The wearable tech industry is not exactly a booming one. When Apple rolled out the Apple Watch, many people figured out that this could be the next best thing since sliced bread, or perhaps spark off a mad rush for smartwatches the way their original iPhone did way back in 2007. Well, that was not the case, and smartwatches were very niche, and nobody really had the itching need or want to bring one home. More interesting is the fact that interest in luxury timepieces that were handcrafted by masters in Switzerland did not begin to wane, but rather, started to pick up the pace. Perhaps there is something about market forces that we do not know just yet. No matter, Samsung has decided that they will go ahead with the show by making available the Samsung Gear S3 this coming November 18th.
The Samsung Gear S3 was first unveiled a few months back at IFA in Berlin, Germany, and it is nice to know that there is not much longer to wait if one wants to actually own one of these puppies, having them wrapped around the wrist. The Samsung Gear S3 is tipped to run on the Tizen OS 2.3.2 platform.
If patience is not a virtue that you espouse, then you might be interested to know that you can already place a pre-order for the Samsung Gear S3 from November 6th onward. For those who are rocking to AT&T as their mobile service provider, you have a slight edge, where pre-orders can be placed a couple of days earlier -- that is, November 4th onward.
The Samsung Gear S3 will arrive in a couple of variants -- the first would be the Classic model, while the other would be known as the Frontier model. The Classic model will be softer and obviously, tries to live up to its name. Whereas the latter will be the more rugged between the two of them.
Both of them do have their fair share of common ground, which makes perfect sense since they are of the same model. For instance, they share a similar stainless steel chassis which has been rated at IP68, meaning it is water resistant, while its 1.3” screen is tougher than its predecessors, arriving coated in scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass SR+. Not only that, underneath the hood would not reveal a Swiss timing mechanism, but rather, a dual-core Exynos chipset with 768MB of RAM, integrated GPS navigation capability, 4GB of internal memory, a purported maximum 4-day battery life with its 380mAh battery, various sensors such as an accelerometer, gyro, heart rate monitor, and ambient light sensor.
In addition, the Frontier version of the Gear S3 would have an added advantage of boasting of optional LTE connectivity if you so desire your smartwatch to keep up with your smartphone’s connectivity capabilities. Introducing LTE connectivity on a smartwatch would certainly come in handy if you are stuck in a jam outdoors, and you have absolutely no idea how to get yourself out of this particularly sticky situation -- assuming there is a signal where you are at though!
Samsung Pay will arrive integrated with the Samsung Gear S3, making it the first wearable device that supports the MST tech. Pricing is expected to start from $350 onward.
