Samsung Electronics recently added an automatic sleep monitor function to Gear S2 through firmware update. However information regarding ‘Gear Manager for iOS’ that is meant to link iPhone with Gear S2 was not included in this update.
Samsung Electronics made an announcement through its ‘Samsung News Room’ on the 18th that it had carried out software update for Gear S2. This update, which is known as ‘Value Pack’, includes a function that downloads necessary applications through Gear S2, ‘My Photo’ function that changes screen of a watch with a picture that a user wants, more strengthened ‘S Health’ function, and voice recognition solution called ‘S Voice’.
One that catches people’s eyes is more strengthened mobile healthcare platform called ‘S Health’. This function now has an automatic sleep monitor function that records state of sleep of a person with Gear S2, 24 hour activities, and record of sleep. Although there was level of inconvenience before where this function had to be turned on manually, this function now monitors one’s sleep as soon as a user falls asleep.
As importance of good sleep is being brought up recently, automatic sleep monitor function seems to become a major element in healthcare industry. Samsung’s ‘Gear Fit 2’ that claims to support fitness wearable and Fitbit’s ‘Alta’ are providing sleep monitor functions. Also Samsung introduced an IoT solution called ‘Sleep Sense’ that helps one to sleep at IFA that was held in September of last year. ‘Sleep Sense’ supports a separate application.
If improved version of ‘S Health’ is released to Apple’s iOS application market, Samsung Electronics will have greater impact in healthcare markets. That is why Samsung is planning to introduce ‘Gear Manager for iOS’ that connects iPhones with Gear S2s within this year. “Although we are planning to release Gear Manager this year, we do not know the exact date yet.” said a representative for Samsung Electronics.
Staff Reporter Ham, Jihyeon | goham@etnews.com