SEOUL: The Smartwatch wars are set to heat up again next week, as the IFA trade show kicks off in Berlin. Traditionally, technology companies have used the event to launch their second-half flagship smartphones, but increasingly the focus has drifted towards wearables.
Samsung has already unveiled its flagship smartphones for the second half of 2015 – the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ – so all eyes at IFA will be on its new Smartwatch, the Gear S2, (previously known as the Gear A).
Now Dennis Miloseski, the studio head of Samsung Design America, has posted an image of himself wearing the Gear S2 on his personal Instagram account, saying he was taking it for a “test drive”.
Until now, Samsung has only revealed glimpses of the Gear S2. The company teased the device at its Unpacked 2015 event in New York earlier this month, with a video that offered brief look at the hardware and the watch face:
Unlike its predecessor, the Gear S2 has a round face and appears to be running Samsung’s Tizen OS, rather than Google’s Android Wear software. This means it will probably only be compatible with other Samsung devices.
It also looks slimmer than some of its round-faced Smartwatch rivals, like the Moto 360 and LG Watch Urbane, suggesting it might lie flatter on the wrist. Two buttons are also visible in the photo.
The Gear S2 is rumoured to feature on-board GPS, allowing the device to track a wearer’s location without the need for a phone and load maps quickly. This could give it an edge over the Apple Watch, which relies on the iPhone’s GPS for positioning.
Samsung has been under growing pressure to develop a circular Smartwatch, as most other consumer electronics manufacturers have now conceded that round faces are more popular than square ones.
However, the Apple Watch, which is the device that many are relying on to drive success in the Smartwatch market, has a square face, so this trend may be short-lived.
Samsung’s last-generation Smartwatch, the Gear S, has a curved 2.0 inch Super AMOLED screen and runs the Tizen operating system. It is one of the few smartwatches that can operate without a phone.
