Samsung Gear S2 Smartwatch - Classic

I've had this watch for a week now and I'm really loving it. I went with the Classic rather than the Dark Gray because of all the horror stories of the rubber bands breaking with pieces of them getting stuck in the watch and little to no support on the part of Samsung to rectify the issue. I've got the Classic paired with a Samsung S7 Edge.Initial setup was very easy. It synced with my phone quickly, and then there was an immediate update; it sat on an updating screen for what seemed like an alarmingly long time and I was beginning to worry it had crashed, but it eventually finished and then gave me a little tutorial on the watch on how to navigate the interface.Cons:- The leather band looked nice, but didn't fit my wrist very well. My wrist size seems to be right in between two of the holes in the band, so I either had to cinch it down a little too tight, or leave it a bit loose. Leaving it loose resulted in the watch inevitably sliding to the outside of my wrist and putting a fair amount of pressure on the wrist bone, which was at times actually somewhat painful. Perhaps this would have gotten better over time as the band broke in, or perhaps it just doesn't work well with my wrist size. At any rate, I quickly ordered a rubber band from V-Moro and I really like it. Their rubber band is far more comfortable for my wrist than the leather band, and the rubber seems to keep the watch in place without having to cinch it down; it doesn't slide to the outer edge of my wrist and cause discomfort like what I was experiencing with the stock leather band. It also uses standard watch band pins, so no fear of band breakage leaving irretrievable pieces embedded in the watch itself. I highly recommend the V-Moro band if you want a rubber band for your Classic. I'm not going to dock points for this because I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who are getting by with the leather band just fine, but the leather band didn't work out for me, which is fine because I wanted a rubber band anyhow.- I wish this watch supported the OK Google functionality. S Voice has gotten much better over the years, but it still doesn't match OK Google. I'm sure S Voice will continue to get better over time, but it is what it is. I won't dock points here because S Voice does work well, just not quite as well as OK Google, which would be my personal preference if it were an option.Pros:- The main reason I got this watch was for dealing with notifications. While at work, I typically spend anywhere from three to six hours a day in meetings. I've got two work mail accounts and two personal accounts. Between the mail accounts, texts, calls, Google calendar events, and Slack channels that I'm in with our clients, I've got notifications coming in all day. I never wanted to pull out my phone to check incoming notifications in the middle of a meeting. It's great being able to just glance at my wrist to determine whether a notification is something urgent or if it's something I can just ignore.- The AMOLED screen is gorgeous. Blacks are super black, making everything else stand out as being super vibrant and crisp on the watch face.- Battery life is fantastic. After a full day of work with constant notifications throughout, I'm coming home with about 75% battery remaining. My notifications calm down after work hours, and by bed time it's usually around 60%-65%. I'm sure I could get two full workdays out of this watch if I had to.- Wireless charging stand is included and works very well. When it's time to hit the sack I can just set my S7 Edge on its wireless charging stand and set the Gear S2 on its wireless charging stand and I'm good. No fumbling around with micro USB cables in the dark. The charging stand also seems to have a magnet that helps guide the watch into the proper position. You get it close, and it just kind of pulls the watch right in where it's supposed to be, so there's no doubting whether you've placed it properly.- The rotating bezel interface is really well thought out. Twist it counter-clockwise for notifications, right for everything else.- The S Health integration is well done. I didn't think I'd get much out of it but surprisingly I'm finding myself using some of the S Health features. If you're active and like to walk or run or monitor your heart rate and things like that, then I think you will appreciate this as a nice little bonus.- The watch actually looks like a watch. Some of the previous smart watches were either way too big for my taste or looked too much like something out of Star Trek. It's nice to see the newer smart watches like the Gear S2 and LG Watch Urbane are bringing their designs back down to earth now and looking like normal watches. I wore it at work all week and I don't think anybody even noticed that it was a smart watch; I work with the kind of people that definitely would have asked about it had they had noticed it was something more than just a normal watch.In summary, I'm very happy with this smart watch. The notification management alone makes it a huge win for me. The phone now stays in my pocket all day, and when I'm in meetings or at my desk, I just glance at my wrist when the watch vibrates to check my notifications. The battery life is absolutely superb, wireless charging is such a welcome feature, and the screen looks fantastic. I do feel that if you don't have a need for something like this to check notifications while in meetings, or don't get many notifications to begin, or if you don't care about the S Health features, then you can probably get by without it just fine and you won't be missing out on anything. But for my needs, it's really an excellent package for $300.

First smart watch ever... couldn't be more pleased.I have been fairly skeptical of how useful a smartwatch would be... i have some nice watches but find myself only wearing them on occasion. But having done some reading about 'why' i'd want one, I took the plunge and I have to say, I'm glad I did.Firstly... i'm a traditionalist... and one of the reasons i haven't looked seriously at smartwatches previously is that I don't like the square shapes that MOST of them have been.And already happily in the Samsung ecosystem, i was pleased to see them release something to replace the original Gear and even more pleased with the shape and style of this new S2....Pros - I no longer check my phone everytime it buzzes or sends me notification, i can flick my wrist and review them and delete or send the notification away much faster... my phone now uses about half the battery in it's normal day than pre-watch! I've also started to get the hang of using the S-Voice (Samsungs version of Siri / Google Now) and though it seems to be slower and not as refined as the others, it does the job fairly well. It's nicely incorporated into the Navigation (Here Maps by Nokia) and displays distance to / turn direction on the watch face. And will buzz your wrist coming up to that turn. Though I would normally use Waze or Google Maps on my phone, I find this a nice little addition for when i don't want to bother :) S-Voice can be used to open other apps, compose and send texts, so as I get more used to it, I'm finding it more versatile. Another benefit is that the classic has a 20mm standard watch straps so you can change straps with anything. I ordered a black metal band strap to go with the watch as i'm not a big fan of leather straps and it works a treat. I'm even happier with my watch now. The other standout feature of this watch is it's bezel, only smartwatch that has this. It makes scrolling down messages and through menus simply efficient. And especially scrolling down messages, where your fingers aren't blocking the text swiping ... And lastly, the build quality and design is just simply awesome. Battery is outstanding also, the watch goes through a couple of days full use before i have to park it on it's wireless charging cradle on the 2nd night.Cons - Only comes in black. My wife bought the S2 Sport version, white strap and HUGELY disappointed, not in the watch itself, which she loves, but that it uses a proprietary connection, and the options for straps does not (and not likely to ever include) a metallic strap which is what she'd prefer. (Rumor has it, that Samsung will release a Rose Gold and Platinum version of the Classic in the feature, she's going to wait for the Rose Gold!). Other main con is the limited amount of apps available for it. Samsung has it's own OS for the watch (Tizen) and you're going to be limited to the apps available only via the Gear App ... Things like Google Maps and other mainstream apps just don't exist for the watch (yet). But what there is, is very well thought out and implemented, incorporating the bezel beautifully.If you use a smartwatch for the primarily benefits i listed above, then i would fully recommend grabbing this watch without reservation.Thanks for reading my review and if you have any questions i'd be more than happy to try and provide an answer!