14 DAY TRIAL // The Samsung Gear S2 will soon receive several significant improvements, including new watch faces and support for Apple’s iOS platform.
At the CES 2016 show today, the South Korean company has announced that more watch faces will be introduced in the coming weeks, including one that uses the famous dog Snoopy, as well as several other famous characters.
This is clearly an attempt to take on Apple, as the fruity-named firm already uses Mickey Mouse as one of its key Watch faces, so Samsung’s going for a similar approach with Snoopy.
Samsung says that many more characters will make their debut on the Gear S2 in a coming update, but it hasn’t actually provided the full list. But the detail that’s missing right now and that is quite important is whether these new faces will be animated or not.
Apple Watch’s Mickey Mouse face is fully animated to indicate the time, but from the slides Samsung has presented at CES, it seems that the Snoopy face will actually be static.
iOS support also on its way
As we’ve told you in our Samsung Gear S2 review, the watch is powered by Tizen, and a companion app is currently available on Android exclusively. Samsung confirmed a long time ago that an iOS version would be released at some point in the future, and at CES today, the company has revealed that the app is expected to debut sometime in 2016.
If it arrives on iOS, the Gear S2 could become one of the main rivals to Apple’s own Watch, which continues to be the number one wearable purchased by iPhone owners.
But the Gear S2 also provides a solid experience, smartphone notifications, fitness tracking, all packed in a very comfortable design and a rotating bezel that certainly appeals to many buyers. Samsung hasn’t said when iOS support will launch, but it should happen sometime this year.
