Your wrist will never be the same again.
by Regina Layug Rosero l Photo courtesy: www.engadget.com
New technology is so seductive. Many new gadgets aren’t just powerful and efficient machines, but also sleek and elegant accessories. The Samsung Gear S2 Classic is one such charmer, running Tizen OS on 4GB internal memory and 512MB RAM.
One of the Gear S2’s instant attractions is the 1.2-inch screen, with its 360×360 302 ppi resolution. This tiny thing displays sharp contrast and vivid colors, snappy response and gorgeous display. Reliable, sturdy hardware is still one of Samsung’s strong suits.
It’s easy to fall in love with this device, especially if you’ve never really tried wearable tech before. It tracks your steps, tells you when you’ve been sitting at your desk too long, and checks your heartrate. It vibrates gently when you have notifications, like someone tapping on your arm to ask if you’ve had your coffee or water. (Incidentally, the Gear S2 can monitor your coffee and water intake!) It connects pretty seamlessly to most non-Samsung Android phones, as long as they’re running Android 4.4 and later, with at least 1.5GB RAM.
Like all new relationships though, there are some kinks. Samsung still has a tendency towards bloatware, so the Gear S2 comes preinstalled with things like Bloomberg, CNN, ESPN and a few other apps. If you’re the type who likes full control of your device—move this, remove that, screen display on for X seconds before it turns off—then you can do that on the Gear app on your phone. But you can’t just go to an app page and hit “uninstall.” Instead you do that on the menu that lets you fix the app layout; not exactly intuitive.
Here’s another hitch: connecting the Gear S2 to non-Samsung apps can be an exercise in exasperation. An attempt to link the Gear S2 to Google Fit on the Asus Zenfone 2, for example, requires the installation of a third-party app and complicated settings.
There’s something else to consider: the list price for the Gear S2 is about Php 16,300. On Lazada.com.ph, the Classic sells for upwards of Php 19,500. Compare this to the Asus Zenwatch 2, which goes for around Php 14,800, or the LG Watch Urbane W150, which sells for upwards of Php 11,800. If you like the durability of Samsung devices, and can learn to live with a few hiccups, then this could be the price of a beautiful relationship. Otherwise, you can afford to date around.
