Samsung Galaxy Gear + Note 3 unveiling

Sometime on the first week of September, I had the extraordinary experience of checking in at the club floor of the Dusit Thani Manila in Makati. The funny thing is that my three year old daughter enjoyed the hotel room more than me. While she slept soundly on the heavenly bed, mommy was working at 2 am to catch the live broadcast of IFA, Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show in Berlin.

What I stayed awake for: the grand reveal of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy Gear, on sale starting Sept. 25 in some global markets like the US and India.

Samsung Unboxed 2013

And here was Lucy happy in the room with her yaya. Nothing like a new environment to excite a kid :)

Lucy in Dusit

Anyway, all I can say is that the new Note 3 is The Bomb! Even the tech writers can’t help but exclaim ooh’s and aah’s about Samsung’s newest offering. If you already own a Note, there is the usual upgrade on features but it is really on the software innovations that Samsung impresses. More after the jump….

Note 3

Appearance-wise, the new Galaxy Note 3 looks really attractive with its faux leather cover at the back & nice stitching details on the side. There’s also the choice between these colors: black, white and pink!

And here are its worthy assets: a 13 megapixel camera, 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display, 2.3 GHz quad core processor, thinness of only 8.3 mm and official weight of 168 g.

But probably this smartphone’s most outstanding feature is Air Command which is more like a launching app best used with the built-in stylus or S Pen. Just hover the pen on the screen or even just jot down or doodle on it and you will have access to relevant apps like Action Memo, Scrapbook and the S Finder.

This official Samsung video is quite long, but will give you an idea what the new gadgets (Note 3 + Galaxy Gear) can do. Useful if you’re eyeing for an upgrade or would like to have these for Christmas…yay!

As for me, am really excited about the Galaxy Gear because I like the idea of wearing my gadget and knowing Samsung technology, I can also sync it with my present phone (or rather, phablet), the Galaxy Mega.

Galaxy Gear

This device is expected to retail for US$299 but am loving what it can do: enable hands-free calls on your watch with the built-in speaker and you will also be able to draft memos or messages and set alarms with simple voice recognition. Not to mention, it has a fitness tracker and other apps.

The Galaxy Gear smart watch has 4-gigabyte internal memory, 512 megabytes of RAM and weighs 74 grams. It comes in a range of eyecatching colors like Rose Gold, Oatmeal Beige, Jet Black,Mocha Grey, Wild Orange and Lime Green.

Samsung Galaxy Gear companion device unveiled

Samsung’s smartwatch companion watch is officially launched here in Berlin, Germany during the global event called Unpacked 2013: Episode 2. Dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Gear, the device is worn like a digital watch but is a companion device to the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition.

The main body of the watch is made of stainless steel while the strap is made of some type of hard polycarbonate material which is solid yet flexible enough to house the camera and other circuitry.

Samsung Galaxy Gear specs:
1.63-inch Super AMOLED display @ 320×320 pixels, 278ppi
800MHz single-core processor
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage
1.9MP BSI camera
720p recording @ 30fps
Bluetooth 4.0
2 microphone, noise canceling
315mAh Li-Ion battery
IP55 rating, water and dust resistant

The built-in rechargeable battery lasts for about 25 hours on a single full charge. It also has built-in sensors so it can detect hand signals or waves when in operation.

The watch will only be initially compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 and then the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. With a firmware update, it will later on be compatible with the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 2.

The Galaxy Gear will be available in 6 color variants — Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green. Samsung will sell the Galaxy Gear for $299.

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