The first digital watches were introduced in the 1970ies and almost put conventional watches out of business back then. This eventually was postponed until the 1990ies. Samsung introduced its first smartwatch in 1999.
Today, Oktober 2015, Samsung has just introduced its Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch. This impressed a lot of technicians, because this was a big innovation in the field of smartwatches, especially for Samsung, who didn’t make very much impression in this area the last few years.
Nu.nl has got the chance to try the sports version of the new smartwatch from Samsung. It is not a nerdy gadget, because it isn’t that big and therefore doesn’t stand out. This ensures this new smartwatch from Samsung to be miles ahead of the old Samsung smartwatch, which was enormous, ugly and it barely functioned. The quality of the new watch is a lot better and the rubber band is comfortable.
The watch can be controlled by a circle around the screen. With every click, you switch apps or screens. This makes this watch directly understandable, in contrast to the Apple smartwatch which is pretty difficult to understand.
The most outstanding characteristic is actually invisible: in contrast to other, former Samsung smartwatches, this watch is also functioning in combination with Android-smartphones from other manufacturers. This makes this watch more attractive to other Android-users, who don’t use Samsung. I think this is a very smart move, which would definitely raise sales.
Watch the video below to get a better idea of how this smartwatch works.
After reading this information about the new Samsung watch, would you consider buying one? It is clear that the smartwatches nowadays are only getting better and that this is the smartphone of the future. Do you think that smartwatches really are going to replace smartphones eventually? I would like to hear your opinion about it!
Website Nutech, http://www.nu.nl/reviews/4119020/eerste-indruk-samsung-imponeert-met-gear-s2-smartwatch.html, accessed at 17th Oktober 2015
Website Nutech, http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/4146578/samsung-smartwatch-gear-s2-30-oktober-verkrijgbaar.html, accessed at 17th Oktober 2015
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To be honest, i love gadgets like this. But at the moment the smartwatch is just too expensive. Especially for me, an apple user. I believe samsung watches are not working on apple phones and i understand that, with apple being the biggest competitor of samsung in de smartphone industry. The Apple watch is my only option and with the cheapest one selling for around 400 euro’s, i think it’s better to wait or a couple of years. The price should be lower by then and the watches will be improved.
At the moment you can’t do a lot with the smartwatches and i think the battery of your phone will go down a lot faster due to the bluetooth connection between your phone and watch. If they improve this matter and lower te price i will buy one for sure.
Maybe in the future it can function as a substitute for mobile phones, although people are a bit hooked on their smartphones, like me :). What I like about a smartphone is that it has a big screen (and the big screen doesn’t bother me because it is not inconvenient wrapped around my wrist) and that I can put it away in a purse or whatever. Having the access to social media on a watch which is on my wrist the whole day would freak me out I think. Sometimes I like to be out of reach ;). Would you yourself replace your phone by a watch?
I totally agree! Having a smartwatch on your wrist and receiving every little thing all day long because of this would really stress me out. Most messages during the day, via WhatsApp, e-mail, Facebook or whatever, are about nothing. Being notified about this constantly would really screw up my social life I think. I can turn my phone off or put it away for a while, but messages on a smartwatch are hard to ignore I guess. And maybe when people know you have a smartwatch they expect you to react swiftly. With your phone you can say: ‘oops, I’m just seeing this now…’ 😉 I personally never heard of the Samsung smartwatch. I did know Apple launched one and of course probably everyone knows about the Pebble smartwatch (compatible with Android and IOS devices). If only because of their two record breaking Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns. The first one getting 10,2 million dollar in and the second run gaining 20,3 million dollar in pre-orders. This also means a lot of people like to have a smartwatch. Guess I’m not such an innovator in this type of product; I’m more of a late majority or even a laggard in this for that matter…
Interesting post! I’m personally not a person who would go for these digital watches. Even though these watches have some really cool features, I don’t think they could match up to the look and classiness of a Titan or Rolex watch ☺
Looking at the new Samsung watch, it does look very simple and easy to use unlike the Apple watch. However, this gadget cannot be bought by Apple users, which would indeed decrease and limit Samsung’s target customers. Apple users like me would have to settle for a very expensive and complicated Apple watch.
Most people nowadays are constantly checking their smartphones for updates and notifications from the various apps they use. However, there are times when I can switch off my phone and put it away without stressing about replying to anyone. Smartwatches would probably add an extra pressure to individuals due to constant beep on notifications and reminders, which would indeed be hard to ignore. Also, how would you reply to messages in that small screen in a watch? It could also cause a strain to your eyes!
Getting constant notifications on my watch all day would honestly be very annoying! Hence I wouldn’t prefer replacing my phone by a watch!
Very nice post.
I also read the article on nu.nl. I have a smartwatch from ASUS, the ASUS Zenwatch. It is more of a extension of your smartphone. The nice thing is, that you can mute the notifications on your smartwatch and when you want you can look if anyone has sent you something. Also another feature is that you can choose which apps send notification to your smartwatch. For instance if you don’t want any whatsapp notifications on your smartwatch you just mute it in the smartwatch app on your phone. I really like my smartwatch because now I don’t have to get my phone out of my pocket to see if there is something. I can even answer short sentences via voice command on the smartwatch. Yesterday I used my smartwatch to navigate while cycling, that is much easier than having a phone in your hand. You also can see what weather it is on your watch and a lot of apps nowadays support smartwatches. So yeah, for the right price smartwatches are fun. And I like not having my phone in my hand the whole time. And for sports it is also a nice gadget. I don’t think that it will replace a smartphone, it is more of an extension that’s in development and they can be usefull.