Surprise software update for Samsung Gear S2 improves battery life
The more than 5 year old Samsung Gear S2 is getting a surprise firmware update. The new software focuses on improving battery life and security.
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Launched back in October 2015, the S2 is a stylish watch that tracks your daily activity levels, heart rate and water versus caffeine intake through the app. The device spits out motivational messages, notifications, texts and news from your phone right on your wrist. There is also offline storage for up to 300 songs.
The watch was succeeded by the Gear S3, which in turn was succeeded by the Galaxy Watch and Watch active range. But it’s nice to know Samsung has not forgotten users of its older devices.
The upgraded software focuses primarily on improving battery usage time. This is particularly useful for older watches such as the S2 as battery performance deteriorates over the years. Gear S2 is not known for great battery life. On a single charge it only runs for 24 hours, so users are charging it every night. This is not going to change but the refresh should hopefully help extend battery life a bit.
The other upgrade is to do with security fixes. Samsung has not issued any details apart from saying that it has “implemented stability code for device security”.
This is a gradual roll-out so it might take time to reach your device. To see if it has landed, open up your Galaxy Wearable app. Then go to Watch software update and (if the new firmware version is there), choose Download and install.
Source: SamMobile
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