Gear Solo / S / 3 Release Date, Rumors: Samsung to Launch New ‘Wearable’ Smartwatch With Galaxy Note 4?

Samsung could be launching a new smartwatch along with their much anticipated Galaxy Note 4.
Gear Solo / S / 3 Release Date, Rumors: Samsung to Launch New ‘Wearable’ Smartwatch With Galaxy Note 4?
A visitor looks at a Samsung Electronics Galaxy S5 smartphone at a showroom in Seoul on April 29, 2014. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)
8/7/2014
Updated:
8/8/2014

Samsung could be launching a new smartwatch along with their much anticipated Galaxy Note 4.

According to Yonhap News, Samsung will be launching the “Gear Solo” in Berlin next month.

SamMobile, a Samsung firmware tracking and rumors website, also noted that the Korean tech giant will be releasing “multiple wearable devices” along side the Galaxy Note 4 in the fall.

The Galaxy Note 4 will be launched at a Samsung Unpacked event on September 3, according to rumors.

According to the Yonhap report, the “Gear Solo” is expected to have its own universal subscriber identity module (USIM) card.

Because Android Wear does not have SIM card support, the “Gear Solo” is almost certainly going to run Tizen, Samsung’s own mobile OS.

The new smartwatch will be using 3G networks rather than LTE.

A few months back, Samsung filed a patent on the “Gear S” in the United States. The pictures depict a squarish design with rounded off edges. SamMobile has speculated that the “Gear S” could be the “Gear Solo.”

The “Gear Solo” will be the sixth Samsung smartwatch to be produced.

On the other hand, their main rival, Apple, has yet to release even a single “wearable” tech yet.

Apple does have an “iWatch” in the works, although it is unclear if they will be able to find a foothold in a market where Samsung, LG, and perhaps even Motorola will have their smartwatches out before the “iWatch” is launched.

See an AP article on the Samsung and Apple patent dispute.

Samsung, Apple agree to drop lawsuits outside US

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung and Apple Inc. have agreed to end all patent lawsuits between each other outside the U.S. in a step back from three years of legal hostilities between the world’s two largest smartphone makers.

However, Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it and Apple will continue to pursue existing cases in U.S. courts. The two companies did not strike any cross-licensing deal.

“Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States,” the South Korean company said in a statement. “This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts.”

The announcement is a significant lessening of corporate hostilities after years of bitter patent disputes over the intellectual property rights for mobile designs and technology. The legal fights spanned about a dozen countries in Asia, North America and Europe.

Lawsuits and other legal actions by Samsung and Apple will come to an end in countries including Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

The patent cases in the U.S. have come with bigger awards for damages than other countries. In May, a California jury awarded Apple $119 million in a patent battle with Samsung. The same jury also ordered Apple to pay $158,400 to Samsung finding that Apple had infringed one of Samsung’s patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5. In a separate 2012 jury verdict, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million. Samsung appealed.

Some analysts said the two companies would eventually bury the hatchet and sign a cross-licensing deal, following the usual pattern of patent cases in the technology industry. There were earlier signs that tensions had eased between two companies. The two agreed to drop their appeals at the U.S. International Trade Commission in June.

But at other times, it seemed the differences were too wide to be bridged. The chief executives of both companies reportedly met several times at the recommendation of a U.S. judge to discuss out of court settlements.

Not all outcomes from the patent actions were damaging to Samsung and Apple. While the two rivals faced damage claims and sales bans of old products here and there, Samsung vaulted to the leading position in the global smartphone market during the last three years.

The series of high-stake lawsuits over some of the world’s most popular gadgets began in April, 2011 when Apple accused Samsung, the maker of Galaxy phones, of slavishly copying the iPhone. Samsung responded by charging Apple of stealing its mobile technology.

 

Larry Ong is a New York-based journalist with Epoch Times. He writes about China and Hong Kong. He is also a graduate of the National University of Singapore, where he read history.
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