Last week at the SM Aura Premier, along with the Glaxy Note 3, Samsung announced their first ever smart watch, the Galaxy Gear. Well known stars also flocked the event as they await for the new products to be unveiled.
The Galaxy Gear is not just your typical stylish smartwatch as it’s packed full of features that sets it apart from the competition. Primarily, you can make calls with it! With the built in mic, you don’t have to pull out your phone to make calls. You may want to get used to talking to your watch although it’s much better than talking to a discreet Bluetooth device on your ear. Also you can access S-voice through the watch to make certain commands to your phone.
Another feature is the 1.9 MP camera which can take stills and record 720 videos. The images and videos are stored in the Gear’s 4gb internal memory which you can later transfer to your phone. Don’t even think of stalking someone with this as the shutter sound of the camera cannot be turned off so you can’t be discreet with this one.
The Galaxy Gear connects to your phone via Bluetooth 4.0 LE which is the latest in Bluetooth technology. And speaking of Bluetooth 4.0 LE, only the Galaxy Note 3 has that technology which could very well mean that the Galaxy Gear is only compatible with the Note 3. But don’t fret as Samsung will be rolling out updates to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean by October will which bring Bluetooth 4.0 LE to their latest Galaxy smarpthones such as the Galaxy Note II, S3 and S4 so that’s something to look forward to!
For color options, the Galaxy Gear comes in six fashionable colors: Wild Orange, Mocha Gray, Jet Black, Oatmeal Beige, Lime Green, and Rose Gold. As for the internals, it has a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display which is powered by a single-core 800MHz Exynos processor and 512 MB RAM. Not that it will require too much power as the interface is pretty simple. It notifies you of incoming calls, text messages, alarms, along with support for music control, fitness or navigation apps. It also has a accelerometer and gyroscope feature. The battery is at 315mAh which I haven’t tested fully due to the limited time.
The Galaxy Gear retails for Php 13,990 and will be coming this October 4. It looks like Globe will be offering a Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear bundle soon on their plans with they are yet to reveal.