Samsung recently held simultaneous events in Berlin and New York City that featured the company’s latest developments in their mobile arsenal. The Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 were announced together with the much anticipated Galaxy Gear, which has greatly intrigued mobile phone enthusiasts the world over. The Galaxy Gear Smartwatch is Samsung’s newest “fashion icon.” It can be used for voice calls and runs apps as well.
Not just a watch
The Galaxy Gear Smartwatch is no ordinary piece of hardware that displays the date and time. Aside from the basic time and date functionality, the wrist device can place calls and take photos. This new device is a full color Android-based hardware that has applications specifically designed for Android devices of Samsung. Applications are either made by Samsung or third party partners. This amazing new device also has a pedometer function that tracks the wearer’s physical activity.
Galaxy Gear specifications
As the first of its kind in the Samsung line of devices, much has been put into consideration in making the Galaxy Gear. It comes not just in once color, but there are six different types of wrist bands. Its screen is about 1.63 inches wide with a Super AMOLED display of 320 by 320 pixel resolution. This 21st century accessory has a 1.9 megapixel camera, a microphone and a speaker. It also has a Bluetooth functionality.
The Gear is also built with a 4 gigabyte internal storage, huge enough to store more than enough applications the user needs. It is powered with an 800 mGh processor with a 512 MB of memory.
Weighing about 74 grams, the body of the Galaxy Gear is all stainless steel. The device is powered by a 315-milliamp lithium-ion battery, which Samsung says could only last a day. The device comes with a dock which is connected to a micro USB cord for charging.
With state-of-the-art hardware and software put together in one device, the consumer should be willing to shell out $299, quite pricey compared to similar smartwatches from Sony. The watch will be available to the public starting September 25.
Solely for Samsung
Unlike other existing smartwatches, the Galaxy Gear can only be used with other Samsung devices that run Android. This feature might actually disappoint a lot of consumers. But Samsung finds this strategy fitting as it further strengthens its grip in the mobile device industry. According to Carolina Milanesi, an analyst and tech advisor Gartner, Samsung is creating its own ecosystem.
A new revolution
The launch of the Galaxy Gear has triggered other watch companies to upcoming releases of their own version of the wearable device. Sony’s latest Smartwatch 2 offers a very flexible pairing since it can be paired with other devices that is compatible with Android 4.0 and higher. Omate is also planning to launch the same type of watch this October that runs a 3G chip. This means it can make standalone calls. Toq from Qualcomm has also scheduled a launch next month. This device uses the Mirasol color display technology of the company and could also be paired with other Android smartphones.
Photo Credit: Galaxy Gear Smartwatch
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