Gear S2: Developing for Life On-the-go

Today, our society moves faster than ever. As the demand for our time increases, so does the demand for technology that can keep pace with our hectic lifestyles. No device embodies this mission more than the Samsung Gear S2.

On “Day 0” of the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC), attendees flocked to the Developing for the Gear S2 workshop to get a better understanding of the Gear ecosystem and to try their hand at creating a custom watch face.

As soon as you walked into the session, it was clear that this was the place to be. With every seat in the space filled, would-be Gear developers stood around the perimeter of the room patiently waiting to uncover the secrets buried within the Tizen platform.

“I’ve been evaluating a lot of different mobile technologies and Tizen is among those I’m most interested in,” said Java Script Developer Kate Lee.

Andrew Gold, director of mobile design user experience for Kaiser Permanente, was drawn to the Developing for Gear S2 session by the prospect of learning how his company could leverage the device for practical healthcare applications.

“I think the Gear S2 is the best device on the market,” he said, “and I’d like to get a better understanding of how to develop for it and … of the Samsung Development Kit (SDK) and environment.”

Healthcare was a central theme of the presentation, as Samsung’s Dariusz Paziewski gave the audience an in-depth tutorial on creating the HeartRate Monitor for the Gear S2. To test out whether or not he had succeeded in his demonstration, Pazieswski was visibly nervous—understandably so considering that it was his first time presenting—and it showed when his newly-created Gear S2 app clocked his ticker at 113 beats per minute.

After walking the attendees through the process of animating the application, he again used the device to take his own heart rate—registering at a much more relaxed 77 beats per minute.

Next up to the stage was Youngjae Meen, from the Samsung UX team, to introduce the Gear S2 Watch Face Designer. This cool demonstration showed everyone in the room just how easy it is for beginners and experts alike to create custom watch faces for the Gear S2. A fact not lost on software engineer Joel Johnson, who was surprised by the relative ease of personalizing the device.

“The watch face creator demo really caught my attention,” he said, “because it was nice to see that skills I already have could be easily used on this platform.”

Photo Highlights from SDC Day 0 Hands-on Workshops

Attendees at the Samsung Developer Conference take a deep dive into the ARTIK platform to construct a smart trash can network during a Day 0 hands-on workshop

Attendees at the Samsung Developer Conference take a deep dive into the ARTIK platform to construct a smart trash can network during a Day 0 hands-on workshop.

Developers at the Samsung Developer Conference get hands-on with the SmartThings platform during one of the Day 0 workshops.

Virtual Reality was the focal point of the Day 0 hands-on workshop on developing for the Gear VR during the Samsung Developer Conference.