Samsung Galaxy Gear launched with call & camera functionality

Alongside the Galaxy Note 3 is Samsung’s foray into smart watch with the Galaxy Gear. Not only it tells the time but it doubles up as a communication and health companion when paired with a Note 3.

On the watch face, the Galaxy Gear comes with a 1.63″ screen of Super AMOLED variety that does a modest resolution of 320×320. The screen is touch-enabled which relies on taps and swipes to navigate around. Powering the device is a single core 800MHz processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage which should be more than sufficient for a wearable gadget.

The biggest addition for the smart watch is a built-in 1.9MP camera on the strap and the ability to make & receive calls directly from the watch. This made possible with an integrated loud speaker on the watch and a dual mic set up in the watch strap buckle. While these features sound cool, it would be interesting to see if this would be practically useful without looking silly in public. We don’t expect much from the camera for any serious photography but it can be a potential discreet cam whenever you need it.

The Galaxy Gear comes with a 315mAh battery which is said to last for more than 25 hours in a single charge. In terms of applications, there’s a variety of apps available which includes Line, MyFitnessPal, Path and RunKeeper which more can be downloaded from a dedicated Galaxy Gear AppStore.

The Galaxy Gear acts as a seamless bridge with the Galaxy Note 3. If you read a message on the watch, you can instantly relay the full content on the larger Note 3 screen. For hands-free operation, it also comes with S-Voice which lets you perform task by merely dictating to it. Another neat feature is auto-lock where the Note 3 will automatically locks its screen when the Galaxy Gear goes beyond 1.5 metres away from the smart phone and then unlocks when they are close together.

In terms of colours, the Galaxy Gear comes in Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green. It will be launched together with the Galaxy Note 3 in over 140 countries from September 25. It is safe to assume that the Galaxy Gear will be available here when the Note 3 is launched at the end of the month.

So far there’s no official pricing yet but some rumour suggests that it would be priced a whooping RM1,500. Let’s hope it would be priced more realistically lower than that.

View more Galaxy Gear images after the break