Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch Officially announced by Samsung!

[M-ursu]

The long wait is over, Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch – one of the most awaited watches of all time has finally been unveiled at the IFA 2013, Berlin. Shooting all rumors to rest, this is what the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch Actually is.

 

Introducing Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch

– the Perfect Companion for your Note 3

The Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch is a nice watch-looking smart device. The screen does NOT look flexible, however the aesthetics are pretty nice. It actually does look and feel  like a watch we had some doubts about.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch looks remarkable. First of all since the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch requires the use of a Samsung Smart Phone anyways, it is kind of redundant for it to have anything more then the core essential features. We can see that in the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch this is not the case. Its a watch, albeit a smart one. It does not make sense for it to have anything more then Feeds (Email,  Twitter, FB) a Music Player, Time and One or Two more apps.  And from what we can see the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch will be exactly that a smart watch.

We were worried that the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch has some aesthetic problems. We really prefer the box structure to the rectangle structure of the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch that was revealed before. A Smart Watch should feel like a watch and not a small phone tied to your wrist. The point is to make us feel as we are not on leash from our electronics.

It looks pretty amazing. It will ship sometime in October.

Specs

CPU: "800 MHz processor"

Display: 1.63 inch (41.4mm) Super AMOLED (320 x 320)

Camera: 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus Camera / Sound & Shot

Memory: 4GB Internal memory ＋ 512 MB (RAM)

Dimensions: 36.8 x 56.6 x 11.1 mm, 73.8g

Battery: Standard battery, Li-ion 315mAh

Announcement

The galaxy gear had been highly anticipated since the firm is currently the world's bestselling smartphone maker and has beaten Microsoft, Apple and Google to unveil such a device.

Samsung called it a "fashion icon".

However, analysts warned that a decision to limit the watch to working as an accessory to other Galaxy Android devices might limit its appeal.

Samsung has previously said growth in the sales of its handsets was slowing, so investors are eager to see if it can find another successful product.

It unveiled the the watch - which will go on sale from 25 September - at the Ifa consumer tech show in Berlin.

"The introduction of the Galaxy smartwatch comes as no surprise to the industry, which has been expecting Samsung to beat the likes of Apple - as well as watch makers and other consumer electronics companies - to market," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the consultancy Davies Murphy Group.

The Galaxy Gear is being made available with a range of colourful watch straps

"Consumers might be a bit disappointed to find that the smartwatch is a partner device reliant on being paired with a Samsung Android smartphone or tablet, rather than being the completely autonomous device media and communications device many consumers were expecting and hoping for."

The South Korean firm's approach contrasts with that of Sony whose forthcoming Smartwatch 2 can be paired with any device running Android 4.0 or higher.

But one industry watcher said Samsung's decision should not be a surprise.

"Samsung is trying to build its own ecosystem, so why do something that brings value to somebody else?" asked Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at tech advisors Gartner.

"Although the price of the Galaxy watch is high there's not going to be great margins as there's lots of technology going into it.

The Galaxy watch will cost about $300 (£192) making it more expensive than Sony's device which costs £120.

Start-up Omate is planning to release a watch in October that matches Samsung's in price, but its device is set to feature a 3G chip meaning it can make calls and work as a standalone device.

Unknown demand

The Galaxy Gear features a 1.6in (4cm) LED display, a 1.9 megapixel camera, a speaker and microphone, has four gigabytes of internal storage and a non-removable battery.

Sony's Smartwatch 2 is compatible with more makes of Android phone

Samsung said the watch could be used as a way to make voice calls without having to take the phone it was linked to out of the owner's bag or pocket.

It comes preloaded with 10 different clock options and there will be about 70 apps available at launch including Evernote's note-taking software, auction service eBay, the social network Path and several fitness programs.

Gartner has predicted the global wearable computing market - which includes eyewear such as Google Glass and activity tracker armbands - could be worth as much as $10bn (£6.5bn) by 2016.

Tech consultancy Canalys has forecast as many as five million smartwatches could be sold in 2014.

But in truth no-one is sure how great consumer interest will be.

A new survey of more than 1,500 smartphone owners in the US and UK commissioned by telecoms consultancy CCS Insight might temper expectations.

It found 65% of the respondents had heard of smartwatches and over 50% knew about wearable fitness trackers.

However, of those who already owned a smartwatch or fitness band, over 40% had stopped using it because they often forgot to put it on or had become bored of the idea.

Samsung suggests the watch can be used as an alternative to a Bluetooth headset to make calls

"Samsung has a history of latching onto the latest trends and throwing a product into the market to try and get ahead of potential rivals," said CCS Insight's Ben Wood.

"Galaxy Gear is the first attempt but I expect that there will need to be several more iterations before it is something that will will appeal to anyone other than an affluent geek."

Unappealing 'anachronism'

Ms Milanesi agreed that neither Samsung nor Sony's watches were likely to be the breakthrough product that makes smartwatches a mainstream product.

"Once you get a curved display you'll see more interesting designs, but for the moment you are basically just putting a glass screen on a wrist and I don't think that will appeal to many," she said.

"Samsung is also claiming a day's battery life with fair usage... it's like going back to a time you had to wind your watch up every night before going to bed.

"I don't think consumers want to do that with a watch or a band. They want to have it on without having to worry about charging it every day."

Research firm Forrester was equally sceptical.

"The wrist is the one of the most accepted places on the body for consumers to wear a sensor device," said analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.

"[but] there are very few functions you could perform better on a watch than on a phone.

"Maybe Samsung will tap into unmet demand with this product, disproving naysayers as it did with the Galaxy Note phone which succeeded after many 5in competitors failed.

"But my bet is that smartwatches are sci-fi inventions that are already anachronisms in this modern world."

Samsung launched its Galaxy Gear smartwatch today. Here's what it looks like

 

Full announcement from Samsung is here:

http://www.samsungmobilepress.com/2013/09/04/Samsung-Introduces-GALAXY-Gear,-a-Wearable-Device-to-Enhance-the-Freedom-of-Mobile-Communications-1

 

 

 

Other sources:

http://www.thefullsignal.com/samsung/samsung-galaxy-gear/15752/galaxy-gear-smartwatch-officially-announced

http://mashable.com/2013/09/04/samsung-galaxy-gear/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23961692

[TheSLSAMG]

Wait, so it's only compatible with Note 3, Note 2, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4? I see this flopping, because it's in such a tight niche.

[rashdanml]

Eh.

 

I still use a traditional analog watch. Don't really need another smart device.

[brownninja97]

Its too much of a big change. With more support it will be better.

[wtfxmitchell]

like the sony one more

[Kirihuna]

Wait, so it's only compatible with Note 3, Note 2, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4? I see this flopping, because it's in such a tight niche.

I only see people with S3, S4, Note 2s and iPhones. A few Verizon Motorola phones here and there. So it could be possible for it to be a hit.

[TheSLSAMG]

I only see people with S3, S4, Note 2s and iPhones. A few Verizon Motorola phones here and there. So it could be possible for it to be a hit.

It could, but I still feel they should have added compatibility with more Android devices.

[mymouthandi]

I really don't give a damn about smart watches and I still can not see the point in them. Why would you want one? It baffles me that there is so much attention going towards a device which I just can not see being successful. 

I love gadgets, I really do, but this is just silly. 

[M-ursu]

It took 45 minutes to write that topic

[LAwLz]

Four major flaws with this:

 

1) Only works with Galaxy devices. Yes Samsung is big, but why limit it to Samsung devices? Just open it up and let any Android device use it.

2) 1 days of battery life? I am sorry, but it's a watch. I don't want to recharge my watch every single day....

3) What am I suppose to do with it? Answer calls? I can already do that with my phone? Take photos? My phone takes much better photos. See notifications? OK that's cool but I could just check them on my phone. It's not that much faster to check my watch.

4) It costs 300 dollars... I think ~100 dollars would be quite expensive for something like this, and I am fairly sure most people will agree.

 

 

The Sony one sounds a lot better.

[rashdanml]

2) 1 days of battery life? I am sorry, but it's a watch. I don't want to recharge my watch every single day....

Wow.

 

My watch has been going for 7+ years non-stop. Yay for Eco-Drive.

[obsidian1200]

Still has nothing on my skeleton watch. That thing is so sexy.

[Delano.888]

People who think the gear is awesome, why? Please just take a quick look at the Omate Truesmart, it's 1000x better then the gear..

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/49783-anybody-else-here-getting-the-new-omate-truesmart-smartwatch-20-kickstarter/

[heineygoat]

Strange that they would limit their potential market by such a significant amount.