Updated firmware arrives for Gear S2

The Samsung Gear S2 isn’t available everywhere just yet. In the markets where it currently exists however, it’s been receiving a variety of updates designed to improve user experience. This morning, one such update arrived in South Korea, bringing with it a slew of cosmetic tweaks and a handful of new features.

Senior XDA member SuperSoulFly has posted all the details over at XDA. So what’s new? Quite a bit.

An “Auto open apps” option has been included in the settings. When activated, the app-selection interface is modified slightly. When scrolling through your apps list, the one you stop on will launch after a brief pause rather than requiring you to tap it.

The device now supports the ability to notify you if it becomes disconnected from your phone. You can reach this option through the “Connections” menu.

Screen timeout options have been added, allowing you to choose between 15 seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, or five minutes. There are also a handful of new watchfaces.

Some new stock apps have also been added, which SuperSoulFly denounces as bloatware. These include a world clock, the official Starbucks app, a navigation app (Korean), and a news app. So far, all of these new additions can be uninstalled.

A notification indicator has been added, which puts a small orange circle on your watchface if you have unviewed notifications. Also, double-tapping notifications will increase the text size for easier reading. If you swipe up to dismiss a notification, a trash can appears, providing you with a little better feedback as to what the gesture accomplished.

The add-widget “+” symbol now expressly says “add widget” beneath it, removing any confusion as to the button’s purpose.

An “Add template” feature has been added on the watchfaces menu. This will let you choose and modify existing face styles.

All in all, the update serves to streamline rather than revolutionize the Gear S2’s interface. Going forward, we can probably expect all of these details to be out of the box features when the Gear S2 begins arriving in new markets around the world.