Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch is poised to be the next big news in wearable tech, and it’s also rapidly becoming one of the worst kept secrets of the tech world. Today, Samsung Executive Vice President of Mobile Lee Young-hee told The Korea Times that the Galaxy Gear would indeed be unveiled in Berlin on Sept. 4 two days ahead of the IFA conference opening, and that the new smartwatch would be powered by Android, and would not feature Samsung’s fledgling flexible display tech.

The Galaxy Gear will be a device to “enhance” and “enrich” the smart phone experience, according to Lee, which makes sense given the recent reports that it would be more of an accessory device than something that stands separate from a smartphone and is capable of making its own calls.

Lee also characterized the Galaxy Gear as a “wearable concept device,” saying that Samsung has been working on the smartwatch category for a long time now, and noting that is aimed primarily at “young trendsetters” in the interview with the Korea Times. All of which combines to make it sound like Samsung is designing this not only as something that’s aimed at early adopters, but also as something of a fashion accessory.

Earlier, GigaOM reported that the Galaxy Gear would have a 2.5-inch display, with 320 x 320 resolution, and a dual core processor. It’s designed to pair up to devices with Bluetooth 4.0, and will likely require an app provided through the Samsung dedicated app marketplace in order to work, making it likely an accessory exclusive to Samsung’s own smartphones.

The September 4 event will also definitely see the introduction of the new Galaxy Note 3, which will reveal what’s next for the phablet category Samsung basically pioneered with the original Note. Some new rumors suggest the Galaxy Note 3 will shoot 4K video, and be powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor with a 2.3GHz clock speed, with a 5.7-inch display and 3GB of RAM.

The cat’s out of the bag, and a rogue Samsung executive is the one who’s been untying the strings. During a chat with the Korea Times, Samsung’s Lee Young-hee blabbed that we’d see both the Galaxy Gear and the Galaxy Note III being announced at IFA on September 4th. The mobile VP added that the oft-rumored “wearable concept device” wouldn’t come with a flexible display and will be a companion gadget for your smartphone — but declined to offer any more detail about what we can expect from the flagship phablet. Never mind, however, because pictures purporting to be of the Galaxy Note III’s front have emerged over on HD Blog, and you can catch a full gallery down at the source.

Update: Here’s even more pictures purporting to be of the Note III from ETradeSupply. The site is claiming that the third generation device will measure in at 5.69-inches. [Thanks, Lucas]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Mobile, Samsung

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Via: SamMobile, Sonny Dickson

Source: Korea Times, HD Blog (translated)

The Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch does seem to be having a ball of a time with curious onlookers, as details about its hardware and capabilities seem to bounce back and forth, changing from time to time. Just earlier today, we mentioned that the Galaxy Gear smartwatch might not be able to make calls after all, despite being led into thinking so in previous rumors. Well, I suppose all will be revealed this coming September 4th (hopefully), with rumored hardware specifications as at press time that point to the following – a dual-core 1.5GHz Samsung Exynos 5412 CPU with an ARM Mali-400 MP4 GPU, 1GB RAM, a 1.67” AMOLED display at 320 x 320 resolution, a 2-megapixel camera, in addition to Bluetooth and NFC connectivity.

It does seem as though the camera will come integrated with the strap, where tiny speakers are strategically located in the clasp of the watch, although one does wonder just how loud the sound can get when we are talking about such a small form factor. Not only that, Bluetooth 4.0 LE is tipped to be supported, which is a good thing if it is so – the Galaxy Gear’s battery will take less of a battering then. Something tells me that this is not going to be the last of the Galaxy Gear rumors that we will hear about.

More Alleged Samsung Galaxy Gear Details Leaked original content from Ubergizmo.

Samsung is readying its fabled Galaxy Gear device for a September 4 introduction alongside the Galaxy Note 3 phablet-sized smartphone, according to Bloomberg, and the Gear smartwatch won’t be a full standalone smartphone, says The Verge in a separate report. Both of these devices will be shipping soon, with the Note 3 arriving in September and the Gear arriving in October, per one final report from SamMobile.

The confluence of rumors around new Galaxy devices from Samsung likely isn’t a coincidence; Apple is readying new products for a September 10 introduction, which includes a new iPhone and iPad, according to Bloomberg’s latest information today. Samsung is looking to steal a little bit of thunder ahead of that launch with the unveiling of its newest gadgets, the reports suggest, and a smartwatch, launched ahead of Apple’s own rumored iWatch, would definitely grab a lot of attention from media and consumers, if only because of novelty value.

Bloomberg previously reported that the Galaxy Gear was a smartphone that you wear like a wristwatch. But a new report today from the Verge contends that it’s not a phone, as it lacks its own SIM and cellular radio, and instead links up with a dedicated smartphone to perform call functions. That makes a lot more sense, given all the challenges that would come with making wearable tech truly convenient to use (i.e. building something you don’t have to charge every few hours) and the additional cost that would likely come with a full-fledged, wrist-borne smartphone.

Other details that leaked today include the fact that the Galaxy Note 3 won’t be available in a 16GB variant (makes sense, given space demands of increasingly powerful mobile operating systems and decreasing cost of flash memory components), along with the fact that we’ll probably see a new Sony smartphone introduced September 4, too. This is also reasonable given that that’s just ahead of the iFA Berlin international consumer electronics show, when new devices often make their debut.

In other words, it’s going to be a busy fall, with lots of new products introduced, including the gold iPhone from Apple, apparently (just backed up by AllThingsD). Which circus animal will get the most eyeballs is the biggest question that remains now.

Yes, so we do know that there is an upcoming smartwatch from Samsung, where it will be known as the Samsung Galaxy Gear, and will this supposed pre-emptive strike against Apple’s fabled iWatch be able to kick off a whole new industry or niche market, just like how Apple’s iPad changed the way tablets were viewed? The folks over at T3 have come up with a conceptual look at the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and even shooting a video of their concept in addition to the possible “machinations” that is capable of – including built-in S Voice for maps as well as answering calls, reading and responding to messages, telling the time (like it is supposed to as a watch) in a peaceful, idyllic manner when you aren’t doing anything else, all displayed on a flexible AMOLED screen.

Assuming Samsung is able to churn something out like this, then the Samsung Galaxy Gear could very well be a major hit for sure – although like many things in life, some of the surest things I have had did not even materialize, but rather, it strayed extremely far away from my intended conclusion. All we need to do now is wait for the September 4th event for the tell-all.

T3’s Samsung Galaxy Gear Concept original content from Ubergizmo.