With its new smartwatch Samsung ushers in a new line
of smart wearables. No longer called Gear, the Galaxy Watch is still a logical
continuation of the Gear S3. The Galaxy Watch comes in the 46mm size its predecessor offered but
has added a smaller 42mm option as well. There are three casing colors to
choose from - Midnight Black, Rose Gold and Silver and Samsung will offer a
large variety of bands to choose from.
As with Gear smartwatches, the circular bezel on the
Samsung Galaxy Watch will rotate to navigate you through the Tizen interface. The 46mm Galaxy Watch has an
embedded 472mAh battery and the smaller 42mm has a built-in 270mAh unit. No
matter which one you go for, Samsung claims "several days" of
endurance.
There are both Bluetooth and LTE models on offer,
both featuring GPS for accurate tracking. Both LTE and Bluetooth models have
4GB of embedded storage but they differ in RAM - the LTE model has 1.5GB of RAM
while the Bluetooth model has half that at 768MB.The Tizen-powered Galaxy Watch
will offer more than 60 thousand watch faces.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch is IP68 water resistant
with an additional 5ATM pressure rating. It's also drop resistant, complying
with the vague MIL-STD-810G standard. The display is either 1.3-inch (46mm)
or 1.2-inch (42mm) with Gorilla Glass DX+ on top.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch is geared towards fitness
but also physical health. It can track 39 different types of workouts
(including food and water tracking) but it also monitors your sleep and
assesses your stress levels.
Samsung will start retailing the Galaxy Watch in the
US on August 24. T-Mobile will have the LTE Galaxy Watch for US$ 375 (42mm) and US$ 400 (46mm) and the Bluetooth-only model for US$ 330 (42mm) and US$ 350 (46mm). Korea will be next to get the Galaxy
Watch on August 31 with other markets following on September 14.
