Hasta La Gadget!

There have been a lot of rumors about the Galaxy S5 launch, even though Samsung has already rolled out invitations for its Unpacked 5 event, which will be held on February 24, the day Mobile World Congress 2014 kicks off in Barcelona. Today the New York Times claims to have heard from its sources that Galaxy S5 is indeed going to be the device Samsung unveils at the event, and that contrary to some media reports, Samsung is sticking with the Galaxy S5 moniker for its next flagship. The report also claims that a new Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be launched alongside the Galaxy S5.

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Galaxy S5 Launch ‘Confirmed’ For MWC 2014 original content from Ubergizmo.

Samsung was early to market with a smartwatch in the Galaxy Gear, and now it looks like it might be one of the first in the mix with a glasses-based computing device. A new report from the Korea Times (via Verge) suggests that Samsung is currently developing a Google Glass competitor, which is in fact provisionally named “Galaxy Glass,” set for launch in September at the annual IFA tech conference.

Google has yet to put a firm timeline on the consumer launch of its own Google Glass wearable computer, which is available to developers and early adopters via Google’s ‘Explorer’ program. Some reports had suggested a general launch for late 2013, but then later information from Google revised the release timeline to sometime in 2014. Samsung could conceivably beat Google to the punch, but as we saw with the Galaxy Gear, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The Gear was likewise telegraphed before its actual launch, with Samsung coming right out and admitting the device was on the way at IFA. This time around, there’s no named source discussing the device, but the Korea Times does quote a Samsung official as saying that the potential in the market is huge, and that Samsung is very interested in getting a first-mover advantage in the space.

As for what Samsung Glass would do, it sounds like it would essentially provide a basic heads-up display for your smartphone on your face, pushing notifications, music playback information and basic controls to the lens of a head-mounted display.

Samsung getting in among the early crop of device-makers hoping to ride this trend is in keeping with its recent strategy, which seems to be one of putting everything they can out as a shipping product. It’s a plan that gets them lots of props as a company eager to pursue innovation and drive new product development, but the first-mover advantage has only questionable use value if these first generation products keep failing to impress.

Both the smartwatch and the eyeware-based computing models are interesting because OEMs seem to be pursuing them fairly aggressively without any evidence that this is a direction consumers necessarily are interested in. We’ll apparently see in September if Samsung has managed to build a face computer that moves the tech forward, however.

Samsung released its highly anticipated smartwatch last year. The Galaxy Gear was unveiled alongside the Galaxy Note 3, at first the phablet was the only Samsung device compatible with the smartwatch. Over time, Samsung has added support to a plethora of its existing devices, though the fact remains that Galaxy Gear can only function with Samsung devices, at least officially though. A developer has found a way to make Galaxy Gear work with Nexus 5, despite the fact that the smartwatch does not officially support this smartphone. (more…)

Developer Makes Galaxy Gear Work With Nexus 5 original content from Ubergizmo.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is Samsung’s attempts at a wearable device in the form of a smartwatch. It might not be Samsung’s best efforts but it sure made the headlines, and for those who would rather not look silly trying to speak to your wrist, how does typing sound to you? The screen is admittedly too small for typing, but if you had a keyboard with great predictability, perhaps it might work, and it seems that the folks at Fleksy have managed to port their Android keyboard over onto the Galaxy Gear, as you can see in the video above (courtesy of The Verge).

For those hearing about Fleksy for the first time, this is a keyboard alternative to the default keyboard that comes with Android. It relies on a series of gestures and swipes to help users complete words, erase words, and to punctuate. So far the keyboard has been met with pretty positive reviews although it does get some getting used to at the start. Like we said given that Fleksy allows users to swipe to autocomplete words and to punctuate, it seems that it could actually work out!

For those who have the Galaxy Gear and don’t mind giving it a go, all you’d have to do is head on over to the Google Play store to download the APK, and sideload it into the watch and you’re good to go. Presumably once Samsung launches an app store for the Galaxy Gear, you should be able to get it officially then. Pretty nifty, huh?

Fleksy Keyboard Makes Its Way Onto The Samsung Galaxy Gear original content from Ubergizmo.

Samsung launched its much hyped smartwatch earlier this year, called the Galaxy Gear. It was marketed as a companion gadget for your Galaxy smartphone or phablet, and while it does serve that purpose, the smartwatch hasn’t exactly turned out to be a hit. The company is already rumored to be working on a successor that some believe might even be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 next month. A recent patent filing reveals a product that’s quite like the Galaxy Gear, though its thinner and has a flexible display. Could this possibly relate to the Galaxy Gear 2?

Perhaps not, because some believe that this might be related to Galaxy Band. It was recently rumored that Samsung is working on something that might be called the Galaxy Band. It is said to be a fitness focused wearable device that would have a number of sensors for monitoring things like heart rate, temperature, humidity and more. The patent itself hints at that possibility, as one illustration depicts a user taking the device along on his wrist for a bike ride, with the device seen communicating wirelessly with a smartphone in the user’s bag. Samsung obviously is mum about any such device, though it is expected to focus on wearable devices in the coming year.

Samsung Patent Hints At Galaxy Gear Type Device With Flexible Display original content from Ubergizmo.