Samsung launches Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Galaxy Note 3 smartphone
The new smartwatch has a touch screen of barely more than four centimetres. It does not have a flexible screen.
A journalist looks at a Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch (L) and Galaxy Note 3 (R) after their launch. PHOTO: REUTERS
South Korean electronics giant Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its hotly anticipated smartwatch the Galaxy Gear, which allows users to make calls, receive texts and emails and take photos.
JK Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, predicted the Galaxy Gear - effectively a mobile you wear on your wrist - would become "a new fashion icon through the world" as he launched the device at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.
The new smartwatch has a touch screen of barely more than four centimetres (1.6 inches) in a brushed-steel mount and wrist strap in six different colours. Contrary to rumours, it does not have a flexible screen.
Samsung is not the first company to introduce a watch that connects via wifi to a smartphone, alerting its user to calls, texts and emails - Casio, Sony or Pebble already have similar products.
However, with its arch rival Apple still to roll out its much rumoured "iWatch", and the likes of Microsoft and Google not exhibiting at IFA, the South Korean giant has the field more or less to itself to wow the geeks.
Unlike its competitors, the Samsung device allows users to make calls without taking their phone out of their pocket - instead, they can hold their wrist up to their ear and use the built-in speaker and microphone.
The Galaxy Gear will go on sale on September 25 and also has a tiny camera in its wrist strap.
Samsung also launched its new 5.7 inch Galaxy Note 3, the third generation phablet – a cross between a phone and a tablet device.
JK Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, predicted the Galaxy Gear - effectively a mobile you wear on your wrist - would become "a new fashion icon through the world" as he launched the device at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.
The new smartwatch has a touch screen of barely more than four centimetres (1.6 inches) in a brushed-steel mount and wrist strap in six different colours. Contrary to rumours, it does not have a flexible screen.
Samsung is not the first company to introduce a watch that connects via wifi to a smartphone, alerting its user to calls, texts and emails - Casio, Sony or Pebble already have similar products.
However, with its arch rival Apple still to roll out its much rumoured "iWatch", and the likes of Microsoft and Google not exhibiting at IFA, the South Korean giant has the field more or less to itself to wow the geeks.
Unlike its competitors, the Samsung device allows users to make calls without taking their phone out of their pocket - instead, they can hold their wrist up to their ear and use the built-in speaker and microphone.
The Galaxy Gear will go on sale on September 25 and also has a tiny camera in its wrist strap.
Samsung also launched its new 5.7 inch Galaxy Note 3, the third generation phablet – a cross between a phone and a tablet device.