Samsung’s round smartwatch delayed, will launch alongside the Galaxy Note 5

[Victorious Secret]

Looks like the much anticipated successor to the heaping piles of 'meh' known as the Gear smartwatches has been delayed to launch alongside the Note 5. 

 

Fancy moving bezel control akin your favourite James Bond watch? Check. Cellular radios to make calls off the watch itself? Check. Compatibility with other Android devices? Hah, almost had you going there didn't I? Rumour is, and with good precedent, that the Gear A (Orbis as its currently known) will be a Samsung device only affair. 

 

Why? I guess every Android Wear/Tizen/every custom OS hates having universal appeal and usability. Its what stayed my hand for a long time, as neat as some watches were they weren't worth the hassles of having to swap over ecosystems just to own them; no watch on the market really is worth it. 

Hopefully this thing runs Android Wear so everyone can enjoy it regardless of what Android device they have and hopefully Google takes a serious step in bringing Wear compatibility to more platforms. 

 

 

 

Samsung had confirmed earlier this year that it was taking its time with the next Gear smartwatch in order to make sure it’s as perfect as possible. Called the Gear A, this watch will be the first round smartwatch from Samsung and will bring a new method of user interaction thanks to its use of a rotating bezel ring. Samsung has never actually offered a time frame for when the Gear A will be officially announced, but according to our insiders, the company has delayed the launch till the second half of this year.

 

Our sources tell us that the Gear A – codenamed Orbis – will be launched alongside the Galaxy Note 5 at IFA later this year, and that there is a lot discussion going on at Samsung in order to decide the time frame. Apparently, the delay is to ensure Samsung can follow a proper time table with its product launches, and possibly to give the market time to settle down with the Apple Watch, which is grabbing quite the spotlight these days.

 

http://www.sammobile.com/2015/05/07/samsungs-round-smartwatch-delayed-will-launch-alongside-the-galaxy-note-5/

 

[Sauron]

Well, if the apple watch is any indication this should be a resounding success.

 

But who am I kidding, it doesn't have a bitten apple on it.

[Victorious Secret]

Well, if the apple watch is any indication this should be a resounding success.

 

But who am I kidding, it doesn't have a bitten apple on it.

 

Did it ever cross your mind that the Apple Watch is selling well because, shocker, its actually a good smartwatch that has proper marketing behind it? 

Apple selling more than all of Android Wear in a weekend isn't some fluke. Google and co. talk the biggest talk yet let their "first to market" ideas whither and die. 

[ShadowCaptain]

Samsung have the talent, but lack the conviction to do anything really special

[Sauron]

Did it ever cross your mind that the Apple Watch is selling well because, shocker, its actually a good smartwatch that has proper marketing behind it? 

Apple selling more than all of Android Wear in a weekend isn't some fluke. Google and co. talk the biggest talk yet let their "first to market" ideas whither and die. 

 

Again, this does pretty much the same, does it not? Didn't the original gear do that too? But as expected, battery life, price, and the fact that it was proprietary proved to be its downfall. Not the case with Apple, they get praise for everything and promptly defended for any bs they pull off.

 

On top of that, as a smartwatch the AW is just bad in my honest opinion. Charging my watch [derped, edited]twice a every day is ridiculous, even if I thought buying an iphone first made any sense. If it can't even be a watch properly, then why bother doing more? I sleep with my watch on. It needs to tell me the time, anytime I need it to, immediately, with no silly gestures or constant babysitting. If it had other functions on top of that, fine, but if you take away the core functionality it becomes fancy junk.

 

Marketing is pretty much the only reason the apple watch is selling well. But good marketing does not make a good product. You can't even use support as an argument really, since it's only been out for less than a month. There is no discerning factor other than the brand, and the marketing campaign.

[Victorious Secret]

@Sauron, the watch lasts all day. Where are you getting this "twice a day" nonsense from? Real time use is putting people at 30-40% by the end of the day, no you can't go to sleep with the watch and that is a problem but lets not spread FUD. 

 

I personally don't go to sleep with any of my watches. So the idea that I needed to charge it at the end of the day didn't phase me (for any smartwatch). My phone goes on my dock, my laptop goes to charge, whats another device that I take off before going to sleep anyways? 

People seem to have a real problem in accepting that Apple products sell well because they happen to be good products, and if they cost more then clearly thats something the market is willing to bear. In other words, if you can't afford it then don't buy it. Its a luxury good in a world of tech that can be called luxury goods. You don't need a single lick of it. 

We're getting mad at Apple for excelling at the point of any company - to peddle their shit onto consumers as fast as possible. Want that to stop? Change the rules of commerce cause until then, Apple will keep making money and everyone else will be pretenders trying to match their success. 

[Thought]

Snazzy looking watch. I might pick one of these up depending on what material that band is made of, or if I can replace it.

[Sauron]

@Sauron, the watch lasts all day. Where are you getting this "twice a day" nonsense from? Real time use is putting people at 30-40% by the end of the day, no you can't go to sleep with the watch and that is a problem but lets not spread FUD. 

 

I personally don't go to sleep with any of my watches. So the idea that I needed to charge it at the end of the day didn't phase me (for any smartwatch). My phone goes on my dock, my laptop goes to charge, whats another device that I take off before going to sleep anyways? 

People seem to have a real problem in accepting that Apple products sell well because they happen to be good products, and if they cost more then clearly thats something the market is willing to bear. In other words, if you can't afford it then don't buy it. Its a luxury good in a world of tech that can be called luxury goods. You don't need a single lick of it. 

We're getting mad at Apple for excelling at the point of any company - to peddle their shit onto consumers as fast as possible. Want that to stop? Change the rules of commerce cause until then, Apple will keep making money and everyone else will be pretenders trying to match their success. 

 

Sorry for the twice a day part, I derped for some reason  :huh: I'm sure I meant to write "every day", no idea what happened.

 

It's not so much the generally high price that bothers me, but that said price is too high for what it offers. I could afford an apple watch if I wanted one, but I just don't. And the battery life in my opinion classifies it as an inferior product to the (often cheaper) competition. "Luxury" items are things like jewels, stuff that lasts through time and holds a value even 50 years after you bought it; an apple watch will be outdated in a year or so, and no part of it is particularly valuable (save the edition, which still contains a very low amount of gold for what it costs).

 

I don't really get mad at apple for being successful, they're a business and are there to make money, my hat's off to them for doing so with such efficiency. What irritates me is that such a large portion of people just dishes out their money to them without knowing any better, and when I point stuff like this out I get swarmed by people defending the product no matter what, mainly because it's apple.

 

I'm on this forum to give advice, not to impose my way of thinking and most certianly not to force people to do anything. But if I consider a product to be poor, be it in quality or pricing, I will tell people and hope that the message spreads to others avoid that mistake too.

 

Imagine for a minute that AMD cpus were extremely popular and an FX8350 cost like a 4790k or more. What if you pointed out that that cpu was too expensive for what it was, and people started saying you're wrong, they "don't need" that faster ipc nonsense you speak of, that a higher power consumption is expected with "premium" components, that pins on the cpu are "the perfect way of doing things and don't need to change", that the r&d most certainly justifies the price even if production costs were extremely low. and that it has such an awesome "look and feel"? How would you feel? There, that's how I feel every time I get in one of these discussions.

[Aniallation]

Sources:

http://bgr.com/2015/05/12/samsung-gear-a-vs-apple-watch/

http://gizmodo.com/the-best-look-yet-at-samsungs-round-galaxy-smartwatch-1704016936

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/05/12/gear-a-orbis-samsung-round-smartwatch-leak/

 

Leaks of Samsung's rumored round smartwatch have surfaced, and the device named "Gear A" seems to be their response to the Apple Watch. I'm interested to see how it does. I don't think I'll be upgrading from my G-Watch to it, but I'm interested in seeing how it actually does both hardware wise compared to the competition, and software wise, as it seems to still use a proprietary OS by Samsung rather then the fast growing Android Wear.

 

 

After releasing a variety of smartwatch models at a rushed pace, Samsung is finally taking its time developing its next wearable, a Tizen-based smartwatch that’s supposedly called the Gear A. Supposedly, the device will compete directly against the Apple Watch, and might even best it in some ways.

 

While the watch has not been shown in public yet, the first screenshots revealing its future user interface have been revealed, as they were recently found in an SDK Samsung released to developers.

 

In addition to confirming once again that the Gear A will have a round display, the screenshots also suggest that Samsung has come up with its own new UI interaction mechanism for the device, which will mimic the functionality of the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown.

 

Instead of a rotating crown that can be used to zoom in and out or scroll through lists and in-app menus, Samsung has apparently built a special rotating bezel that can be rotated to the left or right to trigger various actions. The rotating bezel can be used to navigate menus inside apps and to scroll through contacts and apps.

 

 

The Gear A smartwatch is said to feature a round Super AMOLED screen, the rotating bezel, an Exynos processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular connectivity complete with caller support, and Tizen OS. It’s not clear yet when the device will be released.

 

 

Like anything Samsung, the watch will probably be equipped with every possible sensor imaginable: an accelerometer, gyrosensor, heart-rate monitor, pressure sensor, and magnetic sensor, according to SamMobile. Another Samsung-ism is pixel-packed displays, and the new Gear may have everyone beat in those regards with a 360x360 (305 ppi) circular display, the highest resolution of any smartwatch out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As expected, the new Gear watch features a round design with a rotating bezel. The bezel can be used to scroll through lists, jump between screens, zoom in on an image, control the volume and more. Functionally, it seems pretty similar to the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown. Speaking of which, Samsung’s wearable features a crown button as well, though it’s unclear what it will do.

 

We expect Samsung to unveil the Gear A (or whatever Samsung calls its next smartwatch) in September during IFA, where the company will likely also announce the Galaxy Note 5.