It’s really, really important to get notifications where ever you are, and whatever you’re doing. At least that’s Samsung’s philosophy, and it has made everything from the Gear S2 smartwatch to a connected refrigerator to make it happen. However, it may have gone a little far with its latest Galaxy mobile device, because it’s not a smartphone, smartwatch, or even a pair of smart contact lenses. What is it? Obviously, it’s a surfboard.
The Galaxy Surfboard has a massive LED display on one end showing all your messages, tweets and emails, along with handy weather conditions, wave information, and other stuff surfers definitely need. Connectivity is provided by a Galaxy S7 that’s slotted into a little drawer on the side of the board. Good thing the Galaxy S7 is waterproof, in case it takes an unexpected plunge when the board gets bitten in half by a massive shark.
There’s absolutely no way any of this information would be distracting or unwanted by the surfer, and many must miss crucial @-replies on Twitter when riding the waves. Additionally, knowing what the surfing weather’s like when you’re already on a surfboard must also be invaluable. To prove it, Samsung has made the promo video above with Gabriel Medina, a world champion professional surfer, who uses the board with his coach and father.
While we may have been a little sarcastic about Samsung’s Galaxy Surfboard, which we don’t think is an actual product it intends to sell, there’s little doubt it functions as a proper surfboard. The footage captured is spectacular, and no matter how good the surfer is, if the board is terrible he probably wouldn’t be doing stunts like those seen in the video. Medina’s own board maker was tasked with the mission of making the shell, it says.
The idea of a surfer out at sea getting instant feedback from his trainer by the shore is interesting, but this seems like a very expensive and complicated way of going about it. Still, it does look suitably futuristic, like the surfboard Tron would use, and the video’s suitably ‘gnarly;’ but we’ll stick to the Gear VR as our choice of Galaxy S7 accessory.
