Samsung Gear S2 For Dummies. Butow Eric

by plugging the cable to the charger and to your plug. Then insert the plug into your wall outlet or, even better, a surge protector. (Insert your favorite trite safety slogan here.) Now, place the back of the watch against the vertical bar on the charger with the left side of the watch case (the one without buttons) resting on the bottom of the charger.

The vertical bar has two sides, and only one side is magnetized. So which side do you use? Samsung made it easy by putting its logo on the side of the bar that is not the side you use. You guessed right: The glass on the front of the case isn’t magnetized, so you have to place the back of the case on the proper side of the vertical bar (see Figure 2-5).

       FIGURE 2-5: The back of the Gear S2 connects to the magnetized side of the vertical bar.

      If you don’t believe me, put the front or back of the case on the side of the bar with the Samsung logo and watch your smartwatch fall off the charger and clatter on your desk (or table, if you prefer).

      When you place the back of the Gear S2 on the correct side, notice the magnet on the back of the case pulling it to the vertical bar on the charger. When the case and the vertical bar make contact, move the charger around so that you can see the Gear S2 screen. You can see the battery strength percentage on the watch screen, which registers a range from 0 percent (empty) to 100 percent (full).

       The screen automatically rotates on the charger so that you can see the percentage properly without having to remove the watch from the charger.

      The Gear S2 screen turns off about 15 seconds after you connect it to the charger, but you don’t need to turn the screen back on. Instead, look at the bottom of the charger below the front of the Gear S2 screen.

At the bottom of the charger, you see a light when your watch is charging (see Figure 2-6). If the light is red, that means your battery isn’t full and you should keep the Gear S2 connected to the charger. When the light is green, the battery is full and you can remove it from the charger.

       FIGURE 2-6: The light on the charger tells you whether you need to wait to fully charge your Gear S2.

      After you release the Gear S2 from the charger, if you’re viewing the smartwatch screen you see the battery strength percentage amount on the screen for a second or two. If the charger light is green, the percentage on the screen should be 100.

       The battery will last for about two to three days before you have to recharge your Gear S2. Just as with your smartphone, if you use one or more apps on your Gear S2 that require a lot of battery juice, your battery won’t last as long. When your Gear S2 runs (or nearly runs) out of power, plan on doing something else with your time for about two hours as your smartwatch charges back up to 100 percent.

       You can charge your Gear S2 while the smartwatch is on. However, charging may take longer because the battery is already using its power to keep the Gear S2 running. So if you don’t expect to use your Gear S2 soon after you place the smartwatch on the charger, you charge it faster by turning off the Gear S2 and letting the battery focus on charging alone.

      Starting and Setting Up the Gear S2

      When the light on the charger turns green, you’re finally (finally!) ready to start the Gear S2 for the first time. Hold down the Power button until you feel the watch vibrate; then release your finger. The Gear S2 logo appears on the screen, and you have to wait a few seconds more for the Tizen operating system to load. (I tell you more about the Gear S2’s Tizen OS in Chapter 1.)

When the Gear S2 is finished starting up, you see the Welcome screen shown in Figure 2-7.

       FIGURE 2-7: Welcome to your Gear S2.

After you tap the screen, a message appears that asks you to install the Samsung Gear app on your smartphone, as shown in Figure 2-8. Yes, you need to use an Android smartphone with your Gear S2. Even if you purchased your Gear S2 from a phone carrier so that you can make calls on your carrier’s network without a smartphone, you need to use the Gear Manager app on your smartphone to install apps on and manage your Gear S2.

       FIGURE 2-8: You can’t do anything with your Gear S2 until you set up Gear Manager on your smartphone.

      As of this writing, Samsung has preinstalled Gear Manager on its latest Galaxy S7 Android smartphone. However, if you have an older Android smartphone, you need to install the Gear Manager app, as you learn to do shortly. There’s also media chatter about a Gear Manager app for the iPhone as of this writing, so you may want to check the App Store on your iPhone to see whether the Gear Manager app is available now.

      You can’t do anything else on your Gear S2 after this point until Gear Manager is installed. The smartwatch screen turns off after 15 seconds.

       Installing the Gear Manager app on your smartphone

      Now you need to turn on or awaken your Android smartphone, which in this example is my Samsung Galaxy S6. Open your Apps screen and then tap Galaxy Apps. You may need to swipe to the appropriate page within the Apps screen to find the Galaxy Apps icon. Then follow these steps to set up your smartphone to work with your Gear S2 watch: