Samsung announces Gear S3 smartwatch at IFA

The smartwatch market is wide and varied, but it seems Samsung is hell-bent on creating a watch that fits everyone’s needs in terms of features and design, the Gear S3 was announced today in Berlin and this is a great leap forward for Samsung.

The Gear S2 last year was a real direction change for Samsung, a slightly more traditional design and a new operating system and twistable bezel allowing control of the watch without even touching the screen.

In 2016, the Samsung Gear S3 goes a touch further toward the “traditional watch” design, drawing on successful big-watch-brand designs to make the S3 less like a nerdy wrist computer and more like a smart watch – if that makes sense.

They’ve made it work with traditional 22mm watch bands so accessorising won’t be an issue.  It’s IP68 rated for water resistance so this thing really can stay on all day every day, and the screen is now Corning Gorilla Glass “SR+” for durability.

That’s how they’ve brought the watch back toward the traditional watch owner, but there’s a bunch in there for the connectivity addicts too.

One variant of the S3 (Frontier) has built in LTE support – that means it can connect to the mobile networks independently of your smartphone.   This isn’t the first watch, or even the first Samsung smartwatch to do this, though it is all packed into a watch size that won’t look ridiculous on your wrist.

Australians won’t get the LTE/Mobile version – mainly because other countries successfully operating a second SIM arrangement for a single phone number.  Bummer for Australia.

On both the Gear S3 frontier and classic, there’s also NFC (Near Field Communications).  This brings Samsung Pay the tap-and-go payment system to the wrist, putting the Gear S3 on par with Apple’s Apple Watch which has Apple Pay on board.

Phil Newton, ‎Corporate Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung Electronics Australia said  “We have announced the global launch of two beautifully crafted wristwatches that also offer our most advanced wearable technology available today including GPS, heart rate monitor, on-board microphone, as well as a music streaming services.  They are also durable and built with IP68 water and dust resistance rating

For the first time on the Gear series, the Gear S3 features Corning® Gorilla® Glass SR+, which is specifically designed for wearable devices to help provide a tougher, more scratch resistant and crisp display than our previous Gear devices.

The Gear S3 Classic carries a sophisticated design, supported by the great technology people have come to expect from our premium wearable devices. The Gear S3 Frontier is perfectly suited to the adventurer and is designed to support the active lifestyle.

The Gear S3 range will be available in Australia before Christmas. We will announce local pricing and availability closer to launch.”

Perhaps the key feature of the Gear S3 – four day battery life.  That’s a real winner for anyone who has tried or owns a smartwatch.

Full Samsung Gear S3 Product Specifications:

 Trevor Long travelled to Berlin for IFA 2016 as a Guest of Sony Australia – Click here for Full details of commercial interests and disclosures