Welcome, Samsung faithful! Today marks Samsung Unpacked 2013 where we’ll live stream the release of the Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy Gear. After months of anticipation and speculation, we’ll finally see what Samsung has to offer in its next-generation flagship smartphone and smart watch. Though a Samsung executive has already confirmed the devices to be displayed today, we still have yet to see or hear what they’ll be running under their respective hoods.
It’ll be interesting to if Samsung has any surprises in store. Perhaps the innumerable Note 3 and Galaxy Gear leaks leading up to today’s event were deliberate in order to shy any media attention away from any surprises. Either way, we won’t find out until about 1pm ET/ 10am PT. Tune in to our live stream below to catch all of the action.
Watch the Samsung Unpacked live stream at 1pm ET/10am PT right here:
Compared to March
Everyone will surely have the March Samsung Unpacked event still engrained in their minds and the way Samsung shamelessly marketed new Galaxy S4 features, like Air Gesture, to stereotypes rather than demographics. In that particular instance, Samsung likened the feature to women who need to use the gesture-recognition technology in order to better juggle their nails, hair, and cocktails.
Rest assured tomorrow, though, as anonymous marketing execs from the South Korean electronics company told CNET, “We didn’t really realize it until that criticism was happening, but of course we respect that kind of opinion and [will] make sure we don’t [make] the same mistake again.”
Look for Samsung to aim their sights more generally in hopes of appeasing the masses, tech writers, and users alike.
Galaxy Note III
The Note 3’s display is approximately 5.68-inches but Samsung was able to downsize the bezel to about 2.2mm, meaning that Note 2 users anticipating the Note 3 shouldn’t expect the looming handset to feel bulkier or “user-unfriendly.” The entire device is purported to run on a Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 2.3Ghz quad-core (or Exynos 5), offer 3GB of RAM, sport a 13MP rear-facing camera, be powered by 3300mAh battery life, and operate on Android 4.2.2, though and upgrade to Jelly Bean 4.3 is likely forthcoming.
The phablet device will be over an inch taller than the regulation size Galaxy S4 smartphone, but a new push for larger devices in contrast to smaller could be the propelling force behind it. Finding some kind of middle ground between smartphones and tablets could be the future behind mobile computing as small smartphones compared to bulky tablets are simply not as functional as ones right in the middle. The 5.68-inch Galaxy Note 3 won’t be that much smaller than, say, Apple’s supposed 7.9-inch iPad mini.
Galaxy Gear
Labor Day weekend saw the first actual photos of the Galaxy Gear smart watch out in the wild, giving insight into the both the technical and accessorizing capabilities of the technical timepiece. The strap, outfitted with a a 4MP camera, will have a 3-inch OLED display sitting on top, rumored to have a flexible panel to allow for finger swiping cues. Unfortunately though, it won’t have for texting or typing meaning that the Galaxy Gear could act more like a notification feed to be cross-synced with other Samsung products, like the Note 3, which is further confirmed by the report.
It 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.
