Not to be deterred by the failure of the Galaxy Gear, Samsung unveiled not one or two, but three different Gear branded smart watches at the Mobile World Congress — the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit. For its second generation of smart watches, the company decided to ditch Android for its in-house OS — Tizen.
Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo
The Gear 2 is the actual successor to the original Galaxy Gear and is lighter and thinner. It is, however, slightly taller because the camera has been embedded in the main body rather than the strap. The plus side to this modification is that it will allow Gear 2 users to interchange the strap, unlike its predecessor.
PhoneArena’s hands-on video shows how the Gear 2 will look on your wrist along with its slightly sluggish UI. They also demonstrate the miniature dialer that will allow users to make phone calls as well as receive them right on the watch.
The Gear 2 Neo is a slightly cheaper variant of the Gear 2 and comes with a slightly chunkier polycarbonate body. It also drops the camera to reduce the price tag. Otherwise, the smart watch features the same specs as the Gear 2 including 4GB of storage space, a heart rate sensor, water resistance and interchangeable bands.
The folks over at PocketNow managed to get their wrist on the Gear 2 Neo and have done a quick video about it showing the swipe-based gesture of the Neo along with its IR blaster, heart rate monitor and the physical home button.
Gear Fit
The Fit is perhaps the most interesting wearable device to be released by Samsung. Unlike the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, the Fit is more of a fitness band than a smart watch. While it won’t allow users to make or receive phone calls, it can display notifications from all your apps.
PocketNow also shot a great hands-on video of the Gear Fit demoing its curved AMOLED display, swappable straps and the heart rate monitor.
Personally, the Gear Fit is the only wearable device that I feel is worth buying. Sadly, it will only work with the Galaxy S5 and 20 other Galaxy branded devices. Hopefully, someone will manage to find a way to get it to work with other non-Samsung phones as well.
