The Samsung Galaxy Gear is here!

 

After a long wait and reams of speculation, the Samsung Galaxy Gear is here.

Samsung unveiled the smartwatch at its pre-IFA Unpacked event in Berlin, and it's looking to wrap around your wrists with a packed spec sheet.

Running on a Samsung-modified version of Android, it features a 1.63in AMOLED screen with a 320x320 resolution. It links up with your mobile phone via low power Bluetooth Smart to stay connected, and can then provide you with a constant update of notifications for texts, emails, social media updates and incoming calls.

You can even use it Dick Tracy-style as a wrist-mounted phone, thanks to a built-in mic and speaker. You can also use S Voice to draft messages, create new alarms and calander entries, as well as checking the weather. Though it'll probably be easier to just look up at the sky.

Running on an 800MHz processor, the Galaxy Gear also features 4GB of internal memory (which limits you to 10 apps installed at a time) and 512MB of RAM. Featured apps include MyFitnessPal, Path, Pocket, RunKeeper, Tripit and Vivino wine scanner for on-the-go tipple education.

You can even use the Galaxy Gear to find your lost phone by making it beep and control music playback without getting your device out of your pocket.

The Galaxy Gear also has a 1.9MP camera built into the strap, designed for instant spur-of-the-moment photos. It can also record 720p video, and thanks to the Memographer app, you can log physical activities, photos and videos from your day, making the NSA's job a while lot easer.

Sadly the Galaxy Gear will only work with the Note 3, and Note 10.1 at launch, though Galaxy S4 owners could join the club soon after their devices are upgraded to Android 4.3

There's no pricing available at the moment, but the Galaxy Gear will be launched in more than 140 countries around the world from 25 September.

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Would you wear a watch that counts down the hours until you die?

 

This motivationally morbid timepiece could be just the thing you need to kickstart your dreams

"Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom". - Death (Hogfather, Terry Pratchett)

Life is short. You've upgraded your phone a dozen times, and before you know it, that's a quarter of a century down the drain. Scary stuff.

Tikker is a watch that's looking for US$25,000 on Kickstarter, and while it's not a smartwatch like the Galaxy Gear, it can do something the Gear can't.

Count down the time until your death.

When you first set up the Tikker it estimates how long you have left to live after you complete a questionnaire. From that point on, it'll count down the years, months, days, hours and seconds until your estimated time of death, as well as, you know, display the actual time.

The idea isn't to fill you with an overwhelming sense of dread, but rather, it's meant to remind you that you've only got one life, and that you should be motivated enough to live it to the full.

So put down that burger, grab stick of celery and leap out of a plane before it's too late. Or maybe just start off with a gentle walk.

Either way, you can pre-order a Tikker for US$40 from its Kickstarter page if you fancy living life to the full. We'll see you at the bear wrestling tournament. 

Bring honey.

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