And secondly, sure I can check the time on my phone, but you know what else I can do? I can go home, turn on my computer, and check the time on my computer! Just because you can do it, doesn't mean it's the best way to do it. You know what's the best way to check time? According to centuries of trial and error, it's the WATCH! And if you're gonna look at that thing several times a day, might as well give it a pretty screen and info on what's going on on your phone.

The wake up gesture just works surprisingly well, like it's almost really difficult to try and look at the watch without turning on the display. The battery life is just shocking, I've yet been able to make it go under 80% before I go to sleep. It's probably the first smart watch that's barely small enough to not be bulky (yea even the apple watch feels a bit thick), I mean just look at the Moto 360, it's round but look at that edge! It just looks like somebody intentionally made it thick enough to house a battery. Where as the Gear S2 seems to have a natural thickness derived from its overall shape. The back doesn't look as kick-ass as the apple watch but the front is definitely the best there is.

I mean yes it's like three times as expensive as I would spend on a regular watch, but I really think it's worth it, even if I can't use Google Voice/Now, even if I have no access to even slightly creative watch faces. For the features it does have, it does them extremely well, and totally above expectations. Small things like never miss another (rare) message notifications, skipping tracks without having to like, penta-click the tiny button on my headset, being able to unlock the phone without constantly having to use the fingerprint sensor. And of course, being able to say, Yes it's a smart watch, *****! Won't get that from the Apple watch, because everybody knows it's an Apple watch.