Purported Photos of Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch Leak Ahead of Launch
An anonymous source showed the Galaxy Gear before the official reveal.
Sept. 3, 2013— -- Tomorrow Samsung will reveal its next big thing -- its Galaxy Gear Smartwatch.
But just a couple days before the event, an independent promotion group that has worked closely with the company gave a private showing of its Galaxy Gear smartwatch. As first reported by VentureBeat, an anonymous source showed writer Christina Farr some of the features that the watch would be capable of (including a high quality OLED display, camera, and voice command controls).
Farr was not allowed to take pictures of the actual watch and could only photograph stills from the promotional video. (You can see those here.) In addition, she says that Samsung is very mindful about protecting its product news from leaks. "[Samsung] occasionally sends off prototypes that don't mirror the final design," she writes in her article. She says that Samsung's final product won't differ much from what she saw.
GigaOm said that Farr's sneak peek wasn't all that sneaky. According to writer Om Malik, the exact model of watch seen in VentureBeat's pictures is the same that developers had access to. A Samsung representative told Om that the final watch will be a more finished-looking product.
Samsung did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment on the photos, however, the company has repeatedly said it would not comment on rumor or speculation about the wearable.
If the photos are representative of the final product, the Galaxy Gear does not appear to have a flexible display. Lee Young-hee, Samsung's executive vice president, has said as much, though Samsung has filed a patent on the technology with the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
According to Farr's report, the watch sports an approximately 3-inch display within a large rounded rectangular bezel. In addition, she says that the watch itself has over ten hours of battery life, which pales in comparison to Pebble's smartwatch seven-day battery life. However, given the difference in display quality, this drop in battery life isn't surprising.
Of course, Samsung's introduction of the watch will come before Apple's anticipated iWatch. For months Apple has been said to be working on a watch of its own and has been hiring executives from the fashion industry to work on the secret project.
Tomorrow we should know much more about Samsung's new smartwatch. ABC News will have live coverage of Samsung's event on Wednesday, Sept. 4, starting at 1 p.m. ET.
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