14 DAY TRIAL // At MWC 2014, Samsung launched two new smartwatch products, the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, both running the Korean’s tech giant in-house OS, Tizen.
But most of you will remember that Samsung’s original Galaxy Gear smartwatch launched only a few months before ran Android instead.
So we’re seeing a discrepancy between the older model and the newer ones, when it comes to the update department, as Samsung has to jiggle with two operating systems instead of just concentrating its efforts on one.
But if you’re the owner of a Galaxy Gear time-keeper and you were starting to get concerned about not receiving updates anymore, fear no more as Samsung has come up with a solution.
The company is planning to roll out a firmware update for the original Galaxy Gear, based on the same Tizen OS running the show on the latest Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo.
The folks over at SamMobile have managed to get their hands on an early pre-released build of Tizen for the Galaxy Gear so they have posted a bunch of photos and a video detailing the changes.
And judging by the photographs, the system now looks exactly like the one spotted on the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. Furthermore, the firmware update should also add features that were so far missing from the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, including the ability to monitor sleep cycles.
On top of that, Galaxy Gear owners will be able to use a new standalone music player that allows them to play music stored on the device’s built-in storage. Custom wallpapers have also been made available.
However, some features offered with the new smartwatches are missing, including WatchON Remote and Heart Rate monitor.
The new Gear 2 also has a slightly faster 1GHz processor compared to the 800 MHz dual-core CPU, but the difference isn’t that huge.
Apart from that, the two smartwatches have pretty similar specs, including the 1.63-inch screen with 320 x 320 pixel resolution, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 2MP camera on board.
So, apart from the lack of the two feats outlined above, you'll basically be getting everything Gear 2 owners have, so the update eliminates the need for you to upgrade to the current model.
At the moment, there’s no time frame for when Samsung starts rolling out the new Tizen update for the Galaxy Gear, but we’ll keep you posted if it starts happening.
