Samsung held its Unpacked 2013 Episode 2 event in Berlin Wednesday where it unveiled the highly anticipated Galaxy Gear Smartwatch. A wearable wrist accessory that will work in tandem with the company's family of Galaxy smartphone devices, specifically the Galaxy Note 3 phablet device, which was also unveiled at the press event in Germany.
The device was first shown off by JK Shin, Samsung's head of mobile communications while he gave a rundown of everything people in attendance and those watching at home could expect from the rest of the hour-long presentation. A chime rang out and he stopped what he was doing and, with a knowing grin, said "Hold on, I just got a message," as he checked his wrist and quickly flashed the crowd a glimpse of his orange smartwatch.
Later on in the show the Galaxy Gear received the full rundown of features treatment. It is made with a stainless steel and packed with a slew of new features and comes in six unique colors.
Samsung's Director of Research in America Pranav Mistry showcased the device as being "tomorrow's state of the art."
The device works as a touch screen with simple navigation coming from left, right and up, down finger commands. It can support a bevy of apps directly on the device itself. The key for the smartwatch was to make it so that people have to pull their smartphone out of their pockets less and less. In fact, the Galaxy Gear can even take calls. Speakers and receivers are built into strategic places on the strap that allow the user to simply hold their hand up to their ear as if they were holding a phone and speak to whomever is on the other end. When viewing an e-mail on the device, if you pull out your galaxy smartphone, it will already be displayed on the both screens, making switching between them quick, easy and as efficient as possible.
The most exciting feature of the 1.63-inch 320X320 AMOLED display was its ability to take and sent pictures. No more will people miss a moment by having to take out their smartphone and access its camera. The Galaxy Gear smartwatch can simple point and shoot with a swipe of the finger, making it great for capturing those quick once in a lifetime moments or simply taking quick picture memos for later use.
That's not where the camera's functionalities end. The device is built with augmented reality in mind. A quick snapshot of a sign in a foreign language can be quickly translated right on the smartwatch itself. This is one of many features promised by the South Korean tech giant. The device can also boast a 25-hour battery life.
The Galaxy gear will be available in the U.S. and Japan in October. For the rest of the world it is promised to hit store shelves later this month. It will work with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition immediately. It can work with a Galaxy S4 smartphone after a simple software update. As for all other phones in the Samsung repertoire, software updates for those devices will be coming sometime in October. The device will cost $299.
