Samsung unveils second-gen smartwatch

Samsung has unveiled a lighter, more powerful second-generation smartwatch ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Samsung has unveiled its second attempt at a smartwatch - and it's strikingly similar to the first.

The Galaxy Gear 2, available worldwide from April, has a slightly faster processor than the original Galaxy Gear, which was unveiled last September.

The camera, which on the original model is a small dimple in the wristband, is now housed on the edge of the square watch face, and will shoot in two megapixels, up from 1.9.

The new model is also a touch lighter, weighing in at 68 grams, down from 74.

Otherwise, the design remains largely the same while the 1.63-inch 320-by-320-pixel touchscreen display is unchanged.

The battery is also the same, as are the 512 megabytes of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.

The watch, unveiled in Barcelona ahead of the Mobile World Congress, remains an accessory that works in tandem with Samsung smartphones to receive calls and display texts, emails and notifications.

It has a few additional features, including a heart rate sensor, a pedometer, and sleep tracker.

It can also play music direct to bluetooth headphones without the need for a phone, and is Samsung's first wearable gadget to run on the company's in-house Tizen operating system rather than Google-made Android.

A cameraless model called the Galaxy Gear Neo weighs 55 grams.

Pundits predict wearable technology will undergo massive growth in the coming years.

The Korean consumer electronics titan has not said how much the watches will cost.

* Paddy Wood travelled to Barcelona as a guest of Samsung.


2 min read

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Updated

Source: AAP


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