Galaxy Gear Introduced as Companion to Note 3

The new smartwatch was unveiled along with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3, a next generation of the company’s  “phablet” device (larger than a standard phone, with features like a tablet).

The watch is expected to work as a companion to the Note 3. A 1.63-inch display allows you to check updates from your phone at a glance to your wrist, and use about 70 pre-loaded apps, mostly with gesture commands.

But what may be the best features allow you to initiate a phone call from the watch or take video or photos from a wristband camera both in conjunction with your smart phone.

Make Calls or Take Video

Using the watch’s S Voice feature activated by double-clicking a button on the side of the display lets you make a call or dictate a text message to your mobile device hands free.

The 1.9-megapixel camera on the wristband can take photos or short videos that can be stored temporarily with about 4 GB of storage on the watch or sent directly to your mobile device.

It’s not clear how wide the appeal will be for smartwatches.  Some predicted that it may be only people who are interested in smartwatches are the same people who bought a calculator watch a few decades ago when those were hot.

Image: Samsung