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Samsung Unveils Tizen-Powered Galaxy Watch That Lasts 'Several Days' On Single Charge (venturebeat.com)
Alongside the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Home Speaker, Samsung took the wraps off its new Galaxy Watch wearable at its Unpacked event in New York City. VentureBeat reports: Beyond coming in rose gold, silver, and midnight black colors, it can be had in two sizes -- the prior Gear S3 size is now called "46mm" and will start at $349.99, while a smaller-sized model is called "42mm" and will start at $329.99. Both will be available starting August 24, solely in the specific size and color configurations shown below. Samsung is also using improved glass: Gear S3 watches used Corning's Gorilla Glass SR+ and were IP68 rated for 10-foot, 30-minute water and dust resistance. The Galaxy Watch upgrades to Corning Gorilla DX+ glass and promises to keep the AMOLED screen underneath fully water-safe; it's rated for 5 ATM (165-foot/50-meter) submersion with IP68 and MIL-STD-810G certifications.
A disappointment in the new model is a reduction in its payment capabilities. The Gear S3 included both NFC and swipe-style magnetic secure transaction (MST) support to enable a wide array of Samsung Pay wireless purchases, but the Galaxy Watch drops MST support and only works with NFC. Not surprisingly, however, it does support Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. While continuing the use of a Tizen operating system from the Gear S3, Galaxy Watch packs a more powerful dual-core Exynos 9110 processor running at 1.15GHz. As was the case with the Gear S3 Frontier, the Galaxy Watch is available in Bluetooth-only and LTE versions, now promising LTE support across over 30 carriers in more than 15 countries. On stage, Samsung promised that the Galaxy Watch can be used for "several" days between charges; a subsequent press release said that it's actually "up to 80+ hours with typical usage" on the 46mm model, which has a 472mAh battery, versus "45+ hours" from the 270mAh battery of the 42mm model. Each model promises at least twice the longevity "with low usage."
A disappointment in the new model is a reduction in its payment capabilities. The Gear S3 included both NFC and swipe-style magnetic secure transaction (MST) support to enable a wide array of Samsung Pay wireless purchases, but the Galaxy Watch drops MST support and only works with NFC. Not surprisingly, however, it does support Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. While continuing the use of a Tizen operating system from the Gear S3, Galaxy Watch packs a more powerful dual-core Exynos 9110 processor running at 1.15GHz. As was the case with the Gear S3 Frontier, the Galaxy Watch is available in Bluetooth-only and LTE versions, now promising LTE support across over 30 carriers in more than 15 countries. On stage, Samsung promised that the Galaxy Watch can be used for "several" days between charges; a subsequent press release said that it's actually "up to 80+ hours with typical usage" on the 46mm model, which has a 472mAh battery, versus "45+ hours" from the 270mAh battery of the 42mm model. Each model promises at least twice the longevity "with low usage."
My old Timex from the 1970's does at least 5 years on a single tiny cell battery.
My FossilQ hybrid lasts about a year..
Sounds like marketing talk. My Gear S3 currently lasts 3-3.5 days with typical usage, so that's "several days" already. It consumes between 25-30% of the battery per day, on average. I would not bother with upgrading if the 3-3.5 days figure didn't upgrade to 5-6 days.
The pre-millenium version of me would be very tickled.
"Up to 80+ hours" is literally meaningless. "Up to" really means "less than" but the "+" symbol means this translates as "less than an infinite length of time".
It can't be hard to come up with a meaningful number. Give the watch to 100 of your staff and just log how often they have to charge it over a couple of weeks. Your typical usage is the mean (or perhaps median). If you want a more attractive "up to" number then give a length of time that covers 80/90% of users.
My Garmin lasts several days on a single charge, and that's with a few hours of GPS-based activity tracking in there as well. Samsung has done nothing groundbreaking. I had a Gear S3 for only a few days, but it wouldn't work with ANY of my smart phones (and you MUST have a smart phone for the watch to work _at all_). I called Samsung Tech support and they said their watches are 'android compatible' but only work with 'select Samsung phones.'
Screw them. I got a Garmin and I'm never going anywhere else. The watch is amazing and just works.
My watch lasts years if not decades with a single charge (solar powered) and my phone lasts more than 3 weeks with a single charge. You spend your life nestling around with cables and charging stations or use the tools that do their job.
Well, hello there APK and welcome to our little friendly tech corner! It's always nice to see new faces and your welcome to also visit our club premises in person, should you ever make your way to Leipzig, Germany, or Helsinki.
By way of introducing myself, my user name (login handle) is "anonymous coward". You've posted under my name but I don't mind, this happens often because we do allow multiple login handles. In the long run, just register your name "APK" at our board so people recognize your posts more easily and can print them out by login handle on matrix printer in our club.
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Okay, got go, wifey is calling for lunch and I promised to come back from the garage just after I've printed out these address labels, so I can bring out the trash.
See you 'round APK and always wear your cock erect and uptight!
... try the Amazfit Bip.
I've been using this for the last 6 months and it is a fantastic Pebble replacement:
https://www.amazon.com/Amazfit-Smartwatch-Monitoring-Ultra-Long-A1608/dp/B07CRSK5DM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1533902536&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=amazfit+bit&psc=1
45 day battery life
Always on, daylight readable e-paper screen
Heart-rate sensor, GPS, Wifi & bluetooth
IP68 waterproof
Custom watch faces
Nice Android and iOS app
$80 !!!
Amazed that people put up with second rate (and more expensive) options like Gear watch & Apple Watch.
I'm not upgrading from my current Gear S3 to any model that doesn't include MST.
Thanks for such a great article. Keep updating such information always.
Kindly comment on http://www.samsungalaxy.us/samsung-galaxy-note-9-unveiled-with-s-pen-and-massive-features-inbuilt/ as well.
I've gotten three Pebble Rounds second hand. I haven't paid more than $30 for any of them. They run for at least two days on a charge, and unlike other Smart Watches, they aren't appreciably larger or thicker than any other inexpensive watch; they aren't the monstrously huge things that smart watches typically are.
I know they aren't being made any more, which is why I bought several of them, but they do everything I want them to do and nobody seems to making smart watches with consideration of form factor any longer.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
which even includes GPS...
That Amazfit actually looks really good, thanks.
As expected from a company on fire.
"up to 80+ hours"...what does that even mean? "Up to" (meaning less-than-or-equal-to) "80" (a conveniently rounded number) "plus" (presumably meaning greater than or equal to) hours. So basically, anywhere between 0 and infinity hours? Or maybe 80 hours PRECISELY?
People who write this stuff really need to stop covering their asses because what they say has ZERO meaning. All I get out of this is "It has a battery that runs it for some completely unknown amount of time".
www.sjbaker.org
How much did BizX get for publishing this marketing piece and pushing it to the front page?
Censorship is telling a private company how to run their own site.
... and is correct twice a day
If this was a smaller company that released a 4 day smartwatch, would slashdot give it coverage? How about supporting the little guy instead if just giving a free ad to the big guys.
Reminds me of a joke
Jake is struggling through a bus station with two huge and obviously heavy suitcases when a stranger walks up to him and asks "Have you got the time?"
Jake sighs, puts down the suitcases and glances at his wrist. "It's a quarter to six," he says.
"Hey, that's a pretty fancy watch!" exclaims the stranger. Jake brightens a little.
"Yeah, it's not bad. Check this out" - and he shows him a time zone display not just for every time zone in the world, but for the 86 largest metropolises.
He hits a few buttons and from somewhere on the watch a voice says "The time is eleven 'til six" in a very West Texas accent. A few more buttons and the same voice says something in Japanese. Jake continues "I've put in regional accents for each city". The display is unbelievably high quality and the voice is simply astounding.
The stranger is struck dumb with admiration. "That's not all", says Jake. He pushes a few more buttons and a tiny but very high-resolution map of New York City appears on the display. "The flashing dot shows our location by satellite positioning," explains Jake.
"View recede ten", Jake says, and the display changes to show eastern New York state.
"I want to buy this watch!" says the stranger.
"Oh, no, it's not ready for sale yet; I'm still working out the bugs", says the inventor.
"But look at this", and he proceeds to demonstrate that the watch is also a very creditable little FM radio receiver with a digital tuner, a sonar device that can measure distances up to 125 meters, a pager with thermal paper printout and, most impressive of all, the capacity for voice recordings of up to 300 standard-size books, "though I only have 32 of my favorites in there so far" says Jake.
"I've got to have this watch!", says the stranger.
"No, you don't understand; it's not ready -"
"I'll give you $1000 for it!"
"Oh, no, I've already spent more than -"
"I'll give you $5000 for it!"
"But it's just not -"
"I'll give you $15,000 for it!" And the stranger pulls out a checkbook.
Jake stops to think. He's only put about $8500 into materials and development, and with $15,000 he can make another one and have it ready for merchandising in only six months. The stranger frantically finishes writing the check and waves it in front of him. "Here it is, ready to hand to you right here and now. $15,000. Take it or leave it."
Jake abruptly makes his decision. "OK", he says, and peels off the watch.
They make the exchange and the stranger starts happily away. "Hey, wait a minute", calls Jake after the stranger, who turns around warily. Jake points to the two suitcases he'd been trying to wrestle through the bus station. "Don't forget your batteries.
You are free to speak your mind. And we are all free to decide that we don't want to be *your* soapbox.
Gets 3 days now, as it is. They had a Prime sale and picked it up about a month ago for around 200 dollars.
I know any camera in a smartwatch isn't going to light it up on DxOMark, but it'd be something. Samsung used to have one in an earlier watch.
It seems like the strap is coming along for the ride, when it could be made to do something, maybe an e-ink screen, battery cells, or well, a camera.
What's happening is that Samsung won't do it because Apple doesn't. They want to be innovative, but not too much. Ah well, they won't miss my $349.
Sure, lasting several days on a charge is a neat trick for a smartphone.
What if they made a smartphone that gets security updates for several years?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Enlightenment lives long and prospers. Never mind how idiotic it is to abuse C like that. It works, because one alpha hacker camped out at Samsung HQ stuck with it and made it work.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Beat that, Samsung and other companies! :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).