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This holiday season, we’re likely to see a resurgence of the smartwatch: Sony is launching a redesign of their Android-based Sony SmartWatch, Apple is rumored to be launching the iWatch, and Samsung is set to start offering the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
Now, for the first time, we’re seeing exactly what the latter of those might look like- here is the Samsung Galaxy Gear:
The pictures come from VentureBeat, who were able to get hands-on time with the upcoming Android smartwatch. Among the most interesting tidbits they unearthed:
- Square 3-inch screen
- 4MP camera in the wristband
- Speakers in the clasp
- Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity (connects to your phone with Bluetooth)
- Uses voice commands
- Preloaded with Android Apps designed specifically for Galaxy Gear
- 10+ hours of battery life
I’d like to make a few key observations. Two, actually.
If we’re seeing the final design for the Samsung Galaxy Gear, above, it won’t be too popular. It looks clunky and bulky. The masculinity effectively cuts their potential market in half and for the other half of the market – men – this thing doesn’t exactly look sleek and professional. Assuming the Apple iWatch does indeed exist, I can imagine it’s design and style will blow this out of the water.
I don’t think the timing is right for smartwatches. Historically, Apple has had perfect timing when unleashing new product categories. Some would argue that they single handedly create new product categories by signaling to consumers “it’s time” with their launch cycle. But it seems those days may be over, and I’m not sure the timing is right for smartwatches and wearable tech in general (like Google Glass).
One key reason for this is the size of technology and it’s limitations on battery life. If the Galaxy Gear only lasts the 10 hours initially suggested, then that’s not a full day. Why would someone wear a watch if, by the end of the day, it won’t even tell them the time? The Galaxy Gear initially appears to be the worst of both worlds: bulky/clunky but still lacking the battery life to last a full day.
It’s possible that Samsung isn’t targeting the mass market: maybe they’re going after the fitness consumer to compete with Nike’s line of watches. Maybe they’ve got something else up their sleeve. I’ll reserve final judgement until Samsung makes an official announcement and we’ve got time to test the Galaxy Gear out for ourselves, but at first look, I’m skeptical.
Is this what you expected from the Samsung Galaxy Gear? Do you like the look? Would you consider buying one if the prices was right?
Hahahah. No.
Looks like something from the 90s.
more like the 80’s but at the same token ugly as hell. this may only be popular with kids that’s about it.
actually, that watch won’t be popular with anyone cause it’s not real… if you’re going to make a comment, at least do your research.
This is ugly as hell… Good job Samsung….
Kill it! Kill it with fire!
Exactly what I was thinking when I saw the pic
Didn’t ALF have one of these? Also 10 houra battery life which means 5 hours. Which means useless. Can we get something that can last a few days. A couple of startups looke better than this like the KREYOS if thats how its spelled. This thing looks ridiculous. I will just ducktape my phone to my wrist.
Why would Samsung embarrass themselves by introducing something like this? The rumors have to be wrong. If this really is the product they won’t sell a single one. A watch has to last several days on a battery at least, the standard for regular watches is several years, 10 hours is completely unusable. And if it really has a 3″ screen then why don’t they just sell a wristband for the S4? I’d rather have a full fledged phone on my wrist than a gargantuan watch.
Kill it – with fire! They have to stop using plastic…
Is that the same watch “The Hof”used on Knight Rider?
Thank you, but no thank you.
So freaking ugly
Apple is gonna wait till everybody releases theirs and the make a pretty one with less features because no one will think to add less features REVOLUTIONARY
Funky
3 inch screen and you guys think this is real? Did you not notice the screws on the front?
you have to remember, these are some dull kids we’re talking to.. they’ll believe anything..
Looks like it’s on a kid’s wrist. They could find someone with some damn arm hair to manly this thing up. Must have slapped this thing on Chris Chavez’ girly wrist for the photo!
Brilliant!
You can take this, even the prototype sammy, ill take ROFL.
Does anyone remember that the S3 had a case on it prior to it’s unveiling? Perhaps this does also? September 4th isn’t far away.
If it’s true the sony watch look so beautiful !
Samsung has no design to copy yet, so the Galaxy Gear looks ugly now.
Oh please.
10+ hours of battery life….. Really?? No thank you.
It just looks like someone took a phone. Shrunk it and slapped wristbands on it..
ugly.
my pebble last at least a week between charges. I will pass on this. Hopefully this is not accurate.
It’s HUGE! This size can’t be named “watch”!
little bit oversize i think.
this cant be real…..
that is horrible. if this is Sammy’s product, i hope to death Google’s Nexus version is nicer, other wise we will have to wait for apple to release something beautiful and hear iSheep brag for 2 years until we get with the program. SMH
Could be 10 hours of usage. Think about it. This thing has voice commands and a front facing camera, but I’m sure its standby time is better. Take my galaxy note ll. The standby time is over a week if its just sitting in my pocket. So unless you check the time every 2 minutes I’m sure the standby is longer.
If that’s what it looks like, Samsung should start thinking about landfill options now.
A regular watch is 70% fashion accessory and 30% timepiece.
uhhh
HOW ABOUT PROTOTYPE? =)
Man I was excited when I clicked this post. Maybe they will have another version? Or let’s just cross our fingers for the nexus watch.
I gotta say I still love my MetaWatch. It’s perfect and lasts 3-4 days easily.
If this is it… disapointing
Engadget says this is a prototype. The final product will look different. If it doesn’t then wow Samsung screwed up on this one
unless it has a curved display, this thing is dead in the water
Bullshit thats the Samsung watch
Phatch, like the phablet…is ugly as hell
Phatch?
Should be wablet
phucked more like it, unless they redesign this thing :-D lol…
That’s got “fail” written all over it.
you mean prototype?
If this is what it looks like they lost a sale here
Failure…. ugly design ever. I hope it will come with flexible display. The one in this article is an epic failure.
anyone remember the calculator watches in the 80s? … that’s exactly what this reminds me of. Pocket protector level geekiness.
I guess April is no longer fools month how it’s September
I would never get a smartwatch seems useless if u already have a smartphone…
It would be even more useless without the phone. Just like glass and headphones its just a phone accessory not meant to do any substantially great things on its own. Lol if you don’t want to waste battery powering up ur phone display for time and notifications do look at the watch maybe even use voice to respond to a text on the go.Why spend more money for something so easily done with the phone? Its simple MERICA.
no way in hell this could be the real thing… its horrible!
answered your own question
Ugh this cannot be real.
You’re right, it’s not. It’s prototype
It literally looks like a tiny, ugly a$$ phone.
wow that is one big fail. it looks awful
As stated, that better be a prototype! How the hell do you add that much bezel-tastic? Son, I am disappoint!
http://a401.idata.over-blog.com/630×470-000000/3/16/04/47/image-alakon/do-not-want-dog.jpg
You don’t want prototype. and I dont either. I want the final version
When a watch only has 10 hours of battery life, it’s pretty much useless.. don’t u think?
Agreed. That’s the spec that really jumps out at me and says “FAIL!”
I guess when Samsung tries to be “first”, it’s usually an utterly fail. They need at least one or two reference to get it right!
samsungs is the leader in many fields.. troll harder :)
bendy or go home. they all the same
I think this is just matter of time.
Battery and size are clearly the limitations here, we can not bring all the actual phone features to this tiny device.
Bringing it device to the market will make Samsung works more on it, improving the battery life, design and internal components, even phones started thick and with a more limited battery capacity.
Market will offer a good feedback to Samsung and always the first device is not the best one or the prettiest.
Apple… ehhh that is a religion and no one complain about even Android users are used to their dogmas.
Hmmm… I believe the HOT Watch on kickstarter, just got their patent on a speaker/mic in the clasp…. Wonder how that will affect this….
Why would I want to talk in the clasp? I want to talk to the screen and see someone on the other side.
LOL…They just shot themselves in the foot. You can get away with an ugly phone, if the specs are awesome. But a watch is a fashion accessory.
Hey stupid, it’s a prototype… now what? lol
man what a salty crowd here. bunch of haters…. I mean watch experts who can do better right? if you can, put your invention on kickstarter and I’ll support you.
Exactly. Why the hell is everyone hating? I’d like to see them run a 300+ billion dollar company.
I could be wrong, but looking at the larger picture it looks like the grey ‘bezel’ is actually brushed metal and slightly curved – notice how it reflects light differently based on the angle at which it is held. Also, there seems to be something printed on it towards the top (maybe “10107”?) that goes under the screwed on black plastic piece.
Is it possible they just put a plastic casing over the actual watch before showing it off to prevent leaks? Or is that just wishful thinking?
Woe. If that isnt a joke; someone at Samsung should be fired. Worst design ever.
You’re a joke.
The obvious problem here is bettery life. They have to make the battery to last for a few days at the very least with single charging. If they cant just ditch the idea about smartwatch
Bettery? Nice Job!
I’d rather just buy a G1 and tape it to my wrist. It’d have much more functionality than this crap, specially seeing as how Samsung usually bloats their things with S-Crap.
Where the hell is their innovative flexible display! Insta-not buy unless they’re pretty much giving it away.
The biggest problem is Samsung with this watch, Samsung is notorious for being both innovative and dumb at the same time when it comes to mobile electronics….. Just remember what they did with the Samsung Continuum. If you want a watch device, just wait to see what Google has up their sleeve.
https://phandroid.com/2013/08/30/google-buys-wimm-for-nexus-smartwatch/
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It looks like something to restrain Frankenstein’s arms to the bed so that he won’t jump out and kill everyone.
seems pretty cool for runkeeping :)
I already own a sony smartwatch and I’m really curious to know what this one will be like, I love every Samsung device I own and I think the galaxy gear could be a cool accessory to my phone. I’m thinking of getting one, mostly because I’m a tech enthusiast and I keep changing gadgets quite a lot. That’s the main reason I’ve started adding them to unioncy.com, it’s helping me to manage my products lifecycle better. I hope it won’t be a disappointment!
no.
Anybody wanting a real smartwatch, not just a bluetooth accessory needs to check out Omate TrueSmart on Kickstarter, dual core, 4.2.2, Ip67, Google app store, 5mp camera and is a stanalone phone with sim slot and sd card slot, way more advanced than Samsungs Gear. Probably cheaper too.
I don’t know what sort of battery life other smartwatches tend to have /claim, but this might be an area that could benefit from some actual wristwatch technology.
Automatic watches have a mechanism that converts the motion of your wrist into rotary motion that winds the main spring. Seiko Kinetic watches use the same principle to charge a capacitor that powers the watch’s movement, and Citizen Eco-Drive has a solar cell in the dial.
Maybe none of these would be capable of giving a smartwatch infinite battery life, but they ought to be able to at least make it drain much more slowly.
uhhhhhh…
I couldn’t agree more, lol
It looked like a mini tiny galaxy phone haha
I am calling these pictures bogus or pictures of a prototype. First, look at the watch and nowhere do you see “Samsung” on it except for the screen. If this were the real Samsung Gear, you would see “Samsung” on the top part just like you do with all their phones.
What is the advantage of purchasing a smart watch?
This watch is equivalent of Miley Cyrus “twerking” at VMAs… STOPPPPPPP
Bring back Kate Upton.
ROFL.. these kids below are looking at a prototype and discussing like it’s the final version. How stupid can one be..
And will you feel stupid once the final product look like this? lol
Lets be serious here a watch is a fashion accessory so no way this is the final design and 2nd this company has unlimited resources. So you think a watch on kickstarter is going to have a better design and tech then something samsung can push out?
Aanndddd I’m buying this
This thing is so hideous. Guess samsung will have to wait for Apple to show ’em how it’s done as usual.
Like
That’s not the final design. I’ve seen that imagine a couple of times. It’s just a mock up of what it could be.
More like what it shouldn’t be.
Less gimmicks, more battery life, more minimalistic stylish approach, please.
in the famous words of Bubba Sparxxx.. “UGLY UGLY UUGGGGLLLYYYYY!”
Other outlets have reported, and it bears repeating, that the battery life is “screen on” time. If it’s really OLED as it being reported, then unless it’s being actively used only a tiny fraction of the pixels will be “on”. Also, doubtlessly the processor an ancillaries will go in to sleep mode too, unless being used. The 10 hours is the time when the screen and processors are “on”, not just in standby.
So it will last all day. That changes things.
Good thing I was never excited about these things, now I’m not disappointed by how terrible they are
that is UG-LY!!!! no way I’d wear a miniature Galaxy S design on my wrist…
Really the moto x touchless feature is where things should be for now. That combined with the old bluetooth headsets (the original wearable tech.) Between those 2 items I don’t need something on my wrist.
And soon the smartwatch screens inflate to the size of galaxy s4
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With the current state of affairs in regards to society and technology, I don’t think smartwatches are going to “improve” our lives…..much. You read every day about auto accidents caused by people using their PHONES and driving…can you imagine the reports of when someone is using their smartwatch…and having an accident?Most people only use a watch for ONE thing and ONE thing ONLY! To TELL THE TIME! If you want a “sleek” nice watch that helps you stand out from the crowd?…why not just buy a Rolex?..or TAG Hauer?….there’s TONS of watches out there that you can buy that won’t require an “update’ to the latest OS….something that should be left ONLY to phones…laptops….tablets….and PC’s! But there are those who are techno-phobes, who NEED to have the latest & greatest…just “because”….so I guess this watch or watches similar to this one are built specifically for them.