We know that the Samsung Galaxy Gear, Samsung‘s entry into the smartwatch fray, will be announced on September 4th at IFA 2013 alongside the announcement of the Galaxy Note 3. We’ve heard rumours here and there regarding the actual appearance of the watch, culminating in concept videos that featured the Galaxy Gear with a flexible LCD screen, among other things.
Today, though, VentureBeat has gotten their hands on what appears to be the new Galaxy Gear smartwatch ahead of the announcement event, and it’s not exactly what we expected, to say the least. Appearances aside, VentureBeat has said that the watch will feature:
- 3-inch display
- 4MP camera in the wristband
- Speakers
- Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity
- voice commands
- Android Apps designed specifically for Galaxy Gear
- 10+ hours of battery life
My first impressions of the device (if it is truly the Samsung Galaxy Gear) is that it’s quite bulky and unwieldy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I can’t outright say it’s ugly, but compared to my own Pebble watch, it looks huge and angular. In addition to that, if what VentureBeat reports is true about the watch’s battery life, you may be charging your watch even more or just as regularly as your smartphone.
I’m more willing to believe these new leaked pictures are true as opposed to the svelte, flexible LCD watch we’ve been drooling over as this is a more grounded design and looking at it in a realistic way, it actually makes sense. And unfortunately, it further confirms that the smartwatch industry has a long way to go before it has the capabilities we expect of it.
What are your thoughts about the leaked pictures? Is this what you expected? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Source: VentureBeat via Phandroid
