Just what can you do with Samsung’s latest Gear S2 smartwatch? Answer calls, send text messages, receive notifications, view and read emails, read the news, set alarms, check your heart rate/calories/distance, and so on. As impressive as this list of capabilities are to many, the day will come when your Gear smartwatch can and will do more than you’ve ever imagined.
According to new Gear smartwatch patents filed by Gear smartwatch maker Samsung Electronics, the Gear smartwatch of the future will not only do the things we take for granted now, but more: it will also become a navigation tool for Gear VR (to change movies, adjust volume and brightness within the Netflix VR app, for example), change channels on your Samsung Smart TV as well as participate in interactive video games on your Smart TV. In other patents, we see the Gear smartwatch being used to turn on the washer and air conditioner, referring to the integration of the Gear smartwatch with Samsung’s own home appliances. Pretty cool, huh?
Gear smartwatch integration with Google's Brillo and Apple's HomeKit?
Of course, it goes without saying that Samsung is only referring to its own home appliances and Smart TVs in the patent drawings, but could Samsung bring these capabilities to Google’s Brillo and Apple’s HomeKit systems? Yes.
What this would mean for the consumer is that Samsung would bring cutting-edge tech to everyone, regardless of how many platforms the consumer would have in his or her home. Samsung has always said that when it goes cutting-edge, its work “lifts the industry,” and the Gear S2 is just the beginning of what the Korean giant has in store for the consumer market. Sit back, enjoy the tech, and make yourselves at home.
