Samsung Gear A release date, price and specs: 'Orbis' Tizen watch tipped to launch with Galaxy Note 5 in August
Update 17 July: It's been a little quiet on the Gear A for a while but we now have new information on the specs for the Gear A, or Orbis, and its possible release date. See below for the details.
Samsung has launched a number of smartwatches and activity trackers including one of the first Android Wear devices. This year, the Korean giant is rumoured to introduce a smartwatch with a round face to rival the likes of the Motorola Moto 360 and LG G Watch R called the Gear A, codenamed Orbis.
Samsung Gear A smartwatch: Release date and price
According to SamMobile, which had an exclusive on the Orbis, Samsung's circular smartwatch was supposed to be announced at MWC 2015 back at the beginning of March in Barcelona. We now know the Gear A was a no-show at MWC, but with the Apple Watch being officially unveiled on 9 March, we expect the Orbis to launch sometime this year.
The latest rumours suggest that the Orbis, or Gear A, will arrive at CTIA (cellular telephone industries association) in which takes place on September 9-11. Those are the same dates as IFA 2015 where Samsung normally announces new mobile products with the Galaxy Note 5 expected this year so we could also see the Gear A, too.
It looks like we're getting closer to a launch as Samsung has shown off a round smartwatch interface on its SamsungExynos Twitter account. "Using your Heart Rate, your Exynos-powered wearable can deliver accurate training information to help you improve." it says but we've not seen a wearable with an Exynos processor so this could be our first look, of sorts, at the Gear A.
Update: Via SamMobile, the Samsung Gear A will launch alongside the Galaxy Note 5 which is rumoured to arrive on 12 August (not at IFA in September). The Unpacked event will also reportedly bring with it the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus.
Using your Heart Rate, your Exynos-powered #wearable can deliver accurate training information to help you improve. pic.twitter.com/CHqzwMqbvd
If you like the sound of the Gear A already, then you might want to get saving as the site suggests it could cost more than the Gear S which costs £329. However, that does not require a smartphone to work fully so we expect the Orbis to be cheaper and more in-line with rivals such as the Moto 360 and G Watch R which cost around £200.
Samsung Gear A smartwatch: Design and specs
Update: Also courtesy of SamMobile, we now have some more detailed specs for the Gear A - which may or may not be correct. The round screen will have a 360x360 resolution and use Super AMOLED tech but the size is unknown. It will also have an Exynos 3472 0.2GHz dual-core processor, the Mali-400 MP4 GPU clocked at 45 MHz, 768MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a 250mAh battery. Bluetooth 4.1 is built-in and there will also be a model with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n.
The main design aspect of the Gear A is the circular display making it look more like a regular wrist watch. Samsung has effectively confirmed this by releasing an SDK for the next Gear watch. "We are collaborating with our global partners to provide a better Samsung Gear experience for users. We welcome more developers to join us on this journey." said Samsung.
The site shows various round interfaces including CNN, Yelp, FidMe and apposter. Developers can get early access to the SDK by applying but it more interestingly implies that the Orbis/Gear A will use Samsung own Tizen operating system rather than Google's Android Wear.
Like the Apple Watch, Samsung's Orbis will use a crown shaped power button but won't offer the same functionality as its fruit flavoured rival. Instead, a rotating bezel ring around the edge will be used by the user page navigation and device control, as confirmed by the Gear A SDK (thanks to TizenExperts for the below illustration). The crown, meanwhile, will supposedly wake the screen, launch S Voice with a double tap and send an emergency message.
As the below patent shows, the Gear A could use a display which divides up the display like a pie chart to show the schedule for one day.
There are various rumours on the specs including a built-in camera and sensors for object, image and barcode recognition. The usual heath related hardware such as a heart rate monitor and the Gear A might even be usable as a key for your car and a remote for your TV. Samsung is likely to use its own Exynos 14nm processor inside the Orbis (which now seems even more likely based on the above tweet) and it will also have wireless charging.