All you need to know about Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch

Samsung revealed the Galaxy Gear smartwatch at IFA 2013 in Berlin at around 11.30pm IST on Wednesday. The smartwatch will officially launch on 25 September across the globe and currently Samsung is offering the device in six colours that will be available at launch.

The colours are Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green. These are also the colours that Samsung is offering on the Flip covers of the Galaxy Note 3. The Galaxy Gear watch is currently being pitched as a companion to the range of Samsung Galaxy smartphones that are out there in the market.

The price of the smartwatch is a whopping $299. The Gearwill come pre-loaded with 10 different clock options and more choices will be available for download via Samsung Apps.

JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile Communications, presents the Samsung Galaxy Gear in Berlin. AP Photo[/caption]

As far as tech specs are concerned, Galaxy Gear has a 1.63 inch Super AMOLED display with 320 x 320 pixel resolution. However it doesn't have a flexible screen as some were hoping.

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The processor is 800 MHz and the smartwatch comes with 512 MB RAM and 4GB memory space. It has a 1.9 megapixel camera on the strap. The camera has BSI Sensor, Auto Focus and the ability to record and shoot videos as well. It has two microphones, ( 1 noise cancelling) and a speaker as well.

The watch supports Bluetooth 4.0 and sensors on the watch are accelerometer and gyroscope. In terms of dimensions the watch is 36.8 x 56.6 x 11.1 mm, weighs 73.8g. It has a Li-ion 315mAh battery.

The watch looks clunky and appears to be something that one just can't miss, and there's no denying that it is a tad expensive.

Other features of the watch are:

The watch notifies users of incoming messages, such as calls, texts, emails and alerts, delivers a preview of those messages and creates the opportunity for users to accept or discreetly ignore those messages.

Memographer feature: Voice Memo lets users capture conversations or notes from their wrists and save those voice recordings into texts on their Samsung Galaxy phones.

Auto Lock this automatically locks the smartphone screen any time that Galaxy Gear is more than 1.5 meters away from the smartphone, and then unlocks the smartphone when the companion devices are near each other again.

Find My Device helps users find the location of their smart devices when they have been misplaced by making them beep, illuminate and vibrate.

Users can also control music on their phones with the Galaxy Gear, similar to what Pebble watch already offers. The watch also works like a Pedometer to track physical activity via a built-in sensor technology.

Samsung has launched its watch way ahead of rival Apple's rumoured iWatch which is both a good thing and a bad thing. By the time, Apple launches its watch, Samsung has opportunity of establishing itself as a leader in smartwatches. On the flip side, Apple's new watch could have killer features that might make Samsung's Galaxy Gear seem outdated by 2014.

Currently the Gear feels more like an expensive accessory that will compliment Samsung's Galaxy smartphones rather than a stand alone must have device.With iWatch and Galaxy Gear, only time will tell which of the two is more successful.

Specs:

Processor: 800 MHz processor

Display: 1.63 inch (41.4mm) Super AMOLED (320 x 320)

Camera: 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus Camera / Sound & Shot

Format: MP4, HD(720p) Playback & Recording

Connectivity: Bluetooth v 4.0

Memory: 4GB Internal memory ? 512 MB (RAM)