“Samsung has unveiled a smartwatch with a colour screen that can show alerts, be used for voice calls and run apps,” BBC News reports. “Samsung called it a ‘fashion icon.'”
“However, analysts warned that a decision to limit the watch to working as an accessory to other Galaxy Android devices might limit its appeal… ‘Consumers might be a bit disappointed to find that the smartwatch is a partner device reliant on being paired with a Samsung Android smartphone or tablet, rather than being the completely autonomous device media and communications device many consumers were expecting and hoping for,’ said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the consultancy Davies Murphy Group,” The Beeb reports. ‘It unveiled the the watch – which will go on sale from 25 September – at the Ifa consumer tech show in Berlin.’ … The Galaxy watch will cost about US$300.”
The Beeb reports, “The Galaxy Gear features a 1.6in (4cm) LED display, a 1.9 megapixel camera, a speaker and microphone, has four gigabytes of internal storage and a non-removable battery. Samsung said the watch could be used as a way to make voice calls without having to take the phone it was linked to out of the owner’s bag or pocket. It comes preloaded with 10 different clock options and there will be about 70 apps available at launch including Evernote’s note-taking software, auction service eBay, the social network Path and several fitness programs.”
The Beeb reports, “‘Samsung is also claiming a day’s battery life with fair usage… it’s like going back to a time you had to wind your watch up every night before going to bed,’ said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at tech advisors Gartner. ‘I don’t think consumers want to do that with a watch or a band. They want to have it on without having to worry about charging it every day.'”
Read more in the full article here.
“The big disappointment for Samsung gadget owners is that the Gear does not work with most of its phones and tablets,” Youkyung Lee reports for The Associated Press. “The Gear needs the Galaxy Note III, a smartphone with a giant 5.7-inch screen and a digital pen, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1, a tablet computer. Both will go on sale later this month. At a later date, it will be compatible with the Galaxy S4, released earlier this year, and the Galaxy Note II, which came out late last year.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And now Samsung waits with the Sonys of the world to find out how smartwatches are really supposed to be done.
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FAIL.
The iPod Nano was better in every respect.
Samsung innovation????
Hahahahahahaah
Plus this POS is going to cost $299 and you can only pair with a Note 3 or a Tab 10.1. Sounds like a winner.
They should sellout fast…NOT.
All 7 of them
What are they thinking? Picture a bunch of them sitting around a room during testing and prototyping and going over these limitations… How could they possibly take it to market!? Really pathetic. A useless piece of tech that will go nowhere fast…
No sd card slot and USB port is a real non starter for me. Useless without them.
It’s just unrealistic
Not to mention no removable battery. Count me out!!!
Ugly.
Big, thick and ugly.
Uh-gah-lee! What unmitigated classless crap. Typical Samsung junk without Apple design direction.
I have no idea why these companies forget that asthetics are just as important (sometimes more than) the actual use of the device…
Apple can take their time building a better watch.
yes… another UGH-LEE Gear vote…
Not only ugly but the Korean dude had the nerve to use ” ONE MORE THING…” at the end of the presentation!!!
Hubris will kill this SOB company.
“a non-removable battery”, oh yeah, it’s doomed!
A non removable battery that might last 1 hour…👍
“‘Samsung is also claiming a day’s battery life with fair usage… it’s like going back to a time you had to wind your watch up every night before going to bed,’ said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at tech advisors Gartner. ‘I don’t think consumers want to do that with a watch or a band. They want to have it on without having to worry about charging it every day.’”
Early adopters won’t be too put off by this. After all, we are well-accustomed to charging our phones daily. And Apple will be in the same boat – the form factor and size necessarily limits battery life. The surprising thing is that it requires a charging dock. That makes it harder to charge in the car, or at any convenient location. If Apple goes this route, I hope they’ll be smart enough to either a) give it lightning or b) some type of USB Mag-safe-style connection (since it still needs to be waterproof). Then it could charge on your arm while at your computer.
Don’t forget Apple had a patent recently for a flexible battery — perhaps the watch band is the battery?
MDN take. Spot On. 🙂
“Samsung is also claiming a day’s battery life with fair usage…”
Which means that it won’t last a day.
I suppose Samsung’s idea of “fair usage” only covers telling time. Samsung thought that one through well. Who wants a watch that won’t last a day? Stupid. Maybe consumers will start to see Samsung for who they really are – cheap knockoff artists like their cheap knockoff rapper Psy.
Hey! Don’t you dare badmouth Psy! He’s ahead by a full length!
And just what do they mean buy “a DAY”?
You know it’s not 24 hours. Why do they not just say XX hours?
Because it’s crap.
On one of the sites that had people at the event, after getting some hands on time, they said that the devices were already refusing to take a picture because there was not enough power.
THAT”S a day… 😎
Can’t innovate when you have nothing to copy yet. Watch how fast Samsung second generation watch will come out right after September 10, 2013.
And Samsung will defend themselves, when again accused of stealing, by saying they were first.
First to steal that is .
The features here are so obvious.
And notice how the design changes. 😛
A watch is a fashion accessory. Putting functionality aside, the question is will the watch look good on your wrist? From what I can tell from the Samsung watch, the answer for me is a resounding no. It looks clunky like those calculator watches we had in elementary school. This is what happens when Samsung doesn’t have Apple to follow. When their idea of innovation on the phone side is to make the screens bigger, that’s all you need to know about their ability to innovate.
Yup, Samsung needs Apple, or any other company to show them an idea, to lead the way and to properly address the issue of battery like and function. Samsung has some really brain dead engineers!
Look at those huge ugly screws
I wonder if stupid ads will run on it constantly. If it does watch Wall Street and idiots analyst who loves WS praise this POS.
Laughable it’s not even as nice as the Sony, just proves how totally idea less they are without a real innovator to copy
Thats a lot of money for a Bomb
We will not see an iWatch from Apple until this time next year, at the earliest. These Samsung watches are ugly and limited but at least they’re available now. I keep getting the sinking feeling that Apple has been moving way too slow with new and updated products. Why did we have to wait an entire year for an iPhone upgrade that could easily have been introduced 6 months ago? Does anybody else feel like Apple is moving too slow on almost everything? This Samsung announcement is really nothing but it’s also a mild wakeup call saying one day these companies might actually pull a product off worth considering and Apple’s promises of things to come and asking us to “just wait” won’t cut it any longer. My product patience is wearing thin. I hope we don’t look back on this past year as the year Apple lost its fire. The specs being touted here on MDN and other sites for the upgraded iPhone 5 are nice but they’re not so compelling that you can say “they’ve still got it”. I don’t know. It all just feels like they’ve hit a plateau since Steve died.
For now, phones are bought on a two year contract. Why would you update your phone every 6 months. Talk about upsetting your customers. Imagine watching your phone go through 3 complete update cycles before you are eligible to upgrade. Once a year seems about right. Besides, Most every Apple product I can think of has been on an annual update cycle for many years.
I’ll give you this much: if Apple doesn’t release their wrist device this year, it does indeed raise the possibility that they will perform an iPod-style revolution next year. Recall that when the iPod came out, there were several years of mp3 players already on the market, and Apple showed how to do it right. Same with smartphones and tablets.
Apple’s magic is in leap-frogging everyone else’s fail and creating the market-defining icon. As all of these also-rans break the ice without catching the imagination, it leaves Apple an opportunity to shine again.
Fugly Clunky Dung
Dick Tracy will never wear that POS… Hemlock Holmes perhaps, Tracy… never.
Those look like a iPod Nano on a watch band, and it has to be linked to a Samsung phone. Apple could beat that just by adding bluetooth and a face time camera to the Nano so you could pair it if you want, or use it as a stand alone.
I’d even allow the newer full-size nano turned sideways and worn farther up the arm (for those who won’t give up the wristwatch as a fashion accessory). Capable of apps and games, mirroring the iPhone or as a stand-alone. As long as the band is comfortable, adjustable, and not clunky. And for a larger line-up, you could have the iPhone nano in this form-factor (with Bluetooth earbud(s)), or the iWatch that is strictly an accessory device as discussed above, or even a basic shuffle-type, low-feature device like the Samsungs, Pebbles and others).
@MDN I sent you more detailed photos of this the other day from an Italian Website. It’s uglier than ugly.
But on a bare-chested fire fighter… Ooo la la!
This is just like the Palm Foleo, except it goes on your wrist. Nobody is going to buy a $300 accessory for a phone that probably only cost them $100-$200 with a cellular contract. Oh, and the 1-day battery life is hilarious!
http://www.corriere.it/tecnologia/foto/09-2013/samsung/gear/prime-immagini-samsung-gear_db88191c-13b4-11e3-b6d8-d9e68bde9db1.shtml#1
pics of just how ugly it is.
This so reminds me of the Microsoft attempts to design a tablet. Ergonomically and visually poor.
If you need to look at your watch to keep track of when you need to recharge it, it fails at its core function – a timepiece.
As with the tablet Apple will take its time for the technology to be good enough to allow anytime to work properly at its primary task before offering it – otherwise its not a watch its only a wrist phone or wrist MP3 player – and they’ve been done before – badly.
SJ had dozens of experiments before they got something to the point they were happy with – I hope Cook has the nerve to tell the market to **** off and not release something to a marketing/share value led target date.
I’m not sure who will look more ridiculous…the idiot propping Sammy’s new phablet up to their head or the other idiot talking to their wrist while making a call.
Both look like the users are living in a cartoon. How does crap like this get invented, let alone purchased? As ever, you can’t stop stupid.
This so called Galaxy Smart Phone Watch will be very DANGEROUS for the drivers in cars as it will distract them from driving and having a LIFE & DEATH accident which I wouldn’t consider. Whoever designed this gadget should RECONSIDER the PEOPLE’S consiquences and also think of your ROAD TOLLS guys. It’s a very DANGEROUS step..
Kind regards from Natalie & Peter from Australia not even us OZZIES would consider this gadget. Plz dont import this in our country. The safety of our OZZIES are more important than this so called Galaxy Smart Phone.
How the hell do you take a picture with the camera? I have been trying to figure out where the lens is an where the image is? If you need a cellphone with it, why not just use the cellphone camera? Or is it for restrooms and stuff like Googleglass? I am not in the market for it anyway, but do wonder how it works.