Samsung Gear 2

The Gear 2 is a much improved device - but the Gear 2 Neo offers little less and is a lot cheaper

New
Swappable bands
Longer battery

Against
Neo is a better buy
Expensive

Samsung Gear 2 review

The Gear 2 is a device that nobody thought would appear... at least not this soon after the first version. It's something of a climbdown for Samsung to relaunch a product so soon, but rather than call it embarrassing I'd much rather applaud Samsung for the feat.
Admittedly those that bought the first, expensive, model won't be happy there's a new one out already - but then again, it's a very nascent market and there won't be too many users out there.
The Gear 2 has a big change or two compared to the original: firstly, it's now running Samsung's jointly-developed Tizen OS rather than Android, and it's moved the camera into the body of the watch, rather than forcing it onto the strap.The overall look is much-refined and there's a bevy of new technology to make this worth a look if you dismissed the first Gear.

This means that you can now change straps on your Galaxy Gear, which is one of the main disadvantages we noted in the original. It's also now imbued with an infra-red blaster, meaning you can control your TV and set top box from the comfort of your own wrist.
You will need a compatible Samsung device in order to use the Gear 2, of which there are currently 18, including the new Galaxy S5.
While it's managed to bring in some key specs and improve the design somewhat, the Gear 2 is still a rather expensive smart watch, coming in at £250 ($295, AU$350). That's close to the cost the original emerged at, and it suffered thanks to that price tag.
The reason is simple: while the Gear 2 is a cool thing to have (Samsung doesn't want it being known as an accessory, rather a standalone device) it still struggles to have a real use case, which is why dropping that much money can be a hard sell to consumers still getting to grips with spending so much on a smartphone.
To alleviate that reason for purchase, Samsung has decided to add in some fitness ability with the Gear 2 in the shape of a refined pedometer and a heart rate monitor, as well as exercise tracking so you can run, walk, hike or cycle.
The battery life is improved massively, the Gear 2 can splash around in water and dust thanks to being IP67 rated and comes in a range of nicer colours (rose gold and silver) and is generally a much better device - but is it worth the still-high price tag Samsung is commanding, especially when the Gear 2 Neo (the same smart watch made out of inferior materials and dropping the camera) is so much cheaper?

Design

The design of the Gear 2 is very similar to the first iteration of Samsung's smart watches, but still manages to come with its own sense of unique style.
It's hard to explain, but the fact the strap is now a separate piece to the main body of the watch has forced Samsung to refine the design of things like the camera and the home button.

In fact, the latter part is probably one of the best bits of the reshaped Gear 2, with the home button now on the front of the phone rather than being a small plastic protrusion on the side of the watch.
This is important if you've got even a modicum of arm hair, as tapping the button would usually lead to pulling out a few stray follicles, meaning you're left with a Pavilion hate of using your expensive new watch.
With the metallic button on the front, with a pleasant amount of travel, the experience is the same as far as the UI goes (long press to turn off or activate outdoor mode) and you can assign many options to the double tap action.This means it's easy to access elements like notifications with the Gear 2 in sleep mode, and is a swift action too.The Gear 2 isn't a small device, coming in at 36.9 x 58.4x 10.0 mm, but it doesn't feel cumbersome on the wrist. It's overt, that's for sure, and those that prefer a smaller and daintier timepiece won't feel like this is a great fashion accessory, but if you're looking to get your hands on a smart watch it's not over the top.

The new home button

The Sony Smart watch 2 and the Pebble Steel are both better devices in terms of size, but Samsung's mixture of industrial design and more refined elements (like the camera and IR blaster integration) still brings an element of premium quality to proceedings.
The screen, a 1.63-inch OLED affair, is excellent too. It's not great if you're trying to do anything with high res images, such as pictures or similar, but it's fine for any snaps you've taken using the Gear 2.
The contrast ratio of the OLED screen means if you're doing something like timing your food, checking out how many steps you've taken or just flicking through music, looks really nice and is a pleasant experience on something you've spent so much money on.
Design-wise I'm a real fan of what Samsung has done with the Gear 2 - it's hard to fault the industrial design that won plaudits in its last iteration from jewellers. The screw holes might have disappeared, which is something of a shame given than added to its premium industrial design, but it's still got a very sleek look to it.
Being able to change the straps will be a real boon to some users, but I quite like the straps that match. I'm not a massive fan of the Rose Gold colour that I had on test, but it still drew some admiring glances from others.

Compatibility

Samsung Gear is compatible with 17 types of device models :

Samsung Galaxy S5 / Galaxy Grand 2 / Galaxy Note 3 / Galaxy Note 3 Neo / Galaxy Note 2 / Galaxy S4 / Galaxy S3 / Galaxy S4 Zoom / Galaxy S4 Active / Galaxy S4 mini /Galaxy Mega 6.3 / Galaxy Mega 5.8 / Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) / Galaxy NotePRO (12.2) / Galaxy TabPRO (12.2/10.1/8.4)

* Compatible device models to be further expanded
* Device compatibility may vary by country.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The Galaxy S5 is the company’s latest flagship phone and sure to be a swift seller. The phone is, in its own way, beautifully designed and the materials, while clearly plastic, are durable. It is a great device that has really challenged the I-Phone series. Samsung has immersed in the mobile market in a very short time. It has become one of the best flagship for Smart phones.   

Basics Information of Samsung S5

5.1-inch, 1920×1080, 432 ppi display

16/32GB storage, 128GB expandable via microSD

802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, LTE

16MP rear camera, 2MP front facing camera

Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz processor

2GB RAM

Fingerprint reader, optical heart rate monitor

MSRP: $199.99 on 2-year agreement, $650 off-contract

Pros

Heart rate monitor is genuinely handy, especially for aging population

Latest TouchWiz UI is best-designed yet

Cons

Still feels like a plastic phone

More misses than hits with fingerprint scanner

Design

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is not a revolution in industrial design. It looks like the GS4, with a bit of influence from the Note 3 that Samsung released last fall. The unit I tested had the black pebbled faux leather back, which is surprisingly pleasant to both touch and look at, and the phone is rimmed with a faux metal plastic border that reminds me of something from a 50s diner stool. It’s not the refined, all-metal design of the HTC One M8, but it is appealing in its own way. I still think Samsung would do well to join the big boys like Apple with use of high-quality materials, but if we must have plastic, then this is the plastic I’d opt to have.

One advantage of the plastic: the back, at least, is relatively durable and drop-proof. Also, the phone is remarkably light, especially given that whopper of a display it’s packing. Plus, this is a water-resistant phone that doesn’t look like a water-resistant phone (read: it isn’t bulky) so that’s a plus. The USB flap door that ensures completely IP67 environment protection is a pain, however, given the frequency with which you’ll have to fidget with it to charge and connect to your computer.

The heart rate monitor Samsung included on the device uses pulse oximetry to detect a person’s heart rate through their finger tip. The concept is surprisingly simple, and my veterinarian brother says they’ve been using the tech to find your pet’s heart rate for years; essentially, it shines a light through the capillaries in your finger tip, taking snapshots of the size of the blood vessels within in rapid succession, to detect how engorged they are and then translating that into a number representing beats per minute. It’s a highly accurate measurement method, and indeed in testing it returned results that made sense given my relative level of activity, caffeinating, time of day and more.

The fingerprint sensor is also interesting. It works decently well, but has a higher failure rate than Apple’s Touch ID sensor, at least when used natural with a one hand grip, swiping the thumb down from the screen over the sensor pad. This makes it suboptimal for use with unlocking the device, but used as a specific security tool for unlocking sensitive data within apps, or for authorizing payments, both of which are possible since Samsung makes the hardware feature available to third-party devs, it becomes a lot more interesting.

That said, both of these features are unlikely to make a splash in your daily life. The heart rate monitor is a handy short cut for ageing users who need to keep tabs on their cardiovascular health fairly regularly and change their behaviour accordingly, but for the most part, it’s little more than a neat trick to pull out at parties and then quietly forget about.

Of the software features included on the Galaxy S5, the best is probably Milk Music, which is for U.S.-customers only and offers streaming radio, ad- and subscription-free. The service works great as a replacement for terrestrial radio thanks to its auto-start, dial-based discovery interface that required minimal user input to get to the music, and it has an impressive library of tracks thanks to Samsung’s use of Slacker Radio to power the service. Milk Music is available to any recent Galaxy device, however, so it isn't  necessarily a reason to buy.

Display 

Samsung’s GS5 display is definitely a sight to behold, but it’s very hard to impress in the display world these days – or too easy. In terms of display quality related to pixel density and the crispness of text and graphics, I haven’t been able to discern a difference since Apple introduced its Retina display on the iPhone 4. The Galaxy S5′s screen size is impressive, however, and makes for a great way to watch mobile video thanks to full HD resolution and a 5.1-inch diagonal surface area, all in a phone that manages to still not feel overly large for a pocket.

Is it the best screen in the smartphone business? Very possibly. Is it a huge improvement over the GS4′s screen? For most users, no, and in fact, it actually has less pixel density than its predecessor. If screen quality is a key decision point for those considering an upgrade from last year’s model, then keep that wallet closed; the GS4 still has an excellent screen, and the GS5 hasn’t made any strides in that regard to merit an expensive upgrade. Plus, as with seemingly every Android device, auto-brightness still has major issues getting things right. Apple seems to be alone in divining the secret sauce for properly dimming and brightening your display based on ambient conditions.

Camera 

The camera on the Samsung Galaxy S5 benefits from the company’s alter-ego as a camera maker, and works very well in optimal conditions, with fast autofocus and high res 16MP captures. But it still doesn’t fare all that well in low-light situations, the bane of all mobile cameras, and some of the features new to the GS5, while impressive from a tech standpoint, leave a lot to be desired.

Specifically, the focus selection option on Samsung’s phone is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it produces great final results, letting you create portraits with background blur that look like they were taken with much more expensive cameras with fancy interchangeable, wide aperture lenses. On the other hand, they take a long time to capture, which makes getting candids with them near impossible, and taking portraits an exercise in “wait, no don’t move yet, it’s still processing.”

The trade-off for your patience is that the photos are much better in terms of overall quality than the selective focus pictures captured with the HTC One M8′s Duo Camera (which captures images much faster though). But the effect can be replicated on other devices, including the iPhone, using third-party camera apps, so it has a lot less value as a selling feature for the GS5 over other handsets.

Battery

The battery on the Galaxy S5 is removable, so that’s already a big advantage over some of the competition. It bumps up capacity over the GS4′s power house by 200mAh, which puts the total at 2,800mAh. In practice, it improved things over the GS4 and gave a full day of use under normal to high circumstances, but the HTC One M8 still outperformed it overall. The GS5 doesn’t offer any quantum leaps in battery tech, in the end, but if you like having the option to swap, it’s there with the GS5, and not with the One.