Well it was rumoured for a while, and if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that Samsung will try and upstage Apple at any given opportunity. Samsung have just unveiled their new Galaxy Gear SmartWatch at their IFA keynote in Belin today, alongside the Galaxy Note 3, pricing it at $299.
The Galaxy Gear has a 1.63-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, an 800MHz processor, 4GB of internal storage, and 512MB of RAM. It’s not just any watch though, the Galaxy Gear also sports a 1.9-Megapixel camera, a speaker, and two microphones allowing you to shoot short 720p movies and even conduct phone calls right from your wrist.
The Galaxy Gear is not a phone, though – let’s clear that up straight away. Instead, it relies on being paired via Bluetooth to a Samsung Galaxy device. When it goes on sale later this month, the Gear will be compatible with the newly announced Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition, while software updates for the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S III, and Galaxy Note II are in the works to deliver the compatibility to those devices too.
The new software should begin rolling out soon, but is obviously dependent on the carriers doing their usual release approval thing, which may delay it slightly.
Galaxy Gear – Not Just a Watch
The Galaxy Gear also features some on-board Apps, providing it with some useful standalone functionality. Included is a pedometer and the ability to find your Galaxy (or, alternatively, an option to find your Gear via your Galaxy handset). There are also already over 70 Apps compatible with the device, or which names include Pocket, Path, Evernote, RunKeeper, and Runtastic Pro, which can be installed via the Galaxy Gear Manager app on your phone.
The Galaxy Gear also features S Voice integration for hands free operation, although how this will exactly work isn’t clear yet.
It seems Samsung have not only beaten Apple to the table, but delivered a very solid competitor to the market that is more than just a SmartWatch.
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