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Galaxy Gear smartwatch: More info prior to Samsung’s big reveal

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Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch.

We’re only days away from the moment Samsung whips up its shirt sleeve to give us our first look at its hotly anticipated Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

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Gear-related gossip has been flying about for months now – especially since company executive Lee Young Hee admitted in March that the Korean tech giant had been working on a high-tech wristwatch “for so long” – but with the big reveal coming on Wednesday, it seems the rumor mill still has a few turns left in it.

For starters, AmongTech, citing sources at a Samsung warehouse facility, says the device will have 10 hours of battery life. Hopefully that refers to the amount of time the display is actually on – in other words, with a standby mode it could run for much longer.

Regarding screen resolution, we’ve previously heard talk of a 1.67-inch display with a 300 x 300 pixel resolution, while another report had suggested 320 x 320. AmongTech backs up the latter claim, believing the Gear will launch with a 2.5-inch 320 x 320 OLED touchscreen display.

Curious about the camera? We’d heard before about a 2-megapixel shooter on the watch, but AmongTech contradicts this information, with its source reporting 4-megapixel 720p image capturing capability.

Also showing up Thursday were a couple of screen grabs (below) from the Gear’s companion software, Gear Manager. @evleaks’ Evan Blass tweeted images (below) that show a ‘find my watch’ tool (“it’s on your freakin’ wrist!”) and confirm expected NFC pairing.

gear manager
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What we really have little idea about is what it will look like. Slivers of information from Samsung executives suggest it won’t come with a flexible screen, though it’s possible a later version of the watch could incorporate such a component.

For a look at all the other Gear-related news we’ve been hearing about, be sure to check out Andy Boxall’s comprehensive round-up here.

Alternatively, if you fancy learning more about other smartwatches set to compete alongside the Gear, head over to here.

[via GigaOM, engadget]

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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