Samsung’s Gear Sport looks like a pretty solid smartwatch. It’s got nearly all the awesome features of its bigger brother — the Gear S3 Frontier — adds swim-proofing while also coming in a body that’s both smaller and lighter.
But, our judgments so far have been based on super quick hands-on sessions with it. We didn’t really get to spend any quality time with the device and check out the accessories it comes with out of the box…until now. Here’s a closer look at the Samsung Gear Sport.
This is what the retail box looks like. Pretty standard Samsung stuff with a neat little handle at the top so it’s easy to hold.
On the side, you get a quick rundown of a few of the Gear Sport’s key features. One of the biggest upgrades is that new 5ATM water resistant rating.
At the back of the box, it’s business as usual with a cheesy marketing tagline and a bunch of seals.
Pop the box open and you’ll find these items in them. The watch — ours is blue — a microUSB charger, some documentation, a magnetic charging dock, and an extra strap that’s in a smaller size for those with more delicate wrists.
Yes, the charging cradle/dock still uses microUSB like it’s 2016. A little bit disappointing.
The good news is that the rest of the dock is pretty similar to that on the more expensive Gear S3 Frontier.
Then, we have the watch itself. It looks very sleek and doesn’t have the chunky look-at-me-I’m-outdoorsy aesthetic. It’s sort of somewhere between the Classic and Frontier editions of the Gear S3.
At the back you’ll see some markings surrounding the heart-rate sensor. The text reminds you that it’s made of 316L stainless steel and is water resistant up to 50m in depth.
One really nice touch is that the Gear Sport takes standard 20mm watchbands so you can swap them out with any 20mm watchband and it should fit just fine.
To the right of the case are a pair of chunky rubber-lined buttons that undoubtedly gives it a sporty feel. They’re nice and clicky, which is always reassuring.
You may have noticed that the case is tinted a really dark blue and looks great. At a glance, it’s easily mistaken for black but if you look closely, you’ll see that it’s sort of a metallic navy.
I like that the colour also extends to the metal rail on the watchband too.
In front, you get a smaller 1.2-inch Super AMOLED round display that looks gorgeous. Samsung’s rotating bezel also returns on this device as an easy way to quickly navigate through the Tizen operating system. It’s protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3.
Tizen and the rotating bezel form a nice pairing. I think that it’s easily the best way to navigate a smartwatch’s interface and handily beats out Apple‘s non-tactile digital crown.
Speaking of Apple, the Gear Sport’s case is about the same size and weight of the aluminium Apple Watch Series 2 I have here.
For now, we don’t know exactly when the Gear Sport will be arriving in Malaysia. The only time frame we got from Samsung was “soon”, but based on their previous release, the smartwatch should arrive within this month.
