Samsung officially announced its Galaxy Gear smartwatch Wednesday, revealing a slick slab of wearable computing that will initially only work with the company's just-announced Galaxy Note 3 smartphone and Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, 2014 edition.
Limiting the Gear's compatibility to just two niche devices is a curious move on Samsung's part, and suggests the company either wants to goose sales of its Note products, or simply couldn't offer compatibility with its much more mainstream mobile gear at launch. Samsung says Note II, Galaxy SIII, and Galaxy S4 users will get a software upgrade after launch that will allow them to use the Gear.
At first, the Gear is only compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition, both announced Wednesday.
"I believe it will become a new fashion icon around the world," said Samsung's President and CEO JK Shin at a launch event in Berlin Wednesday.
In terms of raw hardware, the Galaxy Gear is a 1.5-inch by 2.2-inch rectangular slab that's constructed from stainless steel, measures 0.43 inches thick, and weighs 2.6 ounces.
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