Samsung unveils a digital watch that can run apps and interact with its own family of smartphones on Wednesday.
The Galaxy Gear features a 1.63-inch 320x320-pixel super AMOLED screen surrounded by a metal frame and includes a 1.9-megapixel camera embedded into the rubberized band. The strap itself is available in six different colors, including a beige option that features a champagne-toned metal frame rather than the standard silver. Gear is powered by an 800MHz processor and 512MB of RAM.
The smartwatch syncs with Galaxy smartphones and tablets, notifying users when they receive a call, text message or e-mail. There is also a speaker and a pair of mics for recording and playing back video content and communicating with a caller via the built-in dialer, which works with the native phone app in the connected Galaxy device.
Gear begins shipping on September 25 and it will retail for $299, so the U.S. customers won't get it until October.
At launch, Gear only will work with the Note 3 because of software upgrade issues. But it later will be compatible with the Galaxy S4 and Note 2. More than 70 apps including eBay, Evernote and RunKeeper are available to download on the Gear.
