The wait is finally over for Samsung enthusiasts as the Galaxy Note III release date has been confirmed. In an interview with English language Korean publication The Korea Times, a leading Samsung executive suggested that both the Note III and Galaxy Gear smart watch would be unveiled on September 4 ahead of the IFA consumer electronics expo in Berlin, Germany putting any recent rumors running rampant to rest.
The news comes less than a week after it was reported that the Note III smartphone/tablet hybrid had passed all the necessary certifications and qualifications put forth by the FCC.
The article by The Korea Times has Lee Young-hee, Executive Vice President of Samsung’s Mobile Busines, suggesting the Galaxy Note III’s imminent debut without going into any real details. Intriguingly though, she was clearly quoted stating matter-of-factly that “We Will be Introducing a New Wearable Device concept called Galaxy Gear at Our Own Event in Berlin on Sept. The smartwatch Product Samsung has been preparing for a Long time.”
She did, however, make note of the growing trend of “phablet” devices–not quite smartphone, not quite a tablet–essentially conceived by the South Korean electronics manufacturer.
“Samsung opened a new smart mobile device category back in 2011 with the introduction of the first Galaxy Note. Since then, smartphones with large screens have been a mainstream trend. As the creator of this category, we will introduce our customers to enhanced key features on our Galaxy Note devices.”
Both products will be headlining Samsung’s fall product lineup and while a next-gen smartphone is anything but out of the ordinary, this will be Samsung’s first foray into the smartwatch realm.
Plenty of smartwatches are already consumer available but the trend has yet to really blazon in both the tech and fashion markets. Sure the Pebble smartwatch became one of crowd funding platform Kickstarter’s most successful campaigns shipping over 85,000 units as of July 4 but I still haven’t seen one sitting dutifully on a single person’s wrist.
Of the Galaxy Gear’s inauguration at the September 4 press event and the technology running snugly under the hood Lee said,
“We will be introducing a new wearable concept device called Galaxy Gear at our own event in Berlin on Sept. 4. Samsung has been preparing the smartwatch product for a long time.
“The Gear won’t have a flexible display. The new device will enhance and enrich the current smart mobile experience in many ways. It will lead a new trend in smart mobile communications. We are confident that the Gear will add meaningful momentum to the mobile industry.”
The technical timepiece could run on a quite formidable dual-core 1.5GHx Exynos 4212 processor chip and Mali-400MP4 graphic processor, use Android 4.1 or 4.2 as a mobile operating system, and connect via Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. All of these will bolster the feed-like functions mentioned above as well as help to incorporate the Galaxy Gear’s Facebook and Twitter integration to the fullest.
[Featured image via ETrade Phone Supply]
