There's always voice command systems, which backed up by cloud computing power have become increasingly good, but speaking to devices on your wrist to make them do tasks just isn't natural.
Eventually, we'll have smart wearables that figure out what we want to do without needing direct input and perhaps also some form of neural interfaces, but for now, they need something twiddle-able to work and to complement the occasional prod on the touch screen.
Apple came up with the Digital Crown, a little wheel on the side of the Apple Watch that can be turned to select apps and scroll through information - and be pressed too. It works quite well, and means you don't have to touch the screen much.
With its Gear S2, Samsung applied some design-savvy too, giving it a rotating bezel. It's a great idea as it, too, lets you select screens and apps on the watch and scroll through information without touching the screen all the time.
It works a bit like the clickwheel on my ancient iPod, but the rotating bezel only does one thing.
The watch has two buttons on the side to contend with as well: press the top one to go back to the home screen and the other one to bring up app icons, set in a circle so you can select them with the bezel and launch them with your finger.
But I wish it wasn't necessary to press the screen with a finger to launch the apps.
Samsung has been dabbling with smartwatches before, and the first version I tried used Google's Android Wear system and even had a camera. It felt too complicated and bulky on the wrist. The Gear S2 runs Samsung's homebrew Tizen operating system, has lost some features and is all the better for it. It probably needs a speaker for sound notifications and phone calls though, rather than just a buzzing vibrator.
The Gear S2 Classic that I tried out is stylish and costs about $650. Don't forget you'll need a phone to go with it, but it doesn't have to be a Samsung device. It can't be an iPhone, though, which is a shame.
You get 13 watch face options (you can buy others) with the Gear S2, four gigabytes of storage for music, wi-fi, near-field communications and Bluetooth wireless support, and a very good Amoled 1.2-inch screen with 360 by 360 pixel resolution. The screen is round, like a traditional watch, and there's a leather band.
Overall, the Gear S2 is nicely made and is water resistant to 1.5m for 30 minutes. Don't go swimming with the S2 on, but it should survive a quick dunking.
There are lots of sensors in the Gear S2, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate monitor, barometer and GPS for positioning. You can also read texts, emails and instant messages on the device, albeit with some difficulty because of the small screen size.
Overseas models of the Gear S2 are sold with a 3G eSIM that works in the 850, 900, 1900 and 2100MHz bands, so it should be usable in New Zealand too. However, although Samsung has said one unnamed operator in the country is testing it, no telco supports eSIM functionality.
The watch comes with a good selection of apps for fitness, health, media (CNN, ESPN, Bloomberg), music and pictures but the maps app, which seems to be based on Nokia's Here and which had to be installed separately, doesn't communicate with smartphone map apps and is slow and not very usable.
Maps on the Apple Watch, in comparison, is a great navigational tool.
On the Apple Watch, I've been using the Siri personal digital assistant quite a bit; the Gear S2 has the S-Voice equivalent, but Samsung needs to work a bit more on that feature as it was slow to respond and often didn't understand instructions.
Battery life was really good - I got more than two days' use from the Gear S2, which charges wirelessly via a cradle that connects to a power source with a USB cable.
Samsung's on the right design track with the Gear S2, especially with the rotating bezel.
The watch is well-priced too, and if Samsung fixes flaws such as the maps to phone integration, it'll be a great smartwatch.
