Samsung has just revealed its brand new smart watch, called the “Galaxy Gear”.
The Android powered stainless steel watch will have a retail price of $299. It will go on sale in October in six different colors.
The watch comes equipped with a 1.63-inch color touchscreen and a built-in camera.
In addition to telling the time, Samsung has enabled the watch to pair up with the Galaxy Note III phone via Bluetooth. This means that the watch can receive notifications about emails, calls, and texts.
The watch also comes with a number of different applications, such as a pedometer, a stopwatch, and “Path” – the social network for mobiles.
Dave Morin, CEO of Path, said:
“Path’s intimate social graph lends itself perfectly to wearable devices like the Samsung GALAXY Gear, sharing only relevant notifications from the people who matter most. Taking advantage of the built-in camera and touchscreen, Path on GALAXY Gear lets users to easily take photos, give feedback to friends, and post their location. We’re excited to evolve the Path experience on this breakthrough wearable device as well as our partnership with Samsung.”
The Galaxy Gear has yet to receive support from more popular apps like Twitter or Facebook, but Samsung is confident that developers will slowly provide more third-party apps.
The camera is built into the strap of the watch, however, this makes using it a little difficult as the lens is on the side – viewing the display and taking a photo at the same time is not easy.
The built-in microphone is at the bottom of the band and it can be used to make voice commands and set alarms, ask for weather details, or call someone on your contacts list.
JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics, said:
“Samsung’s ongoing smart device innovation leadership reflects our commitment to listen to our consumers, who want their daily lives to be easier and more enjoyable. Samsung GALAXY Gear benefits consumers by integrating smart device technology even deeper into their everyday lives, and bridges the gap between the mobile device and fashion worlds to create truly wearable technology.”
He added:
“Samsung GALAXY Gear frees users from the need to constantly check their smart devices while maintaining connections. It provides what we call ‘smart freedom,’ by allowing users to choose how, why, when and where they are connected.”
Specifications of the watch:
- Processor – 800 MHz processor
- Display – 1.63 inch (41.4mm) Super AMOLED (320 x 320)
- Video – Codec: H.264, Format: MP4, HD(720p) Playback & Recording
- Connectivity – Bluetooth® v 4.0 ＋ BLE
- Memory – 4GB Internal memory ＋ 512 MB (RAM)
- Sensor – Accelerometer, Gyroscope
- Camera – 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus Camera / Sound & Shot