By Most folks’ honeymoon period with the Samsung Galaxy S4 is pretty much over. The Note 3 has launched, and other devices are stealing a lot of thunder headed into 2014. Samsung is usually right into the thick of development for their next flagship right around this point, but new rumors suggest the team is well ahead of schedule on the Samsung Galaxy S5.
Korean outlet ETNews is reporting that Samsung is on-track to begin mass production of the smartphone as early as January, and could be setting it up for a March or April release. This means we could see the phone announced as early as CES in January 2014 or Mobile World Congress the month afterward.
The Galaxy S5 is rumored to be similar to the Galaxy Note 3 under the hood, as Samsung will look to at least match the Note 3’s Snapdragon 800 processor (alongside a possible Exynos Octa-Core variant capable of 64-bit computing), 3GB of RAM and more
With that, ETNews also says Samsung will unveil the next generation of the Galaxy Gear smart watch alongside the Samsung Galaxy S5. If you feel like it hasn’t been that long since the first entry in the company’s new smart watch line-up dropped, you aren’t alone.
It has long been reported that Samsung’s first Galaxy Gear smart watch was rushed to market to try and beat a possible Apple-bred competitor. As such, many folks have resided to jokingly calling it a “prototype for sale,” and that Samsung’s true first real attempt at a smart watch wouldn’t take long to come to market.
The lackluster Galaxy Gear hasn’t turned many heads to this point with the company reportedly generating only 50,000 sales (on over 800,000 units shipped to retail to date). We’ll have to wait a while yet to see if Samsung’s next attempt is worthy of praise.
[via SamMobile]
but will it blend?
Only when its successor is announced…………….
I really wanted to like the Galaxy Gear, and just couldn’t. It’s ugly, and only marginally useful. Here’s hoping the next one is better. And if the GS5 is any good, I’ll get both :)
What functionality is missing that you’d like to see in the next GEAR?
Something that makes me not want to leave it at home. I’m not the one designing these things…
Like what? SAMSUNG & other mfgs actually listen to such input,I’d imagine,especially if en masse.
What would you like to see? Your ideas could lead to something better,ya never know…….
how about these?
1 nfc charching,
2 a better design,
3 a screen that can stay on without consuming battery(partially e-ink),
4 a band that doesn’t mess with my wrist ( damn microphone),
5 an interactive notification system( something that lets me read the damn notification at least),
6 minimizing the size of the camera (as small as every front facing camera on any phone) and putting it north of the face of the watch (dont get me wrong, i i dont mean it should be front facing. i mean it should be as small as that, but facing the same way it is facing right now and not on the band.)
i AM a samsung fan. but honestly, i havent seen any innovation from them since S3. for the past two years their products were as uninspired, if not more than, Apple products. yeah, the software features are cool and lovely. but common! blow my mind away. have you looked at the classic design of sony z1? the great front facing speakers of htc one? did you know that the front facing speakers was samsung’s idea (galaxy play & every tablet tehy have made these two years), but their insecurity didnt let them to go with it? just look at lg g2 and G flex to see how far samsung if holding back because it has become just as scared of innovating and introducing something new as apple.
All good suggestions.
1) I’m guessing wireless charging will be on the next GEAR.The QUALCOMM TOQ has this,surely SAMSUNG will incorporate this,if not to just stay competitive in the tech arms race.
NFC? Not sure if possible w/today’s tech/size constraints.
Again,not sure,haven’t looked at every smartwatch available to date to compare.
2) Guessing some design changes are in the works,especially after the lukewarm retail sales figures,gotta differentiate just for that reason alone.
3) Guessing this will be addressed as well,as the TOQ has this w/color.
4) Agree 100% w/this,as the clasp/microphone is a PITA,especially if you’re @ a desk/on a PC all day.
5) Already live (S-VOICE) & admittedly buggy,but,I suspect this will be improved upon.Not sure if you were looking at tapping out messages on the watch,if feasible.
6) Camera could be a bit smaller,but,I find the location of it to be OK.
However,your idea is GREAT,this would be ideal,I think they could pull it off.
If not TSK TSK,shame on SAMMY….
Nice post/suggestions ERFAN SHIRVANIAN,good to hear some input from someone who seemingly has at least tried the GEAR on for size.
Galaxy gear is awesome, will be annoying to see Samsung pull an apple (iPad 3 and 4) with the next S model. Lots of s4 owners will be pissed, and if it is better inside than the note 3 that will raise eyebrows too, in a negative way.
Their design schedule is about once a year, and the S4 was released in April. I don’t see why S4 owners will be any more pissed than S3 owners were pissed when the S4 came out.
It’s understood that most people skip an iteration in their upgrade schedule, so the S5 will likely be targeting the S3 upgrade user base, as well as everyone else :)
If it releases in April 14, fair enough, but January would be very early.
I wonder what the Note 5 will bring when I get to my update time :P
Why? Note 3 is already out, so Z5 will be better of course.
Yes but the Note is a different range, like iPad, iPad mini and iPhone are different ranges. You expect your flagshaip of the range to be the top for at least a year otherwise you’ve been mugged off.
I am one of those who bought the Note 3 with Gear and I can safely say that the Gear really increases the overall mobile experience. With Gear, I dont have to waste time taking the already-hard-to-take-out Note 3 out of my pocket just for some stupid sms or to change the music track or to answer the phone etc.
And the camera on the Gear is simply awesome and snappy. It may be hard to give the 300$ but I think it really is worth it. Unlike the Galaxy Round which is absurd and meaningless, Samsung really is on the right track with Gear. Gear 2 will be awesome but Samsung, why the hurry? Dont mess with your customers, wait 8-9 months at the very least.
Your post sounded like a commercial… Are you paid by samsung? Lol
I bought the gear with my note 3 and I enjoy it as well. It appears the only people who have a negative comment about this device are those who never used it, and I refer to everyday experience. As a watch wearer, this was a no brainer. I have spent hundreds of dollars on watches that only provide a date and time. to me this was a great buy. Although I agree it is too early, I will also buy the 2nd gen.
I’m waiting for the 2nd gen to pull the trigger on the Gear
Man everytime i blink Samsung is coming out with a new something. They don’t give people a chance to enjoy the S4 or other devices b4 they throwing out a new one or a mini something.
Seems like a waste of resources doesn’t it? 1 device every 12 months would be best IMO
Sammy sold more smartphones last quarter of any manufacturer so it seems their strategy is working.
When I say resources I mean precious metals and components to make cell phones. That stuff doesn’t grow on trees you know And what’s it all for? So your screen is slightly larger? Or your phone goes 10% faster? Just seems like a waste to me
1 device for every segment every 12 months… One galaxy S, one galaxy note, and one galaxy mini… etc.
Every different device they spit out is aim at different markets/people….Not everyone needs all the bells and whistles in the high end devices so they cater to those people as well. But they should do like sony did with their mini. decrease the size but leave the guts almost the same instead of skimping on the hardware.
What are you trying to fill in your life with whatever the newest tech is? There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from enjoying your Device X just as much a month later whether device X2 has been released or not. Don’t blame industry for trying to profit from your complete and total lack of self control. :)
It won’t be long and you will see the Gear priced at $99. If you’re interested in picking one of these up I highly recommend you wait. That shipment / sales ratio means they will be trying everything they can to get rid of them.
My GS3 contract ends in August, so by then, I could get an S5 for much cheaper than getting it when it first comes out, I can dig it! If I go Samsung again, anyways. I like my GS3, but Samsung seems to be going the way of Apple and making peripherals that only really work with their newest stuff. I’m not paying $300 for a smartwatch that won’t work with anything else I might buy a year or two later, that’s just dumb.
Meanwhile people are still asking top $ for the S4 here (Canada) ie like $500 + lol
Need better battery life for the S5 even if nothing else is better!!!!!!
If smart watches go head to head with smart glass, who do you think will win?
sad thing is that if iphone comes out with one,all the ifans will rush and buy them.also say that they invented it.
Sad thing is Samsung gets a free pass because it’s not an iPhone.
And the flood continues.
I’d love to see more matte polycarbonate backs. This shinny plastic stuff is getting silly. And let’s build in wireless charging a feature not an add on. No cases work with the add on.
Why i get this feeling the had the build plans for the s5 about the same time they was pushing out the s4.
Because the engineers didn’t sit on their butts after they were done with the S4 while it went through the production process?
I just can’t do it… it will be craptasticly locked bootloader and probably carrier IQ infected… buying another Galaxy phone will be like stepping on a nail again…
Hope they offer a GooglePlay version, they did it with the S4. They produce great hardware but I don’t want their crapware. My Verizon contract is up at the end of December. Right now My plan is a Nexus 5 and moving to AT&T, however if there is a GooglePlay S5 that would be a contender.
The 50K number was sold, but only for Corea. The 800K number was globally shipped. anything below 1M is still a low number considering Samsung size. I bought a Note 3 but all the functions of a smartwatch I need are covered by my Pebble so I passed on the Gear. I don´t want a watch that is not constantly showing the time and I need to press a button to turn on the display. Or worse: A watch that last less than 1 day with a charge, so you need to recharge it during the day…My Pebble runs for a week on a single charge and the e-ink display is always on.
Don’t know about you guys but my honeymoon period is still not over with the Note 2 after a year lol.
I’m done with Samsung. For the most part I love the hardware on my S4, although the battery is an issue even though I turn off all the daft functions nobody really uses. The s$ software is bloated and, how can I put this, ugly. My wish is that HTC brings out something with a decent sized battery. Otherwise it’s the G2 for me.
Unless the hacker community figures out a way around Knox, I’ll never own another Samsung phone.