Samsung Galaxy Gear: Gigantic Android smart watch revealed!

 

This Wednesday is Samsung’s big day, when the company will be revealing its Galaxy Note successor and maybe even its next-gen smartwatch to the masses, but we’ve managed to spot a photo of the Galaxy Gear days before the wrist wear tech has even been formally announced. Are you ready for Samsung’s huge Android-powered smart watch?

VentureBeat has managed to nab a few spy shots of Samsung’s next big thing that will sit on your wrist and it looks like it has a focus on tracking your health, much like the Nike+ FuelBand but with added smarts and a larger screen.

Just how big? The watch display itself looks like it measures up at around three inches across – not much smaller than an iPhone 4S – and is expected to support voice commands via Samsung’s own S-Voice, and even snap pictures using the timepiece’s camera, a four-megapixel shooter that’s built into the strap. There’s also a tiny speaker included in the clasp, while watch itself has a few preloaded apps as well as a battery life that’s rated at more than ten hours. You’ll also find the Gear armed with Bluetooth to hook it up to Samsung’s range of smartphones and tablets, while it also has Wi-Fi for internet access, so you’ll be able to beam down your emails right to your wrist or share to your social networks while you check the time.

The smartwatch space is definitely heating up, with many indie watches grabbing crowdsourced funding from the likes of Kickstarter and Indiegogo such as the Pebble, and Sony has already announced its own SmartWatch 2 which is set to launch shortly. We’re also still waiting for Apple’s own answer to the wrist watch, while Google has been said to be joining the battle too. We’re excited to see Samsung’s new watch in action – are you too?

Do you think you fancy Samsung’s Galaxy Gear or are you sticking with your regular timepiece? Let us know what you think in the comments below and we’ll let you know as soon as it gets official.

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Samsung Galaxy Gear: Turbo charged Android smartwatch arrives next month!

 

It looks like Samsung’s got a gadget packed September for us: as well as the heavily rumoured Galaxy Note 3 phablet, according to a new report, it’s set to reveal its own take on the smartwatch, an Android powered wrist computer that can even make calls.

Bloomberg reports today that Samsung will release its smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, next month, on the same day as the Galaxy Note 3 – expected to be 4 September, just before the start of the IFA trade show in Germany. The device will run Google’s Android operating system, browser the web, show email and even make calls.

The report claims that while the Samsung Galaxy Gear we’ll be seeing next month won’t pack a flexible screen, the South Korean tech giant remains hard at work on a version that will bend, perhaps to better fit your wrist.

Regardless, the Samsung Galaxy Gear will face stiff competition. Many indie start-ups are hard at work on their own smartwatches after successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaigns, while rival Sony has already announced its own SmartWatch 2, due out at the same time. Then of course there’s the 800 pound gorilla in the room, Apple, which is also believed to be hard at work on a timepiece that connects to your iPhone, and may even use Siri for voice control.

Which will you be rooting for? Do we even need smartwatches? Tell us where you stand in the comments below!

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Sony SmartWatch 2 unveiled: Tick tock, Apple!

 

Alongside the gigantic Xperia Z Ultra, Sony had one more surprise for us this morning: the Sony SmartWatch 2, the second intelligent timepiece for Android phones from the company. Is it time to finally retire the Rolex or kick out the Casio?

Like its Xperia siblings, the Sony SmartWatch 2 is water resistant and carries the same angular design, and it carries many of their smarts under the bonnets too. You can pair it with your Android phone easily with one tap via NFC, and use the 1.6-inch touchscreen to read notifications from supported apps and even Facebook.

It does much more than deliver notifications this time round though: there’s an on-screen battery indicator to show when you’re running low on juice, and an on-screen user interface that looks just like Android to make navigation easy. You can use the watch to do everything from field calls to taking photos remotely with your phone, controlling presentations and even pulling up a map on a bike ride. Don’t like the strap? You can swap it out for any other 24mm band that you like.

We liked the idea of Sony’s original SmartWatch, but in practice it simply wasn’t reliable enough to justify the price: with any luck, Sony’s fixed those problems this time round. The Sony SmartWatch 2 goes on sale in September, price still TBC – your move, Apple.

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Now Google is making a smartwatch too: Watch out Apple by

 

Apple and Samsung aren’t alone in their plans to take over the timepiece on your wrist: a new report published this week confirms that Google too is working on an Android-powered watch computer. Ready for a watch app invasion?

The Financial Times reports that the search giant is working on a smartwatch in its own labs, and that the product is separate to anything Samsung is working on – earlier this week, a Samsung mobile boss confirmed the company’s own plans.

Intriguingly, the report says the Google smartwatch is being developed in the Android division, so it may have little or nothing to do with Google Glass, made by the company’s secretive X Lab. It may also mean the company is planning to bring it to market a whole lot sooner. Fancy a Google Nexus watch anyone? (Pictured above is Motorola’s 2011 Android watch, the Motoactv).

While details are thin on the ground, it’s hard to see the Google smartwatch as anything other than a direct competitor to Apple’s own “iWatch”, word of which has leaked repeatedly in recent weeks. Android’s already ahead of the smartphone field when it comes to things like unobtrusive notifications and the sheer number of apps, and the operating system’s open-source nature could make it the ultimate hacker toy too.

Would you buy a Google smartwatch? Is Google smart to even be trying this? Tell us what you think in the comments below

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Is Samsung making a smartwatch for the Galaxy S4?

 

Just days after we heard that Apple is working on a smartwatch that’ll pair up with your iPhone to shove notifications to your wrist, a new report hints that Samsung is doing the very same thing for its next flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S4. Read on for all the details.

SamMobile has published the names of a leaked list of accessories for the Samsung Galaxy S4 line of products – codenamed Project J – including a “J Mini Serrano”, which could well be a trimmed down version of the phone in the same vein as the Galaxy S3 Mini. Most intriguing of all though is the mention of a “Project J Active Fortius”, which comes with an arm band, a bike mount and a pouch.

To us, that sounds like Samsung has crafted a fitness gadget to go with the Samsung Galaxy S4, much like Sony’s smartwatch and Motorola’s Motoactv GPS watch powered by Android. It’s got some experience in the area – back in 2009 it released its own mobile phone watch with a touchscreen, pictured above, and another one as far back as 2003.

What else a Samsung smartwatch could do is unknown at this point, but those accessories suggest that it’ll at least log your runs and speed – but don’t be surprised if it connects to your emails and message inboxes as well. Will you be able to control it using S-Voice? We’ll hopefully find out very soon: the Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to launch as soon as next month.

Would you buy a smartwatch to go with the Samsung Galaxy S4? Let us know what you think in the comments below!