Newsletter
Last year HERE announced a partnership with Samsung that put HERE Maps right on Samsung’s latest Tizen-powered smartwatch at the time, the Gear S. This was a beneficial partnership for both companies and now that partnership will continue on with a new announcement from HERE this morning. HERE Maps will now not only have support for the Samsung Gear S but it will also have support for its upcoming successor, the Gear S2.
Out-of-the-box the Samsung Gear S2 will have support for HERE Maps. Open the default ‘Navigator’ app once the HERE Maps app is installed and you will find that it is essentially the HERE Maps app. When you open the app you will be greeted with your current location highlighted on a map, this is Samsung Maps. Once you wish to navigate somewhere however, that is where HERE Maps comes into the picture. If you pick a location to get directions to within the Samsung Maps app, HERE Maps will handle that by giving you turn-by-turn directions for either walking or driving. Samsung’s upcoming Gear S2 is the company’s latest smartwatch that runs Tizen and has already been getting a lot of attention in the technology community for its stylish design. It features a smaller, yet round display with a rotating bezel that allows users to navigate certain aspects of the UI. There will be two variants of the device available, a regular model and a classic model as well as a 3G capable model.
Navigating using HERE Maps on the Samsung Gear S2 is similar to navigating using other apps on smartwatches. When a necessary turn is coming up on your route, the watchface will change to show you what turn needs to be made and the Gear S2 will vibrate. The Gear S2 will also vibrate when you have arrived at your destination or you are being re-routed. You will also be able to use S Voice to begin navigation via HERE Maps. The upcoming Samsung Gear S2 will be launching this fall around the world and when it does HERE Maps will already support the device and be ready to install. Samsung gets a great turn-by-turn navigation app for their upcoming smartwatch and HERE gets their app highlighted on arguably the best-looking smartwatch to date.