Samsung Gear 2 Neo Smartwatch Review

Quick Take

Although the Samsung Gear 2 Neo is now discontinued, you can sometimes find it floating around online at a discounted price. It allows you to make and receive calls from your connected device as well as to view a range of third-party apps from your wrist. As for fitness-related features, it has a built-in heart-rate sensor, S Health features, and a pedometer which can help you keep tabs on your day-to-day activity. Read on for a more detailed review of the Samsung Gear 2 Neo.

What To Know About the Gear 2 Neo

The Samsung Gear 2 Neo has a range of features, but we wouldn’t say it’s a great choice for fitness tracking in particular. It does place a variety of apps at your fingertips, as well as allowing you to make and receive calls to your wrist. That’s if you have a compatible Samsung device. The Gear 2 Neo is compatible with a list of Samsung devices including the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Grand 2, Galaxy Note 3 and many others. If you have one of the compatible devices, connecting it to the Gear 2 Neo does mean that you can access a lot of the features you would on your phone or tablet from your wrist.

Other Gear 2 Neo Key Features and Specs:

• Smart notifications
• Apps
• Heart-rate sensor
• S Health features
• Pedometer
• Music player connects with Bluetooth headsets
• Compatible with range of Samsung devices (only)
• Interchangeable band
• Voice command
• Control your TV
• Dustproof and water-resistant design

Design

The Gear 2 Neo is pretty customizable; you can change the band at any time as well as the background, font and clock style to make it your own. What’s more, it’s dustproof and water resistant. It can withstand water immersion (under 1 meter) for 30 minutes.

Sensors & Components

The Samsung Gear 2 Neo features:

• Accelerometer
• Gyro Sensor
• HR Sensor

Functionality

The Gear 2 Neo has a few notable features. As the display, the Gear 2 Neo watch features an 1.63” sAMOLED® display which is bright, clear, and easy to use. The watch has 512MB RAM and 4GB internal memory and uses Bluetooth 4.0 to sync your data. It can be used to receive calls, texts and notifications from third-party apps and there’s voice command for you to answer calls from your wrist. As for entertainment, you can use the Gear 2 Neo as a standalone music player. As it can store music, this means you can listen to your top workout playlists on a run without bringing your phone. It also allows you to control your TV from your wrist.

As for fitness tracking, there are a few things to note. Its optical heart-rate sensor allows you to keep tabs on your pulse and the S Health feature allows you to track your workouts, steps and more from your wrist. That said, there have been some concerns about the accuracy of the readings. It’s more of a flashy, app-friendly watch rather than an uber-reliable fitness tracker for seasoned trainers.

Verdict

As mentioned, we wouldn’t recommend this smartwatch to seasoned athletes or really for anyone who is serious about accurately tracking their training. It acts more as a tablet on your wrist rather than a reliable fitness tracker. If you want a flashy watch that displays all your emails, apps, and music from your wrist, the Gear 2 Neo could be a good option for you. Its bright display allows you to access a variety of apps from your wrist. Even so, there are simply better watches out there now that have new and improved features. As a flashy smartwatch alone, the Gear 2 Neo may have got a slightly better rating. As a smartwatch used for fitness, we wouldn’t confidently recommend it. Check out our other smartwatch and tracker reviews to find a more up-to-date model.