Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Samsung Unveils Gear S3 Classic and Frontier Smartwatches Powered By Tizen (hothardware.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the what-time-is-it dept.

MojoKid quotes a report from HotHardware: Samsung just wrapped up an event at the IFA expo in Berlin, where the company unveiled two new Gear S3 branded smartwatches. The new Samsung Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier leverage many of the design elements from last-year's Gear S2 -- like their Tizen OS, rotating control dial, round display, and fast wireless charging. However, other aspects of the Gear S3 have received significant upgrades. Although they are internally similar, there are a few external differences between the Gear S3 Classic and Frontier. The Gear S3 Classic is the sleeker, more streamlined version of the two. The Classic has a polished finish, with round buttons at the 2 and 4 o'clock positions and no addition protrusions on its chassis. The Gear S3 Frontier is more rugged and has a darker, brushed finish, with flat, rectangular textured buttons and protrusions on either side of the body to shield the buttons from accidental presses. Both the Gear S3 Classic and Frontier are also outfitted with Gorilla Glass SR to protect their circular, Super AMOLED displays, and they're both compatible with industry standard 22mm watch bands too. They are also IP68 rated, so they're able to withstand dust and dirt, and water resistant for up to 30 minutes under 1.5 meters of water. Depending on how heavily these devices are used, Samsung claims they can last roughly 3 -- 4 days on a single charge. They also have support for NFC (compatible with Samsung Pay), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and have built-in heart rate monitors, altimeter/barometer, and GPS as well.

27 comments

  1. That's a lot of dumb sounding names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But then this is tech.

  2. Native Advertising by negRo_slim · · Score: 1

    Sure do love it.

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    1. Re:Native Advertising by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Only seems like advertising to you because of your lack of background knowledge. Tizen[*] is a topic of general interest to geeks, as are smartwatches. I would suggest handing in your geek card, except that there still may be hope for you because you know how to type.

      [*] To find out why, read the wikipedia article.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  3. I'd pay good money for by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    ...an editor who knew how to summarize shit like this.

    1. Re:I'd pay good money for by lakeland · · Score: 2

      Samsung is going to be releasing a new smartwatch sometime this year.

      It looks much the same as the old one but addresses all of the common complaints from previous models: cellular, GPS, battery life. The most obvious issue is that it is still really big (46x42x12mm) and heavy (62g).

  4. Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll just wait for the iPhone 7.

  5. Gorilla glass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is this always touted as a feature when the first thing it makes me think of are shattered iphones?

  6. Android or Tizen? by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 2

    Why is the article tagged android if the watch runs Tizen? Both Linux-based OS, sure, but fairly different systems.

    1. Re:Android or Tizen? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Did you do that to the non-android Kindles too?

    2. Re:Android or Tizen? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      So Tizen doesn't have Wayland on it as yet? They probably need to rebuild from Fedora 25, which we were discussing yesterday

    3. Re:Android or Tizen? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Tagged Android because Tizen is a (longshot, theoretical) competitor to Android. Is there even a Tizen tag? Not sure if Tizen is enough of a thing to have a tag.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  7. Camera ! by denisbergeron · · Score: 1

    I find it sad that they remove the camera from they watch. I love my old Gear, but I won't "upgrade" to a watch with less feature.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
    1. Re:Camera ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because sleeves! That's why!

      I like the removal of the camera. First thing my phones get is a bit of tape over the selfie cam.

      It was only ever any good for selfies, and only at very very close range. Given the privacy issue we have with these devices, the loss of the selfie cam is welcome.

    2. Re:Camera ! by SolemnLord · · Score: 2

      I find it sad that they remove the camera from they watch. I love my old Gear, but I won't "upgrade" to a watch with less feature.

      Having a feature isn't the same as having a feature worth having. Getting rid of a low-quality, poorly-placed camera gives Samsung the space to add features like NFC and LTE. These offer immediate, tangible benefits to the user by enabling a greater number of features and options through software, and by improving the Gear's independence. Smartwatches have to sacrifice some features to be more useful overall, and Samsung absolutely made the right call.

    3. Re: Camera ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Nobody wants a shitty camera on their wrists except you upskirt creeps, you twat.

    4. Re:Camera ! by unixisc · · Score: 1

      A wrist is a bad place for a camera. All you can take is selfies - or you'd have to remove the watch to take proper pics of things surrounding you

  8. Weak ecosystem by kuzb · · Score: 1

    Tizen is going to wind up like Windows phone. Virtually nobody will develop for it so the ecosystem will never reach the critical mass required to become a serious player.

    Companies don't seem to get it. Developers have to love your platform, or the only thing you'll attract is crickets.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    1. Re:Weak ecosystem by iampiti · · Score: 1

      Using a widely used system like Android has obvious advantadges but not everything is good: You're at the mercy of the OS maker and thus your business depends a lot on another company.
      Also, the smartwatch maket is not as mature as the smartphone's so there's a better chance of a new OS gaining a good share of the pie.

  9. Classic blunder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The classic blunder of any company is to release multiple product models. Steve Jobs only released one new model of the iPhone every year. That's why it had cutting edge features like touch scrolling, pinch to zoom, a responsive UI etc. Yeah, it doesn't work for everyone? Too bad, buy some other company's product. Make your own.

  10. I'd pass by wkwilley2 · · Score: 1

    Meh, I'm still waiting on my Pebble Time 2.....only 2 more months now.

    --
    Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
  11. Stronger than Android Wear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And Android Wear will? Android Wear isn't Android, and last I looked the number one company in Android was Samsung anyway, and the Gear 2 far outsold ALL the Android wear watches combined.

    To put it in context Google, with its Pixel C sells about 1% of the sales of the Samsung Android Tablets. They're so crap in the Googleplex, they don't even put Android on the bigger/faster Pixel 2. And OEMs take the hint, you won't find a high end Android tablet now. This is Android, Google's successful OS, and Google are so inept they can't even handle that, Samsung do most of the heavy lifting there at the high end.

    So Samsung with a Tizen watch, that does everything people want, and has a lot longer battery life, AND THE INTERFACE IS A LOT BETTER. That twisty dial is infinitely better than either the Apple or Google attempts at touch. Samsung will way outsell all those crappy Android wear watches combined and show the market what is needed to make a smart watch work.

    I have to say, I don't want Google wear on the watch because Google will riddle it with spyware, they have conflicted interests when it comes to OS's.

    1. Re:Stronger than Android Wear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody has to worry about your opinion, because the only thing you've ever developed is still floating in the toilet.

  12. Joules in 1Kg of Tizan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This Tizan stuff sounds amazing. Do they burn it in an engine or is there a special fuelcell?

  13. Stealth advertising achieved I guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    smh

  14. Software support from Samsung by It's+the+tripnaut! · · Score: 1

    Don't expect Samsung's support of Tizen to be similar to how Google supports/develops Android and Nexus devices. As a former user of Bada (which Tizen supposedly evolved from), support for an OS by Samsung will be similar to how they support firmware for their phones and TV's at the moment: you will get one major update (two if you're lucky) and that's about it.

    When the next Tizen release arrives, expect your device to be incompatible to it and, hence, not be supported anymore.

  15. Pot calling Kettle! by unrtst · · Score: 1

    I'm hoping I simply missed the whoooosh of sarcasm flying over my head, but I suspect you're just one of those people that don't know what the word "subject" means.
    It's crazy that you're complaining about editors not doing summaries right when you can't even be bothered to give your message a proper subject line, which is damn near the same skill set.