'Samsung Galaxy Gear S2' Review, Specs, Features: Runs Tizen OS, With 4 GB Memory, e SIM, Water Resistant

We have been introduced to a bunch of smartwatches this year, and almost all of these wearables are just the same. There may be a couple of differences when it comes to the looks, but basically they all possess the same features, and not all are 3G enabled. Luckily, there are a few wearables that has features more premium than the others. One name that comes to mind is the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G".

"Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" Specs

This wearable which was released October, has a measurement of 2.04 x 1.73 x .53 inches. It weighs 51 grams and is made of stainless steel. It comes with an E sim and is Samsung Pay enabled. Also the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" is IP68 certified to be dust and water resistant (1.5 meters and 30 minutes). This wearable has a 1.2 inch super AMOLED screen with 360 x 360 pixel resolution or 302 pixels per inch density. Clearly, the display is high quality and the resolution is better than many smartphones in the market. Furthermore, the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Executive Vice President, Enterprise Business and mCommerce Samsung, Injong Rhee unveils the Galaxy S6 edge+ , Galaxy Note5 and Samsung Pay at Samsung Unpacked 2015 on August 13, 2015 in New York City. (Photo : Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Samsung)

However, when it comes to the platform, the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" is not running Android Wear. Instead, it runs a Tizen based operating system and it is powered by Qualcomm MSM8x26 chipset with dual core1.6 GHz processor. For the watch's internal memory department, the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" has 4 GB internal storage with 512 MB RAM. The watch has no microSD slot.

For the device's connections, it has Wi Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and NFC. Furthermore, the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" is wireless charging capable and it has the S voice natural language commands and dictation feature.

It comes with a Li Ion 300 mAh battery that can last up to 48 hours of mixed usage. The watch comes in the colors of Dark Gray and Silver and it costs around 450 Euros.

As a conclusion, it looks like the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" is a very premium smartwatch. It is unlike many wearables that compromised many features and simply act as a notification device. The "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" can do many things. But of course, it is also pricier than its rivals. Also, its non Android OS may take you back a bit. But overall, we can say that if you want a smartwatch of higher quality, the "Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 3G" can be one of your options.

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Samsung Tizen Z3 proves surprisingly popular

As you are probably aware, Samsung has been slowly improving its home-grown Tizen operating system over the past year or two, releasing a couple of affordable smartphones targeted at emerging markets like India and Bangladesh. The company’s latest device, the Z3, recently made it into GSMArena’s Top 10 Trending Phones of Week 46 rankings at number four, proving that there’s certainly a market for the Tizen-based device – at that customers are open to trying something other than Android and iOS.

Tizen powered Z3 breaks into the top 10

The Z3 (running Tizen 2.3) was launched in India in late October and managed to enter the top ten rankings less than a month later. The first version of the Z-series smartphones, the Z1, made the top 10 rankings a little over 6 weeks after launch, with Samsung going on to sell more than a million devices in India alone. No doubt the attractive price helped – the Z3 cost the equivalent of $130 at launch: a very competitive price but by no means the cheapest smartphone in India.

In much of the western world however it’s a different story for Tizen, which has mainly seen adoption on Samsung’s smart television sets (like the JU6500 4K TV). But strong sales of the Z3 helped Tizen reach fourth place in the global OS popularity stakes, beating BlackBerry OS to the punch in Q3 this year. Samsung will be hoping to capitalise on the success of Tizen in countries like India, Russia and perhaps even Europe in future.

Unfortunately for many people, the main reason not to buy a Tizen-powered device may be the current lack of apps on the platform – something that Samsung no doubt hopes to rectify given time. For those people who aren’t too concerned with having the widest choice of apps (or who are happy with the web versions), Tizen will no doubt suffice just fine.

So what of the Z3 itself? Here’s a brief overview of the Samsung’s latest Tizen phone…

In terms of the design, Samsung has revamped its entire lineup (especially its high-end Galaxy models) with more premium materials and a fresh new design in the wake of past criticism. Even more budget models like the Z3 have had a welcome revamp giving a rather premium feel while remaining good value for money.

Display

The Z3’s display is fairly comparable to older screens found on phones like the Galaxy S3 in the past. The resolution is just 720p (the same as an iPhone 6s), which is perhaps low for a 5-inch phone, but with a 300 pixels-per-inch rating it should be fairly crisp and clear, while helping to extend battery life. Samsung has also thankfully endowed the Z3 with a Super AMOLED display.

Camera

The Z3’s camera isn’t much to write home about – an 8 megapixel model with fairly standard features such as autofocus and an LED flash, but it does provide 1080p video recording. The front camera is a 5 megapixel model, which is more than sufficient for selfies.

Z3 performance

While most high-end Android phones pack multi-core CPUs with several GB of RAM, the Z3 isn’t far behind with a quad-core 1.3 GHz processor and 1 GB of system memory. If Samsung’s engineering teams are anything like Apple’s, they will have heavily optimised Tizen to be as efficient as possible and tailored for the specific hardware it runs on. For $130, buyers of the Z3 probably aren’t expecting to play the latest processor-intesive 3D games, but it’s likely to be more than capable for the majority of tasks and apps on the Tizen store.

We’re looking forward to more Tizen-based phones from Samsung, and its great to see the company forging ahead with new models and improvements to the operating system.

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Samsung Gear S2 Update: New Firmware Rolls Out for Tizen Smartwatch

A firmware update for the Samsung Gear S2 has been released. New features and improvements are now available for the smartwatch.

As per Android Headlines, the Samsung Gear S2 is the South-Korean tech giant's latest smartwatch. Instead of Android Wear, the gear is running on Tizen.
The Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 update comes with a lengthy changelog. Posted on Phandroid, the new firmware brings in an "Add Widgets" label to the smartwatch. The new label is placed under the plus symbol allowing users to easily understand the function.
The latest update now allows the smartwatch to vibrate once it gets disconnected to the smartphone. Furthermore, there are new screen timeout options available, including 15 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute and five minutes.

Another feature to find in the update is the Auto Open Apps. This new option allows the Samsung smartwatch to automatically open apps once the users stop rotating the bezel on an icon.
The latest update also brings in several new applications such as World clock, a Flipboard News Briefing app and a Starbucks app. Meanwhile, in South Korea, the firmware update for the Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 offers a new navigation app.
Gear S2 users will also find a small orange circle upon updating the smartwatch. According to Phandroid, it is a notification indicator which appears when "notifications aren't set to wake up the screen," the post read.
The new update also makes it easier for Gear S2 owners to read the notifications. The post further noted that the notification text grows bigger when users double tap it. For the complete changelog, head over to the Phandroid's post that is linked above.
Watch below for the review of the Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 from Android Authority, posted on their Youtube channel.

Released on Oct. 2015, the smartwatch is currently available in Korea and the United States. Since the device is not yet available in several markets, followers anticipate that this latest firmware update will already be pre-installed in the Samsung Gear S2 once the product launches in other regions.
The Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 is compatible with Android devices running on, at least, Android 4.4 KitKat. The smartwatch offers several apps and a unique rotating bezel, as main control for the elements showing onscreen.
Visit Latin Post regularly for news about Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 and other smartwatches currently available in the market.

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Samsung To Unveil High-End Tizen OS Smartphone In 2016

The South Korean technology company is gearing up to release a new high-end smartphone in the market, this time powered by its home-grown mobile operating system, Tizen. This is according to a report in Gadgets 360. The rumored high-end smartphone, said to be launched in 2016, was mentioned in a Samsung Vietnam website and reported through Sammobile, according to the report. That same website also mentioned that Samsung may be planning to start a new series or expand its Z phone series.

Samsung has long been expanding its line of products powered by its own Tizen OS. The Tizen OS is said to have surpassed the BlackBerry mobile OS in terms of number of devices running on it during the third quarter of 2015, according to the Gadgets 360 report. It became the fourth largest OS for smartphone, surpassing BlackBerry, which dropped down to the fifth largest OS platform.

Samsung has already launched several Tizen-based smartphones starting with the Samsung Z1 and then the Samsung Z3. Both phones were launched in India and according to Samsung, the phones were selling well in the country. Tizen phones are also said to have the second-largest market share in India in terms of budget smartphones, next to those running Android OS.

Both the Z1 and the Z3 are considered to be budget devices, thus the technical specifications are not as high. However, a Tech Times report noted that despite this fact, Tizen OS phones seemed to have become more popular than BlackBerry OS phones.

If the report is true, Samsung may be trying its hand in creating its own niche within the high-end market. Its Android-based high-end devices are already doing well, so it is logical for the company to expand its Tizen line of phones to the high-end market as well.

Samsung, however, has yet to confirm the report.

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Is there a chance for Tizen on the Galaxy S7?

Samsung’s next big launch is the Galaxy S7, and the release date for it is rumored for around February 2016. Speculations about properties of the upcoming flagship are running rampant, but one rumor we just couldn’t shake was that the Galaxy S7 would be launched with Tizen instead of Android on board. Appalling and a bad idea, I’m sure many of you would agree. But is there even a possibility of Samsung launching a Tizen-powered flagship smartphone so early in the OS’ history?

Today, Tizen came  into the spotlight after SamMobile published a report about Samsung’s mobile operating system getting featured on a “high-profile smartphone”. Although the Galaxy S7 should be the flagship the South Korean company is going to launch next, there will most likely be a couple of other releases in the meantime that the report could be referring to. The Galaxy A and Galaxy E line-ups are due for refreshed models, and they can be considered high-profile smartphones. The Galaxy Z3, launched last month, is a pretty successful release, too. So all signs are pointing towards a flagship device with Tizen on board, but would Samsung risk putting it on the Galaxy S7?

I think they would, but they won’t cut out Android. Since Samsung is already in the habit of launching multiple different variants of their flagships, it’s entirely possible that the Galaxy S7 release date will introduce quite a few new smartphones. There are already reports talking about how the Galaxy S7 processor will be both an in-house and a Snapdragon 820 variant, depending on market or model. So we’re pretty much convinced that the Galaxy S7 will be available with an Exynos 8890 CPU and a Snapdragon 820 one. Why wouldn’t the company raise awareness for Tizen in the same way? It worked with Exynos, which is now rapidly going after Qualcomm’s market.

With the current situation in the Android community involving a lot of bug reports, update delays, bloatware and security threats, maybe it’s time for a new OS. But will Tizen be any better than TouchWiz? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are people who like the OS and UX, but they seem unpolished and a bit limited. However, Tizen has been getting better and has been gathering a lot of support in the form of developers and third-party apps. Facebook has a dedicated app just for Tizen and the user experience at the end of the day is pretty similar to Android, if you don’t count Google services that is.

Android is a platform for Google services, if you think about it, and many many many Samsung users are fond of that ecosystem. Times are changing, however, and we should always try to be open to new things, even in technology. In my opinion, the Galaxy S7 has a distinct chance of running on Tizen, at least in one variant. I’ve no doubt that Samsung and Android still have a long collaborative future ahead of them, but there seems to be space for Tizen as well. The OS is popular in developing regions for its optimizations in battery and data saving, and Samsung is well-respected for its good quality hardware all around the world. It seems like a good combo.

How much people will actually like a Galaxy S7 running on Tizen is a bit of a gamble, though. The OS is a fledgling compared to Android, but the company has proven its mettle with the latest 2.4 version of the OS. With a good deal of customization available, it’s not that bad. I do think the majority of people coming from Android will miss Google services as much as I do, but Tizen has potential. You can even use third-party apps to actually get Android apps working on the OS, so if you’re a bit tech-savvy, you might end up being entirely comfortable with Tizen.

It’s an interesting idea, Tizen on the Galaxy S7, and it might even be possible if Samsung is working on improving the OS (they are). Hardware and software need to end up being compatible somehow, so Tizen will have to work with high-end hardware. The Galaxy Z3 is more of an entry-level smartphone than anything, so the in-house OS will have to do good on something much more powerful.

Galaxy S7 specs include two of the latest processors, the Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890, 3 GB RAM, 20 MP cameras on the rear and who knows what else. The company has already apparently released prototypes of the handset to AT&T for testing, so we should find out more soon enough. Until now, we could assume that the South Korean giant is planning a Tizen-running Galaxy S7 variant and maybe even a Galaxy S7 Edge variant with the same OS. With rumors that the two will be cheaper at launch than their predecessors and judging by the slightly short time that passed since those were released, it seems like a possibility.

The release date for the Galaxy S7 is pegged for February 21, after reports of the handset going into production early in December have emerged. The tight release window and seemingly rushed process are definitely interpretable, but can they point towards a new strategy? Apple is doing kind of a similar thing with the iPhone 6S. The phone is not that much better than its predecessor, but it improves in key areas. Maybe Samsung is running out of ideas and Tizen came-a-running, who knows. We’ll just have to wait until the company spills the beans, until then as always, take these rumors with a grain of salt.

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Even Samsung's tiny Tizen OS is now bigger than BlackBerry

In a mobile market dominated by Apple's iPhone and Google's stable of Android devices, there's very little room for any more competitors. Microsoft can only muster a couple of percentage points as the distant third-place contender, and everyone else's share is measured in mere fractions. As bad as that was, at least BlackBerry could count itself fourth and see its name on Gartner and IDC's smartphone market share reports.

According to Strategy Analytics today, however, BlackBerry has lost even the fourth spot on the market, having been superseded by Samsung's Tizen smartphones. Tizen OS is Samsung's initiative to construct an operating system of its own, and it's being used on this year's range of Samsung smart TVs, the Gear S2 smarwatch, and a couple of entry-level smartphone models. Those Tizen phones, in all their Android-imitating glory, have apparently proven sufficiently alluring to generate greater sales than BlackBerry is achieving with all of its devices.

The report from Strategy Analytics indicates what we all might have guessed: Microsoft, BlackBerry, and Firefox have all "drifted down" in their market share, while demand for new iPhones has driven Apple up. There's little question, in light of BlackBerry's continuing decline, that the Canadian company had to switch to Android if it was to stand any chance of remaining a player in the mobile market. The Priv smartphone marks that switch, and much rides on its success. Though even if BlackBerry survives as a mobile manufacturer over the long term, its operating system is probably already done. There'll be extended support for all those enterprise clients BlackBerry already has, but the future for this company looks like it's going to be Android or bust.

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