Samsung Gear S3 arrives in Malaysia at RM1,399

Samsung’s latest Gear S3 smart watches have finally arrived in Malaysia. It comes in two variants featuring a rugged look and a classy elegant appearance.

Similar to the Gear S2, the new Gear S3 frontier and classic gets a round watch face featuring a rotating bezel. The AMOLED screen is slightly larger at 1.3″ and it pushes the same 320×320 pixels resolution. It also supports an always on display which now works in colour. For better durability, both are MIL-STD-810G certified and has IP68 rated water resistance.

Apart from the exterior look, both Gear S3 Frontier and Gear S3 Classic are similar on the inside. It has 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. It gets your usual accelerometer, gyro, barometer, heart rate monitoring and it connects to your phone by bluetooth. In case you’re wondering, Samsung isn’t offering the LTE version for our region.

It now comes with built-in GPS and there’s also a loud-speaker which you can use to make phone calls from your wrist. It also supports both MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) and NFC (Near Field Communications) standards, making it compatible with almost all credit card terminals when Samsung Pay is available on our shores.

If you’re thinking of getting one, it works only with Android smartphones running on Android 4.4 with at least 1.5GB of RAM. Improved from the previous version, the Gear S3’s bigger 380mAh battery is rated to push up to 3-4 days on a single charge. Charging is done wirelessly with a provided charging dock.

Both watches are priced at RM1,399 and they are available beginning 8 December. The price is not bad considering that the Gear S3 is going for S$548 (about RM1,714) in Singapore, US$349.99 (about RM1,564) in the US and €399 (about RM1,893) in Europe.

You can get it nationwide at Samsung stores and authorised dealers nationwide. As a launch promo, Samsung Malaysia is offering two additional watch straps in different colours and a limited edition watch collector box while stocks last. The exclusive offer is also valid on Samsung’s online store on Lazada and 11street.

We have reviewed the Gear S3 Frontier edition and you can find out what Rory thinks over here.