Let's first talk about the design. The first thing we noticed was that the camera is now built into the front of the watch alongside the IR blaster, which is much better than the original Gear's distracting wart on the wristband. The mic, formerly on the clasp of the strap, has now been moved up to the body of the device itself; this means that Samsung will now let you swap the wristband with either Samsung-specific models or third-party versions. Samsung didn't elaborate on if this will be compatible with all 22mm straps (similar to Pebble) or if it's a different spec, but this is nevertheless a splendid improvement over the first Gear. It also features a home button just below the display instead of on the side, like the previous version.

With the new pair of Gears, you'll also get the same 1.63-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz dual-core processor (a bump up from 800MHz), 4GB internal storage, 512MB of RAM, infrared, S Voice, a heart rate sensor, IP67 certification for resistance to water and dust, a 2MP AF camera with 720p video capture (on the higher model, not the Neo) and a 300mAh battery. This means that the battery is technically smaller on the new Gear, but Samsung claims a life of 2-3 days; this is a drastic boost in performance over the original watch, even if the time between charges is still too frequent for many watch users. Lastly, both models will be compatible with "more than dozens" of Galaxy smartphones when it launches.

There are only a few slight differences between the Gear 2 and its Neo sibling: the Neo doesn't have a camera, the Neo offers one different color than the Gear 2 and it's a tad lighter (the Gear 2 is 68g, whereas the Neo is 55g; both are lighter than the original). Neither model has a price tag to go along with the announcement yet, but we like to see multiple options available at different price points. The top model will come in Charcoal Black, Gold Brown and Wild Orange, while the Neo replaces the Brown for a Mocha Grey hue. We hope to get hands-on time with the watches soon.