The Gear S2, which is Samsung’s latest smartwatch running on Tizen and not Android Wear, has been available in a few markets now. Including Korea and the US. Today, it appears that Samsung has begun rolling out an update to the Gear S2, which has a pretty lengthy changelog. Additionally, since the Gear S2 isn’t available in a lot of markets just yet, many are thinking that this will be pre-installed on most Gear S2’s when they launch in other countries. Or be available as an update out of the box.
As we noted already, there are a ton of new features and enhancements here in this firmware update for the Gear S2. Samsung has added an “Add Widgets” label, which is under the plus symbol. This is so that the actions are easier to understand. Especially useful for new users. There is also Auto Open Apps, Vibrate when disconnected, screen timeout options of 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes, larger notification text, which can be changed in the settings. Samsung has also added some new watch faces. While these watch faces aren’t technically “new”, these are the watch faces that were shown off at the announcement in Berlin in September. Samsung also added in a few new apps including the world clock, Starbucks, Flipboard News Briefing and a new navigation app which is for South Korea.
The changelog here is pretty lengthy, but it is nice to see a bunch of other features being added and fixing some features as well to make the watch appeal a bit more to new users. That’s great for bringing in new users. Especially since the Gear S2 looks great, and that rotating bezel is pretty amazing. If you haven’t already, we’d recommend checking out our review of the Gear S2. And you can currently pick up the Gear S2 for under $300, which is the lowest price available right now. At least in the US. Samsung made the Gear S2 work with just about any Android smartphone, not just Samsung devices this year, which is a great thing. Meaning you don’t need to buy a Samsung device just to use the Gear S2.