The Smartwatch Flood Has Begun

The first mass market smartwatch release, the Samsung Gear, was released almost two years ago, however in the time since, wearables have been yet to carve out any significant market for themselves. In the past months however this has all begun to change. What was once a trickle of new products has become a flood

In fact, within the next two weeks, at least 4 manufacturers, including (probably) Apple will be releasing their own competing smartwatch products. The latest of these announcements, this time by Samsung however, is a little something more. Rather than release a wearable that works in tandem with your phone, the South Korean manufacturer is building a smart watch that also functions as a smartphone.

Image: © 2014 Samsung

The new product, titled the Samsung Gear S, in terms of form is similar to a hybrid of the company’s earlier designs. It combines the curved screen of the Gear Fit, with the more square shape of the Gear Pro. Similar to these devices as well, it will run Samsung's proprietary Tizen operating system, rather than Android Wear, which ran on the company’s most recent release, the Gear Live.

Companies are worried that unless they can beat the iWatch to the punch, Apple will dominate the market.

In terms of specs, it is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor, backed with 512MB of RAM. Despite its inclusion of a usually power hungry 3G antenna, the device comes with a small 300mAh battery, however Samsung believes it will have around two days of battery life, which is still a lot better than the average smartphone. In addition the watch will have an IP67 certification, making it both water resistant and dustproof.

Upon release in the coming weeks, this device will join the ranks of the new LG GWatch R, Moto360, and others which are being rushed to market due to the imminent release of the iWatch. These companies are worried that unless they can beat Apple to the punch with wearables, Apple will be able to create a market on their own terms, and effectively lock competitors out for months or years to come. Indeed the next few weeks will prove once and for all if this strategy is effective.  

COMPARE: Samsung Gear S vs LG G Watch R