Smartwatches are yet to go mainstream as smartphones and tablets are. But that does not stop Samsung from innovating as recent reports have it that they are market leaders. In a niche where there is growth, that makes sense. Now Wall Street Journal reports that Sammy is onto something. Gear Solo, which is expected to be a standalone smartphone could come out as early as June.
WSJ goes on to say that this Gear smartwatch will not only make calls but will also have GPS alongside the usual features like heart rate monitor and Bluetooth. As you would expect, it will run Tizen, going by the part Samsung is currently shifting to Tizen for all it’s wearables.
This brings me to the battery life situation brough up by including 3G and GPS onto the smartwatch. Samsung had already acknowledged that having a SIM card among others will pose challenges of having a battery that powers it well without being overly bulky. Tizen as an OS is a generally low energy consumer unlike the power hog that is Android, so this might make things easier in that department.
But you never know, just as they put in a curved AMOLED display onto a smartwatch, they might already have a solution by now and we only have to wait for the unveil.
