Bloomberg: ‘Samsung Said to Introduce Watch-Like Phone Next Month’

Jungah Lee, reporting for Reuters:

Samsung Electronics Co. will introduce a wristwatch-like device named the Galaxy Gear next month that can make phone calls, surf the Web and handle e-mails, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Galaxy Gear will be powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system and go on sale this year to beat a potentially competing product from Apple Inc., the people said. The device will be unveiled Sept. 4, two days before the IFA consumer electronics show begins in Berlin, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans are private.

A “watch-like phone” might be interesting, and for once, worthy of the “smart” moniker. Devices like the Pebble, which must be tethered to an actual smartphone for any sort of connectivity, aren’t smart at all; they’re just modern (and ultra portable) dumb terminals.

Still though, if Samsung’s wearable is a phone, presumably the screen would be relatively small. Is this something you’re intended to replace your current phone with? If not, how do you pay for service? If it’s a true phone, it must have its own phone number, right? I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve come up with without anything to copy.

Update: The Verge reports that the Gear “is not a phone”; it’s just a Bluetooth accessory that connects to a phone.

★ Monday, 19 August 2013