Samsung has released many sequels this year so far. We got the usual Galaxy S yearly models and a couple of new foldable phones, and earlier this month, Samsung finally added a handful of new devices to its Fan Edition portfolio. There's a lot to love about Samsung's product lineup for 2023, but one sequel that snuck by me and got my attention way more than I expected is the Galaxy SmartTag 2.
What's there to say about a sequel to Samsung's original location tracker? Not much, I thought, but the Galaxy SmartTag 2 proved me wrong. It's a huge step up from the original Galaxy SmartTag, and this leap in features and specifications made the new model seem more exciting than perhaps it has any right to be. And it certainly made the original SmartTag look more like a toy.
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Galaxy SmartTag 2 proves even a small device can leave a mark
Smartphones and tablets have been around for over a decade. Even foldable phones have a fairly lengthy history, which means Samsung already knows the basic formula, and every yearly sequel is meant to add incremental improvements on top of an existing strong foundation.
What made the Galaxy SmartTag 2 surprisingly exciting is that, despite the fact that it's far simpler than other Galaxy devices revealed this year, it wasn't confined by its origins, because it has yet to be perfected. It redefined itself inside and out and brought meaningful upgrades, from a new Pet Mode and a Power Saving Mode with incredible battery life gains to an improved Compass View, better dust and water resistance, and a bunch of quality-of-life features.
I'm not saying Samsung should go out of its way to redefine its phones and tablets every year just to keep things exciting. Clearly, the mobile market has reached a point where phones and tablets don't need to be redesigned — only improved in subtle but meaningful ways. And to me, that makes sense. These devices are way past their experimental phase, and there's no need to try to force change when there's little room for it. These things come in waves, and right now, we should be enjoying the stability phase in which the mobile market finds itself (and all the pro-consumer benefits that come with that) rather than rooting for more chaos.
Nevertheless, I must say that the huge gap the SmartTag 2 left between it and the SmartTag brought back memories of the mobile market's early days when brands were still boldly exploring what could be the best way of developing a smartphone. I wouldn't want to go back to those experimental days just for the fun of it, but nevertheless, hearing about the SmartTag 2 was fun.
Foldable phones also have that quality to a degree. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is exciting because its cover screen is way better than the Z Flip 4's. But the Z Flip 5 was leaked left and right for months, and there was little excitement left by the time the phone became official at Unpacked.
In contrast, the SmartTag 2's many tech upgrades came as a surprise out of nowhere. It caught me off guard. And as small and insignificant as this location tracker may seem, it was nonetheless a pleasure to soak in all the upgrades and improvements it brought over its predecessor. And that's why, surprisingly enough, the Galaxy SmartTag 2 is among my favorite sequels of 2023.
