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| Credit: Samsung |
A new smartwatch is in town — and you don't need your phone attached to your hip for it to work. The new Samsung Gear S brings a new meaning to mobility, delivering a hands-free, phone-free mobile experience.
Samsung announced this week that its new Tizen-powered Gear S smartwatch will hit stores this fall. Unveiled in August, Samsung's third-generation smartwatch is the first of the company's smartwatches to come with built-in 3G connectivity. Read on to find out what this means and what else the Samsung Gear S has to offer business users.
3G connectivity
The Samsung Gear S is all about freedom. From your phone, that is. With 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi connectivity, the Gear S delivers a hands-free mobile experience that takes just about anything your phone can do and brings it to your wrist.
Unlike other smartwatches, you don't actually need to have your phone around for the Gear S to function. You do have the choice of pairing the device with your smartphone, but with the built-in 3G and 2G connectivity, the Gear S can also run solo. It can grab emails, calendars, GPS turn-by-turn directions, alerts, notifications and other data, without having your phone nearby.
The Gear S also comes with a SIM card, phone number, a microphone and an on-screen QWERTY keyboard — yes, imagine typing on a smartwatch, though Mashable reports "typos aren't as common as you'd think" — so you can make and receive calls as well as send messages, even if you don't have your phone with you.
Design
The Samsung Gear S sports a rectangular screen with a 2-inch, 360 x 480 resolution, curved SuperAMOLED display. (That's right — curved, which Samsung says gives the devices a more comfortable fit.) Although having such a large screen makes everything easier to see and work with on a smartwatch, one drawback is the device's overall size and look.
Measuring 1.57 x 2.29 x .49 inches, the Gear S may be a bit bulky for some business users. TechRadar says you'll have to "put up with a fair amount of chunk," while Gizmodo describes it as feeling "less like a watch and more like a wrist communicator."
It also comes with a sporty wristband — combined with the rectangular screen, this design may be too rugged for some business users, depending on your preferences and work environment. The band is replaceable, however, but options won't be available until the device launches.
Power and performance
Running on the power-efficient Tizen operating system, the Gear S is expected to perform better than Android Wear-powered smartwatches. The Gear S also comes with a dual-core 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and a 300-mAh Li-ion battery, which can keep the Gear S running for two days on a single charge.
Cost and availability
The Samsung Gear S will be available this fall at AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Verizon. Samsung has kept mum regarding pricing information, but current Samsung Android Wear smartwatches range from $199 (Samsung Gear Live) to $249.99 (Moto 360). You should also expect to shell out for a monthly data plan for the 3G connection.
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