Whether you like it or not, it seems this fall will be all about the smartwatch. This morning, following LG’s tease of the round-faced (but awfully named) G Watch R, Samsung has unveiled the curved Gear S — the first major smartwatch with its own 3G connection, allowing it to send/receive calls and generally act as an internet-connected smart device without being paired to a nearby smartphone. And on top of all that, it seems Apple will unveil an iWatch alongside the iPhone 6 at its September 9 event. Is the world ready for a standalone smartwatch? Do we even have the battery technology to allow a 3G smartwatch to run for more than a few hours?
The Samsung Gear S is the company’s first standalone smartwatch, using a built-in 3G connection to make/receive calls and texts, and to pull down notifications, emails, and so on from the internet. The Gear S, like the Gear 2 and Gear Neo, runs the Tizen operating system. The smartwatch will come preloaded with S Health, Nike+ Running, and Nokia’s Here maps for navigation. There are a ton of sensors that allow the Gear S to act as a fitness band, as well as something that vaguely resembles a very small smartphone. With Google wading into the wearables arena with Android Wear, I have a feeling that Tizen smartwatches won’t be around for long.
Samsung Gear S, in white
On the hardware side of things, the Gear S has a curved 2-inch Super AMOLED 480×360 screen — similar to the curved screen of the Gear Fit, but larger and higher resolution. There’s a dual-core 1GHz SoC, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 300 mAh battery — which Samsung claims will give you two full days of “typical usage.” While the Gear S can exist on its own, Bluetooth is also available for the usual smartphone-smartwatch pairing, and there’s a WiFi radio on board, too. The strap isn’t removable, but the whole thing is IP67 certified (dust and water resistance).