We’ve known for months Samsung’s next attempt to crack the smartwatch will arrive with a round-faced design. Now, following a new leak on Wednesday, we can probably start piecing together the rest of the spec sheet for the wearable codenamed Orbis.
According to SamMobile, the Samsung Gear A will run the home-cooked Tizen operating system and a new ‘specially designed UX’, rather than Google’s under-nourished Android Wear platform.
Powering the wearable will be a 1.2GHz Exynos 3472 dual-core processor. There’ll also be a Mali-400 MP4 GPU, 768 MB of RAM, 4GB of on-board storage, and a 250 mAh battery, the report alleges.
In terms of connectivity, well there’s Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and built-in GPS to enable decent standalone performance. Sensor wise, the Gear A will supposedly pack gyro, barometer and heart rate sensors.
Although the earlier release of the software development kit confirmed the Orbis will have a 360 x 360 resolution display, SamMobile is still unsure of the size of that Super AMOLED display.
Wednesday’s report says much will depend on the size of the rotating bezel, which Samsung plans to deploy as a unique data input and selection tool.
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The round face gives Samsung a chance to challenge devices like the Moto 360 and the LG G Watch Urbane, two of the better reviewed (yet not that well reviewed) smartwatches on the market.
All signs point to the Samsung Gear A (Orbis) arriving alongside the Galaxy Note 5 later this year. The safe money is on the IFA expo, which kicks off around six weeks from now.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.