We’ve been able to confirm that Samsung’s next smartwatch will have a virtual bezel instead of the physical rotating bezel we’ve been seeing on the company’s smartwatches since the Gear S2 (which launched back in 2015). The Galaxy Watch Active 2 will have what Samsung calls Touch Bezel (it could also be called Digital Bezel), allowing users to swipe around on the edges of the screen to navigate through the user interface.
We didn’t see a virtual bezel on the first Galaxy Watch Active, and the fact that it will be present on the Watch Active 2 lends further credence to our belief that Samsung has a problem when it comes to a long-term vision. But it’s also good to see the Korean giant isn’t completely giving up on what has set its smartwatches apart from the competition, and long-time users of Gear/Galaxy smartwatches upgrading to the Watch Active 2 will appreciate having an alternative to the physical rotating bezel.
It will also mean there are fewer moving parts on the watch, making it more reliable in the long run (the rotating bezel on existing Samsung smartwatches can lose its clicky nature after a year or so of regular usage). However, the joy of moving a physical bezel wheel will be lost in the process, along with the rugged mechanical watch-like design the physical rotating bezel made possible, so a virtual bezel won’t be something that will please everyone.
Which brings us to today’s question: Would you be okay with a virtual bezel instead of a physical one, or would you prefer Samsung stop this experiment and just stick to the latter? Tell us by voting in the poll below, and if you have any thoughts you’d like to share on the matter, do leave a comment as well.
Results: It seems many of our voters are willing to give the new virtual bezel a chance before coming to a conclusion, with 40 percent voters saying they’ll reserve judgement until they see it in action. 36 percent said they wouldn’t be okay with a virtual bezel, which is a sentiment we can understand. 16 percent of voters say they’d be fine, while the remaining 9 percent said they would be okay with both a physical and virtual bezel.
