The Samsung Galaxy Gear may have only been released in September of last year but talks of a the Galaxy Gear 2 are already flying round the internet stealing headlines. Although Samsung’s first smartwatch may have failed to impress critics, many criticizing the poor battery life and lack of connectivity, it looks like we could be see its successor being released very soon. Many critics said nothing justifies the Gear’s £299 price and because its totally dependent on the Galaxy Note that means you’re going to have to spend around £500 for the pair.
But can Samsung turn things around with the Gear 2, well that’s what everyone’s hoping. So in this article we will be talking about the Gear 2 and all the rumors and leaks which have been popping up over the last couple of months in the run up to the handsets unveiling sometime this year.
Specs:
Most of the rumours that have been going round have been about what we’re likely to actually see when the handset is revealed. The most likely of all the rumours though is that fact that Samsung will increase the amount of compatible devices, instead of limiting to only the Galaxy Note, because a few days a go we saw that you can get your Gear to work with your Nexus 5 with a few simple installations.
There has also been some reports that Samsung will be putting a GPS chip into the Gear 2 smartwatch. A GPS chip would be a great addition to the device and would open up a whole new world for app developers. An increase in the battery life is also expected, because to be honest, 25 hours is just not enough. You’d expect to be able to use the smartwatch for at least 2-3 days before you need to charge it, which is similar to the battery life of the Sony Smartwatch 2 or the Pebble smartwatch which has over 7 days of battery life.
See also: The best Samsung Galaxy Gear alternatives
Design:
According to reports the Gear 2 will feature a different and much slimmer design than the original, 15-20% slimmer, and one Samsung executive claims that the new smartwatch will boast an all new appearance which will be a big difference to the bulky design of the original. The Gear 2 will apparently also include a new flexible OLED display, which could allow for a curved design, rather than the square design of the original. And Samsung has also gone to quite extremes and has changed all the part that look either dull or boring.
Price:
With the original Galaxy Gear 2, the £299 price tag put a lot of people off buying the handset, even more so with the fact that you can only use it with Samsung devices. So don’t be surprised if Samsung cuts the price of the new model to please people, or just put as many features as they can in the Gear 2 so they can justify the high price. At the moment there hasn’t been any rumours of leaks regarding the price of the Gear 2, but expect the new model to either stay at the same price or be just slightly less.
Launch Date:
The Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 will launch alongside the new Galaxy S5 according to a report by a Korean Media site, who claim to be in touch with Samsung insiders. At the moment there is no official release date for either the S5 or the Gear 2, but the S5 is expected to launch around March or April and the Gear 2 will also launch around this time at a press conference in London. For people wondering why Samsung are being so quick about releasing another smartwatch is apparently they’re are worried about Apple and LG launching their own handsets this year as well.
Take all of this information though with a grain of salt until Samsung confirms anything, and hopefully they learn from the mistakes they made with the original Gear and surprise with its successor. Here are some more interesting Smartwatch related articles:
