Samsung is coming out with a new smartwatch that sports a traditional circular face, The Australian reports. It has more battery life than the Apple Watch and will come in two versions, the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic.
They both have a round 1.2-inch (3cm) screen, three day battery life, NFC payment technology, and even fitness tracking. Additionally, the Gear S2, which is the higher end version, will also have a SIM card slot.
It will be able to operate independently of a smartphone, that it can send and receive SMS, make calls, and also use mobile data, Wired reports.
Both new watches will support standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 functions. In addition to that, Samsung Pay allows the watch to make credit card purchases.
So far, here are the full specs available:
- 11.5mm thick (Gear S2 Classic), 13.4mm thick (Gear S2)
- Display with 302ppi pixel density
- 250mAh battery (Gear S2 Classic), 300mAh battery (Gear S2)
- Wireless charging
- Tizen operating system
- Voice operated using Samsung S Voice
- Dual-core 1GHz processor
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB storage
- Accelerometer
- Heart-rate monitor
- Gyroscope
- Barometer
There is no release date yet for the new Samsung smartwatches. The IFA in Berlin this week might clear up all relevant details such as price, watchband styles, and available apps. Since the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic run on Tizen, additional work will be needed to adapt apps for them.
If Samsung is successful in offering the new smartwatches with enough apps in them, then that might just be the key to closing the gap in Samsung's wearable technology efforts. Samsung currently holds the fifth spot with a 3.3% market share. Fitbit is at number one with 24% while Apple Watch is at second place with 20% market share.
