Samsung Gear S2 Design and Build Quality

Droidever - Hello Samsung lovers, this time we will provide information about the Samsung Gear S2 design and build quality. The Samsung Gear S2 actually comes in three different versions: the standard Gear S2, the Gear S2 Classic and the Gear S2 3G. Our Gear S2 review focuses on the regular, sporty-looking Gear S2, and the more traditional-looking Gear S2 Classic. The Gear S2 3G looks the same as the standard Gear S2. On the inside, all three devices are basically identical, except that the Gear S2 3G has an e-SIM and speaker for making calls, GPS, and a 20 percent larger battery than the others (300 mAh vs 250 mAh). 

All variants of the Gear S2 are round, and have two physical buttons - one to go back and one to go to the home screen or launch the app drawer - and a rotating bezel that can be used to navigate the Tizen interface. You can still swipe between screens and menus, but the rotating bezel makes it easier to navigate quickly. It's a really intuitive way to use a smartwatch.

Both the Classic and standard Gear S2 are made of metal, but the regular S2 has a two-tone matte finish whereas the Classic is polished. Both watches have Gorilla Glass 3 covering their 1.2-inch AMOLED displays. However, the Gear S2 Classic is designed slightly differently to the standard Gear S2.

The main difference is that the Classic model is slightly lighter and a bit thinner than the regular Gear S2, and has more traditional and less sporty looks. For example, the bezel area around the display is much less pronounced on the Classic; it's slightly elevated on the standard Gear S2, whereas it's almost perfectly flush with the display on the Gear S2 Classic. The S2 Classic also has ridges on the edges of the bezel, while the standard S2's bezel is smooth, but both rotate as smoothly as each other.

The Gear S2 Classic has a leather strap and buckle with a similar pin-eject mechanism to the Huawei Watch. This means that switching bands on the Gear S2 Classic is easy, and you can substitute any 20 mm band for the one it comes with. Speaking of which, there is a spare, shorter strap in the box for those with thinner wrists.

Read also: Samsung Gear S2 Performance

The Gear S2 has a rubber band that pops off just as easily, but you can only fit special watch straps to it. The lug areas are another point of difference between the two models. The Gear S2's are a little bit chunkier than the Classic in order to house the strap connection mechanism.

On the back, the Gear S2 has a Gorilla Glass 3 panel with a heart-rate sensor in the middle, and stainless steel case surrounding it. At the very least this means you shouldn't have any concerns about cracking on the back of this watch. Overall, both watches are very well designed and look and feel very accomplished.

Both versions are IP68 certified (but you won't want to go putting that leather strap in the water too often) and feature NFC and Wi-Fi. Only the 3G version of the regular Gear S2 has a speaker for making and receiving calls when it is not tethered to a phone. Both the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic sync via a Bluetooth connection to your phone and although Wi-Fi works fine on both, there's little reason to use it because it requires more battery power than Bluetooth.