It has two navigation buttons on its right side. The button layout on the Gear S2 is straightforward and better than any other smartwatch.

It calls this cut-and-run philosophy “relentless innovation.” Samsung is known for iterating fast and abandoning losing ideas pretty quickly. There are already a number of choices at launch, though if the Gear S2 doesn’t take off, early adopters will have a hard time finding straps in a couple years. The bands on the Sport are easily removed via a button on the bottom of each, and replaceable with other Samsung-made straps. The strap that comes with it is a rubbery silicone, which feels a lot like the Apple Watch Sport bands. I tested the stainless steel Sport version with Bluetooth, which has a brushed metal finish and winged-style straps that make it look a little more elegant on smaller wrists. The Gear S2’s secret weapon is the bezel surrounding its screen.I tested the stainless steel And the Gear S3, which should be released shortly, promises competition and adds some crucial missing features, though Samsung says it is will not replace the S2. The Huawei Watch is better looking, for example, though the interface is less intuitive and elegant.

That said, the competition in recent months has gotten quite stiff. A lot of post- Apple Watch wearables are looking more acceptable on the wrist, but the Gear S2 is one of the best-looking, best-sized smartwatch yet. Watches are fashion statements, and no one wants to wear something crappy or huge just for some notifications. The user interface of a watch is important, but an attractive and comfortable design is more important. Updated on 10-03-2016 by Jeremy Kaplan: Updated to reflect bug fixes and new apps, and added experiential testing with the S Health app. But concerns about usability remain, and ultimately, there’s no killer app that makes this a must-have device. These improvements to one of the most compelling smartwatches yet are great the company seems to finally understand why folks might want a watch at all. Samsung has updated the software to address some of the bugs we detected last fall and has released a handful of key apps - including Samsung Pay support for Uber.

Unfortunately, since strapping the final version of the watch on our wrists - and over the months since then –the experience hasn’t been all daisies and daffodils. And over time, the watch’s beauty held out. In many ways, the Gear S2 was the best Samsung product in years. Maybe it was the Berlin goggles, but Samsung’s was the best-looking, easiest-to-use watch we had ever seen, from an interface standpoint. Smartwatches have gotten better and better looking since the the Gear S2 watch first blew us away at the 2015 IFA trade show.

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