Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has officially unveiled its new smartwatch offering, the Gear S2 alongside the Gear S2 classic and Gear S2 3G. The devices look great, especially if you’re in the market for a round-faced watch, but will its features be able to beat the Apple Watch’s (debatable) popularity?

Gear S2 vs Apple Watch

Design and display

The Samsung Gear S2 features a 1.2-inch circular AMOLED display (320×320, 302ppi) while the Apple Watch, which comes in two sizes, has a 1.34in 272×340 and 1.54in 312×390 AMOLED display respectively.

As mentioned, the Gear S2 has a circular design while the Apple Watch sports a rectangular face. As mentioned above, the Gear S2 comes in three variants, and the Apple Watch also has three variants from which to choose.

Processor and OS

The Gear S2 features a 1.0GHz dual-core processor and runs Samsung’s own Tizen-based platform for wearables. The Apple Watch features its own S1 processor and Watch OS.

User interface

Both devices have touchscreens, but there are other ways to interact with the smartwatches’ faces. The Gear S2 features a rotating bezel that allows you to navigate the device, view notifications and open apps, while the Apple Watch has the Digital Crown which has similar functions as the rotating bezel. One difference is that the Apple Watch has a Force Touch technology that allows users to send a secret message, like a heartbeat, to someone who is also using an Apple Watch.

Battery

The Gear S2 and Gear S2 classic both feature a 250mAh battery that lasts two to three days on a single charge, while the Gear S2 3G features a 300mAh battery that lasts roughly the same time.

As for the Apple Watch, it will last up to 18 hours with mixed usage, which equates to about 90 notifications, 90 time checks, 45 minutes of app use and a 30-minute workout session with music streaming via Bluetooth. The battery is replaceable and takes about 90 minutes to reach an 80 percent charge, and will take about 2.5 hours to get from zero to 100 percent.

Storage and other internal components

The Gear S2 features 4GB of onboard storage, 512MB of RAM, NFC, heart rate monitor, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), GPS, accelerometer, gyro, barometer and heart rate sensors, and the 3G version features what it calls “the first-ever e-SIM with voice capability.” The Apple Watch features 8GB internal memory, heart rate sensor, accelerometer, ambient light and gyroscope, Wi‑Fi (802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and GPS.

Image source: Edited by SiliconANGLE