Samsung, which has already released its gold and platinum versions of its Gear S2 smartwatch in China, will release worldwide in the very near future.
Gear S2 in gold will be considerably cheaper than Apple Watch in gold
With Apple’s solid-gold Watch priced at levels that plateau at well over $10,000, a gold or platinum watch from Samsung might be the answer for a number of consumers. China’s, while slowing, luxury demand dictated that the gold and platinum editions were first released to the huge China market. It also doesn’t hurt that gold is a very positive “superstition” that the majority of Chinese believe in strongly to bring wealth to the wearer.
The rose gold in 18-karat plating with an ivory leather band and the platinum plated Gear S2 Classic New Edition (not sure that “classic” and “new work together) with a black leather band were both unveiled at CES earlier this month. Today, Samsung announced that the two versions would be available “early this year” worldwide.
Samsung has said nothing about pricing but it’s expected, according to the Verge, to begin around $512 with the base price of the Gear S2 Classic presently starting at $349.99.
The functionality of the two models is the same, however, Samsung has provided prospective buyers to choose between three new watch faces designed to match the platinum and gold versions and their respective ivory and black bands.
Unfortunately, many believe the pricing just north of $500 is too good to be true and will be waiting on an official announcement from Samsung.
Gear S2 started something in the round smartwatch category
The Gear S2, and its accompanying Tizen OS, is a beautiful watch that isn’t anywhere near the battery whore that is iOS for the Apple Watch.
Setting up the watch is not that much more complicated that just putting on a dumb watch. Hell, I set up my Gear S2 quicker than I could do calculations on a throw-back Casio calculator watch I one in a game of darts last week.
Simply take it out the box charge it and then pair it with your phone running Android 4.4 or above. From there your smarphone will need to have the Gear app downloaded to it.
Once that’s done the watch is functional, easy to use and often a conversation starter.
