Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch will be unveiled on Sept. 4: report
The long-rumored Samsung smart watch, which may be called the Samsung Galaxy Gear, could be introduced as soon as next month. Maybe.
Does the release of a Samsung smartwatch draw nigh? Here, guests test the Samsung Galaxy S4 mobile phone during an event in China in April.
Reuters
Samsung will unveil its long-rumored smart watch next month in an effort to beat out the release of a similar product from Apple.
That's the word this afternoon from Bloomberg, which says that the watch – as previously reported elsewhere – will be called Galaxy Gear. According to Bloomberg, the Galaxy Gear can be used to make phone calls, browse the Web, and answer e-mails.
It's unclear exactly when the Google Android-powered watch will actually hit shelves, although it's a safe bet that Samsung will be gunning for a late September or early October launch, the better to take full advantage of the holiday shopping rush.
Caveat: Samsung has not officially commented on the latest batch of rumors. But the Bloomberg article does line up with previous reports on a Samsung trademark application for the Gear name. Interestingly, at the time, some pundits doubted that Samsung would actually bestow the somewhat clunky moniker "Gear" on its next-gen digital timepiece.
"Personally I'd be surprised if Samsung opted for the name Gear for its smart-watch tech," Luke Westaway of CNET wrote in July. "While the name certainly makes sense for a device that's historically mechanical, Samsung would likely want to trade on the current popularity of the Galaxy name to give a new product as much of a leg-up as possible."
Looks like Samsung went for the best of both worlds.
In related news, yesterday 9 to 5 Mac published a round-up of speculative concept art for the (presumably) forthcoming Apple smart watch. The designs inspired much more by fantasy than fact, but it's still worth a look.