Samsung brings Gear S2 with new design

The timepiece comes with enough new bells and whistles to shake up the wearables market, which has quickly become saturated in recent years, and also includes heavy-hitting competition such as the Apple Watch.

Samsung’s Gear S2 does have a neat rotating bezel, though, a home button, and a back button to make navigation easier. Powering the Gear S2 is an undisclosed Samsung-sourced 1GHz dual-core processor paired with 512MB of RAM.

The Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 classic will be showcased at the annual IFA trade show in Berlin on 3 September. With a round look and two different styles, the S2 is a departure from its 2014 predecessor, the Gear S. Samsung finally released a passel of product details, including the surprise that there will actually be two flavors of the device: the Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic.

It is also installed with Near Field Communication, a key technology for a mobile payment tool, which Samsung plans to put into service in the future by forging tie-ups with financial partners.

Samsung continues to run its own Tizen operating system on the Galaxy Gear S2. It’ll be available in a dark gray case with a dark gray band or a silver case with a white band. All of these watches have IP68 dust and water resistance certification, so your sweaty wrists won’t kill them.

The smartwatch, equipped with an 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display, has an e-SIM Card, which enables the user to work on the device in a remote distance from the smartphone without a Bluetooth connection. With dedicated 3G capabilities, the 3G Gear S2 can be used without a phone, unlike the Apple Watch and most other smart watches on the market.

The inclusion of Tizen, and exclusion of Android Wear, means that your device won’t be privy to all of the fun Android Wear apps that continue to hit the Play Store. The Gear S2 features Nike+ Running tracking as well. On the battery side, the Gear S2 features a 250mAh cell for “two to three days of typical use”, according to the company. Where the Gear S2 is a vanilla offering tailored to those who are always on the go and prefer a minimal design, the classic however, is aimed towards users who want a more premium timepiece, as it comes in a black finish, topped with a matching genuine leather band.

If you do have a Samsung phone, though, the Gear S2 will provide you with notifications for things like email, news, text messages, and calendar updates.