Samsung took the wraps off its Galaxy Gear smartwatch today in Berlin. The $299 Android device is meant to be a companion to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, and its 2014 Galaxy Note tablet, also introduced today. The Galaxy Gear is a stainless steel watch attached to rubber straps that come in six colors. Samsung is clearly thinking fashion as well as function – those colors are: wild orange, lime green, jet black, mocha gray, oatmeal beige, and rose gold. The watch strap includes a 1.9 megapixel camera.
“Based on the features announced today, it appears that Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch is a prototype masquerading as a commercial product—and because of that, it is unlikely to be successful in the market,” said Ian Fogg, director for mobile and telecoms at IHS. “The device exhibits multiple shortcomings, including a high price tag, a short battery life, its status as a companion device and its limited compatibility.”
The Galaxy Gear connects to the Note 3 phone and the new Note tablet via Bluetooth, the same technology used by the Pebble smartwatch. The watch has a 1.63 inch touchscreen that displays whatever the connected device is displaying. The watch has a built-in microphone, so users can make calls without taking their phones out of their pockets.
But with the Note 3 smartphone the question is whether the device will even fit into most pockets. It is actually thinner and lighter than the Note 2, but the display size has been bumped up to 5.7 inches (the Note 2 screen was 5.5 inches.) It is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core processor and has 3GB of RAM. It has a faux leather back which is actually plastic.
The Note 3’s most innovative new feature may be Air Command, a new capability of the S Pen stylus that comes with Galaxy Note “phablets.” Air Command allows a user to click the pen and bring up applications on the phone without touching it.
The Note 3 will be available through the four largest U.S. carriers (Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint and T-Mobile U.S.) as well as through U.S. Cellular. Carriers will start to get the phone September 25.
Samsung is calling the new Galaxy Note 10.1 the 2014 Galaxy Note. The LTE version is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 processor; the other versions use Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa. Like the Note 3, it has a faux leather back and uses the S Pen stylus.
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